Completing your UCAS application
There's a reason shops have windows – and it's not that they're scared of the dark. Your UCAS application is your own shop window. Dress it up right and the unis will be your customers.
The UCAS application is the way in for almost every undergraduate university degree course.
No trees dies for the sake of your future, because it's an online form which you can find at UCAS's website. Very roughly, it boils down to four parts:
- You, your exam results, the exams you’re going to be taking and stuff like that.
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What
course you want to do and where. You have five spaces, which can be
five different courses at five different universities, the same course
at five different universities, five different courses all at the same
university or any combination of the above.
Most people
tend to choose five broadly similar courses at five different
universities, which not only hedges your bets as far getting in is
concerned, but it also makes it look like you’ve got a good idea what
it is you want to study and you’re committed to it. It doesn’t have to
be that way, though.
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- A space for a personal statement
where you’re supposed to sell yourself to the universities by
convincing them that not only are you a hard-working goody-goody, but
you’re also ever-so responsible, with broad interests and a host of
sporting, artistic and other talents.
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- Your school or
college also have a bit to complete where they'll also try to sell you
to the universities. Or, if they don’t like you, it’s a great
opportunity to slag you off and ruin your life. (So, now you know why
brown-nosing your teachers is worth the apples.)
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When the application’s complete, you submit it to UCAS and their
team of elves distributes it to the universities on your list. The
universities make the decisions, not UCAS. They just handle the
administration side of things.
For more information on how the process all works, see Procedures and Offers.
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