What Does University Application Admission Status Mean?

Last Updated on March 27, 2023

A University application admission status is a stage of each particular prospective student’s application in the review process by the admission board.

What Does University Application Admission Status Mean?

 This gives you an idea or update on the progress of the procession of your application before the final statement is given to you regarding your application. Admission status lets you know if there are any outstanding documents that you supposedly have to submit in order for your application to undergo the full selection process.

Admission statuses vary in accordance with the missing info or the faculty the application is sent to or the type of application made. This gives you a clear impression of what to probably expect as a final admission status which will be communicated to you by SMS/email depending on the preferred communication method.

It is important to remember that the final decision on whether your application is successful or not depends on your final grade 12 results. So if you applied on time for the right courses with the right subjects and levels please do yourself a favor and stop worrying about the application status so much and concentrate on your studies so that you improve your academic performance and increase your chances of being finally accepted in January. 

The following are the possible statuses a prospective student can get… Let’s consider them briefly.

Admission without status

Be advised that the admission statuses “application in process “and “admission without status “mean that your application is still under consideration. since applications for admission go through various departmental and faculty evaluation stages, the status may not exactly indicate at which stage your application is in. the fact that it is in the process means that it is being dealt with and you will be receiving feedback in due course.

If you have been invited for an interview, admission test, audition, etc. means that you have met the initial academic entry requirements and your application result now depends on the results of the one above-mentioned evaluation you have undertaken. Once the outcome of your evaluation has been finalized, the department with which you undertook the evaluation with will send your final result to the admission office, which will then officially communicate this to you in writing.

So please understand that the process may take time but they are necessary to protect you and your university’s rights, all the departments are obliged by the university policy to follow the right procedures in dealing with applications and communicating with prospective students. A little patience is therefore required in such instances.

Money omitted

This application/admission status simply means that you didn’t pay the application fee or you have not yet uploaded the proof of payment fee payment. All institutions urge prospective students to use their student number or id as a reference when paying application fees to avoid confusion and then after the payment, they expect you to upload the receipt via your student portal. No document will be accepted over email.

Waiting list

A university admission status that is classified as a waiting list means that the prospective student is not formally accepted or formally rejected, this means that the prospective students can either still be admitted or rejected. The prospective student can be accepted if there is any vacant/space in the course or department in which the prospective student made an application. the fate of waitlisted prospective students lies on a thin wire of space availability after accepted students have registered. It is advisable that prospective students apply to multiple institutions in order to have a wide range of institutions to choose from after final decisions have been released.

Provisionally accepted/ subject to grade 12 results

This is one most common statuses. This means that you still have to write your final grade 12 examination or, as the important people call it, the national senior certificate (NSC) or equivalent examination. Provisional admission is not a final admission but is dependent on the final results of the national senior certificate (NSC) or equivalent certification or selection process in the case of selection programs. After receiving your NSC, the university will inform you whether you are fully accepted or not.

Fully accepted

This is music to your ears and applicable to those who took a gap year or were just not ready to study. if you have already completed your national senior certificate and complied with the admission requirements you can be fully accepted. This means you have passed grade 12 and you have the national senior certificate. Lucky you.

Subject to selection

This one is a bit trickier. Selection programs are those courses that include a selection process, for example, bachelor of nursing science bachelor of social work, bachelor of law, or a bachelor of social sciences (psychology). It is important to make sure that you are aware of the selection criteria for the courses mentioned above.

Subject to outstanding documents

Congratulations, your application has been received and evaluated, and you comply with the requirements and programme you are interested in. but for some reason, you did not upload all the required documents. You will be notified and once we receive the outstanding documents, your status will change to provisionally accepted.

Waiting approval

Happy…happy…you have applied online, and your application was received by the institution. it is now in the process of being considered. if you do not receive any feedback within 3 weeks of submitting your application, you are advised to contact the central application office.

Next choice being considered

Finally, it can also happen that one or more of your indicated choices is unsuccessful or on a waiting list. This status indicates that your next reasonable choice is currently being considered but that does not grant you any full acceptance or admission to the institution and the final decision is subjected to your results versus the minimum entry requirements and selection process.


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