Higher Education Guide

THE UCAS APPLICATION FORM At first glance, the UCAS form and procedures look complex and bureaucratic. Actually, the process is fairly straightforward once you have chosen your universities and courses.

The only way you can apply to a UK university is through UCAS, so you need to ensure that you do it properly. You will be advised during tutor time about how to complete the form.

All forms should be submitted to Mr Alderson by just before the October half-term of Year 13, so that they can likely be sent off to UCAS during November. You therefore need to be organised, motivated and committed to keeping to deadlines. It is worth remembering that the sooner you submit your application the better, allowing you to focus upon your studies.

Filling in the form All UCAS applications are made on-line through ‘UCAS Apply’. The application fee for 2021 entry was £26 for two to five courses applied for) will be added to your Lent Term account.

The following advice is worth noting: Your personal details • Avoid nicknames.

• Avoid strange email addresses e.g. fairyprincess@hotmail.com. Do NOT use the @newhallstudent.co.uk address • Do not forget your postcode.

• Be clear about your ‘residential category’; this is important for the purposes of tuition fees.

For UK nationals, the fee code will be ‘02’.

• Consider whether you wish to reveal the university background of your parents.

Your choice of courses • You can apply to a maximum of five universities (fewer if you wish). However, you are only eligible for ‘Apply Extra’, if you have used all five opportunities. This does not “open” until February.

• It is vital that you include accurate details of course, campus and university codes.

• You should ensure (where possible) that you choose institutions which are likely to make different offers – a spread of grades/points-based offers means that you can then choose as your insurance offer one which has a slightly lower threshold. Ultimately, however many offers a student is made from her/his total of five courses applied to, (s)he can only choose two: a firm offer and an insurance offer. In practice, this means that if your first choice course would typically be AAB, then ideally you would apply to two or three AAB courses, one or two ABB, with one at BBB. Your education • There is no need to include your primary or nursery schools.

Your qualifications • All your (I)GCSE results should be included and should be accurate not only in grades but also exam board and date taken. Please note that if results are found to be untrue, this could lead to an offer being withdrawn.

• All final A Level grades should be marked ‘pending’ because these will not be known until Results Day. Page | 14