What you need to do before the deadline

15 January is the deadline for most undergraduate courses. If we receive your application by 18:00 (UK time) on this date, its guaranteed consideration by your chosen universities and colleges. There are some exceptions where a different deadline might apply – use our search tool to check when you need to apply for your course.

Has this deadline crept up on you? If the answer is ‘yes’ then you’re probably less prepared than you might have hoped. It’s never a good idea to wait until the very last minute when it comes to something as important as your university application, so if you haven’t already hit send, aim to do so as soon as you can. Here are some of the reasons why you need to set aside plenty of time...

You’ll need to pay for your application
If you’re applying independently you’ll have to pay for your application before you can send it. If you’re applying with your school then this is true for you too, unless your school has agreed to let us bill them instead (you’ll know if this is the case because you won’t be asked to make a payment before you send your application to your referee).

So, the majority of you who will need to pay with a credit or debit card – make sure you know which card you’re going to use, and check there’s enough money in the account. You’ll need to pay either £12 (for one course) or £23 (for multiple courses).

A word of warning – if you enter invalid payment details five times you’ll be locked out from making any more attempts, and for security reasons you’d need to call us to unlock your account.

Your school needs to review your application 
(This bit is only for those of you applying through a school or college, so independent applicants can skip ahead.)

Simply sending it to your school or college before the deadline won't count as sending it on time; it has to be received at UCAS by the deadline. Your tutor will read through your application and make sure you’ve entered everything correctly. If they spot a mistake, they might send it back to you to make changes.

Even if your application is completely error free, your school still needs more than a few minutes to get your application sent off. It’s unlikely that yours is the only application they need to approve and send, plus it’s possible they’ll only be looking to see which applications are ready during school hours. If you think you’re going to be sending your application to them close to the deadline, speak to your tutor about this in advance.

You must have a reference
However you request a reference (whether you're applying independently or through a school or college), it must be included in your application before it can be sent to UCAS.

If you're applying independently and you’ve agreed with the universities that a reference is not required – read the information in the reference section of your application to see what to do. Only do this if you have spoken to the universities you’re applying to and had definite confirmation they don’t need a reference for you.

Find information about payments, references and sending your application on our website.

Do you know your login details? 
Our final piece of advice is about login details... If you are going to be sending your application close to the deadline, make sure you know your username and password. If you have problems logging in, read our blog post 'The five reasons why you can't log into your application (and how to overcome them)'.