UCAS Guide

UCAS is the central admissions system that all the Universities use: you fill in one form, and it is shown to all the universities you choose (except for the part that says which other universities you applied for – that is removed).

Go to www.ucas.com and familiarise yourself with Undergraduate “getting started” and “find a course”: you will need to choose up to five similar courses, and know the course codes and institution codes for each. Look up typical offers and make sure your selection includes at least one course that you should get into comfortably – you will need to keep an “insurance” offer at the end, as well as a first choice.

To start an application, click on “apply and track”, then register undergraduate courses. Accept the terms and conditions then continue. The registration process will take place during PSHE.

Filling in the form should then be straightforward, especially if you watch the help videos, although there are one or two things that always seem to cause difficulty:

Your fee code is 02 student finance (some very rare exceptions – see Mrs Waldron if you need to check). GCSEs are qualifications, so your level is “Below honours degree …”

You need to enter all your GCSE and AS results (GCE Advanced Subsidiary new) and certification dates . There is very rarely any point in doing so, but you can record your individual modules and grades if you want. Separately, you need to enter all your A Level subjects (GCE Advanced) with results pending. Make sure your form is up to date when you submit it or you may get an offer that includes a subject you’ve dropped.

Personal Statement
You need to compose and redraft this and keep showing it to your tutor for a while to make sure it’s just right. Do all this on a Word document. It’s about a side, normal font (4000 characters or 47 lines). When you paste it into the form, the programme will tell you precisely if it’s too long or too short, and you can adjust it before trying again.

When you have completed all the sections you should print it out – you won’t be able to see it anymore once you’ve submitted it otherwise. Then ask your tutor to check it – they can either look through the print out or can go on the website and view it. When you’re certain it’s ready you need to PAY (not actually the fee is added to your school bill) and then SUBMIT. Your form is then ready for the school to complete its sections and checks. We may return it with a message if we see anything wrong: keep checking to see if it’s been returned to you – although you should also receive an email if this happens. Otherwise, a few days later the school will submit your application to UCAS and you will receive an acknowledgement.

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