THE UCAS FORM

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.

• Any dance, drama or music qualifications should also be included. • All international qualifications should be included. • IELTS results must be included for students with English as an Additional Language. A certain level in such tests will almost certainly be required from overseas’ applicants.

Your employment history

• Emphasise any relevant work experience here as well as any regular employment that you have undertaken.

Your personal statement

• See next section.

Your declaration

• Remember, that by signing the declaration you are saying that the information you have provided is accurate and complete and that you agree to abide by the rules of UCAS.

Your reference

• Your tutor will write your reference with input from your subject teachers. • It will include reference to your attitude, motivation, organisation and suitability for the course. It will also include your predicted grades. • Remember that the school will always aim to be positive in its references, which distinguishes them from the academic report each student receives each year from their teachers. • All students are encouraged to read their reference to check for any erroneous details, however we do not look to email/send out copies to students or parents.

Your submission

• Once you have completed your application and consider it ready, send it electronically to Mr Alderson, by clicking “pay and send”. This will send it to him (and his team) for final checking, before being sent off to the universities. • Be patient – it will take time for the form to be checked and then submitted. The internal deadlines have been set so as to allow the applications to be processed more efficiently– if you do not submit your application by the deadline given, then the delay may be considerable • To assist him in completing these checks he may delegate such a task to the two Heads of Year. • If Mr Alderson finds errors on the form, he will send it back to you by email for amending (this is often the most time-consuming process, since every year forms are typically returned several times for errors). You should consider any comments carefully, seek clarification if necessary, and then look to amend your form appropriately and as soon as possible before notifying him that you have made whatever changes you wanted to make. • Although there are certain details which will have to have been completed before the applications can be sent off, with regards to the personal statement it is meant to “come from the student” and the advisory team in the Sixth Form can only advise; it is up to the student to what extent they heed this advice. For more information about the personal statement read the next section.

Remember: to check, double-check, proof-read… and then ask someone else to do the same.