Results day is one of the most nerve-racking mornings of the whole application, for your child and for you. You cannot change the grades on the page, but how you are with them makes a difference to how the day feels. I am an NHS GP and I have helped families through plenty of these mornings. Here is how to be ready, whatever the screen says.
Reviewed by Dr Akash Gandhi · Last updated: September 2026
Many families find it helps to sit down together in the week before and sort the practical things while heads are clear: the exact time results are released, checking your child can log in to UCAS Hub, and their UCAS ID, exam numbers and predicted grades in one place.
It is also a good time to read the relevant clearing guide together. If your child knows how confirmation, insurance choices and clearing work, there are fewer surprises on the day. A shortlist of universities and phone numbers, just in case, does no harm even if you are feeling confident.
A rough order for the morning, so the day has some shape to it.
Start gently
Being up before them, with breakfast and a calm house, helps. Many children prefer to check UCAS Hub in their own space. Whatever it says, your first reaction tends to stay with them, so warmth first and analysis later.
If the place is confirmed
Celebrate. They have earned it. There is nothing else to do that day except enjoy the relief before the practicalities of starting university begin.
If grades were missed
The university may still confirm, so there is time to breathe. If not, you can work through insurance and clearing options together. Many families find it works best if your child makes the calls while you help with the paperwork and the reassurance.
If it is bad news
It is fine for them to be upset before anyone talks about solutions. Later, gently, it can help to remind them that reapplying and other routes exist. Big decisions rarely need to be made that morning.
Clearing differs slightly by subject. The full guides: medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.
If the grades are not what you hoped, the first few hours can feel rushed. Before your child accepts a clearing place or decides about the year, it can help to talk it through with a doctor, dentist or vet who knows how the day works.
On results day your child does not need you to be an admissions expert. They need their parent, steady and loving whatever the screen says. The universities, the clearing lines and the guides cover the technical side, and we can help with that too if you would like.
Whatever happens that morning, it helps them to hear that they are going to be okay, and that one set of results does not decide the doctor, dentist or vet they can still become. If the day brings disappointment, our guide on what to do if your child does not get in is there for the days that follow.
Early that morning, UCAS Hub will show whether their place is confirmed. If they have met the grades of their firm choice, the place is confirmed and there is nothing more to do but celebrate. If they have narrowly missed, the university may still confirm, or may take a little longer to decide, which can mean an anxious wait.
If the firm choice is not confirmed, their insurance choice comes into play, and if neither is held, clearing opens. Knowing this order in advance makes the morning much less frightening.
Clearing is how universities fill remaining places. Medicine, dentistry and veterinary places in clearing are limited and move fast, so it helps to have your child's UCAS ID, grades and a list of phone numbers ready before results come out.
Our subject clearing guides walk through it step by step: medicine clearing, dentistry clearing, and veterinary clearing and gateway courses. Reading them the week before makes the day itself much easier.
Usually your child. Admissions staff generally expect to speak to the applicant, so it works best if they make the calls. You can be there alongside: sitting with them, having the paperwork ready, keeping things calm between calls, making the tea.
Helping them rehearse what to say beforehand is fine. A short, prepared summary of who they are and what they are looking for goes a long way.
Planning the day in advance leaves fewer unknowns. Some families find it helps to know when results are released, have a quiet space ready, clear their own diary, and agree what the first hour will look like. With the practical side sorted, you have more room for your child.
Children tend to pick up on the mood around them, so if you can be steady, it often helps them be steady too.
It is painful, but it is not the end of the road, and you do not have to solve it all that day. Clearing, a stronger reapplication next cycle, graduate entry and gap-year routes are all still open. Our guide on what to do if your child does not get into medicine walks through each one calmly, when you are both ready.
A-level results day falls in mid August. For most applicants UCAS Hub updates very early that morning, often before the printed results are collected from school, showing whether a firm or insurance place has been confirmed. It helps for your child to know the exact release time in advance.
Yes, although they are limited and they move quickly. A number of medical and dental schools release places through clearing each year, sometimes including for international students. Because they go fast, it helps to prepare in advance, with results to hand, a shortlist ready and your child ready to phone when clearing opens. Our medicine, dentistry and veterinary clearing guides explain how each one works.
Your child's firm choice is their first-choice offer; their insurance choice is the back-up, usually with slightly lower grade requirements. On results day, if they meet the firm offer it is confirmed. If they miss it, the university may still accept them, or their insurance choice comes into play, and if neither holds, clearing opens. Knowing this order in advance makes the morning easier.
We can help you both think clearly when emotions are high, whether that means weighing up a clearing place or starting to plan a stronger reapplication. Through the Ultimate Package your child works with a practising doctor, dentist or vet as their mentor, alongside our team and current students, to rebuild a confident next application. If it would help, a free strategy call is a good place to start working out a plan.
From tutoring and interview coaching to our all-in-one Ultimate Package, we support first-time applicants and reapplicants alike. Tell us their situation and we will suggest what might suit them.
Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.
“Harry got my UCAT up to 2,590, working through the sections I kept dropping marks on week by week. Gemma then ran my interview practice so the MMI stations didn't catch me out, and Dr Akash mentored me the whole way through. I'm off to King's for Medicine.”
“The interview prep was the part that actually moved the needle. Proper mock MMIs, not just lists of questions, and feedback that was honest about what I was getting wrong. I ended up with four offers and firmed UCL.”
“The Ultimate Package kept me organised from UCAT through to interviews. They knew what dental schools actually ask and tightened up my personal statement. Four offers in the end, and I'm going to Birmingham.”
“Vet applications come down to the written SAQs as much as the interview. Dr Rebecca went through my SAQs line by line, sharpened my answers and prepped me for the panels. I came away with four offers and chose the RVC.”
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