When are the UCAS deadlines for 2027 entry?

For 2027 entry (Year 13 now), UCAS accepts completed applications from 1 September 2026. Applications that include Oxford, Cambridge, or any Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary course close at 18:00 UK time on 15 October 2026. Every other undergraduate course has an equal-consideration deadline of 18:00 UK time on 13 January 2027. (Source: UCAS 2027-entry key dates, last checked 23 July 2026.)

Which courses have the 15 October 2026 deadline for 2027 entry?

Two groups: every course at Oxford and Cambridge, and Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine or Science at any UK university, not just the famous ones. If even one of your child's five UCAS choices falls in these groups, the whole application for 2027 entry needs to be submitted by 15 October 2026, 18:00 UK time.

For Hong Kong families, note the time difference: 18:00 in the UK on 15 October 2026 is 01:00 in Hong Kong on the morning of 16 October. Treat 15 October, Hong Kong daytime, as the real deadline. Nobody should be uploading a personal statement at midnight.

What does "equal consideration"
mean for the 13 January 2027 deadline?

For 2027 entry, any application received by 18:00 UK time on 13 January 2027 must be considered equally with every other application to that course. After that date, universities may still accept applications, but only at their discretion. For competitive courses, that discretion is rarely exercised. In practice, 13 January is the deadline.

When should a 2027-entry application actually be built?

Working back from 15 October: predicted grades and the school reference are settled early in the autumn term, admissions tests cluster in September and October, and UCAS opens on 1 September. That leaves the summer of 2026 as the real construction window for 2027 entry: course list decided, personal statement drafted and redrafted, test preparation under way before school resumes.

A student entering Year 13 or IB2 in September 2026 who starts thinking about the application in September is already behind the strongest applicants. The families who find October calm are the ones who used July and August. Here is what that summer should actually contain.

What about 2028 entry (Year 12 now)?

For a student in Year 12 or IB1 now, applying for 2028 entry, the same two deadlines fall a year later: Oxford, Cambridge, Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary in October 2027, and all other courses in January 2028. UCAS confirms the exact dates next year. The same working-back logic applies a year on, which makes the summer of 2027 the construction window.