There are several reasons people don’t always get to applying for university by the January 15th deadline. And you might be wondering what this means for you? Here are two different scenarios which should shed some light on what to expect and what your different options are if you too haven’t applied yet.

Dear Diary,

15^th January 8:30am – I woke up to my alarm surprisingly peacefully. Well it was a peaceful morning until I glanced at my desk and saw my laptop with my UCAS application open, incomplete. It took me a few seconds to realise that today was the deadline to apply to university!

15^th January 10:00am – I practically ran to college, laptop and the £24 application fee in hand. I almost only grabbed £18 but then realised that is the fee for only applying to one university. Today isn’t going well.

15^th January 14:30pm – After skipping most of my lessons and spending the day perfecting my UCAS application, my laptop decided to crash on me and I hadn’t saved anything. I went to my head of year to ask for advice and after calming me down, informed me I had three options.

• Option 1 – Apply by the 30^th June 18:00 UK time which is the late submission date (but I would have to check to see if individual universities were open for this)
• Option 2 – Apply by the 20^th September 18:00 UK time where my application will be considered for Clearing

16^th January 9:00am – Bright and early for a Saturday morning, I was up perfecting my UCAS application. AGAIN!

16^th January 16:00pm – I sent off my application. Yep I decided to apply late. The universities I am considering still have space and say all over their websites they are still open. It’s all a waiting game now. Wish me luck!

^5th March 13:30pm – I got an email from UCAS! Two of my universities have given me conditional offers for my dream course! But wait what does conditional mean? It means if I meet certain grades on results day from my BTEC’s I will be in! I’m so happy. Just got to meet the requirements now.

There is no discrimination against late applications if there are still spaces available!Lucky for me that missing the 15th January deadline wasn’t the end of the world!

Abigale Johnson

Dear Diary,

23^rd March 17:00pm – I have just spent three hours at my computer researching higher education options and it seems I’m leaning more towards university. I had never considered it before as I didn’t think it was for me and my future career choice is usually reached via apprentices, however it turns out many universities do my course! I left school a few years ago so if I am going to apply I have to do it myself. I don’t really know where to start with it all. There are references and lots of qualifications I feel unsure about….

26^th March 11:00am – I have got back to considering my application and have found on Bournemouth University’s web page they have a Future Students Enquiry Team who can help with all my questions. I decide to give them a call although there is the option to live chat and they reassure me throght parts of the application i was unsure of. Whilst I have missed the main application deadline, I can still apply late.

30^th March 15:00pm – I was scrolling through Facebook and the UCAS page had a link to an information site which informed me late applications have to be submitted by the 30^th June 18:00 UK time.

18^th April 19:00pm – My university application is all sent off. I didn’t rush it, just took my time to make sure I was 100% confident in my choices. Let’s just hope I get offers back!

2^nd July 13:00pm – I got an offer for university doing the course I chose! I haven’t planned this for years like some students but i am now sure this is what I want to do and am so happy I haven’t missed out on the opportunity to start this September.

Jason Smith