20:13
Uni-2-Know
What is in the application?
1. Address
2. Examination results
3. Personal statement
4. Choice of courses
5. Should I be applying early?
Like any form that is important (and affects your future) when you’re looking at it for the first time when all the spaces are empty, it looks rather daunting. It is important that you complete it correctly; there is no harm in taking it slowly and thinking about what you are doing! Especially as what you say will be all the university uses to make its decision in most cases.
1. Address
Remember that even though this little section looks to be pretty simple there are a few things you need to remember.
If you change your address (or any other detail) you must notify UCAS as soon as possible as they will then notify you university choices of the change. If you don’t do this important information may not reach you!
2. Examination Results
Make sure you get the details of your examinations to be taken exactly right. If you are taking English Language and Literature, put the full title and not just English, even if everyone in your school or college calls it English. This is important because any mistakes could mean that UCAS cannot match your application with your examination results straightaway in the summer, resulting in a delay in universities making their decisions. Listing the full module details of a BTEC award is also important to avoid confusion over precisely what you have studied.
If you are taking the examinations of another country do not try to give a UK equivalent. Always state exactly what you are doing and let the university decide the equivalence so as to avoid any confusion. If the column headings on the form are inappropriate, then ignore them.
And be honest! Never be tempted to massage your results to make them look a little better. UCAS has some extremely sophisticated fraud-busting techniques and admissions tutors are remarkably good at spotting dodgy applications. If you are found to be giving false or incomplete information, you will be promptly ejected from UCAS and lose any chance of a place at university that year. Even if you manage to slip through all the detection devices, you are likely to be asked by the university to present your certificates. Any sign of tampering, or lame excuses about them having been eaten by the dog, will result in a check with the records of the examining board. When the board points out that the ABB on your form was really DDD, you will politely be shown the door.
3. Personal Statement
This is your chance to say anything you like, in your own words, to persuade admissions tutors that yours is the brightest and best application ever to have crossed their desk. You can write what you like, but the key areas probably include:
· why you want to study your chosen subject
· what particular qualities and experience you can bring to it
· details of any work experience or voluntary activity, especially if it is relevant to your course
· any other evidence of achievement, such as the Duke of Edinburgh award
· details of any sponsorship or placements you have secured or applied for
· your career aspirations
· any wider aspects of life that make you an interesting and well-rounded student
· if your first language is not English, describe any opportunities you have had to use English (such as an English-speaking school or work with a company that uses English).
Remember that for most admissions tutors an awful lot of applications will cross their desk. Many applicants will get advice about how to write the statement and see model examples. The result is a tendency for personal statements to be rather similar and, to a hard-pressed admissions tutor faced with a metre-high pile of UCAS forms, rather dull. Somehow you have to make it personal and stand out from the crowd. On the other hand, avoid being too wacky - not all admissions tutors will share your sense of humour and your form may be read by one who doesn't.
If there is anything about your application that is even slightly unusual, then explain why. If you want to defer your entry to the following year, say why and what you intend to do with your year out. If you are a mature student, explain why you want to enter higher education. In general, the more vocational the course, the more you need to emphasise your commitment to the profession and relevant experience you have gained. Conversely, the more academic the course, the more you need to enthuse about the subject and explain why you want to study it for several years.
As with examinations, be honest. If you say you are interested in philosophy and then get called for interview, you can almost guarantee that some learned professor will ask you about Plato's Theory of Forms or Spinoza's Ethics. If you can't talk sensibly about philosophy, you will look rather silly and will be unlikely to get an offer. Be specific in what you write. Don't just say you did some voluntary work; describe what you learned through the experience. Don't just say you are interested in reading - after all, students have to be interested in reading as they do a lot of it; describe what you like to read and why.
There is no ideal way to structure your statement, but it is a good idea to use paragraphs or sub-headings to make the presentation clear and easy for an admissions tutor to read. If you want to say more than there is space available, do not send additional papers to UCAS, as they will not automatically be passed on to your chosen universities. If you really can't make it fit, then send any additional material directly to the universities to which you have applied but wait until you have received your application number from UCAS, so that you can include this with your papers and make sure they are matched with the correct application. Don't forget that you have only 450 words or so (45 lines) in which to make your statement, so keep it clear and concise.
Apply will let you paste in your personal statement from another source. It is, therefore, a good idea to prepare it in advance and check it thoroughly before entering it into your application.
Do not, under any circumstances, be tempted to plagiarise your personal statement. UCAS now use detection software on all applications. If there is evidence that your application is not your own work, any offers you receive can be withdrawn and Universities will be informed of the level of information copied or plagarised.
The personal statement is nothing to worry about - it will be read, but it is not the only deal-breaker to receiving an offer. Academic achievement and the reference from your tutor/adviser at school/college is regarded by most to be more important. You should, therefore, not need to borrow or copy the statement. Give yourself plenty of time in which to prepare it. With brainstorming and re-reading/editing, you can't go wrong in most cases. All of us have positive attributes and motivations - it’s just a case of teasing them out and expressing them on the statement.
4. Choice of courses
By the time you fill in your application, you should have your choice of courses ready. You are allowed five (5), but you don't have to use them all and many applicants don't - if you only use one choice there is a lower application fee. If you want to apply for medicine, dentistry or veterinary science/medicine, you are only allowed to use four choices for these courses, though you can use the other one for a different subject if you wish.
Each university will only see details of its own application and so they will not know where else you have applied or whether all the courses in your application are the same.
Remember that you only get to write one personal statement however, so if you opt for radically different courses (e.g. Physics at Oxford, Film Studies at Essex, History at Sheffield and Politics at Aston) it will be difficult to construct a personal statement that demonstrates your enthusiasm for all of them equally.
In all sections of your application, make sure the grammar and punctuation are correct. It is a good idea to show it to someone else as a final check. Don't rely on a spellchecker - it won't pick up the difference between organic chemistry and orgasmic chemistry. When you have finally finished, print out a copy and arrange for your referee (usually someone from your school or college) to add their reference and follow the instructions about ways in which you can pay the fee (£19 for entry in 2010, or £9 if you only use one choice). International applicants will need to have access to a credit card if you are making a personal application.
Your application can arrive at UCAS any time between 1 September and 15 January (or 15 October if Oxford or Cambridge or any medical, dental or veterinary course is among your choices). In some circumstances there can be a small advantage in applying early but generally it will not make any difference. If you apply after the appropriate deadline your application will still be processed by UCAS but universities do not have to consider it. They can, if they wish, reject you on the grounds that they have received enough applications already. However, if you are applying for one of the less competitive courses or are applying from outside the European Union you will probably find your application is treated just like those that arrived on time, and many universities may make allowances for mature applicants engaged on one-year Access Diplomas.
5. Should I apply early?
Universities are required by UCAS rules to treat all applications received by the appropriate deadline on an equal basis. This means that applying early or late should make no difference, as long as the deadline is met, and in practice this is the case for virtually all applicants. Indeed if you are applying for a low-demand subject you will probably get equal treatment even if your application arrives well after the deadline.
Occasionally, a very popular university may experience a sudden increase in applications in very high-demand subjects such as medicine, English or law, which only becomes apparent after it has started making decisions. It will then be faced with a choice of either carrying on making offers in the same way and ending up with an intake way above target, or tightening up its criteria and admitting the right number. Neither of these outcomes is desirable: too many students means large classes and over-worked staff; tightening the criteria means being slightly tougher with some applicants. The university may choose the latter course, in which case a few of the later applicants might be rejected whereas, if they had applied earlier, before the increased number of applications was apparent, they might have received an offer. This situation is very rare, but the conclusion is that applying early never does any harm while applying later to high-demand subjects very occasionally might.
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