What Is UCAS? A Plain-English Guide

UCAS stands for the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the independent charity that runs the UK's national shared admissions service for undergraduate courses. You fill in one online application in the UCAS Hub, choose up to five courses, and UCAS sends it to every university or college you picked. The universities, not UCAS, decide who gets an offer.

If teachers keep asking if you've "started your UCAS" and you're not quite sure what that means, you're in good company. It's one application, done once, and your school or college will normally help you with it. This guide explains what UCAS does and who uses it. It also covers what it costs, and how UCAS differs from the UCAS points that our calculator works out.

What does UCAS do?

UCAS sits between you and the universities. Instead of filling in a separate form for every university, you build one application and add your choices. UCAS passes that application to each course you picked and then shows you their decisions.

Its main jobs are:

• Running the application. You register, fill in your details and add your choices in the UCAS Hub.
• Sending your application on. Once it's submitted, UCAS forwards it to the universities and colleges you chose.
• Showing decisions and taking your replies. Offers appear in the Hub, and that's where you accept or decline them.
• Running Extra and Clearing. These give you another chance if you end up without a place.
• Providing research tools. UCAS lists Course Search, the Historical Entry Grades Data Tool and Scholarships Search among the tools your application fee gives you access to.

It works on a big scale. UCAS says that in 2024 its undergraduate service handled almost 3 million applications from 752,210 UK, EU and international students. It helped 564,940 of them secure a full-time place at one of over 380 universities and colleges across the UK.

What UCAS doesn't do

UCAS doesn't make offers. Each university or college reads your application and decides whether to offer you a place, and whether to ask for grades or UCAS points. UCAS carries the application and the decisions between you. Our guide to conditional and unconditional offers shows what those decisions look like.

UCAS doesn't pay for your course either. Student finance is a separate application, although the form may ask for your UCAS Personal ID. The student finance basics guide covers that side of things.

As an independent charity, UCAS pays for its work partly through application fees and through fees that universities and colleges pay for each student they accept. It also has a trading arm, UCAS Media, which works with commercial partners and passes its profits to the charity. That's why you'll see adverts on ucas.com.

Who applies through UCAS?

UCAS's undergraduate service takes applications from UK, EU and international students. Most applicants fit one of these groups:

• School and college students. Your school or college gives you a "buzzword" that links your application to them. Staff can then follow your application and add your reference.
• Independent applicants. If you're not applying through a school or college, you don't need a buzzword. Your reference must come from someone who isn't a family member, friend, partner or ex-partner, such as an employer or trainer.
• International applicants. Students from outside the UK apply through the same service as everyone else.
• Conservatoire applicants. If you're applying to a UK conservatoire (a specialist performing arts provider), you use UCAS Conservatoires. For 2027 entry, the same fee covers up to six conservatoire choices.

How does a UCAS application work?

Everyone follows the same basic order. For 2027 entry, it looks like this:

1. Register and start. Registration for 2027 entry opened in the UCAS Hub on 12 May 2026.
2. Fill in your details. That covers your personal details, your education and qualifications, and your personal statement.
3. Choose up to five courses. You can have no more than four in any one of medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or veterinary science.
4. Get your reference added, then send it. Your UCAS reference includes your predicted grades. Completed applications can be sent to UCAS from 1 September 2026.
5. Wait for decisions. Each university's decision appears in your Hub.
6. Reply to your offers. You pick a firm choice and, if you want a back-up, an insurance choice.

That's the short version. For each step in detail, read how the UCAS application works. When it's time to reply, firm vs insurance choices will help you pick a sensible pair.

Your predicted grades go into your reference, and they shape which courses are realistic for you. It's worth running them through the predicted grades UCAS points calculator before you settle on your five.

Is UCAS the same as UCAS points?

No, and it's an easy mix-up. UCAS is the organisation and the application service. UCAS points (officially UCAS Tariff points) are a score given to your grades, so universities can compare different qualifications on one scale. Working out that score is what this site does.

For A levels, the Tariff gives 56 points for an A*, 48 for an A, 40 for a B, 32 for a C, 24 for a D and 16 for an E. Some offers are written in points. One of UCAS's own examples is "112 UCAS Tariff points including BTEC National Diploma grade DM". Many universities don't use Tariff points at all and ask for grades instead, as our guide to whether all universities use UCAS points explains.

To see your own total, put your grades into the UCAS points calculator. For the background, read what UCAS points are, then check how many UCAS points you need for the subject you want.

How much does it cost to apply through UCAS?

For 2027 entry, the application fee is £34.50. It's one fee for the whole application, covering up to five university and college choices, or up to six if you're applying to a conservatoire. For comparison, the fee for 2026 entry was £28.95.

Two groups can have the fee waived. The first is students who received UK government-funded free school meals during secondary school. The second is care leavers, who are covered for the first time in 2027 entry. Our UCAS application fee guide sets out who qualifies, how payment works and when you can get a refund.

What are the key UCAS dates and numbers for 2027 entry?

Here's UCAS in numbers for courses starting in 2027. All times are UK time.

UCAS calls the October and January dates "equal consideration" dates. Universities must consider every application received by then equally, and they can look at later ones if they still have places. Applications that arrive after 30 June go straight into Clearing, which opens on 2 July 2027. The full list, including offer reply dates, is in our UCAS deadlines guide.

What is the UCAS Hub, and what are UCAS IDs and codes?

The UCAS Hub is your UCAS account. It's where you register, build your application, track its progress and reply to offers. If a parent or an older guide mentions "UCAS Track", that was the old tracking system. UCAS Track no longer exists, and everything now happens in the Hub.

You'll meet a few identifiers along the way:

• Personal ID (also called your UCAS ID). A ten-digit number, shown as 123-456-7890 on every email UCAS sends you. It's created when you start an application, not when you register. Keep it handy, because universities and UCAS use it to look up your application.
• Buzzword. A word from your school or college that links your application to them. Independent applicants don't need one.
• Clearing number. If you become eligible for Clearing, this appears under "Application status" in your application. You give it, with your Personal ID, to a university before you add a Clearing choice.
• Status codes. After UCAS receives your application, it creates personal status codes, which you'll find in your application in the Hub. Banks use them to confirm you're a student when you open a student bank account.

UCAS explains each of these in its glossary of UCAS terms. For where to find each code and what banks ask for, see our UCAS status code guide.

Do you need UCAS to go to university?

If you're heading for a full-time undergraduate degree at a UK university or college, applying normally means applying through UCAS. It runs the national shared admissions service, and one application covers up to five courses.

There are exceptions. UCAS's own page on part-time and flexible study says some of these courses can be found through its search tool, while for others you talk directly to the course provider. If a course you want isn't listed on UCAS, check the university's website or ask its admissions team how to apply.

What should you do next?

If you're applying for 2027 entry, start by checking your likely points total with the UCAS points calculator. Then compare it with the entry requirements of the courses you like, and use what you can study with your UCAS points for ideas. Put the 2027 deadlines in your calendar, and ask your school whether it has its own earlier deadline for UCAS applications.

Work out your UCAS points