If you wish to study an undergraduate degree programme at a British university
you are required to apply via UCAS.
Each applicant has a maximum of five choices on their application,
most will choose to apply to the same or very similar courses at five different institutions,
however, some students may choose to apply to the same university multiple times or to
a variety of different course areas.
It is important that you are familiar with the key dates of the cycle
and that you do not miss any of them.
The application window will open in the September of the year before your chosen course is due
to start and most will close on January 15th.
If you wish to make an application to Oxford or Cambridge
or you would like to study Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Science
then your application deadline is even earlier
on October 15th.
It is still possible to make late applications after these dates but the universities are
under no obligation to consider them and therefore we always advise that these dates are met.
In order to begin the process you will need to visit the UCAS website
and register your details, this will then generate a username, password and UCAS ID number
It is worth noting these down as they will be required many times over the coming months.
If you are making your application whilst still at school
or college then you will also need to enter in their buzzword,
this will allow your form to be matched to your current place of study
and for your teachers to check over it for you and add in a reference.
The application itself is split into six different sections,
which can be completed in any order that you would like.
Section one relates to your personal details, whilst information about your date of birth
and address may seem straight forward try not to get complacent.
A mistake here, such as a misspelling of your own name will not create a strong first impression
with university Admissions staff.
Section two is where you will input your university choices.
At this stage in the process you do not rank them in order of preference,
UCAS will actually list them alphabetically for you,
and you can make a final decision as to where is your first choice at a later stage in the cycle.
Make sure that you double check all of the details you are entering are correct
and that you have listed the correct course and institution code.
Section three asks you to input the details of any formal qualifications that you hold,
for most this is their GCSE grades as well as any qualifications obtained in Year 12.
For each you will need to know not only the subject title and the grade you secured but
also the exam board that you sat them with.
All of this information can be found on your exam certificates so it may be worth locating
these and keeping them to hand.
Section four deals with employment history and allows you to record any paid work that
you may have undertaken.
Don’t panic if you do not have anything to include here,
it will not be seen as a negative on your application,
you can leave this section blank but you will need to remember to mark it as complete.
Section five is the personal statement, and the element of the application that causes
students the most worry.
This is essentially a mini essay where you set out why you have chosen to pursue this
particular course area.
As you only make one application for all five of your choices you only get one personal statement.
So we therefore recommend that your selected
courses are as similar as possible to ensure that your statement is focused.
If you would like further support writing this then please watch our personal statement video.
The sixth and final section is for your reference. This is normally completed by someone within
your school or college but if you have left education or feel that
someone else may be a more appropriate referee then you are welcome to approach them instead.
The reference acts to support the application overall and to confirm the information that
you have provided is correct.
You do have the right to request to see a copy of your reference prior to submitting
your form if you would like to.
Once you have finished each section you need to mark it as complete and a little
green tick will appear,
until you actually submit your application you are able to revisit sections and make amends.
Don’t forget that once you have made changes to your application you need to hit save.
Once everything is complete and you are happy that your application reflects you
and your commitment to your chosen course areas
you can press pay and send.
There is a small admin fee applicable at this stage
and then the form will be sent to UCAS who will process it for you before passing it
on to your chosen institutions.
You will be able to follow the progress of your application throughout the entire cycle
by logging onto UCAS Track