Applying for those all important university choices can be:

a- nerve wracking
b- challenging
c- and well, where do you actually begin?

Whether you’ve only just started thinking about university and want to know the process, half-way through your application and seeking clarity, submitted you’re application and twiddling your thumbs with whats next, our students are here to guide you through the UCAS application process.

Starting your application

If you’ve been out of education for a little while and you don’t have the support of your local school or college, you might be wondering what the process for applying to university is? All students must make a formal application through UCAS which stands for Universities and Colleges Admissions. The UCAS website has lots of helpful videos which take you step by step through what you need to do.

What makes up an application?

• Course choices (you can choose up to five)
• Qualifications (you must enter all your qualifications from secondary education onwards)
• Employment history (if you’ve had any full-time of part-time paid jobs)
• Personal statement
• Reference

Personal statement 

What are universities looking for in a personal statement? Current student Jessica applied to study Forensic Sciences. Writing a personal statement wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be! Here she give us advice on the do’s and dont’s:

UCAS have created a really handy video on how to plan, start, structure and end your personal statement which is almost certainly worth watching too.

Work placements

Unsure how to get the work skills and experience required to be able to refer to in your personal statement? Will it make a difference? Psychology student Abigail provides some ideas on how to get started in her blog ‘How to get work experience for your personal statement’.

Interviews

Maybe you’ve received an invitation to interview? Congratulations! Imogen tells us all about how to nail your interview from a current student’s perspective. From dress code to asking questions, find out about it here. 

Key dates!

When do you have to press send? Once you’ve submitted your application, when are you supposed to here back from your university choices?

Wednesday 15 January 2020 –  deadline for UCAS undergraduate courses
Tuesday 25 February 2020 – UCAS Extra opens

A full timeline of all the dates you need for your diary can be found here.