A PARENT'S GUIDE TO THE UCAS SYSTEM AND CHOOSING FURTHER EDUCATION AFTER SIXTH FORM
I have a daughter who is 14 and in the first year of her GCSE's and a son who is 16 and nearly at the end of his first year of sixth form at St Aidans in Harrogate. Until recently all I knew about UCAS (the University Processing system) was what I had been told from friends who's children were older and from my memories when I went through it thirty or so years ago!!
So....I hope this brief guide helps you but please use the websites I mention for further research and make your own enquiries!
The first step is for your child to choose a course or courses to suit them and using Course Search at www.ucas.com will help them with this task.In 2010 there were almost 50,000 courses in over 300 Universities and Colleges so the choices are wide and varied! Generally the more traditional courses will be run by the more established and older Universities and Colleges with the more modern universities and learning institutions offering more varied and unusual subjects.
Your child must identify their own academic strengths and weaknesses and must seek advice through school and above all, be honest with themselves! They must ask themselves if and why they enjoy a particular subject and see how this can tie in with any career ambitions. Very often, students have no idea what they want to do in the big bad world, so studying a subject they enjoy is much better than enduring three years of torment or changing after a year or so.Funnily enough 70% of graduate Employers do not specify a subject so knowing what you want to do at this stage is not the be all and end all!
Students should find about about the course structures....ie do they prefer lectures or seminars or more face to face learning?
Once a course is identified, the University or College should be looked at. Examine the location closely to ensure it suits you....some people prefer the quieter life of a campus University where everything is available on site. Others would prefer to be in a major city and have the buzz that goes with that. Our children are all different and what suits one will not suit another. Look at the support and guidance on offer at the particular University, are the libraries open 24 hours, are there enough computers, do they have Trust Marks and what is the level of clubs and societies?
Location is important in that some students may prefer to be not too far from home whilst others will want to be as far away as possible, but in the latter case they should be aware of the additional transport costs and lack of support if it is really needed! Some places in the UK are more expensive to live (eg London) so this all has to be weighed up.
It is important to then make at least a couple of Open Day visits to your child's favoured University or College where you can get a feel for the place, see the accommodation on offer and talk about the courses and facilities in more detail.
Once the Course and University have been chosen, a student should apply to UCAS online and do so in good time , not leaving it to deadline day! One can apply for up to five courses and can apply for more than one course at the same University/College.Apply at www.ucas.com/apply .The standard application fee is £21 for a maximum of five choices and £11 for a single choice.
The student will have also prepared his or her personal statement which forms part of the application. This is the student's chance to say why they are applying and why the University should choose them as a student.School will offer help and assistance with this, but it should be the student's own work entirely!
The institution will inform UCAS who will in turn inform the student and there will be one of a possible three responses:-
1. An Unconditional Offer of a place
2. An offer conditional on attaining a certain score/grades. Two of these offers can be accepted. One will be a firm acceptance and the other an insurance acceptance!
3. No place offered.
The timeline at most schools although this should be checked is that UCAS applications (other than Oxbridge candidates) should be submitted by the 15th October in Year 12.
Following the publishing of results (usually in or around the 18th August of Year 13) if a pupil has been unsuccessful with their two choices they can apply to clearing. UCAS will publish a list of vacant course places and if they apply, the particular learning institution will be able to view their UCAS application online.
After all that hopefully your child will be ready to go on to higher education and make their mark in the world. Good luck to you all!!
