UCAS Deadlines for 2027 Entry: 15 October 2026 and 13 January 2027 Explained

There are two UCAS deadlines that matter most this year. Applications to Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses must reach UCAS by 6pm UK time on Thursday 15 October 2026. For most other undergraduate courses, the deadline is 6pm UK time on Wednesday 13 January 2027.

Both look simple, but most problems come from the details: the deadline is 6pm, not midnight. Your school probably has its own, earlier deadline. Your application can't be sent until your reference is done. And if you live outside the UK, 6pm in London may be late evening, or even the next morning, where you are.

Below are the dates for 2027 entry, what 6pm UK time means around the world, and a simple reminder plan so nothing slips.

UCAS deadlines for 2027 entry at a glance

Date	What happens
Thursday 15 October 2026, 6pm UK	Deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses
Thursday 22 October 2026, 6pm UK	Cambridge only: My Cambridge Application form due
Wednesday 13 January 2027, 6pm UK	Equal consideration deadline for most undergraduate courses
Thursday 25 February 2027	UCAS Extra opens (if you've used all five choices and hold no offers)
Wednesday 5 May 2027	Reply deadline if you had all your decisions by 31 March
Wednesday 2 June 2027	Reply deadline if you had all your decisions by 12 May
Wednesday 30 June 2027, 6pm UK	Applications after this go straight into Clearing
Friday 2 July 2027	Clearing opens
Wednesday 21 July 2027	Final reply deadline if you had all your decisions by 14 July

The application fee for 2027 entry is £34.50, and it covers up to five choices. You may be able to get the fee waived if you had free school meals during secondary school, or if you're a care leaver.

What "equal consideration" means

UCAS calls 13 January the equal consideration date. Universities must treat every application that arrives by then equally. After it, you can still apply for many courses, but universities don't have to consider you the same way. They usually only do so if they still have places left.

For the 15 October courses, being late is much more serious. UCAS says it's unusual for these universities to consider late applications, because the courses are so competitive. If you're aiming for Oxford, Cambridge, medicine, dentistry or vet science, treat 15 October as a hard stop.

The deadline that comes first: your school's

If you apply through a school or college, it will almost certainly set an internal deadline before the UCAS one. That's because your application goes to your school first. A teacher writes your reference, adds predicted grades, and then sends the application to UCAS. UCAS is clear that the reference must be finished before the application can be sent.

So the real deadline is whatever date your school gave you. If you don't know it, ask this week. If you're applying on your own, as an independent applicant, ask your referee early. UCAS recommends giving them plenty of time to avoid delays.

What 6pm UK time means where you live

Both main deadlines close at 6pm UK time. The UK is on summer time (BST) until 25 October, then winter time (GMT), so the time difference changes between the two dates.

Where you are	15 October 2026 deadline	13 January 2027 deadline
UK	Thu 6:00pm	Wed 6:00pm
Nigeria (Lagos)	Thu 6:00pm	Wed 7:00pm
UAE (Dubai)	Thu 9:00pm	Wed 10:00pm
India	Thu 10:30pm	Wed 11:30pm
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia	Fri 1:00am	Thu 2:00am
US East Coast (New York)	Thu 1:00pm	Wed 1:00pm

If you're in East or South-East Asia, the deadline falls after midnight on your clock. Don't let that fool you into thinking you have an extra day. Submit on the UK date, and well before the cut-off.

Extra dates for Oxford and Cambridge applicants

The week of 15 October is busy for Oxbridge applicants:

• Admissions tests: the ESAT and TMUA are taken between 12 and 16 October 2026, the same week as the UCAS deadline. Booking closed in September, so check your confirmation email for your exact date, time and test centre.
• LNAT for Law at Cambridge: you must take it on or before 15 October 2026.
• Cambridge's own form: after you submit to UCAS, you also need to complete My Cambridge Application by 6pm UK time on Thursday 22 October 2026. Some applicants, mostly international ones, also have to send a transcript by the same date.
• Interviews: if you're shortlisted for Cambridge, most invitations arrive in November and most interviews happen in the first three weeks of December.

Oxford has its own process and timeline, so check its admissions pages for your course.

After you apply: the reply deadlines

Once offers arrive, you'll need to reply by a set date. If you miss it, UCAS treats it as declining your offers. This is called "decline by default". Your deadline depends on when you received your last decision:

• All decisions by 31 March: reply by 5 May 2027.
• All decisions by 12 May: reply by 2 June 2027.
• All decisions by 14 July: reply by 21 July 2027.

These dates are months away and easy to forget, especially during exams. They're worth putting in your calendar as soon as your last decision comes in.

A reminder plan that works

Whether you're the student or a parent helping out, it helps to set a few reminders:

1. Your school's internal deadline, plus a reminder one week before it. Use that week to finish your personal statement and check the details.
2. Two days before the UCAS deadline: check your reference is done and the application is ready to send.
3. Deadline day, mid-morning UK time: submit. Don't leave it to the evening.
4. Cambridge applicants: a reminder for My Cambridge Application a few days before 22 October.
5. Offer replies: a reminder a week before your reply date, and another two days before.

Examples of reminders that work well:

• "Personal statement to Mrs Khan today. School deadline is Friday."
• "Check your UCAS reference is done. Deadline is 13 January at 6pm."
• "Submit My Cambridge Application today. It closes at 6pm UK time."

For a broader guide to planning around lots of deadlines, see our post on college and university application deadlines.

How ReminderIt helps

A notification is easy to swipe away when you're busy with schoolwork. ReminderIt calls your phone at the time you choose and reads your reminder out loud, for example: "Your UCAS application is due at 6pm UK time today. Submit it this morning." If you miss the call, the reminder arrives on WhatsApp too.

You can set it up just by sending a WhatsApp message, such as "Call me on 12 January at 10am to submit my UCAS application". There's no app to install. You can also send a voice note instead of typing. Reminders are set in your own time zone, which helps if you're applying from outside the UK.

Parents can set reminders to ring their child's phone. The student confirms their number once with a short verification call, so nobody gets calls they didn't agree to. See our guide on setting a reminder for someone else.

There's a 7-day free trial with 7 reminder calls (3 if your number is in a country where calls cost more, which includes the UK). After that it's one plan: $7 a month, or ₹299 a month in India.

The short answer

For 2027 entry, the UCAS deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses is 6pm UK time on Thursday 15 October 2026. For most other courses, it's 6pm UK time on Wednesday 13 January 2027. Your school will usually set an earlier deadline so your reference can be written first. The application can't be sent until the reference is complete. Cambridge applicants also need to submit My Cambridge Application by 6pm UK time on 22 October 2026. The fee is £34.50 for up to five choices.

Sources: UCAS, Key dates timeline; UCAS, Dates and deadlines for uni applications; UCAS, What is the application fee for the 2027 cycle?; University of Cambridge, Application dates and deadlines.