Your mates in the year above might be able to breathe a sigh of relief having submitted their final UCAS and apprenticeship applications, and rightly so. But for you, the process is quickly becoming a reality. So now is a good time to  splash some cold water in your face, puff your chest out and start an exciting research project called: what I’m going to do at 18.​

If your plan for next year is university (or a higher education course via a college) then you’ve already submitted your application, right? If not, then get a move on. The UCAS deadline (January 15th) may be the official cut-off, but a lot of places will have been filled already. It’s like a queue: being at the back still means you’re in, but the good stuff might be taken by the time they see you.

So, you're settled into the swing of sixth form. In the future is Christmas and your next proper break. Sadly, that’s not all it holds: the future’s creeping up on you like a scary clown. The difference is your future's not a goofy fourteen-year-old in a mask.

The deadline for applications to Oxbridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses is today, so get a move on if you still want to apply. Otherwise, you’ll have to take a gap year and apply next year — which might not be so bad anyhow. To double check other upcoming deadlines or application requirements go to the UCAS website.

If you’re thinking of going to uni in September 2019 and you haven’t got a shortlist yet, you’d better get yourself measured up for a thinking cap pretty fast.
 
Officially, you’ve got until January 15th to complete your application for most courses, but the deadline for Oxbridge, medicine and veterinary courses is only a month away.
 
Even if you’re not planning on applying for those courses, unis will start looking at and accepting applications from now, and so leaving it any later than the middle of November is cutting it fine. By then, the unis' firm 'yes' and 'no’ piles will be starting to grow. Some offers will already have been made. Some courses may be full already. Leaving your application till the last minute tells the uni you're not that serious. 

With over a year to go before you apply, the whole uni decision may seem to be approaching more slowly than a slug on a Sunday. But before you know it, that gross silver slug slime could be all over you. What with all the coursework, revisions, exams, holidays, birthdays/bar mitzvahs/weddings, nights out, time spent on social media and so on, it's never too soon to get focused.
 
Now is a great time to be thinking about two of the big questions: what do you want to study and where do you want to study it? 

The web is full of dodgy types and one that students in particular should avoid are the essay cheats – or, as they’re sometimes called, ‘essay mills’.

The situation they prey on is common enough. An essay is due next week and you’re finding it too hard or you haven’t done the reading or there’s some thing else more important right now – your job, your boy/girlfriend, a different essay or even just a party. For a few quid (in fact, often quite a bit of money), you can make the problem go away. You can buy a ready-written essay, dissertation or even PhD thesis online and pass it off as your own.
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Of course, the shysters offering this service don’t advertise that they’re there to help you cheat. They describe them as “sample essays” to “inspire” or “inform” your own work. However, they also describe them as “plagiarism-free” (so that, in theory, unis won’t spot it’s not the student’s own work). Why would they say that unless everyone knows the real score?

You know perfectly well this isn’t ethical and you shouldn’t do it. But, if morality isn’t enough to convince you to do the right thing, here are six reasons why you should never cheat. 

Once results are in on Thursday, you have four options — two if you got the grades you wanted, and two if you didn't:
 
If you got the grades you wanted:
 
Thumbs up, round of applause, pat on the back, etc. Your two options are:

Some of you who were in year 12 did exams last term, and this week may well be when you get your results.
 
Okay. Exhale. It will be okay. Push is here to help whether you hit above your weight, hit your target or got hit with a dead haddock on results day 2018.

If you're heading to uni, in just about two months’ time, you'll be packing up your life to continue it somewhere else for the next three, four or more years.
 
The weeks between getting your results and starting term scoot by and unis start allocating their housing the moment the grades are out. There are four basic housing choices for students – living at home, living in, living out or private halls.

With this year's exams behind you, you'll be pleased to know that uni isn't all about books, lectures and exams. We all know students get up to other stuff, right? And this other stuff is important when it comes to getting the most out of the whole university experience.

Are you heading down the uni highway?
 
Uni applications have now officially opened for 2019 entry. The virtual floodgates were raised on May 22nd, but don’t worry, it always starts with a trickle. The deadline is still a while away. But the dogs are now off the leash, the horses are out of the gates and the, erm, hamsters are out of the hutch.
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Hopefully, your thoughts about what you might want to study have, like chewing gum on the pavement, been getting firmer.

For year 12s

Are you heading down the uni highway?

This month you can officially start applying to uni for 2019 entry. UCAS opens its website for people to register on 22nd May.

Don’t worry, the deadline is still a while away, but the dogs are now off the leash.

Hopefully, your thoughts about what you might want to study have, like chewing gum on the pavement, been getting firmer.

The next question is where to study? Sometimes this isn’t just about where it is in the country, but about what the place is
really like – the atmosphere.

No two unis are the same. The surroundings and building affect how it feels, but so too do the people, the students. Some
unis are posh, some are full of students from the area, some are ethnic melting pots, some are arty, sciency or businessy. Some are none of those things.

9It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming you back to school and wishing you a Happy New Year, but here we are, weeks away from Easter.

But just before we let you run riot and commit yourself to a self-induced chocolate coma, have a look below to make sure you've covered everything you need to for the month. You can reward yourself with extra chocolate if you have.

Year 12:

Location, location, location

How are you fixed for September 2019? If you've already taken some time to weigh up your options and decided on uni, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s the easy bit over. The next question is which uni to go to. A good way to start is to figure out where you might want to be.

Year 12

What course is the course for you? You go to uni to do a degree. But which one?

There’s over 17,000 different subjects you can study and more than 70,000 individual courses. You can start with what you want to do as a career. To be a doctor, you have to study medicine, for instance — which most people would agree is better than having people doing surgery just because they studied needlework.

There are some other careers where you have to study something in particular — to be an architect or vet, for instance — but they’re the exception. For some others — like law or social work — it’s not a career killer to start out by studying something else and getting the right qualifications after a first degree in something else, but studying the relevant subject is definitely the equivalent of choosing trainers instead of flip flops when you’re running the hurdles.

Then there are other careers that don’t require you to study anything in particular. In fact, here we’re talking about most careers. Sure, some subjects may give you a headstart, but getting that job will be more down to you being the right person than your course being the right one.

Some courses may look like they’re the passport for a particular career, when actually, your best route in might be something entirely different. For example, chemistry is generally at least as good a qualification to become a forensic scientist as forensic science itself.

Similarly, politics, English or languages may well get you into a job in media or journalism more directly than media studies.

​However, most of us don’t have a career, a family, a mortgage, a pension and a funeral plan all sorted. That’s not a problem. All in good time. In that case, study what you love. At uni, you’ll need to be devoted to your studies to give them your best shot.

No one will be giving you a good talking to for not turning up to lectures or putting you in detention for a late essay. It’s down to you to succeed, so it really helps to study something that really shakes your pineapple. You'll study harder, study better and probably get a better result and in the end.

Best of all, you'll find yourself qualified for a career you like.

That applies even if you want to be a doctor. If you don’t enjoy studying medicine, being a doctor for the next 45 years is going to be a total splat. Choose a course you love because if you do what you love, you’ll love what you do.

Having decided on the right course for you, here are three quick tips:

1. If you’re thinking of doing a course which asks for a portfolio or examples of your work, now's the prime time to make sure you’re going to have a good selection to show.
2. Every uni wants students who're dedicated to their subject. Show your commitment by doing some volunteering or work experience placements that are relevant to your studies. Or at the very least, some reading.
3. If you've got questions about a course, phone the uni department to ask. Not only is it a good way to get the answer, it's a chance to show your enthusiasm.

​If you’re still drawing a blank on what exactly you might want to do, take a look at bestCourse4me which will give you all the info you need on what job certain degrees might lead to and what kind of money you could expect to make. Alternatively, if you know what job you want, but you're not sure how you can get there, bestCourse4me can help with that too.

Once you’ve got your course down, it’s only a hop, skip and a jump to a site like Which? Uni which has everything you need to help you decide where might be best for you to study based on all kinds of wonderful things like location, grades, living costs and the social scene.

What about apprenticeships?...

From this April, big firms are going to have to put a whole heap of cash into apprenticeships, so many people predict a volcanic boom in what’s on offer and how they’re regarded by employers and the public.

Some employers and unis have even teamed up to offer apprenticeships where you get a degree at the same time. (They're helpfully called Degree Apprenticeships.) You study some of the time, but you also work and even earn money on the job.

There are apprenticeships all over the UK (especially England). They range from working in the RAF, training in accountancy to work in many of the main banks in this country.

We even found some that you might not expect to see. How about being an Aerospace Engineer, building and maintaining vehicles or satellites in space? Or a Fashion Studio Assistant or working on video games to check and fix them before they go live?

Even if you’ve decided uni's not for you, but you like the idea of moving away, apprenticeships in larger cities like London, Manchester, Leeds or Bristol might be a chance to get away. You get all the same perks of leaving home, just without the student debt.

Remember, though, you'll be paying rent which is a big cut out of your first pay cheque, which, when you’re on an apprenticeship may not be huge to start with.

Year 12

You've probably started thinking about your options after school already, even if by mistake, but soon your teachers are going to start pushing you for a plan.

So when the family's getting on your wick over the festive period, what better excuse is there for finding some alone time than that you want to get ahead of the game?

Year 12 
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Your mates in the year above might be able to breathe a sigh of relief having submitted their final UCAS applications, and rightly so. But for you, the process is quickly becoming a reality. So now is as good a time to get your options after school ready.

​If uni's in the cards and you've already got an idea of what subject you want to commit a few years of your life to, then kudos to you. Go to our Which Uni? page for all the info on how to pick the perfect place for you. ​