Completing the UCAS Application And an update on

Completing the UCAS Application And an update on Personal Statements

Completing the UCAS application • What does a completed UCAS application look like? • What are the most common mistakes (so I can avoid making them)?

1. Personal Details • Title, Gender, First/given name, Surname/family name, Preferred first name, Previous surname at 16 th birthday, Postal address, Is your permanent home in the UK? , Telephone, Mobile, Email, Do. B, Country of birth, Nationality, Area of permanent residence, Residential category. • You do not need a Unique Learner Number (ULN), Test of English as a Foreign Language Number (TOEFL), or International English Language Testing System Number (IELTS). • Student Finance Code: 01 – Private finance (if your parents are going to pay £ 9000 tuition fees each year plus approximately £ 10, 000 maintenance each year – VERY RARE!) 02 – UK, Chl, Io. M or EU – Student Finance (Student loan – MOST COMMON) 99 – Not known • Any other finance code should be discussed with your tutor.

1. Personal Details • Student Finance Code: 01 – Private finance (if your parents are going to pay £ 9000 tuition fees each year plus approximately £ 10, 000 maintenance each year – VERY RARE!) 02 – UK, Chl, Io. M or EU – Student Finance (Student loan – MOST COMMON) 99 – Not known • Any other finance code should be discussed with your tutor. • Student support arrangements – this is the local government that you will the funding for your student loan – MOST LIKELY Nottinghamshire. • Have you ever lived or worked in the EU? • Do you have a parent, step parent, spouse of civil partner who is an EU national?

1. Personal Details • Keeping you informed about your UCAS application: I want to receive targeted course vacancy information if I am unplaced. I want to receive sales information by email I want to receive sales information by text message to my mobile phone I want to receive sales information by post. Yes Yes

1. Personal Details • Nominated Access – a person you want to be able to alter your UCAS application. NOT USUALLY USED. Full name of nominee: Relationship to you:

1. Personal Details • Criminal convictions – MUST be declared. (You must declare anything, including a warning from the police – we have had students declare these before and we can only help if we know about them). • Disability / special needs – must be declared. Category – Please give details of any special needs –

2. Additional information • Ethnic origin, national identity, Dual national identity. • Activities in preparation for higher education: 1 - This is any course you have been on, or any training you have received that has introduced you to study at university or prepared you for life there. - Sponsor, Start date, duration (days), school year, location • You do NOT need to have these to be successful; nevertheless if you have done anything add it!

2. Additional information • Have you been in care? • Duration in care • Parental education • Occupational background • Would you like correspondence from Welsh universities in Welsh? (Probably not …)

3. Student finance • I will be applying for student finance (MOST PROBABLY – YES) • I want to share my details with the Student Loans Company (A GOOD IDEA IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED YES ABOVE) • I want UCAS to send me a reminder of when and how to apply for student finance (ANOTHER VERY GOOD IDEA – YES)

4. Choices • Name of university: University of Bristol • University code: B 78 (Can find on UCAS website or university website) • Course: Chemistry • Course code: F 100 (Can find on UCAS website or university website) • Campus: Main site for majority of universities unless choice e. g. Colleges in Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. • Live at home while studying? Yes / No – your decision • Start date: September 2016 unless … • Deferred entry? : (Do you want to take a gap year? ) (in which case September 2017)

4. Choices • MUST: 1. Check the entry requirements match your predicted grades. - There is no way for us to check this on the application – if your university does not match you will simply be rejected and lose one of your options. 2. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A RANGE OF OPTIONS. If you are absolutely committed – and I do NOT recommend this – you can try ONE option above your predicted grades; you will still most likely get a rejection straight away. TWO - THREE CHOICES – at your predicted grades. AT LEAST TWO CHOICES – below your predicted grades.

5. Education • You must put down the schools you attended for the duration of secondary school. • E. g. Toot Hill School (Centre number 28308) Sept 2009 – July 2016 • You must include all the qualifications and results you have gained while at secondary school. • For most of you this will be: - GCSEs and BTECs in Years 9 – 11 - A Levels and BTECs in Years 9 – 13 • You do NOT have to include modular breakdown – this is your choice about what you think will look best.

5. Education • You will need to know the subject/course name, overall grade, date of award and exam board. • BTECs – at GCSE level: - BTEC First Diploma • BTECs – at A Level: - Single: BTEC Subsidiary Diploma (QCF) – E. g. Pass, Merit, Distinction - Double: BTEC Diploma (QCF) – E. g. Pass, Merit, DD, D*D* • You do not have the overall grade for these yet, so you will need to select ‘Pending’.

5. Education • GCSEs: - Subject, grade, date of award, Exam board • AS Levels: GCE Advanced Subsidiary • You must list all your results from the summer. - Subject, grade, date of award, Exam board - Remember: You can choose if you want to show modular breakdown or not.

5. Education • You must also include the subjects you are studying this year, even though you don’t yet have a grade. • This is probably the most common error I have seen on applications. • A 2 Level = GCE Advanced Level - Subject, Date of award, Exam board and select ‘Pending’ for date of award or overall grade.

5. Education • There are other qualifications you can add too including: - Other qualifications completed in school - Duke of Edinburgh - Music grades

6. Employment Name of employer Address Nature of work Start date End date (if working at the moment select ‘to present’)

7. Personal Statement • Remember to proof-read your personal statement after you put it on the website too. • Another common mistake students make is that it is slightly too long on the website. • OR it copies and pastes funnily – make sure the sentences flow from one line to another.

8. Finish (your end) and pay • Once everything is submitted, you need to pay and send. • You pay directly to UCAS so you will need a debit / credit card to pay online. • The cost is: - £ 12 for single choice of course (NOT recommended) - £ 23 for multiple choices (FIVE)

What next? • Then we need to add: - Details of referee - Your predicted grades - Your UCAS reference • We can only begin this once you have paid and sent your application to us. • Nevertheless, if after you have sent it to us there are mistakes we can send it back to you where you can resubmit. • In this case, you will receive an email telling your UCAS application has been sent back to you and why. • You need to log on asap, make the changes and resubmit. • YOU WILL NOT NEED TO PAY AGAIN.

Timing? • It will take time for us to complete our end of the application. • Please remember there are 125 UCAS applications this year. àYou cannot expect your UCAS application to go off in the days following you submitting it. à This is especially true during the busiest periods (so if I were you I’d aim to get it in before everyone does!) • Remember – if it has taken you the best part of two months to submit it your end, we still have to fill in ours and write the UCAS reference…

Deadlines? • 15 th October 6 pm – Early entries • Friday 23 rd October (final day of half term) – ALL applications including Russell Group • Friday 25 th November (two weeks before Christmas holidays) – ALL applications • If you miss these deadlines, you cannot expect your application to be prioritised as these have deliberately been built around staff workloads. • In addition, if you application is not received by the deadline, you may not leave us enough time to send it before the UCAS external deadline on 15 th January.

• Bingham community led plan