1. UCAS INFORMATION EVENING
MR COLQUHOUN - DHT

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

3. Choices available Higher education. Further Education.
Apprenticeships and traineeships.
Studying abroad.
Gap year.
Getting a job.
Understand the options available at
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:

4. 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

5. Respect Responsibility Ambition
Bannerman High School
S6 leavers
Employed
Further Education
Higher Education
Training
Unemployed Seeking
Boys
23.21% (13)
(13)
(25)
(1)
7.14 (4)
Girls
8.64% (7)
13.58% (11)
76.54% (62)
1.23% (1)
Respect Responsibility Ambition

6. 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
Extra-curricular 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?

7. Funding

8. 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
Find out about exhibitions at
Videos and case studies are available at
For career finder tool look at

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

10. Open days and virtual tours

11. Open days search tool

12. Virtual tours

13. Entry Requirements
Entry requirements vary from course to course and between universities. Likely that more qualifications are required at second sitting (after S6 rather than S5).
Prospective students must check entry requirements by researching course specifications or by speaking to the admissions office for individual faculties at their chosen establishments.
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.

14. 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 – £18
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.

15. Making the application
Apply is the UCAS online application system.
Every applicant has six sections to complete:
Personal details
Student finance (UK and EU only)
Choices
Education
Employment
Personal statement.

16. 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.

17. The personal statement

19. When to apply
1 October (18:00 UK time) – for music courses (via CUKAS.COM)
15 October (18:00 UK time) – deadline for Oxford or Cambridge, and most courses in medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine/science.
December 2018 – school deadline for undergraduate courses.
24 March (18:00 UK time) – deadline for some art and design courses.
Applications received after deadlines will still be forwarded to universities and colleges, providing they have vacancies, but they are not obliged to consider them.

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. What should your son/daughter should be doing now?
Research
Extra-curricular activities
Work experience
Ask key questions
Meet deadlines
Go beyond the syllabus
Focus on this year’s studies
Meet Deadlines
Personal Statement
Contact universities

24. How can you support ?
Use the parents/guardians’ section of the UCAS website – – and sign up for the newsletter.
Use the parent information tool for advice, hints, and tips to help someone you care for through the application process.
Offer to attend open days; you may have a different perspective.
Make sure they read everything carefully that is sent to them.
Support your son/daughter’s management of their application.

25. FOCUS WEST
- Top-up Programme -

26. Summary of Programme Activities
The Top-Up Programme runs from November to April each year, providing a ‘mini higher education experience’ for participating pupils. Trained postgraduate tutors recruited from across the FOCUS West HEIs facilitate ten sessions in schools and one held on an HEI campus – Glasgow University.
Pupils are introduced to the essential skills, learning methods and environments with which they will need to be familiar to become successful HE students and effective independent learners.
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:

27. Summary of Programme Activities
Pupils choose an academic subject to study during the course, for which they participate in a seminar and complete a written assignment. The essential skills are taught via subject-specific and generic sessions.
Work completed during school sessions is put into practice during the campus sessions.
10 sessions in school Friday period 3 starting Friday 20th November 2017.
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:

28. Campus Visit Friday 15th February 2019
Campus sessions give pupils the chance to:
practice note-taking during a university lecture
participate in a university seminar
experience using a university library and electronic library catalogue
find out about university support services
meet current undergraduate students
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?

29. Assessment
Pupils are assessed on their performance during the Programme and receive a certificate of completion and a student profile, giving feedback and grades in three areas:
overall performance
seminar preparation and performance
written assignment.
The profiles of all pupils who achieve 3 B grades or above are forwarded to the admissions officers of the HEIs to which they are applying.
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.

30. Completion of the programme can:
Lead to an amended offer for entry requirements. (Each institution makes its own decisions)
Initially Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, Glasgow Caledonian and UWS
Information is forwarded on to other Scottish institutions
Is valid for 2 years (HNC + University)

31. UCAS Application
Students taking part in the Top-up programme must include this as part of their UCAS application:
Education section – instructions to be issued.
Personal Statement/Reference – e.g. include that you are taking part in the Top-up programme to help with the transition from school to university.

33. Useful websites: www.ucas.com www.saas.gov.uk www.planitplus.net

35. Any Questions?