Deferred entry lets you apply through UCAS for a course starting the following year. You select the later start date when you add the course, but the university decides whether that particular course accepts deferred applications and whether a later request to defer will be approved.
Deferred entry means applying in one UCAS admissions cycle for a course that you intend to start the following academic year. If you're applying in the 2027 cycle, for example, you would apply alongside other 2027 applicants but select a 2028 start for the course you want to defer.
UCAS provides the application route. The university or college decides whether it will consider deferred applications for the course. UCAS therefore tells applicants to check with the provider before submitting a deferred choice.
How to select deferred entry on UCAS
When you add a course choice, select the deferred start date for that course. It remains one of your UCAS choices and is subject to the same choice rules explained in How UCAS Choices Work.
The university then assesses you for the deferred start year. UCAS describes deferral as ordinarily lasting one year. Each provider sets its own policy on whether deferred entry is available for the course.
Check the exact course before you apply
A university that accepts deferred applications does not necessarily accept them for every degree. UCL, for example, accepts deferred applications across much of the university but excludes the Slade School of Fine Art. Edinburgh says that not all of its degree programmes accept deferred applications. It does not accept medicine or veterinary medicine applications for deferred entry as standard, although it considers one-year deferral where an applicant has compulsory national service or a similar obligation.
Those are university rules, not UCAS restrictions. UCAS does not impose a general ban on deferral for medicine, veterinary medicine, fine art or another subject. You need the rule for the exact course and provider you are applying to.
Check the current course page and undergraduate admissions guidance before submitting your application. If neither gives a clear answer, ask the admissions team whether it will consider a deferred application for that course and start year.
You apply in the cycle in which your application is being considered, not the year in which you will eventually start university. For 2027 entry, the equal consideration deadline is 15 October 2026 for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine or science courses, and 13 January 2027 for most other undergraduate courses. UCAS Application Timeline and Key Deadlines covers the wider timetable.
Your offer conditions also belong to that application cycle. If you receive a conditional offer for deferred entry, you still have to meet the conditions by the deadline stated in the offer. Deferral postpones the course start date; it does not postpone the qualifications or other conditions on which the offer was made.
UCAS advises deferred applicants to explain their reasons for deferring and their plans for the year out in the personal statement. For 2027 entry, the personal statement is divided into three questions, so include that information in the answer where it fits naturally rather than looking for a separate deferral section. Follow any additional instruction from the university or course about what it wants you to explain.
Applying for a deferred place or applying next year
If you already know that you want to start university a year later, you have two routes. You can apply now for a deferred place, or wait and submit a new application in the following admissions cycle for the same intended start year.
A deferred application lets you compete for the place before your year out begins. If you later decide that you want a different course or university, however, UCAS says you cannot apply elsewhere in the next cycle while you are holding the deferred place. You must first ask the course provider to release you from it, and UCAS says that release depends on the provider agreeing.
Waiting until the following cycle leaves the course and university decision open until later. You will then apply under that later cycle's entry requirements and against its applicant field. Edinburgh also points out that, in its admissions context, an applicant applying during a year out with achieved qualifications can be in a stronger position than an applicant seeking deferred entry with predicted grades. That is not a UCAS-wide advantage and should not be assumed at another university.
The practical choice depends on how settled your plans are. If you are ready to commit to a course that accepts deferred applications, applying for deferred entry allows that application to be considered now. If you want the year out to inform your eventual course or university choice, applying in the following cycle preserves that flexibility.
Asking to defer after you have applied
An application for the earlier start year cannot be changed to deferred entry unilaterally through UCAS Hub. UCAS tells applicants who want to change the course year or other course details after submission to contact the university or college. If the provider agrees, it reports the change to UCAS. How to Change Your UCAS Application After Submitting explains the wider rules for post-submission changes.
The same applies after you receive an offer. You ask the university that made the offer, and its own policy determines whether the request will be accepted. Bristol accepts deferral requests through its applicant dashboard before or after an offer. Imperial considers requests made after an offer at the discretion of the relevant academic department. Edinburgh says post-offer deferral requests are considered only in rare cases involving extreme extenuating circumstances.
The university can approve the request, refuse it or require a fresh application in the next admissions cycle. UCAS warns applicants that a late request to defer can lead to a requirement to reapply. If you already know that you need the later start year, raise the request promptly rather than planning on an automatic change to the offer.
What an agreed deferral changes
If the university agrees to defer your place, the course start moves to the later year. You still have to satisfy any conditions attached to the offer within the required timetable. Once the place is confirmed for deferred entry, you hold it for that later intake under the provider's admissions arrangements.
Accommodation, funding and other pre-arrival arrangements are separate from the admissions decision. Their application dates and rules will relate to the year in which you actually start. Check them after the university has confirmed the deferral rather than assuming arrangements made for the original year will carry over.
Do not assume you can change back again
A deferred place is an agreement to start in the later year, not a reversible reservation for both years. If you later want to start in the original year, you need to ask the university again. UCAS says the outcome depends on the provider and whether a place remains available; Bristol likewise warns applicants that returning to the original year is not guaranteed once a place has been deferred.
Choose deferred entry on the basis that you will start in the deferred year. Any later attempt to bring the start date forward is another change for the university to decide.
