University and UCAS applications

Applying to university is an exciting time! By doing some more study, you will be increasing your qualifications, developing more skills and knowledge and hopefully gaining more work experience either as part of the course or during the holidays.

You will be able to apply to university between the September 1st and January 15th in your second year of your level 3 course. After January 15th, universities can still accept applications, but will not necessarily consider them if they have enough applications already.

Before you get to the point of making an application, you need to do several things, which include -

• Find out what course you would like to do - use the UCAS (www.ucas.com) website to search courses, and find out what is involved/grades needed.
• Visit universities, you will be studying there for some time so it’s important you like the environment!
• Decide how far or near to home you want to be.
• Got a career in mind for afterwards? Check the course is right. If you haven’t got a career in mind don’t worry! Most careers won’t need a specific subject - about 80% of graduate vacancies don’t specify a degree subject.
• Make a careers appointment to talk through your ideas.
• Check out the financial situation, fees and loans at the student finance England website www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator, and check with the universities you like if they have any bursaries.
• Have you got a disability or caring responsibilities? You can get extra financial and other support to help you at university. www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowance-dsa
• Criminal record? Check if this will have an impact or not, talk to someone in the careers department, who can help with this.
• Make sure you know where your exam certificates are, and what your BTEC registration number is!

You will need to write a personal statement in which you get across why you want to study for the course. Any relevant learning from your current course or work experience can be very useful here! More information about writing a personal statement can be found at www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/getting-started/when-apply/writing-personal-statement.

The careers department can help you with your UCAS form, personal statement and decisions about where and what to study. Make an appointment or just drop in.

There will be UCAS drop in sessions occurring in the autumn term if you have quick questions.