Getting into HE: The Applicant Journey

1. Getting into HE: The Applicant Journey

2. HE provision in the UK • UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to full-time higher education courses in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. • Undergraduate degrees • Foundation degrees • HNC / HND • Certificate / Diploma of higher education Universities/Colleges Courses • 305 + • 40,000 +

3. 2012 was a record breaking year for UCAS 474,746 Applicants accepted onto a course Roughly equivalent to the whole city of Edinburgh

4. End of cycle figures (16 November 2011)

5. Acceptances in the UK from ROI in 2011 (2010) NI 517 (447) Scotland 665 (781) England 1597 (1377) Wales 236 (251)

6. The UCAS journey • Potential applicant researches and finds a course 1 • Registers online with UCAS Apply 2 • Completes form and processes payment 3 • Academic reference added by school / college 4 • School / college sends form electronically to UCAS 5 • UCAS processes form and forwards to chosen HEIs 6 • HEIs submit decisions (offer or unsuccessful) 7 • Applicant views decisions on Track 8 • Applicant replies to offers on Track (Firm / Insurance) 9 • HEIs confirm places when results are released 10

7. Summary… • Course search - summer • Personal statement - summer • Apply - Sept/Oct

8. Key features of admissions scheme • Maximum of 5 choices • Some choice restrictions: • Medicine, Veterinary, Dentistry – max 4 choices • Oxford or Cambridge • Simultaneous consideration • ‘Invisibility’ • Application fee for 2011 - £21 or £11 for single choice

9. Important dates • 15 October: • Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary and Oxbridge applications • 15 January: • Deadline for all courses except those with 15 October and 24 March deadline • 24 March: • Deadline for some art and design courses However a school may give earlier deadlines

10. Experiential research • Obtain a real ‘feel’ for the institution, subject, course, career: • HE Conventions • Institution Open Days • Taster Courses • Subject specific events • Compose your Future • Design your Future • Examine your Future • Career Fairs

11. Paper based research • Big Map • Big Guide • UCAS progression guides

12. Onlineresearch

13. Post-it is…or Post-it isn’t Glass Nanobio-Technology Tournament Golf Human Biosciences Edinburgh College of Art Duchy College University of Exeter University of Abertay Dundee Hereford College of Arts West Thames College University College London Ethical Hacking & Countermeasures Artist Blacksmithing Specialist Makeup Viking Studies Combat Robotics Viticulture & Oenology Genealogical studies Experimental Psychology University of Brighton Oxford University

14. Possible Chemistry HE courses • Medicinal Chemistry • Chemical Physics • Environmental Chemistry • Chemical Engineering • Biochemistry • Chemistry with Patent Law • Chemistry with Nanotechnology • Chemistry with Oceanography • Chemistry for Forensic Science • Chemistry for Drug Discovery

15. Course research → “Course search” • 2012 • subject • single subject • entry requirements • other tariff – Leaving Cert. • college website

16. The Personal Statement Keep it relevant

19. Universities – a good starting point

23. UCAS Personal Statement STATS Maximum characters 4000 Maximum lines 47 No bold, italics or underlined Apply times out after 35 minutes of inactivity No spelling or grammar check Only 1 PS for every subject 5 most common mistakes . . . . . .definitely avoid these 5 very common phrases used in opening sentence … …try and avoid them

24. Personal Statement - its all about you • Your opportunity to tell the institutions about you: • What are your academic achievements – talk about a piece of work you are particularly proud of • How do your current academic achievements link to your chosen subject? • What interests you about your chosen subject area: • Why does it interest you? • What do you already know about it? • What elements of the subject do you particularly enjoy and why? • Life after university – where will it take you?

25. Where to start? • What makes you unique? • It doesn’t matter what you’ve done provided it reflects the skills and attributes that the institution have expressed are important. • Here are some example questions that you could use to help…

26. What will the reader be looking for? Time management Commitment, interest, enthusiasm Independent study skills Numeracy, literacy and essay writing Relevant work experience Research skills Extra curricular activities = relevant (and transferable) skills and abilities

27. What will make the reader pleased? Understanding of the course applied for Analytical and reflective, not merely descriptive Confirmation of chosen subject and course

28. Avoid writing lists I play hockey for the school, I sing in the choir, I belong to a drama society, I am taking part in the Gaisce Award, I work in Tesco on Saturdays and I shop for my granny on Mondays after school.

29. Expand on your activities I have been an active member of the School Musical Society for the last three years. This has been exciting as I have had the opportunity to work collaboratively in a creative context with other students, to design sets and costumes for ‘Grease’ and ‘Footloose’. I am sure this experience will prove to be valuable as I study costume design.

30. Concluding Personal Statements End personal statement on a positive note, use opportunity to impress “I am looking forward to becoming a psychologist” OR “I am passionate about working with young children in the future and therefore am highly determined to make the most of my degree and achieve my ambition to become a developmental psychologist.”

31. Personal statement ABC RULE Activity Benefit Course Activity Benefit Course What you’ve done What skills it has given you How these relate to your course Good Better Best

32. Keep it honest… … and when I’m not working towards World Peace, I enjoy learning languages from scratch, writing symphonies and playing a standard of golf that Tiger Woods can only dream about.

33. Similarity Detection Service • Personal Statements are checked against a library of those already in the system, and from a variety of websites and paper publications • Each new statement is added to the library after processing

34. Questions

35. Fees 2012? • England • £6,000 - £9,000 • If over £6,000 – show how some of the additional income is used in making progress in WP • HEIs have not declared their fees to date • Wales • Basic tuition fees £6,000 - £9000 per annum • The assembly government will meet the cost of extra fees for students from Wales attending any UK university. • NI – will possibly follow England (has said cannot follow Wales) • Scotland • No decision expected until after elections in May

36. UCAS Tariff – Irish Leaving Certificate Higher Ordinary

37. Questions

38. Not a good idea • Go thesaurus mad • Refer admissions tutors to your website instead of writing a personal statement • Forget to explain how you know it is the right course/vocation for you • Copy, ‘borrow’ or pay • To be intellectually pretentious e.g.‘ranting about a political situation’ • Use misdirected humour • e.g. Sarcasm • Commit GBH on the English/Irish language • e.g. ‘To be sure, so I will’ • Have spelling or grammar errors • e.g. Recieve