Moving On magazine careers and qualifications
REMINDER! Don’t miss the UCAS deadline on 15 January! Use our comprehensive checklist to make sure you’re on track and have prepared all the relevant info you’ll need to apply to the college or university of your dreams!
By KATE NEWTON
15th January 2014: this is the absolute, final deadline for applying for the majority of courses (The deadline for 2014 Oxford and Cambridge applicants was way back in October 2013 and deadlines and application processes are different for some courses like art and design, performing arts and teacher training so make sure you check with your tutor that you get the dates right.)
Have you completed, checked the spelling and grammar and read your personal statement aloud to friends or family to see if there are any obvious mistakes? If you have, that’s great but if you haven’t, DON’T LEAVE IT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!! Writing a great personal statement is the most important opportunity you’ll have to sell yourself and getting it right can be time-consuming – you won’t get away with a dashed-off, sloppy or badly thought out version written straight on to your UCAS application without a moment’s thought! Write it, rewrite it and do a version on Word Document so you can do a spelling and grammar check and make sure that you don’t use more than 4,000 characters or 47 lines of text, including spaces and blank lines. It really is worth taking your time over your personal statement so get cracking if you haven’t nailed yours yet!
Have you made your final choice of 5 courses yet? Remember, you can choose two or three courses at the same college if you like – you don’t have to apply to five different colleges or universities.
Don’t forget – you may have qualifications which will count towards your UCAS points total and will make a difference to whether you receive a place or not! These qualifications may be related to your hobbies or extra-curricular activities like music exams and check with your parents or guardians and teachers in case you have forgotten taking an exam or achieving an award in something outside school. Not all unis and colleges use the UCAS Tariff system but around half of all course entry requirements make reference to it so it’s well worth finding out whether your extra qualifications carry any points. Go on to the UCAS website to see how the tariff works.
Now is the time, if you haven’t already done it (naughty, naughty!) to hunt down your teachers, lecturers and tutors in the dim, dark corners of their staff rooms – and ask them very nicely to write a glowing reference for your UCAS application! They are all terribly hard-working, busy people so the more notice you give them to write lovely things about you, the better!
£12.00 for a single course, £23.00 for multiple courses and applications sent after June 30th – make sure you will have the money available on the date you are going to submit your application – your school or college will let you know whether to pay via them or whether you’ll need to pay UCAS directly, online.
www.ucas.com/students/wheretostart/sixsteps: Here you will find the UCAS step-by-step guide to the application process.
www.UCASconnect.com: This website enables you to ask questions of UCAS expert advisers via Twitter and Facebook. You can also watch information videos and read blogs from current applicants. UCAS Connect is also available as a free mobile phone app (on Apple, Android, and Nokia devices).
www.ucas.com/ucascard: Here you can register for a free UCAS card. The UCAS card is available for all students in year 12, S5, or equivalent. After registering, you will receive monthly newsletters which include tips on applying to universities. You will also receive a high street discount card!
unistats.direct.gov.uk: Unistats is a website for applicants who want to research relevant courses and institutions before they apply.
www.ucas.com/parents: Parents of applicants can register here. Parents will receive a Parent Guide in the post, as well as newsletters specific to their son or daughter’s application cycle.
www.ucas.tv: Parents can find information videos tailored for them at this website.
FE: FE is an abbreviation of ‘further education’. Further education is a stage on from secondary education (high school). It is education for young people over 16 and it is usually taught at FE colleges. Further education ranges from basic training, to BTEC and Higher National Diploma.
HE: HE is an abbreviation of ‘higher education’. Higher education is the stage of education that takes place mostly at universities and colleges. In the UK, higher education usually follows on from further education.
Adjustment: Applicants who have met and exceeded the conditions of their firm offer are provided with an opportunity to look at alternative institutions.
Clearing: A system that is used towards the back end of the higher education application process. If an applicant has not yet secured a place, the Clearing systems enables them to apply for course vacancies.
Conditional offer: A conditional offer is an offer from a university or college, in which you have to meet certain criteria before acceptance on a course. The certain criteria could be certain grades needed (A-level and/or BTEC).
Deferral: Holding an offer until the next academic year (useful for young people who seek to go on a gap year before they begin higher education).
Extra: Extra is the opportunity to apply for another course if an applicant has been unsuccessful in their initial 5 choices. Extra runs from the end of February until the end of June.
Insurance offer: An insurance offer is the offer that an applicant would accept as their second choice. This can be important, as an applicant may not meet the criteria for their first choice offer.
Track: Track is the system which enables applicants to track the progress of their application online.
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