Most applicants get at least some kind of offer they’re happy to accept, but, when the exam results are published in August, it’s quite possible that - quite literally - they won’t make the grade.

If you don’t meet the conditions of your offer, the first thing to do, especially if it was a near miss, is to call or e-mail the university or email them pretty sharpish and see if they’ll still take you. They may have places left and might think taking you is better than risking ending up having to take someone who they know nothing about.

However, if they say no, there’s basically two ways to go. Either take a year out and go through the whole process again, or try to find a place through Clearing.

Earlier, we said that if you meet the conditions of any offer you’ve accepted, then it’s a done deal – that’s where you’re going. In fact, that’s not quite true. If, for some reason, when you get your results, you’re no longer happy with your offer, then you can drop out of the whole system, let the university and UCAS know that’s what you’re doing and reapply the following year. You could also try to find a place through Clearing, although, officially, you wouldn’t be eligible. As if that matters.

Why would you want to turn down a perfectly good offer though? Well, for one, you might have done better than you expected. You might be holding a firmly accepted offer of BBC from somewhere that only gets you slightly excited, but then when you find yourself with a swanky pants AAB, you might think you’re in a position to trade up.

Alternatively, you might have missed your first choice, but decide you can do better than your back up.

Whatever the reason, at any point, you can withdraw from the system at any point and face the same two choices: take a year out and reapply or throw your lot in with Clearing.

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