Deferred Entry: How to Defer Your University Place

You can defer a university place in two ways. Pick a deferred start date when you fill in your UCAS application, or ask the university after you've had an offer. Either way, the university decides, and you can usually only defer by one year. Your offer conditions don't change, so you still need to meet them in your exam year.

That flexibility is handy if you've got a year of work or travel planned, but a few rules catch people out. Below you'll find both routes, what you can and can't do while holding a deferred place, and how deferring compares with simply applying next year.

What does deferred entry mean?

Deferred entry means applying now for a course that starts a year later than usual. If you apply in the current cycle, which is for 2027 entry, a deferred place would start in 2028. You fill in the same application as everyone else, with up to five choices and the same deadlines. The difference is the start date you pick for that choice.

It's always the university's call. Each university decides, course by course, whether it accepts deferred entry, and UCAS says you can usually only defer by one year. If you're applying to a conservatoire, you arrange any deferral with the conservatoire directly.

Deferring isn't the same as withdrawing and applying again later. With a deferred place, your offer is sorted before your year out begins. With a fresh application next year, you start from scratch, using the grades you've actually achieved. There's a side-by-side comparison of the two at the end of this guide.

How do you apply for deferred entry from the start?

If you already know you want a gap year, applying for deferred entry is the cleanest route. Here's the order to do it in:

1. Check the course accepts deferral. Contact the university before you submit your application. UCAS is clear on this: ask first, so you know they're happy to take a deferred application for that course.
2. Choose the deferred start date. When you add the course to your application, select the deferred start date for that choice.
3. Apply by the normal deadlines. Deferred applications follow the same deadlines as everyone else in the cycle (see the table below).
4. Reply to your offers. When decisions come in, you reply to them in your application like any other offer. Our guide to accepting your UCAS offers walks through firm and insurance choices.

These are the dates that apply if you're applying now, whether for 2027 entry or deferred entry in 2028:

So deferring doesn't buy you extra time to apply. A deferred application needs to reach UCAS by the same dates as one for 2027 entry. For the full timeline, including when offers must be replied to, see our guide to UCAS deadlines and key dates for 2027 entry.

Your predicted grades matter just as much for a deferred application, because they're part of your reference. Run them through the predicted grades UCAS points calculator before you pick courses, so your choices match what you're on track for.

Can you defer after you've already got an offer?

Yes, you can ask, but there's no guarantee. If you applied for 2027 entry and now want to start in 2028, it's up to the university. UCAS treats this as a "late deferral", and you may be asked to reapply rather than simply move your offer back a year.

Here's how to go about it:

• Contact the admissions team for your course. Email or call, and explain that you'd like to start a year later.
• Say briefly what you plan to do with the year. The university isn't obliged to agree, and a clear plan helps them understand the request.
• Get the answer in writing. If they agree, check whether they need you to do anything else. If they say you'll need to reapply, ask what that involves for your course.

UCAS says you have until your start date to make the decision. Leaving it to the last week is risky, though. Asking early gives you time to rethink your plans if the answer is no.

Can you defer after accepting, after results or through Clearing?

UCAS doesn't set a separate rule for each of these. They're all versions of the same situation: you applied for one year and now want to start the year after. So each one counts as a late deferral, and the university decides.

• After accepting an offer. Holding a firm place doesn't stop you asking. The university may agree, refuse, or ask you to reapply.
• After results day. Same answer. Your place is for the year you applied for, and moving it is the university's choice.
• With a Clearing offer. UCAS doesn't publish a specific rule on deferring a Clearing place, so treat it like any late deferral and ask the university directly. Do this before you add the Clearing choice, because adding a Clearing choice counts as accepting the offer.

If a university tells you that a particular course doesn't allow deferral, that's their decision to make, so it's worth asking before you plan a year around it.

Do you still have to meet your offer conditions if you defer?

Yes. Deferring moves your start date. It doesn't change what you need to achieve, or when you need to achieve it.

UCAS gives this example: if your conditional offer is based on getting ABB in 2027 and you're deferring to start the course in 2028, you must get ABB in 2027 to secure your deferred place. In other words, the gap year comes after your results, not before them. It isn't a year to improve your grades for that particular offer.

If your offer is written in UCAS Tariff points rather than grades, work out your total with the UCAS points calculator so you know exactly what you're aiming for. For more on how conditions work, and what an unconditional offer changes, see conditional vs unconditional offers.

What can't you do while holding a deferred place?

This is the part people miss. Accepting a deferred place limits what else you can do with UCAS until your course starts.

• You can't apply elsewhere at the same time. While you hold the place, you can only be released if the university agrees.
• You can't reapply in the next cycle without withdrawing first. UCAS says that if you accept a deferred place for 2028, you can't reapply in the next application cycle while holding it. You'd need to withdraw your application completely before you apply again.
• A new application cancels the deferred place. You can only have one live UCAS application. If you send UCAS a new application while holding a deferred place from a previous cycle, the deferred place is cancelled.

That last rule is easy to trigger by accident, so think it through before you start any new application.

What if you hold a deferred place but want to start this year?

Plans change, and that's fine. If you're holding a deferred place but decide you'd rather start this year, UCAS's route has three steps:

1. Contact UCAS and withdraw your application completely.
2. Make a new application.
3. Use Clearing to find a course with places for this year.

For 2027 entry, Clearing opens on 2 July 2027, when vacancies start showing in UCAS's search tool, and the last date to add a Clearing choice is 18 October 2027. Before you add a choice, you contact the university and give them your Clearing number and Personal ID. The university has to agree before you add it.

Withdrawing ends your deferred place, so look at Clearing vacancies and talk to universities before you take that step. Our guide to how UCAS Clearing works explains the process in more detail.

Is deferring a good idea?

It can be, if you have a clear reason and the university is happy with it. Common plans include working to save money or travelling, and some people need time for health or family reasons. None of these is anything to be embarrassed about.

The upside is certainty. You secure a place before your year out, so you're not writing applications while you're away. The trade-off is that you're tied in: while you hold the place, you can't apply elsewhere unless the university releases you.

Universities don't all see deferral the same way, and each one decides course by course. The only reliable answer is the one you get from the admissions team for the course you want. Ask them directly, before you apply if you can.

Should you defer or reapply next year?

Both routes can end with you starting university a year later. The difference is when you commit.

Deferring suits you if you're confident about the course and want the security of a place. Applying next year suits you if you expect your achieved grades to open up different courses, or you're not yet sure what you want to study. UCAS publishes each cycle's deadlines on its dates and deadlines page, so check the dates for the following cycle once they're out.

One rule links the two routes. If you've already accepted a deferred place and then decide you'd rather apply again, you must withdraw completely first. You can't hold the place and keep a new application running alongside it.

If you're new to the process, our guide to what UCAS is and how it works covers the basics, and firm vs insurance choices explains how to rank your offers once they arrive.

Check your predicted UCAS points