UCAS Information Evening 27th September 2017

Success Stories – July 2017 81% of our students gained a place at their firm choice University 15% of our students gained a place at their insurance choice University 4% of our students gained a place at University through clearing

Success Stories – July 2017 Amy – Biomedical Sciences at Oxford University Liam – Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School Matt – Physics at UCL Katie – Midwifery at the University of Brighton Madison – Social Work at the University of Sussex Hannah – Interior Design at Regents University Charlie – Economics at the University of Surrey Billy – Chemistry at the University of Birmingham

The role of UCAS UCAS processes applications for full-time courses at higher education providers in the UK.

Choices available Higher education. Apprenticeships and traineeships. Studying abroad. Gap year. Getting a job. Apprenticeships give you the opportunity to work for an employer, earn a salary and gain a qualification at the same time. Traineeships provide essential training to prepare for work and gain skills to help you get an apprenticeship or a job. For more information see: www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/getting-started/what-study/apprenticeships-traineeships-and-school-leaver

Why higher education? Opportunities while studying: chance to study a subject they are passionate about achieve a qualification that could lead to their chosen career gain confidence, independence, and important life skills that will widen their prospects make lifelong friends With a degree: the opportunity to follow their career path better job prospects many employers target graduates higher earning potential

Things to consider There are a number of things for an applicant to consider when applying for higher education, such as: the subject they enjoy – investing time, money, and effort if it is right for their career path – check with employers location – city/rural, transport links the study style that suits them finances – course fees, travel, and living costs extracurricular activities Which modules are the most interesting and relevant to the applicants career aspirations? How many lectures are there and how much group work will be done in seminars? What combination of exams, coursework or presentations is the course assessed by? Who are the tutors and are they experts in areas the applicant wants to learn about? What subject areas do they specialise in? Can applicants study abroad or get help with work placements? Do they have sports facilities or societies to join? How near home, a city center or the countryside are they?

Research – it’s free Search tool – to look for providers, courses, and minimum entry requirements. Open days and virtual tours – a great way to explore campuses and facilities. UCAS higher education exhibitions – useful to see different universities and colleges, and explore options. Learn from others – student videos, blogs, and case studies. Career options – our career finder tool is ideal for considering the options after education. Our search tool has over 37,000 courses in the UK. It includes detailed information about the universities and colleges. You can search by course, university or college, or location. Every year, many applicants are unsuccessful for reasons that could have been avoided if they had undertaken better research. When UCAS interviewed current students in their second year asking them what advice they would give to their 18 year old self, ALL of the students said – ‘do more research!’ Nearly all courses on ucas.com have an Entry Profile that contains detailed information about what the provider is looking for in terms of their applicants – a bit like a job description. The best time to attend open days is before you submit your application – in plenty of time! Find all the information about open days and virtual tours at www.ucas.com/events/exploring-university. Find out about exhibitions at www.ucas.com/events/exhibitions Videos and case studies are available at www.ucas.com/connect. For career finder tool look at https://careerfinder.ucas.com.

Researching courses Your son or daughter can use the school website to find information as a starting point as it includes information about: Deciding on a course Personal Statements Website links to view university rankings, independent advice on universities etc

Researching courses Your son or daughter can also use the UCAS search tool at search.ucas.com. Key features include: advanced filtering and sorting options  ability to shortlist and save course searches  free text search  suggestions for misspelt searches

Open days and virtual tours https://www.ucas.com/ucas/events/find/type/open-day https://www.opendays.com/

Open days search tool

Virtual tours

Apply key facts Application is entirely online. Maximum of five choices. Some choice restrictions: for medicine, veterinary science/medicine and dentistry there is a maximum of four choices can only apply for either Oxford or Cambridge Simple application cost: one choice – £13 two to five choices – £24 Equal consideration if deadlines are met. Invisibility – universities cannot see where else someone has applied. Equal consideration – this means that if you meet the published deadlines then a provider must consider your application. Applications received after the deadlines will still be forwarded to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them. We send the application on to each of the chosen universities and colleges at the same time. Each university or college has access to the information about their choice only. They must not ask you to reveal your other choices. This is what we call invisibility. Only much later in the application cycle, when you have received decisions on all your choices and replied to any offers, will each university or college be able to see details of the other choices. This ensures that each university or college decides independently whether to offer a place and what conditions, if any, to attach to an offer. You do not need to rank your choices in order.

When to apply – UCAS deadlines 6 September – completed applications can be submitted to UCAS. 15 October (18:00 UK time) – deadline for Oxford or Cambridge, and most courses in medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine/science. 15 January (18:00 UK time) – deadline for the majority of undergraduate courses. 24 March (18:00 UK time) – deadline for some art and design courses. 30 June (18:00 UK time) – last date to submit an application before Clearing. Applications received after deadlines will still be forwarded to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them.

When to apply – Bromfords deadlines 08 October – internal deadline for students who are applying for Oxford or Cambridge, and most courses in medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine/science. 30 November – internal deadline for the rest of students applying for undergraduate courses. 15 December – internal deadline for all students applications to have been sent to UCAS Applications received after deadlines will still be forwarded to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them.

The personal statement The only section your son or daughter has control over. Their only chance to market themselves individually. One personal statement for all choices. Max. 4,000 characters, 47 lines. Min. 1,000 characters. No spelling/grammar check. No formatting.

Common things to avoid when applying Putting the name of a university in your personal statement. Getting the tone wrong on personal statements Picking the university your friends are going to Assuming subjects will be taught the same way wherever you go Assuming that university rankings are the same as subject specific rankings Thinking AS Levels/GCSEs don’t matter Not being realistic with your predicted grades

Tracking applications Track will allow your son or daughter to: follow the progress of their application online see their choices and personal information see their offers reply to offers online

Tracking applications After students have submitted their applications to UCAS the waiting game begins. Students can check Track to see if they have received any offers which will be based on their personal statements, teacher reference and their predicted grades. Some courses do require an interview and if a student passes the first sift of applications then they will be invited to interview for a place on the course. They will then find out via UCAS Track if they have been offered a place on the course.

Decisions and replies Provider decisions: unsuccessful unconditional offer conditional offer – qualifications and achievements and/or UCAS Tariff points Once all decisions are received, they can hold up to two offers: one as their firm choice one as their insurance choice (if they want to) all other offers are declined Track will show their reply date.

Decisions and replies If you put an unconditional offer as a firm choice then you will not be allowed to have an insurance choice. If you put a conditional offer as a firm choice then you can choose an unconditional offer as an insurance choice. Your insurance choice should usually be a lower offer than your firm choice.

Other options Extra (24 Feb – 4 July) If all five choices have been used and they have no offers/rejected all offers. Clearing (from early July) If there are no offers, or have applied after 30 June deadline. Adjustment (from A level results day) If they’ve gained better results than the conditional offer they hold, they could apply for a different course or university.

Results Day – 16/8/18 Students will pick up their A Level results from the school and be able to logon to their UCAS track accounts from 8:30am to see if they have gained a place at their first choice or insurance choice university. If they have done better than they were expecting then they can apply to go through adjustment.

Adjustment Adjustment gives you the chance to switch onto an alternative university or course should you wish to. It's essentially the opposite of Clearing! You can apply to a course through Adjustment if: You’ve been accepted onto your firm choice and it’s now an unconditional firm choice. You’ve exceeded the conditions of your firm offer, including subject-specific grade requirements. So, for example, if your offer is for ABB but you end up getting AAB, you could use Adjustment to potentially find a place at another university instead.

Clearing The Clearing process lets you apply for courses that still have places available. This is for those who have not received any offers, rejected all their offers, or missed the conditions of their offers. We provide support for all students through this process on results day as well as over the days that follow results day.

What should your son/daughter should be doing now? Go beyond the syllabus Focus on this year’s studies Go to the Bromfords School website for further information Research Extracurricular activities Work experience

How will we support them? Mrs Barraclough – KS5 IAG co-ordinator Responsible for the UCAS applications within the school, offer advice and support with university choices, check the suitability of personal statements and references, and check UCAS applications before they are sent off to Universities for errors and return these to students if there are any issues found. Mrs O’Reilly – Director of Sixth Form Can offer advice and guidance for completing applications on UCAS Apply 2018, will help to check suitability of personal statements and references before UCAS applications are sent to Universities. Form tutors Can offer advice and guidance for completing applications on UCAS Apply 2018.

Common Concerns I’ve never been to university or when I applied the application process was online! Help!!!! Don’t worry we do the entire application with your son/daughter What if my son/daughter is undecided? It is always better to apply as by applying you are stating you might go to University. The fees are really expensive now – is it worth it? Whilst fees have increased, on average the earnings potential is between £160,000 and £250,000 over the lifetime on average for a person with a degree.

Top Tips Summary If undecided, apply to university – this will ensure that you get a place at the university of your choice Go to the Open Days – many parents and students get insightful information by visiting a university – students will always be honest about their university. Consider other factors – how far is the university away from where you live – can you cope with this! Do you like the look of the town/city, research the town or area. Write your personal statement early and get us to look at it over and over again! Thu 16 August 2018 is A Level results day so try to not be on holiday at this point! You should arrive at Bromfords at 7:30 am in case you need to go through clearing Write a list of what you would like us to include in your teacher reference!

Questions?