If you’re not sure what to pick as your firm and insurance choices, applicant days or offer holder days offer a second chance to check out unis and make your final choice.
Updated: 15 Apr 2025
Congratulations, you’ve sent off your UCAS application and now your offers are rolling in from unis across the country. Along with offers, many unis will also extend an invitation to attend an offer holder day, also sometimes called an applicant day.
These days are great opportunities to see the campus, learn more about the course you’ve applied for and explore the city. They're really helpful when it comes to making your firm and insurance choices as the information will all be fresh in your mind and you can get a better feel for the atmosphere of the uni, the course content and even meet some people who you could end up studying with.
So you’re not surprised on the day, check out our guide on what to expect at these events...
Once you’ve received an offer from a uni through UCAS, you’ll likely receive an email from them inviting you to attend one of their offer holder days. You’ll be able to register online for the event and you might also be asked to book some of the talks you’re interested in to make sure you get a place on the day. Offer holder days are invite-only, so you can’t just show up. You’ll need to have received and offer, been invited and registered.
Yep, but you’ll probably have to let the uni know you’ll be bringing a guest when you register for the event. Usually there are talks especially for parents and carers to answer any questions or concerns they may have, which tend to happen at the same time as your subject-specific events, which would typically be for applicants only. The general talks and tours are normally open to both applicants and guests.
There’s a lot going on at offer holder days and every uni runs them slightly differently, but here are some of the most common activities and tours that you can do on the day.
One of the best things you can expect to experience on an offer holder day is a mock-seminar or lecture – sometimes you get to experience both! You’ll be alongside other applicants to your course, so this can also be a chance to meet some of the people you might be studying alongside.
Usually, places on this part of the day are for applicants only so you can start getting a feel for the atmosphere in uni classrooms and have the chance to discuss the topic with other applicants. Your guests can wander the campus or there might be a simultaneous talk for parents and carers for them to attend.
There could be guided tours, or you might just have the chance to look around on a self-guided tour. Some of the facilities you can expect to be available for touring include the library, sports facilities and laboratories.
You won't always want to visit everything – if you’ve applied for a degree in Spanish you probably aren't bothered about seeing the chemistry labs – but you’ll be able to have a look at whatever’s important to you.
This will usually be done as a guided tour. You’ll be shown one of the bedrooms in a shared flat and get to check out the common areas as well. These tours are quite often run by current students of the uni, and they might even have lived in the accommodation you’re being shown. This is a great opportunity to chat to a current student as well, so don’t feel like you can only talk to them about accommodation if you’ve got other questions.
Whenever you get a break in your day, you’ll be free to just walk around the campus or the city the uni’s located in. There might also be guided tours on offer, especially of the campus. It’s entirely up to you whether you’d rather walk around in a group or if you’d rather find a map online and wander round at your own pace.
Offer holder days can be really valuable, especially if you didn’t go to an open day at that uni, or if you went to so many open days you can’t quite remember the details of that uni. It also offers more of an insight into the particular course you’ve applied for than an open day, and you could meet some people who you might end up studying with.
If you’re not sure which unis you want to make your firm and insurance choices, attending a couple of offer holder days is a sure-fire way to get the info you’ll need to make your final decision.