HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT UCAS APPLICATIONS

By David Preece

When I was 16, I didn’t think I was going to university. My parents have the equivalent of three O Levels between them, and I was the first in my family to even apply to university. So, we needed great guidance and support from the teachers at my school, and we were really lucky to have that support.

In my teaching career, I’ve been really fortunate to be involved with UCAS admissions for a number of years across a whole range of schools. I’ve supported candidates for Geography, Earth Science and similar disciplines – together with broad candidates from other areas – and my university advice has been some of the most impactful and meaningful work I’ve ever done.

But what if you’re a teacher who wants to support candidates, and you don’t know where to start? There’s not a lot of training and professional guidance out there, and so getting a sense of the process, and what you can do is hugely relevant – as our Year 12 students start to turn their thoughts towards their life after Sixth Form!

There’s a di cult balance to strike between raising aspirations and putting pressure on students. Some people will find the support welcome – and others might resist it. Like any other Sixth Form experience, the relationship and understanding your students (and their context, their parents, their motivation/aspiration) is critical.

University isn’t right for everyone –and encouraging students to look at apprenticeships, career direct entry, Art Foundation Courses, conservatoires, or whatever is right for them is a critical part of these conversations. Recognise the limits of your own expertise and position – your positive experience at university (or as a graduate) shouldn’t blind you to the potential for your students to want very di erent things.

You also can’t be an expert in it all. There are lots of specialist applications which are exceptions to the generic overview here – Medicine, Dentistry, Vet Science, applications to Oxford & Cambridge, international applications, applications to music, art or drama schools – they’re all di erent and nuanced.

Teaching is a team sport. Your Sixth Form and pastoral team – including your Careers and Guidance experts – should have been providing opportunities for students to engage with some of these decisions throughout their school curriculum. They’ll have a sense of the school’s processes, activities and timelines – and you should always seek their help and advice.

UK students apply to UK universities through University & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). International students applying to UK universities also apply through UCAS.

They may choose up to five university course choices. We tend to advise that students apply to similar courses primarily so that they can write a coherent and reasonable personal statement and make sense of an application. You could apply to five di erent courses, but it’d be a lot harder to write a convincing application for that.

They’ll complete a single online application form which has their personal details, academic details, a student personal statement and a school reference. We know that UCAS have suggested some changes may come to the Personal Statement process for 2024 and beyond, but the details of this are not clear yet. The same form is sent, blind, to all the students’ choices at the same time.

Universities will make o ers to applicants. They have a fixed number of places to fill, and they want the best candidates. If you’re an incredibly popular course (and that’s not the same as “good” – places can be popular because of location, community etc. that is not connected to academic performance!), then you might have higher entry requirements for your applicants as a way to filter. Less popular courses may have lower entry requirements. Students need to do their research carefully.

Students will pick a firm o er and an insurance o er. The o ers process is often misunderstood – sometimes, students will think they have a ‘first choice’ and a ‘second choice’ and they’re able to choose. The reality is that they should expect to be going to their firm choice unless they miss the grades. If they do, then their insurance provides a back up. Students are often advised to have at least one or two grades lower as their insurance – so A*AA should be AAB rather than another A*AA o er. Once a student makes their pick of firm/insurance, all of their other o ers are declined and they can’t reactivate them. If they were to miss their insurance – or they were to decide later that they didn’t want to take either firm/insurance, they’d have to drop out or go through clearing – there would be no guarantees that their previous o ers and spaces would exist.

In general, the “UCAS” process runs within a calendar year rather than the academic one.

• Year 12, Spring Term: students start thinking about whether they might want to apply to university, and what they might want to look at. Some might focus on places and universities they might want to consider; others on courses.

• Year 12, Summer Term: students tend to do some narrowing down of choices. This is the window for most open days (check https:// www.opendays.com/calendar/ as an overview of when they all take place) and students might start preparing for their applications. Most will focus on reading or doing things to enhance their personal statement – it’s important to remind them that their grades are vital, too!

• Year 13, Autumn Term:

The UCAS window opens, and you can start submitting applications online. Early applicants must do so by October 15. Most students will come back with their personal statements mostly complete, and need some support to finish the application. Some will still be unsure of what they are doing. O ers will be made by universities pretty quickly after their submission. It’s not uncommon to have candidates with multiple o ers before December.

• Year 13, Spring Term: the UCAS window closes, usually by 15 Jan. O ers must be accepted and decisions made by early May.

In reality, UCAS – and admissions in general – are a market place. While the formal deadline might exist until midJanuary, you know that if you walked in to a shop a week after the sales opened, you might reasonably expect to find fewer bargains and discounts than if you’d gone earlier. The same is true of admissions. As with other avenues of study, the more time you have available to prepare and think, the better the outcome is likely to be, and the lower the stress for candidate and teachers respectively!

So, I’d encourage starting early to lay the groundwork.

Great candidates to read a subject at university have a deep and meaningful relationship with aspects of that subject and discipline. They are, fundamentally, motivated to continue their studies university, because they’ve found parts of it intellectually fascinating and enjoyable, or because of the vocational or career paths it o ers.

Talking to your students about this is huge. Part of our job as KS4-5 teachers is always about raising aspirations of our students – whether that’s in the completion of an individual task, discussion or exercise, the grades that they can achieve, or their eventual destinations that they can move towards.

We do this all the time by having high standards – always encouraging people to think deeply and explore more perspectives – and o ering an extended and enriched ‘diet’ of our subject – trips, visits, competitions, reading, modelling a wider and deeper engagement with the subject at all levels. You might feel comfortable showing your own journey, and being open about your experiences that made us, or helped us in subject. For some, it’s about talking about specific moments, decisions, or travel experiences – for others, it’s about university experiences. These conversations are hugely important for our students –understanding what’s open to them, and seeing it role-modelled by adults they trust.

It’s then about asking good questions. What motivates the student? What kinds of courses? What kinds of places? Do they want to live in a campus or a city university? Do they want to be near to home, or as far as possible? This might be casual conversations, or as Sixth Form pastoral tutor.

Encourage them to do their research. University websites – and UCAS’ website itself – are great for giving detailed ideas of what’s out there, and what it might be like to study. As you come towards summer, encourage your students to visit open days if they can. Being a sounding board for “what did you like?” and “how did you feel about it?” is vital – you’re not trying to persuade them of any particular destination or course choice!

Once they’ve settled their ambitions, you can help them to be the best candidate possible.

For most of us, it’s important to remember that the best thing we can do is teach our subject well, so that our students get the best grades they can.

Beyond that, there are a few good ways we can help our students to be better candidates in our subject.

First, we want to ensure they have a strong academic platform beyond the subject. That might involve subject societies, groups, extended reading, trips or activities – it’ll depend on the subject you teach and your context. This enables them to ‘think like an undergraduate’ and see the potential connections.

Second, we want them to write great applications. As a subject specialist, you might be asked for help with their personal statement. As ever, you’ll want to work with your team on this – but the key elements for success are about being able to demonstrate scholarship and critical engagement with the subject they’re applying for, and being able to tell their story well.

This means there’s got to be a balance between “personal” and “statement”. While a more academic applicant will normally have more academic content than their extra curricular or evidencing personal characteristics, that doesn’t mean that it can’t reflect who they are, and what they’re interested in. The statement must help the tutors to understand the person they’re going to o er an interview to, and be interesting and informative for them to read!

As with all personal statements for UCAS applications, remember:

1. It always takes longer than you think, and;

2. It always takes more drafts than you think, but;

3. It’ll never be “done”. At some point, you’ll just stop writing.

So, getting candidates started early, showing them good examples and good guidance is really helpful. Ideally, get some ideas on paper before summer, and get some thinking and revision time over summer – so that September is starting with solid ground work. The later we leave things, the more stressful it feels for you and the student – and managing that is important!

You may also be asked to contribute to the school’s reference for your students. It’s often helpful to have reference support, particularly if you’re writing for the first time. You’ll want to deliberately dovetail your reference to the application components. You want to ensure that the same ideas and highlights are supported exactly, and that you’re able to emphasise the core elements of an excellent application too.

So, while we’ve considered some of the technical approaches of how to prepare and support great candidates, it’s important to accept the changing emotional role from “teacher” to “coach” in this. There isn’t a defined specification and path – so there will be no ‘right answers’ to teach, only conversations to have.

Talk and celebrate other o ers – and recognise they’re likely to come in quite quickly for early candidates – and keep having the chat about the big picture. So, you’ve got four o ers? Which is your current favourite? What are you thinking now? Where possible, it’s really helpful to talk with other teachers. Whether you’ve got candidates across your school in multiple subjects, or have an experienced UCAS, Head of Sixth, or Gifted & Talented co-ordinator, sharing your approach – and your feelings about this – are really important in managing the emotions as well as the practical support.

Just like with exams, there’s only so much you can do for candidates. They have to go their own path, and accept their chances. If you follow the advice, give them good resources and give them some help, you can really do no more. Celebrate the successes you have, celebrate the amazing universities and students that you’ve created, and know that you’ve played a huge part in contributing to their success. Good luck!