Reminders
Please
make sure you have done the following.
See last week’s blog for full instructions.
·
UK Personal statement on Unifrog – draft
2 uploaded for your tutor to feedback on (was due on 14th June). Once this is
received, you have the summer to make changes and continue to evolve your
personal statement as needed, including completing more super-curricular tasks
if you feel you need to!
·
Classes selected on Unifrog
– select your subjects and
teachers so that your teachers can add your references.
·
Notes for reference and recommendation
writers on Unifrog – pop in any notes for your teachers and tutors about
your interests and achievements that they can include in your reference to make
it really personal. This could include
anything you didn’t have space to write about in your personal statement.
·
Register for UCAS at UCAS.com - you need
to register and link your account to college using the buzzword. You don't need
to complete the application form in full.
Personal Statement feedback
If you have managed to stay up to date and have me the
deadlines for submitting your personal statement online you should now have
received your feedback from your tutor.
If you were a little late, or perhaps hadn't followed all the guidance
correctly about the self proof reading etc and were prompted by your tutor to
do this fully before they read it, you may find you have a little longer to
wait but should receive this feedback soon.
Please see last week’s blog for some notes about receiving
feedback and acting on it. There are no more deadlines on
your personal statement until September.
You have the next couple of months over the Summer to work on the points
your tutors have raised and also to carry out any further activities you feel
would enhance your personal statement.
Well done once again for getting these early drafts completed!
Early Apps
– you also do not need to submit your personal statement for another check
until a September but if you feel, in the meantime, that you make some
significant changes and would like feedback before the Summer, please do let me
know and I will be pleased to help you.
UCAS application
form
This week
I'm sharing with you the instructions for completing your UCAS application form. You can compete these sections of the form at
your own convenience and use this page as a reference tool when you fill it
in. It is not essential to do this
before the summer and in fact you will not be able to complete some sections
until much later when you’re almost ready to send off!
ns
until much later when you’re almost ready to send off!
General guidance
·
You
do not need to complete the application form in one go. Each time you add or change info, remember to
save your progress. After finishing a
section you can mark it as complete. You will not be able to submit your form
until all sections are completed.
·
The
charge is £26 which is to be paid directly to UCAS when you submit. Your
application then is processed by us, where we add your reference and predicted
grades then send it to UCAS.
·
You
can make up to 5 choices and your application will go simultaneously to all
your choices. Universities cannot see
where else you have applied.
·
Throughout
the form, use options from drop down menus wherever you can.
·
The
guide below should be a helpful reference tool for completing the form but detailed
help is available in the form of videos and help boxes throughout the
application form itself. I will check
over your application form for a few key things before sending but it is
your responsibility to ensure the information you provide is accurate,
especially information which offers may be based on and any information that you
may be required to verify at a later date such as exam grades, exam boards etc.
Further guidance
·
Personal
details section
o Nationality:
check your passport. Do you have dual nationality? If you are giving your
Nationality as outside the European Union (EU), you will need a visa to study
in the UK. Passport details will be collected at the initial applications
stage. If you have dual nationality give details of the passport you entered
the UK with. If you hold a British or EU passport you will not need to do
anything.
o Student
Support - Fee Code: Most people should select 02 – Student Finance England (if
you are planning on getting a student loan)
o Student
Support Arrangements – select the name of your local authority - Surrey/Berkshire
etc.
o Reference
numbers - this section does not have to be completed.
o
Nominated access- in the event that you may be
away (gap year etc) please select someone to act for you/be in contact with
UCAS on your behalf, eg a parent.
·
Choices
o This is
where you make your choice of course/university. There are thousands of courses
available and so you need to do some thorough research - it is 3+ years of your
life! The UCAS website - course search is a good place to start, see more info
in my blog week 8.
o Check the
course requirements to see if you need any relevant work experience and if
there are any additional entry requirements e.g. LNAT/BMAT/UKCAT. It is your
responsibility to check for such requirements for your course and to make the
necessary arrangements.
o
You can make 5 choices (4 for medicine and
veterinary science, plus one back up option) and you can apply to either
Cambridge or Oxford - not both! Institution, course code and campus are by drop
down menus.
o
Point of entry - nearly everyone should leave this blank - unless
applying for a foundation degree. Please check if you have any questions.
o Start
date: September 2021 (unless you are choosing to defer - in which case it is
advisable to/check with the university about their view on this).
·
Education
o First search and enter the
name of your secondary school, and the dates you attended (for most people you
should select September as the start date and August as the leaving date). If you attended Salesian School you will only
have one place of education, so make sure you select August 2021 as your
leaving date.
o Now add qualifications,
starting with GCSEs, use your exam certificates for reference, and enter your subjects,
grades, exam boards and dates. For summer
exam dates, put June or July.
o For A levels and BTECs that
you are currently studying, use Salesian School Chertsey (there isn’t a separate
entry for college). Enter your subjects,
exam boards and dates. For grade, select
“pending”.
o Don’t forget your EPQ, there
is an option to select this. In the
subject box, give the theme of your EPQ, there probably won’t be enough space
to write your full question. The date
should be Jan 21.
o If you have any
qualifications you are not sure of, please ask when we are in college in the
Autumn.
o Select “below honours degree
level qualification” in the last drop down menu in this section.
·
Employment
o Enter firm names, not
individual names
o If you don’t have any
employment you can leave this section blank, but you will still be required to
mark it as complete.
Useful Resources
New resources
·
Cambridge Applicant Support programme. Applications
close 17th July, I strongly encourage anyone applying to Cambridge
to apply to this. You will meet the initial criteria, and they’ll only use the
additional eligibility criteria if they need to so it’s definitely worth a go.
Resources from previous blog posts:
·
Oxbridge:
·
Super curricular resources – this
takes you to a page by Cambridge University but the links would be relevant and
useful for any university applicant.
·
Digital
subject taster days. I
·
Course
search info:
·
UCAS website – the
best place to start. When I go on this site it says “I’m considering
undergraduate courses” at the top, and there is an option to change this – make
sure you do have undergraduate courses selected. The site then
offers you to explore courses
·
By subject. Clicking on a subject area gives you
specific info on things such as why study it, graduate
destinations, courses, entry requirements, admissions procedure, personal
statement advice, apprenticeships, careers areas, other websites, even
links to chat to students studying this subject at a range of
universities!
·
By region of the UK. This actually
wouldn’t let me click the regions this morning as I write this,
but hopefully that’s a blip, and you will find you can search if the
geographical location of your place of study is important.
·
TheUniGuide – Enter you’re a-level subjects and explore ways
you can continue any of these into Higher Education, either “best matches”,
“close matches”, or “unexpected matches”. You are then given information
about entry requirements, application checklists, personal statement
guides, career prospects and much more.
·
Unibuddy – Chat
to university students, could be useful as you begin to narrow down your
searches. You can sort by subjects and universities. This kind
of online resources hasn’t been around for long, and in the absence of
being able to speak to people face to face at open days it could be a great way
to get insight into a university from someone of a similar age to you!
·
Webinar – This
is a future event so I have no way of verifying its usefulness, but if you are
someone who likes the live experience of someone talking you through things,
this could be something worth signing up to?
·
Studying BTECs? –
This website contains information specifically for students currently studying
BTECs and wishing to enter higher education.
·
Not going to uni? –
This website contains information on apprenticeships, employment, gap
years and more.
·
Law
Masterclass. Interested in studying Law? This is advertised
as free online application masterclasses! Register online for course
on 20th June. I haven’t got experience of
this website but it sounds like it would be worth investigation.
·
Medics
o Medical Masterclass. This is advertised as free online application
masterclasses! Register online for course on 20th June. I haven’t got experience of
this website but it sounds like it would be worth investigation.
·
Essay
competition –
chance to win £300 and might appeal to those applying for English, Media
Studies, Art, Music, Law, Computing and Design and Technology.
·
Virtual Open
Days – listed
in one place on the UCAS website. You can also watch this 90second video about how to get the most out of the virtual
open days and what to look out for.
·
Online, free
talks, no sign-up necessary – scroll through for upcoming talk dates and
topics. Looks like a fantastic way to gather some super-curricular
experiences to add to your personal statements.
·
University of Leicester – Subject taster days for Law, Engineering,
History, Politics and International Relations, American Studies, Biological and
Natural Sciences, Chemistry, Business, Economics and Accounting.
·
Medics:
o Medical School
Council Webinar on Admissions – Monday 8th June
11am, you need to register in advance.
o Virtual work experience – see file shared to
Teams
·
Super Curricuilar ideas –
VERY useful links for ideas to explore your subject in your own time to give
you plenty to discuss in your personal statement, including podcasts,
masterclasses and lots of subject specific resources.
·
Uni Taster Tuesdays – Each week on
Tuesdays at 12pm. This looks like a great resource with online events which
combine different topics and with contributions from different universities.
·
Royal Holloway – Book
your place for Online Taster Days, various subjects, dates in June and July.
·
University of Brighton –
Subject specific Q&A events: Health / Social Science / Art and Design /
Business, Law or Events / Computing, Maths or Engineering / Geography, Construction
or Environment / Science.
·
Pathways to university –
if you are really confused about your options this document outlines them all.
The links on page 3 look particularly useful and I’ll be referring to these in
a future blog.
·
Oxbridge Applicants
o
Oxbridge –
A mega document with links to super-curricular academic material
·
Medics. Please
can you let me know if you are provisionally interested in the following (no
commitment at this stage).
o
UCAT course –
Medics, I am trying to get a discount code for this course so you would pay £60
for 4 weeks membership (instead of £100) I will let you know if I do. I would
suggest trying out the free demo first to see if this is something you would
like to do.
o
TMP MedSoc – This programme of
modules costs £25 per student, but again I have applied for a school discount
and will let you know when they get back to me.
·
BMAT –
This is a reminder of the courses requiring BMAT (Some medicine, biomed and
dentistry). If you think you are going to be taking this please email me and
I will forward you a presentation on the BMAT.
·
University of
Portsmouth “Getting
Started at Uni” webinars. Upcoming sessions include “Understanding the UCAS
process”.
·
University of Leicester “Wednesday Wisdom” webinars. You are asked to
register in advance, upcoming sessions include “Choosing a Course and Choosing a
Uni” and “Personal Statements”.
·
Early Apps
o
OSCS website for
Oxbridge applicants – online sessions on “The
Student Experience and Applying to Oxford and Cambridge”, “Making a Competitive
Application”, and “Student Q&A panel with current University students”
o
Admission test info Here I’ve linked my own blog (!) but only because I provided
lots of links in the section on admissions test, here you’ll be able to find
the sections relevant to you.
