Seeing Awaiting Results next to a choice does not mean you have been turned down. It means the institution is still waiting on marks before it can decide on your application. If you are in Grade 12, that usually means your final National Senior Certificate (NSC) results. If you applied with other schooling or study behind you, it could be June or Trial results, or results from an earlier qualification the institution still needs to look at.
This is a common status, and it is only temporary — but it needs a different reaction from either a refusal or an offer. Here is which results could still be outstanding, what is worth checking while you wait, and what happens once the marks land.
What Awaiting Results means
The CAO 2027 Entry FAQs describe it this way: the institution is holding off on a decision until further results — June or Trial results are the examples given — are in. The same idea covers final NSC results. Until the institution has the marks its entry and ranking criteria turn on, it cannot judge your application fairly.
That is also what sets it apart from Waiting for a Decision. With Waiting for a Decision, the institution simply has not looked at your application yet. With Awaiting Results, it has looked far enough to know it needs more academic information first. Neither one is a final answer — but the reason for the hold-up is different, and so is what you should do about it.
Which results might be outstanding?
- Final NSC results for learners still in Grade 12. These are the marks that most often move an Awaiting Results status on to a Conditional Offer, a Firm Offer, or a regret decision.
- June or Trial results where an institution is looking at your application during the school year and wants a fresher set of marks before it decides.
- Results from an earlier qualification for applicants who have studied somewhere before, or whose previous results still need confirming.
- A statement of results you were asked to upload where what the Department of Basic Education (DBE) sent through does not line up with your application. In that case CAO may message you to upload your statement of results, even though you expected the marks to arrive on their own.
If you are not sure which results are missing, read the whole message against that programme choice, then check recent emails or SMS messages from CAO or the institution. Don't guess — the message will usually name exactly what is missing.
What to do while you wait
- Check in regularly Use Check My Application on cao.ac.za with one identifier — your CAO number, South African ID number or passport number. That checker flow uses no password.
- Make sure your results can actually get to the institution If you were asked for a statement of results, upload a clear copy through Upload My Documents and confirm it was accepted. If your results should come from DBE, check that the personal details on your application match your examination registration, so the marks can be tied to your file.
- Keep your contact details fresh Decisions and document requests arrive by message and email. If your cellphone number or email address has changed, update your details through the official route, then check your status again.
- Act on any new message straight away A status can move from Awaiting Results to a document request, a test or interview invitation, or an offer. A message that asks you to do something usually carries its own deadline, even when the wait itself did not.
- Keep an eye on your other choices too Awaiting Results on one choice does not pause the others. Programmes are decided separately, so look at every choice, not just the one you want most.
- Don't put in a duplicate application A second application will not make results arrive any sooner, and it can muddle your record. Stay with the application you already have and follow it up.
What happens after results are released?
Once the institution has the marks it was waiting for, it runs its own selection criteria over your application. Clearing the published minimum is no guarantee of a place, because seats are limited and applications often outnumber them. From here your status can move to one of these:
- Conditional Offer the institution will take you, provided you meet its requirements.
- Firm Offer you have been offered a place by the institution.
- Has Not Met Programme Ranking Criteria you fall short of that programme's own criteria.
- Regret Unsuccessful the institution has decided against offering you a place under its selection processes.
- Short-listed, Standby or Wait-listed the institution is still considering you, with no decision yet on whether a place can be offered.
Stronger final results than your earlier ones can work in your favour. Weaker ones can see a conditional or firm offer based on earlier results pulled back — the CAO FAQs warn about exactly that. Either way, check your status soon after results come out, and answer any offer by the institution's own deadline.
When to follow up
Waiting is built into this status, so a bit of patience is the right response. Still, get in touch with the institution directly if any of these fit your situation:
- Results are out, a fair amount of time has passed, and your status has not moved at all.
- You got a message saying results are outstanding, yet you have already uploaded everything you were asked for.
- You think your application details and your examination registration don't match, which could stop results from being tied to your file.
- Another choice has already turned into an offer or a decision, and you need to know whether the waiting choice affects the deadline for accepting the offer you hold.
When you do follow up, give your CAO number, the programme, and the status wording exactly as shown. Take a decision question to the institution, since institutions make selection decisions — CAO does not.
Common mistakes
- Reading Awaiting Results as a rejection and walking away from the application.
- Taking it for granted that final results will reach the institution on their own, when you have in fact been asked to upload a statement of results.
- Switching off messages while you wait, then missing a document request or an offer deadline that came in meanwhile.
- Easing off on schoolwork because an earlier conditional offer felt safe, when final results are precisely what the decision turns on.
- Paying someone who claims they can release or alter your results status. Results come from DBE and the institution's own process — no unofficial service can touch them.
