UCAS 9 min
A Level Results Day 2026: What to Do, Hour by Hour
The exact results day playbook for creative applicants: what happens at 8am, when Clearing opens, what to say on the phone, and the portfolio rule nobody mentions.
Read the guide
Getting into music.
Conservatoires, university music degrees and production courses.
Music has three main routes: conservatoire performance training, university music degrees, and modern production or music business courses at specialist institutions. Conservatoires audition heavily and close earliest; university courses weigh academics more; production courses often want a portfolio of tracks rather than a recital.
The four things to know.
The route
Conservatoires recruit through UCAS Conservatoires, a separate service from standard UCAS that you can use alongside it. University music degrees use standard UCAS. Most courses audition or request recordings; many conservatoires now use video prescreening before live rounds.
The deadline
The earliest deadline in creative admissions: most conservatoire music courses close on 1 October, a full three months before the main UCAS date. University music degrees follow the January deadline. A few university music courses set an earlier mid-October deadline.
How they choose
Conservatoire panels assess technical standard (typically Grade 8 or beyond), musicality and teachability across a prepared programme. University departments weigh essays and academics alongside performance. Production courses want to hear finished tracks and see your process.
What it costs
Audition fees at most conservatoires, travel to live rounds, and instrument or software costs. UCAS Conservatoires charges its own application fee per course.
Guides for music applicants.
Student Life 7 min
Results Day Went Wrong. It Is Not the End of the World
What actually happens to creative students who miss their grades: the four real routes forward, the 48-hour rule, and why admissions people do not see you as a failure.
Read the guide
Inside Track 7 min
Inside Track #2: How to Read a Prospectus (From Someone Who Helps Make Them)
The Insider decodes university marketing: what the photography hides, the phrases doing heavy lifting, the numbers that never appear, and the two-minute red flag check.
Read the guide
Inside Track 6 min
Inside Track #1: What Actually Happens After You Hit Submit
An anonymous insider with years inside UK creative admissions on what admissions teams really do with your application in the first fortnight, and what never gets read.
Read the guide
Parents 8 min
A Parent's Guide to the First Term Blues
The week-six phone call, decoded: what is normal homesickness versus what needs action, what to say and avoid, and why creative courses hit differently in term one.
Read the guide
Auditions 8 min
Recording Your Music Audition Video at Home
The home prescreening setup that panels actually reward: room choice, phone placement, the audio rule that outranks everything, and how many takes is too many.
Read the guide
Music questions, answered.
What applicants to this discipline ask most.
Can I apply to conservatoires and universities at the same time?
Yes. UCAS Conservatoires and standard UCAS run in parallel, and applying through both is common and sensible. Track the very different deadlines carefully.
Do I need Grade 8 to get into a conservatoire?
Most successful classical applicants perform at Grade 8 standard or beyond, but the panel assesses your playing, not your certificates. Jazz, production and popular music routes weigh other evidence.
What is video prescreening?
A recorded round before live auditions. You submit videos of your programme, and the panel decides who attends in person. Recording quality matters: clean audio from a phone in a good room beats a muddy recording from expensive kit.
Every music deadline, before it bites.
Offered lands weekly through the cycle with deadlines and prep specific to your discipline. Tell us your subject when you join.