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.
COMPLETING YOUR UCAS APPLICATION
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:
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.
- You, your exam results, the exams you’re going to be taking and stuff like that.
- 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. - 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.
- 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.)
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.
Before you start
Few rules apply to what universities look for on a UCAS application. But some things that won’t get you far are sloppy spelling, poorly constructed sentences and basically anything that gives away the fact that you left it to the last minute and didn’t prepare what you were going to write on it.
So, don’t rush it. Before you submit it electronically, you’re going to want to get someone to check it through because, apart from the fact that there are always mistakes that even the best riters overloook, someone else can tell you if you think you’ve got the tone right.
And don’t leave it all to the last minute. The deadline dates are not targets. Most schools and colleges set their own date by which they’re going to expect the application from you so they can add their reference.
So, don’t rush it. Before you submit it electronically, you’re going to want to get someone to check it through because, apart from the fact that there are always mistakes that even the best riters overloook, someone else can tell you if you think you’ve got the tone right.
And don’t leave it all to the last minute. The deadline dates are not targets. Most schools and colleges set their own date by which they’re going to expect the application from you so they can add their reference.
Techno stuff
The online and electronic forms are easy like Sunday morning. The system guides you through the process with on screen prompts and doesn’t let you make the most common mistakes, nor does it let you miss out important parts. You can also track the progress of your application throughout the process.
On the downside, like all great software, there are technical issues. The online form doesn’t seem to support older versions of browsers and UCAS are aware that it sometimes freezes or goes slow for no apparent reason. Always read the technical issues page before beginning, just to make sure it will work.
Also, as we said, your school, college or career centre needs to be signed up. If your college's computers are always fully booked and you don't have a machine at home, UCAS has joined forces with online centres, which offer students internet access to work on their applications. They're a bit thin on the ground in some parts, though - check on the UCAS website to make sure there's one near you.
On the downside, like all great software, there are technical issues. The online form doesn’t seem to support older versions of browsers and UCAS are aware that it sometimes freezes or goes slow for no apparent reason. Always read the technical issues page before beginning, just to make sure it will work.
Also, as we said, your school, college or career centre needs to be signed up. If your college's computers are always fully booked and you don't have a machine at home, UCAS has joined forces with online centres, which offer students internet access to work on their applications. They're a bit thin on the ground in some parts, though - check on the UCAS website to make sure there's one near you.
Completing 'courses'
So we start with the meat and bones bit, the whole point of the form. The choices you’ve made for your courses and places.
Don’t list them in order of preference. UCAS will re-organise them anyway into the alphabetical order of the institution code name.
There’s space for five choices, but you don’t have to use them all, and if you are applying for art & design, you can only list three of those courses (plus up to three other non-art & design courses).
To complicate things even more, if you are applying for medicine, dentistry, veterinary science or veterinary medicine, you only get four choices. Also, the closing date for these courses is the same as for Oxbridge, i.e. mid October.
All the details for the course and institution codes are in the UCAS book and on their website too - or be a smartypants and click on the ? next to each of the boxes to pick out your choices from a list.
A couple of other boxes to look out for are the Defer one, which can be used to hold over your application for another year, giving you a chance to take a gap year. The other one is the 'Home' box, which is there to say you want to live at home while you’re studying.
Don’t list them in order of preference. UCAS will re-organise them anyway into the alphabetical order of the institution code name.
There’s space for five choices, but you don’t have to use them all, and if you are applying for art & design, you can only list three of those courses (plus up to three other non-art & design courses).
To complicate things even more, if you are applying for medicine, dentistry, veterinary science or veterinary medicine, you only get four choices. Also, the closing date for these courses is the same as for Oxbridge, i.e. mid October.
All the details for the course and institution codes are in the UCAS book and on their website too - or be a smartypants and click on the ? next to each of the boxes to pick out your choices from a list.
A couple of other boxes to look out for are the Defer one, which can be used to hold over your application for another year, giving you a chance to take a gap year. The other one is the 'Home' box, which is there to say you want to live at home while you’re studying.
Completing 'education' and 'employment'
Completing 'education': In the education section, list only the last three secondary schools, colleges or universities you went to. Do it backwards through time, with your current or most recent one first and say if the study was full time (FT), part time (PT) or a sandwich course (SW). The same applies to mature students making an application.
The centre no looks tricky, but enter a few words from your school's name, click on the search button and it will pop up your centre number - the wonders of modern technology.
In the qualifications bit enter the qualifications you’ve got, including CGSEs. The awarding bodybox is your exam board - check your old certificates or ask your teachers.
If you haven't got your grades yet (and most applicants won't have) select 'pending' from the drop down menu of grades.
Remember to select the right centre for each qualification - don't say that you took your AS in Jam-Making at your secondary school if you did it at your sixth-form.
Completing 'employment': This is easy - just add the details of each job you've had as fully as possible. This is also a chance to list unpaid work and work experience. If you are a mature student or if there’s just not enough space, you’re allowed to contact the institutions directly to tell them. Best to write a letter or something.
The centre no looks tricky, but enter a few words from your school's name, click on the search button and it will pop up your centre number - the wonders of modern technology.
In the qualifications bit enter the qualifications you’ve got, including CGSEs. The awarding bodybox is your exam board - check your old certificates or ask your teachers.
If you haven't got your grades yet (and most applicants won't have) select 'pending' from the drop down menu of grades.
Remember to select the right centre for each qualification - don't say that you took your AS in Jam-Making at your secondary school if you did it at your sixth-form.
Completing 'employment': This is easy - just add the details of each job you've had as fully as possible. This is also a chance to list unpaid work and work experience. If you are a mature student or if there’s just not enough space, you’re allowed to contact the institutions directly to tell them. Best to write a letter or something.
Completing 'about you'
If there’s nothing to write in any of the boxes, don’t put ‘N/A’, dashes, or enter smiley faces, just leave it blank.
The name you put in the boxes should be the name on your passport or the one you use on official documents.
It might sound daft, but your date of birth is the day you were born and the year you were born, not your birthday this year. That one’s a common mistake and universities rarely accept even the brightest people before their first birthday.
Your postal address is where stuff from UCAS should be sent. So, don’t, or instance, put your dad’s address if you actually live with your mum during the week. And make sure your phone number and mobile number are correct and that includes the dialling codes (without brackets).
Your e-mail address must be correct - a whopping 15% of people enter their e-mail addresses wrongly in on-line forms, so check it carefully.
Then, hidden away at the very bottom of this section is that bastard cheeky section euphemistically called mailings. Leave the first two tick boxes blank if you don’t want to be swamped with junk text messages from companies who bought your details and have thousands of spam emails waiting to clog up your Inbox. Viagra, anyone?
If you’re living away from home, use the further details bit to put that address in. And further on down, tell them if you had a previous surname or family name before you were 16.
For your area of permanent residence, most people would enter in their county. If you live in the UK, you should select either (i) your London borough, (ii) your district (like Sefton), (iii) your district or island area of Scotland. If you’re from outside the UK, select the country.
If you're confused about your residential category, there’s an 'assist' button next to the entry box to help you find out.
Without wanting to state the bleeding obvious, your country of birth is the country where you were born, and your nationality is the one on your passport. If you’ve got dual nationality, put your other nationality in the 'dual nationality' space.
Put a big fat X in either the Yes or No box asking about criminal convictions. Loads of courses require this information, especially ones in health and mental care.
In the bit about student support you should select first your fee code. This is the group who will assess you for your fees and loans. In England & Wales, this’ll be your Local Education Authority (LEA). In Northern Ireland it’ll be your Local Area Board (NIBd) and in Scotland it's ‘SAAS’ (The Student Awards Agency for Scotland).
Most people will put 02, which means you want to be assessed for the cash, even if you think you aren’t eligible.
Other fee codes you might need are:
01 – The entire cost of your tuition is being paid for privately, maybe by your parents, or even by you.
02 – As we said, this one is used if you want to be assessed by your awarding body for fees and loans.
04 – If one of the Research Councils is paying.
05 – If the Department of Health is paying.
06 – If you’re an overseas student and the British Council is paying.
07 – If a training agency is paying.
08 – If any Government award is covering the cost.
09 – If any overseas bodies are paying.
10 – If a business is paying.
90 – If you have any other source of finance, maybe bank robbery.
99 – If you don’t know.
Next you need to enter the name of that organisation - UCAS provide a nifty list of awarding bodies for you to choose from.
The disability/special needs section: This is not so the universities can decide whether or not to take you on the basis of a disability. Instead, the idea is that they can make sure they’ve got whatever amenities you might need. But, if you’re in any doubt, you don’t have to fill in this section. If you do, these are the options you’ll need:
None - well, none.
You have a specific learning difficulty - such as dyslexia.
You are blind or partially sighted.
You are deaf or hard of hearing.
You use a wheelchair or have mobility difficulties.
Autistic Spectrum Disorder or Asperger Syndrome.
You have mental health difficulties.
You have a disability that cannot be seen - like diabetes or a heart condition.
You have two or more of the above.
Other disability that's not mentioned above.
The details box is a chance to list what extra help or support you might need. To figure out what these could be, it would be worth visiting the universities to see what’s there and what isn’t or at the very least talking to them about it. Many will have a disabilities officer whose job it is to know what they’ve got and what they might be able to add.
Finally on this page, you’ll see the additional information section. UCAS say they won’t give this info to the places you apply for until after the selection process. But if you’re under 21, they want to know what your parents do for a living or at least they want to know about the one who earns the most. If you’re over 21, then it’s your job they want to know about.
Also, there’s loads of different options for ethnic origin and national identity. If you're none of the choices, there's the Other option - or you can 'Prefer not to say'.
In the summer schools section, it's not just summer schools. UCAS wants to know about any courses such as Saturday university, campus days, summer academies, taster courses and booster courses. If you have taken part in one of these, enter the details here - and remember to explain more about what you did in your personal statement.
The name you put in the boxes should be the name on your passport or the one you use on official documents.
It might sound daft, but your date of birth is the day you were born and the year you were born, not your birthday this year. That one’s a common mistake and universities rarely accept even the brightest people before their first birthday.
Your postal address is where stuff from UCAS should be sent. So, don’t, or instance, put your dad’s address if you actually live with your mum during the week. And make sure your phone number and mobile number are correct and that includes the dialling codes (without brackets).
Your e-mail address must be correct - a whopping 15% of people enter their e-mail addresses wrongly in on-line forms, so check it carefully.
Then, hidden away at the very bottom of this section is that bastard cheeky section euphemistically called mailings. Leave the first two tick boxes blank if you don’t want to be swamped with junk text messages from companies who bought your details and have thousands of spam emails waiting to clog up your Inbox. Viagra, anyone?
If you’re living away from home, use the further details bit to put that address in. And further on down, tell them if you had a previous surname or family name before you were 16.
For your area of permanent residence, most people would enter in their county. If you live in the UK, you should select either (i) your London borough, (ii) your district (like Sefton), (iii) your district or island area of Scotland. If you’re from outside the UK, select the country.
If you're confused about your residential category, there’s an 'assist' button next to the entry box to help you find out.
Without wanting to state the bleeding obvious, your country of birth is the country where you were born, and your nationality is the one on your passport. If you’ve got dual nationality, put your other nationality in the 'dual nationality' space.
Put a big fat X in either the Yes or No box asking about criminal convictions. Loads of courses require this information, especially ones in health and mental care.
In the bit about student support you should select first your fee code. This is the group who will assess you for your fees and loans. In England & Wales, this’ll be your Local Education Authority (LEA). In Northern Ireland it’ll be your Local Area Board (NIBd) and in Scotland it's ‘SAAS’ (The Student Awards Agency for Scotland).
Most people will put 02, which means you want to be assessed for the cash, even if you think you aren’t eligible.
Other fee codes you might need are:
01 – The entire cost of your tuition is being paid for privately, maybe by your parents, or even by you.
02 – As we said, this one is used if you want to be assessed by your awarding body for fees and loans.
04 – If one of the Research Councils is paying.
05 – If the Department of Health is paying.
06 – If you’re an overseas student and the British Council is paying.
07 – If a training agency is paying.
08 – If any Government award is covering the cost.
09 – If any overseas bodies are paying.
10 – If a business is paying.
90 – If you have any other source of finance, maybe bank robbery.
99 – If you don’t know.
Next you need to enter the name of that organisation - UCAS provide a nifty list of awarding bodies for you to choose from.
The disability/special needs section: This is not so the universities can decide whether or not to take you on the basis of a disability. Instead, the idea is that they can make sure they’ve got whatever amenities you might need. But, if you’re in any doubt, you don’t have to fill in this section. If you do, these are the options you’ll need:
None - well, none.
You have a specific learning difficulty - such as dyslexia.
You are blind or partially sighted.
You are deaf or hard of hearing.
You use a wheelchair or have mobility difficulties.
Autistic Spectrum Disorder or Asperger Syndrome.
You have mental health difficulties.
You have a disability that cannot be seen - like diabetes or a heart condition.
You have two or more of the above.
Other disability that's not mentioned above.
The details box is a chance to list what extra help or support you might need. To figure out what these could be, it would be worth visiting the universities to see what’s there and what isn’t or at the very least talking to them about it. Many will have a disabilities officer whose job it is to know what they’ve got and what they might be able to add.
Finally on this page, you’ll see the additional information section. UCAS say they won’t give this info to the places you apply for until after the selection process. But if you’re under 21, they want to know what your parents do for a living or at least they want to know about the one who earns the most. If you’re over 21, then it’s your job they want to know about.
Also, there’s loads of different options for ethnic origin and national identity. If you're none of the choices, there's the Other option - or you can 'Prefer not to say'.
In the summer schools section, it's not just summer schools. UCAS wants to know about any courses such as Saturday university, campus days, summer academies, taster courses and booster courses. If you have taken part in one of these, enter the details here - and remember to explain more about what you did in your personal statement.
Completing 'Reference'
A teacher or a tutor usually writes the Reference. It shouldn’t be written by a mate or someone in your family, let alone any semi-literate ex-convicts you might meet down the pub. Mature students can ask an employer or a careers officer to write it – or, if it’s not going too far into ancient history, they can even go back to their school or college and see if they’ll do it.
Before you send
Read it through. There's a handy little button on the UCAS apply form called 'show all'. Click on it, print out the whole shebang, and have a good read.
Show it to a couple of people in the know and see if they’ve suggest anything (like, perhaps you shouldn’t list kitten-strangling among your hobbies after all).
Look out for misspellings, bad grammar or punctuation. You don’t want to fluff your chances just because you spelt ‘testicles’ wrong in your personal statement (although personal statements should rarely get that personal). Beware of spell checks: they don't catch every error. Push knows of one student who left the 'l' out of a claim that she was good at 'public speaking'. And another missed the 'f' when mentioning he'd done some 'shift work'.
And finally, blow three times on the mouse button for luck and send your form.
Also send the right amount of payment in as soon as you've completed your application. Some schools will ask you to make a cheque out to them and they’ll send the money on themselves, so check to see what the policy is with whoever’s completing your reference.
Now. Sit back and wait for the offers to roll in......
Show it to a couple of people in the know and see if they’ve suggest anything (like, perhaps you shouldn’t list kitten-strangling among your hobbies after all).
Look out for misspellings, bad grammar or punctuation. You don’t want to fluff your chances just because you spelt ‘testicles’ wrong in your personal statement (although personal statements should rarely get that personal). Beware of spell checks: they don't catch every error. Push knows of one student who left the 'l' out of a claim that she was good at 'public speaking'. And another missed the 'f' when mentioning he'd done some 'shift work'.
And finally, blow three times on the mouse button for luck and send your form.
Also send the right amount of payment in as soon as you've completed your application. Some schools will ask you to make a cheque out to them and they’ll send the money on themselves, so check to see what the policy is with whoever’s completing your reference.
Now. Sit back and wait for the offers to roll in......