Ucas: Dealing with the nuts and bolts

Now that you have decided on the UK for your college studies, it is time to initiate the application process. Visiting the Ucas website is the first step in UK’s application process. Here is the low-down on all that you need to know to fill those application forms and make your UK education plans a reality.

What is Ucas?

University and Colleges Admission Services, or Ucas, is the service through which one can apply to UK institutions from anywhere in the world. This has made the UK application process streamlined and user-friendly. The Ucas has excellent ‘how to’ guides that are short films that talk you through each of the steps in the admission process. Apart from this, there are info boxes that provide clarification on each aspect of the application. You can apply to up to five universities or colleges through this service, four if applying for medicine, dentistry or veterinary science/medicine.

Entrance requirements

These depend on the level of the course and vary from institution to institution. They will be listed in the prospectuses and on individual institutional websites. One test that is necessary for all international students for whom the first language is not English would be IELTS.

What is IELTS?

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assesses the English language proficiency of people who want to study or work where English is used as the language of communication. IELTS tests four language skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking. The interactive speaking segment is a face-to-face interview with a certified examiner. Although the test has two formats, academic and general, you will need the academic one. IELTS Academic measures the English language proficiency needed for an academic, higher education environment. IELTS general training measures English language proficiency in a practical, everyday context. This version of the test is often a visa requirement for those planning to migrate to English-speaking countries like Australia, the UK and New Zealand. For most institutions, you would need to have an overall band of 5.5 or more. Some institutions need to see a 5.5 to 6 on each of the sections. If English is not your first language and you need to improve on it, you could opt for a language course before applying to a bachelor’s programme.

Ucas ‘apply’ is the online application system that enables students to apply directly through the Ucas website. The system has been designed for independent users, schools and colleges registered with Ucas. Some universities also have their representatives in the UAE and one can apply through them.

Eligibility

The criteria that students need to fit in order to use UCAS apply include:

Live outside the UK.

Can submit only one application in the current cycle.

Would be able to provide an ‘academic reference’ in electronic format.

Make the application fee payment by debit/credit card.

Register to use apply

To register to use apply, you’d need to add your personal details, get a user name, create a password and set your security questions. If your school has been assigned a buzzword, you would need to input the same. If you are applying as an independent candidate, you’d need to answer a few questions.

Some schools do not have a buzzword because they may not have the adequate number of students applying to the UK so you need not hesitate to apply as an independent candidate.

When to apply

It is best to apply as early as possible so that you have adequate time to organise visas, travel arrangements and accommodation. One need not wait for the final results to apply. The applications can be sent with current grades and predicted grades. This means that teachers will predict the final outcomes and the universities or college will make conditional offers based on the information submitted.

Deadlines

Students from the UK or the European Union, whatever their nationality, need to apply between September 1 and January 15 for the year the course begins. So for example, if you want to start in 2014, then you need to apply between September 1, 2013 to January 15, 2014.

International students from this part of the world can apply from September 1 to June 30 of the following year except if they wish to apply for Oxford or Cambridge or courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science. For these, you would need to apply by October 15 of the year before that in which the course begins.

Students wanting to get into art and design courses must apply to Ucas between January 1 and March 24 of the year in which the course commences.

Securing your references

The reference should be a teacher or tutor who knows you well and can talk about your academic capability, career aspirations and personal attributes. If for some reason you are no longer in school but have taken the exams as a private candidate, request your tutor, former teacher, employer or supervisor to be your referee. Family or friends cannot do the honours, however well they may know you because if they do, your application could be cancelled.

What goes into this reference letter?

As an international student, it is difficult for each of you to be interviewed by the universities. It is, therefore, through your personal statement, academic profile and your referee’s recommendation that the universities get a peek at you and your capabilities. I always ask students to submit a resume or profile to the referee so that he/she gets to know all that you have undertaken both within and outside school.

The referee should give a descriptive account of his/her impression of you, your academic record, your learning style, your career aspirations, supporting work experience, any academic honours or any challenges that might have affected your academic profile. (Ill health, loss of a family member, or any such extenuating circumstance).

Should you have any health issues, you would need to grant the referee permission to mention them in the reference so that your chosen universities are aware of them.

Your application form will be complete only after your reference letter has been submitted, so please ensure that your referee has received a request email. You will not be able to access your reference letter; it goes directly to Ucas once the referee has uploaded the document.

Interviews

For certain subjects like medicine and teacher education programmes, the applicants are required to attend an interview. This may be in the UK or occasionally in the student’s home country. Policies regarding this vary with each institution. Applicants to Oxford and Cambridge too will be interviewed if shortlisted. A word of caution though: An interview call does not mean you are automatically selected.

What happens next?

Ucas will process all applications and send copies to the chosen institutions. The institutions then consider the application and inform Ucas whether they wish to offer you a place. If you have already attained the entrance qualification required for the chosen course, the offer may be unconditional but if you are currently pursuing the course and need to pass the qualifying examinations, the offer may be conditional on passing those exams at specified grades. You can track your applications through the Ucas site. Once all the decisions have come in from the chosen colleges/universities, you have to decide on two offers, the first choice (firm acceptance) and a second choice (held as an insurance or back-up). If the offer from the firm choice is unconditional and you accept this, then you will not be able to make an insurance choice.

Accepting offers

Once you get your final grades, a copy of the results should be sent to the university/college at which they are holding conditional offers. For students pursuing the British curriculum, Ucas will receive the results directly from the examination board. If you have been able to meet the condition set by the institution, the institution will make the offer unconditional. If the firm choice is confirmed, the insurance offer stands cancelled.

Ucas ‘extra’

If you do not have any offers from your chosen institutions between February 25 and July 3, you can make use of the service called ‘extra’. This is useful for those students from the CBSE or ICSE system who may have got their results and now want to look at the UK as an option. Here, you can search for courses with extra availability. If you opt for Ucas media mailings, you’ll be able to get emails from universities and colleges with information on vacancies. Through extra, you can also consider a related programme or alternative subjects.

Clearing

The final phase of the Ucas cycle is for those students who have not got any offers because they have not been able to meet the conditions stipulated in their offer. Ucas sends a clearing entry form to all eligible applicants and then they negotiate directly with those universities or colleges that have advertised vacancies. This process takes place after the UK results are out in July/August. Ucas has a complete list of vacancies updated daily so students who have not managed to secure a place can use this route for entry.

I have had students who took this option that are now happy and doing well in their chosen subjects. People have a mistaken notion that institutions of repute will not offer places through clearing. Every year, many students who have secured conditional offers fail to do well in the boards and are not accepted. These places then become available in the clearing process.

Throughout the application process, Ucas makes updated information available. It is up to you to do the research and make judicious choices in keeping with your career goals. Next week, I will discuss the pre-requisites for admission and deadlines.