Every application deadline for 2027 entry
UCAS, Studielink, the Irish CAO, Denmark's two quotas and Hochschulstart, in one table. Every date carries its source.
Three dates decide most portfolios: 15 October 2026 for Oxbridge and medicine, 13 January 2027 for the rest of UCAS, and 15 January 2027 for Dutch numerus fixus programmes. The Danish Quota 2 deadline on 15 March 2027 is the one most people find out about too late.
We went through this exact process a few months ago, in two systems at once. This table is the calendar we worked from.
| Deadline | System | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2026 | UCAS | UCAS begins accepting 2027-entry applications. There is no advantage to submitting on day one. Everything inside a deadline is considered equally.Source: ucas.com |
| 15 September 2026 | UK tests | LNAT registration deadline. UCAT bookings close 16 September; ESAT and TMUA registration closes 28 September.Source: Cambridge admissions |
| 1 October 2026 | Studielink | Studielink opens for Dutch numerus fixus programmes starting September 2027. This is the earliest you can put an application in.Source: VU Amsterdam |
| 15 October 2026, 18:00 UK | UCAS | Oxford, Cambridge, and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses. This replaces the January deadline entirely: there is no second chance in the same cycle, and you cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge.Source: UCAS |
| 22 October 2026, 18:00 UK | Cambridge | My Cambridge Application form, a separate form after the UCAS submission and a common thing to miss.Source: Cambridge admissions |
| 13 January 2027, 18:00 UK | UCAS | The UCAS equal consideration deadline for everything else. Universities must consider every application arriving by this moment equally.Source: UCAS |
| 15 January 2027, 23:59 CET | Studielink | Dutch numerus fixus deadline. A hard cut-off with no late window at all: unlike UCAS, there is nothing after it. Maximum two numerus fixus programmes per year, and only one institution for medicine, dentistry, dental hygiene and physiotherapy.Source: VU Amsterdam / Studielink |
| 1 February 2027, 17:00 | CAO (Ireland) | Irish CAO normal closing date. EU and EFTA applicants apply here; the Student Contribution is capped at €2,500 for 2026/27 under the Free Fees Initiative.Source: CAO.ie |
| 15 March 2027, 12:00 | Denmark | Danish Quota 2 deadline, the route that considers more than grades and the one worth writing for. Quota 1, decided on grade average alone, closes 5 July.Source: optagelse.dk |
| 15 April 2027 | Studielink | Dutch ranking numbers are published. You then have two weeks to accept a place. Miss that window and it goes to the next person.Source: VU Amsterdam |
| 1 May 2027 | Studielink | Dutch general deadline for programmes without a numerus fixus. Individual universities sometimes set earlier dates, so check the programme rather than trusting the national date.Source: Studielink |
| ~15 July 2027 | Hochschulstart | Projected deadline for Neu-Abiturient:innen, on the 2026 pattern. The Stiftung für Hochschulzulassung had not published 2027 dates as of 24 August 2026. Confirm before relying on it.Source: hochschulstart.de (projected) |
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How these actually interact
The systems run on separate clocks. UCAS caps you at five choices on one shared statement. Studielink allows four programmes, at most two numerus fixus. Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland have their own caps again, and an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen can be live in all of them at once.
October and January do not compete. An Oxbridge application in October costs you nothing in the Dutch system; a numerus fixus application in January costs you nothing in Denmark. The mistake is treating one system's deadline as the end of the cycle.
Which of these dates are actually yours
Five UCAS choices, four Studielink programmes, the Irish and Nordic caps on top. The dates are the easy half. Which systems are worth your October, and which you can still enter in March, is the part that decides the portfolio.
Twenty minutes on a call, free, and you leave with the dates that apply to you and the order to take them in. No account and no card. What it costs after that →
UCAS: the two dates
15 October 2026, 18:00 UK. Oxford or Cambridge (never both), and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses. For these there is no January fallback in the same cycle.
13 January 2027, 18:00 UK. The equal consideration deadline for everything else. Universities must give equal weight to everything that arrives by then. A September submission is read no more favourably than a January one.
After January, UCAS keeps forwarding applications until 30 June 2027, but universities only look at them if places remain. Competitive courses are usually full, so a late application is a weaker one.
Netherlands: the trap in the middle
Studielink opens 1 October 2026 and numerus fixus closes 15 January 2027, hard. Two things catch people out. First, registering on Studielink is not applying: most institutions require a separate motivation letter or selection round afterwards, and without it the Studielink entry does nothing. Second, ranking numbers land 15 April 2027 and you have two weeks to accept; miss the window and the place moves down the list.
Denmark: Quota 2 is the one worth writing for
Denmark runs two quotas. Quota 1 is decided purely on grade average and closes 5 July 2027. Quota 2 closes 15 March 2027 at 12:00 and considers everything else: relevant experience, a written application, sometimes a test or interview. If your grades are good but not exceptional, Quota 2 is the route that can actually be influenced, and it closes four months earlier than most people expect.
Ireland: CAO, and one change for 2027
The normal CAO closing date is 1 February 2027 at 17:00. For 2027 entry to medicine specifically, the formula changes: Leaving Certificate points above 550 are no longer moderated, and the HPAT contribution drops from a maximum of 300 points to 150, making the combined maximum 775. HPAT is still mandatory.
Germany: Hochschulstart
The 2027/28 dates were not published as of 24 August 2026. On the 2026 pattern, applications open in late April, the Alt-Abiturient:innen deadline falls at the end of May, and Neu-Abiturient:innen close around 15 July with decisions in late August. Treat all of these as projections and confirm on hochschulstart.de before planning around them.
If you are applying from Germany or Austria: a Baden-Württemberg Abitur certificate can arrive as late as 8 July, seven days before that deadline. Most portfolio decisions get made in that week, under maximum pressure. A good argument for deciding where you apply in October instead.
How current this is
Every date here was checked on 24 August 2026 against the source named in its row. Dates marked as projected have not been published by the awarding body yet. If you spot one that has changed, tell us and we will fix it the same day.
Still not sure which of these you are up against
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