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By accepting an offer in Extra you’re making a commitment to that university or college and you’ll be placed with them if you meet the conditions of their offer. If you don’t meet the conditions of their offer, you will automatically become eligible for Clearing.

You can’t change your personal statement, so if you’re applying for a course that’s different from your initial choices, it’s a good idea to contact the university or college. Explain to them you’ve changed your mind and offer to send them a revised personal statement.

You can only have one Extra choice at any given time, so if you receive an offer through Extra you must either accept it as your firm choice or decline it. If you decline the offer you’ll be able to add another Extra choice providing there’s still time. If you use Extra, you will never have an insurance choice.

Yes. If you receive an offer in Extra, the date you must reply by is shown in your application. You must reply by this date otherwise your offer will be automatically declined.

No, this isn’t the case. A university or college should try to make their decision within 21 days, but sometimes they need longer. The ‘Add an Extra choice’ option will automatically become active again after 21 days. You must then decide whether to keep waiting for the university or college to make a decision, or to replace it with another choice instead. However, if you do replace it with another choice, this will prevent the university you are waiting for from making their decision.

To be eligible for Extra, you must have used all five initial choices and not be holding any offers, or waiting for any decisions. If you’re still waiting for decisions from some of your choices but you’re certain you’re not interested in these anymore and you don’t want to wait for their decisions, you can cancel these outstanding choices. The ‘Add an Extra choice’ option will then become available. You should think carefully before doing this because you won’t be able to reinstate these choices if you change your mind.

If the course you want to apply for is listed as no longer accepting applications in our search tool, but the university is happy for you to apply, you should ask the university to open course vacancies. If they agree to do this, you’ll be able to add the choice. UCAS can’t do this on behalf of the universities.

Not necessarily – each university or college decides which of its courses (if any) still has places available. They inform UCAS using an online system, and these courses display the information in our search tool.

There’s no limit to the number of times you can add an Extra choice to your application while Extra is running, but you can only ever have one being considered at a time.

You don’t need to be ready to use Extra when it opens in February. At whatever point you become eligible – up until early July – the ‘Add an Extra choice’ option will become available in your application.

No, there is no additional fee to use Extra.

You’ll see the option to ‘Add an Extra choice’ on your application.

You’re eligible for Extra if you’ve used all five choices in your application and you’re not holding any offers. This means that all your choices must be either unsuccessful, you’ve declined any offers or cancelled any choices you have not received decisions for.

This information is shared (securely) with those who are responsible for supporting you at university or college (e.g. the student services team).

Knowing about your circumstances may also help admissions staff to take your achievements into account and gain a better understanding of your achievements and potential in context. They may be able to offer additional support once you're at university or college (e.g. through a scholarship or bursary scheme). Also, they may get in touch with details of any events or activities they think you'll find interesting to prepare you for higher education.

The information you provide here may be used (anonymously) for monitoring purposes. This helps the university to inform and improve the support they provide to students in the future.

The information you share with UCAS is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

For more information about who your information is shared with, read UCAS’ privacy policy.

Research indicates students who receive free school meals are more likely to achieve lower educational outcomes (e.g. lower grades at GCSE and/or A level or Highers) as a result of their circumstances.

To ensure that applicants’ achievements are considered in context, admissions staff at some course providers use this, and other information, to form a more complete picture of you as an individual, and identify applicants who have the potential to succeed. This is called ‘contextualised admissions’.

In some cases, course providers may make you a ‘contextual offer’, which is typically slightly lower than the standard entry requirements.

If you're not sure, ask your school – they'll be able to confirm this for you.

If you're eligible for free school meals (or were in the past), but haven't receive them for any reason, you can still use this question to let the university or college know.

Secondary education means any education setting you attended between the ages of 11 to 18.

• In England and Wales, this would be Years 7 – 13.
• In Northern Ireland it would be Years 8 – 14.
• In Scotland, S1 – S6.

This might have been in a school, sixth form or college.

Young people in the UK are usually eligible for free school meals if their parents or carers are on a low income or in receipt of certain benefits – they'll need to have registered with their local authority.

You may also be eligible if you're paid qualifying benefits directly, instead of through your parent or carer.

• Find out more about applying to university if you are a UK Armed Forces veteran or a Service Leaver.
• Read more about the UK Armed Forces Covenant and how it can support you with applying to higher education.
• The MOD’s Service Leaver’s Guide provides more information about educational support, and the schemes available to help you access higher education.
• The ELCAS website gives full details about the MOD’s Enhanced Learning Credits scheme.
• The MOD’s Career Transition Partnership (CTP) website offers advice about all aspects of resettlement, including education.
• QUEST is an independent website offering information on education and careers for serving military personnel and veterans.

No. This question is to identify people who have served in the Regular or Reserve UK Armed Forces.

However, we strongly recommend talking about your cadet experience in the personal statement to outline the skills and strengths you've gained as a result.

This information is shared (securely) with those who are responsible for supporting you at university or college (e.g. the student services team).

Knowing about your circumstances may also help admissions staff to take your achievements into account and gain a better understanding of your achievements and potential in context. They may get in touch with you to share more details about the support and opportunities they offer, or events and resources you may find useful to prepare for higher education. They may also be able to tell you about any opportunities to support their own work with the wider Armed Forces community.

Your information may also be used (anonymously) for monitoring purposes. This helps the university to inform and improve the support they provide to other students from a military background in the future.

The information you share with UCAS is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

For more information about who your information is shared with, read UCAS’ privacy policy.

For ex-Service personnel, there may be unique challenges involved in applying to a course of higher education, such as recognition of the training and qualifications gained during your time in the UK Armed Forces.

When you give this information, you're letting the university or college know you may need additional support during your studies, or have perhaps faced particular challenges. They may get in touch with more information about the support available and to discuss whether you want to access it. Remember any support provided is designed to ensure you have a fair chance to succeed in your studies.

Before you apply, you might find it's a good idea to contact student services at the university or college to check what support is available. A number of higher education providers have signed the UK Armed Forces Covenant, and details about this can be found on their individual websites.

Read more about the Covenant and what it means for you on the UK Armed Forces Covenant website.

Knowing about your circumstances may also help admissions staff to take your achievements into account and gain a better understanding of these achievements and potential in context. It won't reflect negatively on your application or academic ability, but instead will enable the university or college to form a more complete picture of you as an individual and identify applicants who have the potential to succeed.

Don’t forget to also use the UCAS personal statement to showcase how your experiences and prior training have helped you develop unique skills and strengths that may be helpful in your studies.

• Find out more about applying to university if you're from an Armed Forces family.
• The Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP Alliance) website has more information and advice for students from UK Armed Forces families.
• The Children's Education Advisory Service (CEAS) provides authoritative, bespoke, professional advice to Service and eligible MOD civilian families on a wide range of educational issues.
• If your parent or carer is in the Army, there is more information available from the Army Families Federation (AFF) website.
• For students with a parent or carer in the Navy, the Naval Families Federation (NFF) website provides information and advice.
• If your parent or carer is in the Royal Air Force, the Royal Air Force Families Federation (RAF FF) website offers more information.
• A blog article from the Ministry of Defence which explains more about why UCAS asks this question, and why sharing your circumstances is a positive step.

It's optional to give this information – you don't have to let the university or college know if you don’t want to. However, we recommend that you do, so they can understand the context of your achievements and make sure you know about any support that can help you during your studies. Even if you don’t feel you need any extra support now, you may feel differently later on.

Either way, don’t forget you can use the UCAS personal statement to highlight how your experience may have helped you develop unique skills and strengths that you'll be able to transfer to your studies. To help with this, the Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP Alliance) has created some guidance to help you write about this.