two students at guildhall smiling

What happens after you've applied?

While you wait for a decision on your application, there's still plenty to keep you busy

Once you've submitted your application, it's tempting to forget about preparing for uni while you wait for us to get back to you with a decision.

But, there are still a few things you can do while you wait for the offers to come in. And, if you don't get the offers you wanted, you might consider applying for more courses.

Waiting for a decision

When we’ve made a decision on your application, we’ll email you to let you know if we’re offering you a place.

We’ll also get in touch if you need to come to an interview or do a test before we make a decision.

Interviews, portfolios and admissions tests

On some of our courses, you may need to submit a portfolio, come to an interview or do an admissions test before we make a decision on your application.

If a course does require a portfolio, an interview or test it will say so on the course page on our website and the UCAS course search. Interviews and tests vary between courses, but we'll always tell you what to expect, what to bring and where to go when we invite you for an interview or test.

For lots of helpful information about preparing a portfolio for your specific course, please see our portfolio guides

Guardian Selects

Join us at an Open Day

Get a taste of student life at Portsmouth, by visiting us at an Open Day.

You'll learn more about courses, meet potential new classmates, hear from our academics and talk with our support teams.

Book now

Applying for student finance

You can apply for student finance in the spring before the start of your course. Don’t wait until you get an offer or receive your exam results – apply as soon as you can.

You can find out more about student finance, including scholarships and bursaries, on our fees and funding page.

Finding somewhere to live

If you're a UK or EU student, we’ll send you details of how to apply for a room in halls when we offer you a place.

In the meantime, find out more about your accommodation options and take a look at where you could be living by touring our halls of residence.

Applying for more courses through UCAS

If you change your mind after you submit your UCAS application or you don’t get any suitable offers, you can go back and add more courses if you haven’t already used all 5 choices.

If you’ve used all 5 choices, you may be able to apply for additional courses through UCAS Extra. Extra is open between the end of February and the start of July. If it's available to you, you'll see it in UCAS Hub.

If you haven’t accepted any offers, you can also use Clearing to apply for courses that still have spaces. Clearing opens at the start of July.

Withdrawing a UCAS application

If you don’t want to wait for a decision or you change your mind about a choice before you accept it, you can withdraw an application for any of your choices in UCAS Hub.

Feedback and appeals

To get feedback on an unsuccessful application, email feedback@port.ac.uk with your name and the course you applied for. We’ll get back to you within 5 working days. For more information, please see page 10 of our Admissions Policy document.