Completing Your Application

• Address
• Examination results
• Personal statement
• Choice of courses
• Finishing your application
• Should I apply early?

There is no substitute for reading the guidance and then going slowly and carefully through each section, checking back against the guidance as you go.

• The UCAS application may only be a few electronic screens but for some it can be a daunting prospect. For most applicants, what you (and your referee) say will be all the university uses to make a decision, so it is important to get it right.
• Please note that UCAS are proposiing some minor changes to the application procedure for 2014–15 entry. The UCAS website published the proposed 2014 changes in summer 2012.

Address

This looks simple, and it is, but don't just fill in your current address and then forget about it. If your address changes, make sure you tell UCAS immediately – including your email address and mobile/telephone number.

• UCAS will automatically notify your university choices of the change. If you don't keep UCAS informed of your change of address you will find letters and emails (which might be offers or a confirmation of a place) go to the wrong address.
• If you are at boarding school tell UCAS when you go home for the summer.  
• It is essential to keep UCAS informed of any changes to your email address. The majority of communication from universities will be by email (open day details, accommodation reminders, news, and even an offer of a place or alternative offer in Clearing).
• Make sure your email inbox can receive bulk emails and is not full, especially during results time in August.

Examination results

It is important to ensure you get the details of the exams which you are due to be taking exactly right.

• If you are taking English Language and Literature, put the full title and not just English, even if everyone in your school or college calls it English.
• This is important because any mistakes could mean that UCAS cannot match your application with your examination results straightaway in the summer. This could result in a unnecessary delay in universities making their decisions.
• Listing the full module details of a BTEC award is also important to avoid confusion over precisely what subjects you have studied.
• If you are taking the examinations of another country do not try to give a UK equivalent. Always state exactly what you are doing and let the university decide the equivalence so as to avoid any confusion.
• If the column headings on the form are inappropriate, then ignore them.

Be honest. Never be tempted to massage your results to make them look a little better.

• UCAS has some extremely sophisticated fraud-busting techniques and admissions tutors are remarkably good at spotting rogue applications.
• If you are found to be giving false or incomplete information, you will be promptly ejected from UCAS and lose any chance of a place at university that year.
• Even if you manage to slip through all the detection devices, you are likely to be asked by the university to present your certificates. Any sign of tampering will be investigated with the examining board.
• When the examination board advises your would-be university that the ABB on your form was really DDD, you will politely be shown the door.

Personal statement

This is your chance to say anything you like, in your own words, to persuade admissions tutors that yours is the brightest and best application ever to have crossed their desk. You can write what you like. The key areas to include:

• Why you want to study your chosen subject.
• What particular qualities and experience you can bring to the course.
• Details of any work experience or voluntary activity, especially if it is relevant to your course.
• Any other evidence of extra-curriculur achievements.
• Details of any sponsorship or placements you have secured or applied for.
• Your career aspirations.
• Any wider aspects of life that make you an interesting and well-rounded student.
• If your first language is not English, describe any opportunities you have had to use English (such as an English-speaking school or work with a company that uses English).

If you plan to take a gap year, then you would be advised to make some mention of your plans and intentions in the personal statement and how the experience may assist you in your personal development or your appreciation of your subject. The university will not hold you to this, but it will indicate to the admissions tutor that you have given some thought to the value of the experience.

Remember that for most admissions tutors a large volume of applications will cross their desk.

• Many applicants will get advice about how to write the statement and see model examples.
• Somehow you have to make your personal statement stand out from the crowd. Be honest and be yourself.
• Try to avoid being too wacky – not all admissions tutors will share your sense of humour.

If there is anything about your application that is even slightly unusual, then explain why.

• If you want to defer your entry to the following year, say why and what you intend to do with your year out.
• If you are a mature student, explain why you want to enter higher education.
• In general, the more vocational the course, the more you need to emphasise your commitment to the profession and relevant experience you have gained.
• Conversely, the more academic the course, the more you need to enthuse about the subject and explain why you want to study it for the next few years.

As with examinations, be honest.

• If you say you are interested in philosophy and then get called for interview, you can almost guarantee that some learned professor will ask you a relevant question. If you can't talk sensibly about philosophy, you will look immature and will be unlikely to receive an offer.
• Be specific in what you write. Don't just say you did some voluntary work; describe what you learned through the experience.
• Avoid saying you are interested in reading –  be specific and describe what you like to read and why.

There is no ideal way to structure your statement.  It is a good idea to use paragraphs or sub-headings to make the presentation clear and easy for an admissions tutor to read.

• Try to keep within the word count.  Like everyone else you have only 450 words or so (45 lines, 4,000 characters max) in which to make your statement, so keep it clear and concise. 
• If you have to say more than any additional material needs to be sent directly to the universities to which you have applied.  Wait until you have received your application number from UCAS so that you can include this with your papers. 
• Do not send additional papers to UCAS. 
• UCAS Apply will let you paste in your personal statement from another source. It is, therefore, a good idea to prepare it in advance and check it thoroughly before entering it into your UCAS application.

Do not, under any circumstances, be tempted to plagiarise your personal statement.

• UCAS now use detection software on all applications.
• If there is evidence that your application is not your own work, any offers you receive can be withdrawn and universities will be informed of the level of information copied or plagarised.

The personal statement is important and it will be read.

• Academic achievement and the possibly the reference from your tutor/adviser at school/college is regarded by many people to be more important.
• Give yourself plenty of time in which to prepare it.
• With brainstorming and re-reading/editing, at this level of education you ought to be able to produce a piece of work which accurately reflects you. 
• All of us have positive attributes and motivations – its just a case of teasing them out and expressing them on the statement.

Read our advice on personal statements, including more do's and don'ts.

Choice of courses

By the time you fill in your application, you should have your choice of courses ready.

• You are allowed five (5) choices. You don't have to use them all. If you only make one choice there is a lower application fee.
• If you want to apply for medicine, dentistry or veterinary science/medicine, you are only allowed to use four choices for these courses.
• Each university will only see details of its own application and so they will not know where else you have applied or whether all the courses in your application are the same. The form is therefore classed as 'blind'.

Remember that you only get to write one personal statement, so if you opt for radically different courses (e.g. Physics at Oxford, Film Studies at Essex, History at Sheffield and Politics at Aston) it will be difficult to construct a personal statement that demonstrates your enthusiasm for all of them equally.

• If your choices are so varied perhaps you need to ask yourself some honest questions about where your passions truly lie – otherwise you may find yourself in an unhappy place in the future.
• Better to wait 12 months and get a clearer understanding of who you are and what you wish to achieve.

Students who are applying to university as part of UCAS Extra may wish to email a revised personal statement to their chosen university.

• This is not currently possible via UCAS Apply itself but any email or correspondence should include UCAS applicant number, etc for easy cross referencing.
• Clearing/Adjustment applicants are also welcome (and advised) to submit a revised personal statement.

Finishing your application

In all sections of your application, make sure the grammar and punctuation are correct – check your application carefully.

• It is a good idea to show it to someone else as a final check. Don't rely on a computer – it won't spot the subtle differences between organic chemistry and orgasmic chemistry, for example.
• When you have finally finished, print out a copy and arrange for your referee (usually someone from your school or college) to add their reference and follow the instructions about ways in which you can pay the fee. In 2013 it is £23 for 2–5 choices or £12 for 1 choice.
• International applicants will need to have access to a credit card to make the payment.

Your application can arrive at UCAS any time between 1 September and 15 January (or 15 October if Oxford or Cambridge or any medical, dental or veterinary course is among your choices – see the Application Timetable for this and other exceptions).

• In some circumstances there can be a small advantage in applying early but generally it will not make any difference.
• If you apply after the appropriate deadline your application will still be processed by UCAS but universities do not have to consider it. They can, if they wish, reject you on the grounds that they have received enough applications already.
• However, if you are applying for one of the less competitive courses or are applying from outside the European Union you will probably find your application is treated just like those that arrived on time, and many universities may make allowances for mature applicants engaged on one-year Access Diplomas.

Should I apply early?

Universities are required by UCAS rules to treat all applications received by the appropriate deadline on an equal basis.

• This means that applying early or late should make no difference, as long as the deadline is met and in practice this is the case for virtually all applicants.
• Indeed if you are applying for a low-demand subject you will probably get equal treatment, even if your application arrives well after the deadline. Nonetheless this is a risky strategy which is ill-advised.
• Occasionally, a very popular university may experience a sudden increase in applications in very high-demand subjects such as medicine, English or law.
• This only becomes apparent after the university has started making offers. It will then be faced with a choice of either carrying on making offers in the same way and ending up with an intake way above target or tightening up its criteria and admitting the correct number.
• Neither of these outcomes is desirable: too many students means large classes and over-worked staff; tightening the criteria means being slightly tougher with some applicants.
• The university may choose the latter course, in which case a few of the later applicants might be rejected whereas, if they had applied earlier, before the increased number of applications was apparent, they might have received an offer.
• This situation is very rare, but the conclusion is that applying early never does any harm while applying later to high-demand subjects very occasionally might – the early bird catches the worm.

Next page: What Happens Next?