A levels 2024: How many students landed their first-choice university this year - and what happens next?

• More than 400 thousand students have landed a spot at a UK university this year.
• A record number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds have also accepted a university place.
• But the gap between them and the most well-off students has widened - as has the gap between different regions.
• Students who didn’t get a spot will now be entered into Clearing.

Hundreds of thousands of students now know whether they’ll be heading off to the university of their dreams next month - but all is not equal between the regions, or between students from different backgrounds.

Today, Thursday, 15 August, is A Level results day, with students across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland finally able to find out how they did on their final exams. The number of A Levels taken by students rose this summer, and the number of top grades has gone up too. The overall pass rate did fall a little - although this was in line with normal fluctuations.

For many, the end goal was to get into university - and thankfully, most students this year have successfully landed a spot at their university of choice. Some, however, will now need to navigate the Clearing process, while data suggests the gaps between our most and least disadvantaged students and those from different regions may be widening.

But how many students have managed to score the grades needed to get into the university of their dreams, and just how bad is the UK’s attainment gap?

Here’s what you need to know:

How many students got into university this year?

Some 425,680 students of all ages and domiciles will be heading off to UK universities this September, the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) announced on results day, up about 3% on last year.

In total, 376,470 of them were accepted at their first choice university, representing some 82% of all those holding an offer. This too is up from last year by 4%, with 79% of pupils immediately landing a spot at their UCAS firm choice in 2023.

In England, 32.1% of all 18-year-olds in the country have been accepted into university. A whopping 75.7% of applicants were accepted into their first choice university on A Level results day, up from 71.6% in 2023 and 74.5% in 2019 - before the pandemic.

In Northern Ireland, 11,180 applicants have already secured a place as of results day, continuing a pattern of falling numbers over the past few years. Wales has seen a similar trend with 15,570 accepted applicants, down from 16,330 two years ago.

More than 50 thousand international students have also landed a place at a UK university, in line with numbers from 2023. UCAS noted that the number of accepted applicants from China had fallen somewhat, by 6% on last year.

Courses that saw a huge boost in numbers of applicants to secure a spot include engineering and technology, up 11% on last year, architecture, building and planning - up 9% - and law, also up 9%. The number of UK students accepted into nursing courses has also jumped up a little on last year with 18,450 securing a place - although this is still a decline from the sudden peak seen during the pandemic.

What about students from disadvantaged backgrounds or regions?

UCAS reports that 27,600 UK 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have accepted a place at university this year. This is a record-breaking number. Not only is it up 7% on 25,800 last year, but it surpasses the previous record high of 26,650 in 2021 by 4%.

While this initially seems like a positive figure, the gap between the most and least disadvantaged 18-year-olds getting accepted into university in England has actually widened, the Department for Education has confirmed, as has the gap in regional entry rates.

While England had a record-breaking 22,640 18-year-old applicants from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds gain a place, numbers in other UK countries have fallen somewhat. In Wales 1,200 have been accepted, down from the peak of 1,250 in 2023. In Northern Ireland 1,000 from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have got a place, compared to 1,010 in 2023.

But even within England’s different regions, the rate of acceptance into university and A Level grades themselves have proven somewhat stark. The gap between the highest and lowest performing regions has grown since 2023, with London having 31.3% of grades at A or above, and the East Midlands just 22.5%.

When it comes to acceptance into university, 42.5% of London 18-year-olds secured a spot on results day, compared to just 25.3% in the North East. This gap is now 17.2 percentage points, which is worse than both 2023 (15.3) and before the pandemic in 2019 (10.5).

The government and UCAS have both committed to helping bridge the attainment gap between the UK’s most and least disadvantaged pupils. Since the July election, the new government has made a number of steps and pledges towards tackling the issue, from promising free school breakfast clubs, to starting a recruitment push for 6,500 new teachers, to initiating a full review of the national curriculum.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This government is committed to breaking down barriers to make sure that all young people, wherever they are from, have the knowledge and skills to seize opportunity.”

What happens now for those that didn’t land a spot?

For students who didn’t get the grades they needed for their top university choice, results day can be a hard one. The first thing they should do is take some time to process it, and get support from their loved ones and school’s careers team.

But it’s not the end of the line for them yet, with tens of thousands of university places available via the Clearing process. This process, which can also be used by those who applied late or who have changed their minds about what they want to study, helps match up universities with leftover places in their courses to other prospective students.

UCAS will automatically enter you into Clearing if you don’t have a place yet, and will even select courses it thinks you’ll be interested in - which you can view on your online application. You can also use the official search tool online here to browse what else is available in your area of interest.

You’ll need to reach out to any universities you find interesting over the phone to see if they would consider you. You can find the right contact details by clicking into its profile, and their admissions team will be able to walk you through the process - until you make a match that works for you.

The government has issued some advice for parents and carers supporting students as they receive their exam results on A Level results day. This can often be a tense and emotionally fraught time, especially if things don’t go as expected.You can check this advice out online here.