Would a university making you an offer quickly make you more likely to consider them?

Poll

Would a university making you an offer quickly make you more likely to consider them?

When you’re applying to university, some unis make offers within days others can take weeks or even months. We've already started seeing students on TSR talk about getting offers through.

We’re curious, does getting an offer quickly make a difference to how you feel about that uni?

•

Does it make you feel wanted and more confident in applying there?

•

Or do you think it doesn’t matter as long as you get the offer in the end?

•

Is it possible it could have the reverse effect and make you consider the institution too eager?

Share how the timing of offers would impact your decision-making

Reply 1

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Working in admissions we see that if we are the first or last uni to post a decision, then we are more likely to be firmed or insured.

If you make an offer quickly the student has time to imagine themselves 'being there' and do the associated research. There's also the excitement of that first offer!

Being a late response I think only really works well if you are a preferred/prestigious choice. But I see many students turning down late offers even if was a uni they really were considering - which always seems a bit odd to me as unis always have until May to respond, so any offer isn't really 'late' in that sense.

Reply 2

McGinger

Most applicants are not this silly - to pick a Uni for this flimsy reason.

Reply 3

solitary-dispute

Yeah I will wait until all my offers are given

Reply 4

AcademicWeapon29

I kind of have to wait a while and am going to wait until I receive offers/rejections from every uni. since i'm applying to medicine so I don't think it really affects me the time that the offers are sent (like I've already got an offer from my 5th choice)

Reply 5

aspalax

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

When i was applying, I had one uni that was pretty low on my list and the only interview date they could give me was really late in the admissions cycle. I ended up getting an unconditional from my frontrunner choice before, and in the end I withdrew from the last uni because I didn't really see the point of hanging on to interview somewhere I was almost certainly going to reject anyway.
I had an offer from the other 4 at the point I withdrew from the last one. Ultimately don't have any regrets about it really, I think I was probably right, and firming earlier gave me some peace of mind.

On the whole though, there's not a lot of reason to firm or withdraw from places because of timings, and probably not many people do(?). But I think there's probably some edge cases like mine where it doesn't make a huge amount of odds, and there were other contributing factors.

Reply 6

Mohammed_2000

Original post

by Evil Homer

When you’re applying to university, some unis make offers within days others can take weeks or even months. We've already started seeing students on TSR talk about getting offers through.
We’re curious, does getting an offer quickly make a difference to how you feel about that uni?

•

Does it make you feel wanted and more confident in applying there?

•

Or do you think it doesn’t matter as long as you get the offer in the end?

•

Is it possible it could have the reverse effect and make you consider the institution too eager?

Share how the timing of offers would impact your decision-making

I’ve done my degree, what I learnt is whether a university makes a unconditional offer, don’t think that there isn’t time to consider your options and what is available to you I personally regret the university I went to and university. And to be honest a university reaching out doesn’t mean much anyways because provided you have met the basic entry requirements your most likely to get an offer, any signs of showing competitiveness or value is making effort offering open days/insight sessions, phone calls anything coming through the post.

Reply 7

Meriium

Original post

by Evil Homer

When you’re applying to university, some unis make offers within days others can take weeks or even months. We've already started seeing students on TSR talk about getting offers through.
We’re curious, does getting an offer quickly make a difference to how you feel about that uni?

•

Does it make you feel wanted and more confident in applying there?

•

Or do you think it doesn’t matter as long as you get the offer in the end?

•

Is it possible it could have the reverse effect and make you consider the institution too eager?

Share how the timing of offers would impact your decision-making

I haven't applied yet (still working on my personal statement :frown:

), but I think I'd be overjoyed if I got a quick offer. There's a part of me that keeps thinking "What if I don't get a single offer?", so any offer would really put my mind to rest, even if it was from a uni that's pretty low down in my list. I can imagine myself spending ages on said uni's website, probably tier-ranking the modules and whatnot haha.

As for whether I'd be more likely to consider them, I doubt it. I've read on TSR that the timing of the offer doesn't correlate with "how much the uni wants me", so obviously I'm going to keep that in mind and try to stay unbiased. I plan to wait until I've received all my decisions before I make my final choice :smile:

Reply 8

solitary-dispute

Original post

by Meriium

I haven't applied yet (still working on my personal statement :frown:

), but I think I'd be overjoyed if I got a quick offer. There's a part of me that keeps thinking "What if I don't get a single offer?", so any offer would really put my mind to rest, even if it was from a uni that's pretty low down in my list. I can imagine myself spending ages on said uni's website, probably tier-ranking the modules and whatnot haha.
As for whether I'd be more likely to consider them, I doubt it. I've read on TSR that the timing of the offer doesn't correlate with "how much the uni wants me", so obviously I'm going to keep that in mind and try to stay unbiased. I plan to wait until I've received all my decisions before I make my final choice :smile:

Yeah I don't care about the timing

Reply 9

Phelena

This would only matter if you don't already have a clear hierarchy of your choices, which in theory shouldn't be the case for most applicants. Personally, the order of my choices (Imperial, Bath, Cambridge, Warwick) is fairly obvious so offer timing won't matter. If I wanted a quick hit of dopamine for receiving an early offer, I'd apply to Bristol (which is about equal to Bath imo) as my fifth choice right now.

Reply 10

solitary-dispute

Apparently a majority of respondents will be affected on accepting offers based on how quick their offer is given.

Reply 11

Daisy._.7777

The only reason I agree with this is that York is my second choice if I get rejected from Oxford.

When I received their offer shortly after my insurance choice, Kent, it was exciting to get my second choice so quickly. Their fast response made me feel they valued my application, which reassured me that York was the right choice for both me and the university. Maybe I’m overthinking it, since I know York tends to give offers quickly, but either way, I was happy to see my application appreciated by my second choice uni.