15 January FAQs

As the 15 January application deadline approaches, here are some of the top questions we’re answering at the moment:

Q. Why can’t I log into my application?
A. If you can’t log into your application, first of all make sure you’re trying to log into Apply  and not Track by mistake. If you’ve forgotten your username or password, try our ‘Forgotten login?’ link to retrieve or reset your details. If you’re still having trouble then give us a call so one of our advisers can help.

Q. How do I add my qualifications?
A. Before you can add any qualifications you need to add the schools or colleges where you’ve taken them. This video explains everything you need to do.

Q. How should I write my personal statement? 
A. The personal statement may appear daunting at first but try not to panic, we’ve got lots of advice to help! Start by checking out the pointers on our website then take a few moments to watch our personal statement video.

Finally, read this blog post where university staff tell you what they’re looking for, which will give you a better idea on what you should include.

Q. How does the reference section work?
A. There are three ways to request a reference, and the one you’ll use will depend on how you’re applying. Watch our video for a step-by-step guide to what you’ve got to do.

Q. Why can’t I pay and send my application?
A. You can only pay for and send your application when every section of your application is marked with a red tick. If you’re applying through a school or college, they’ll be able to complete a reference and send us your application after you’ve paid for your application. If you’re applying independently then you can pay for and send us your application once your referee has finished your reference. Ross, one of our advisers explains all of this in this video.

Q. What time is the deadline on 15 January?
A. Applications for the majority of courses should arrive at UCAS by 18:00 UK time on 15 January (check your chosen course details in our search tool for the correct deadline). This is to ensure that it gets equal consideration by the unis and colleges you're applying to.

If you’ve got any other questions about your application check out our info on www.ucas.com or get in touch with our advisers on Facebook or Twitter.

Good luck with your application!

The 15 January deadline is nearly here. Are you ready for it?

Your application needs to be with us by 18:00 (UK time) on 15 January to guarantee it’ll get equal consideration by the unis or colleges you’re applying to. If you apply after this deadline, the unis you’re applying to don’t have to consider your application.

If you’re a relaxed sort of person who likes to leave things to the last minute, you’re putting your application in danger. Here are the top reasons why leaving it to the last minute is really not a clever idea:

Stress – if you finish your application now, you don’t have to worry about it over the Christmas holidays, and so can relax and have fun without the nagging guilt of an unfinished application.

Technical issues – if you leave it until the last minute, your computer breaks and off-and-on-again doesn’t quite cut it, you’ll be in real trouble.

Research – some unis or colleges might want to see proof of your qualifications, so leave yourself plenty of time to find and dust off those certificates.

You won’t do yourself justice – especially when it comes to the personal statement, it pays to plan, redraft and redraft again. You’ll want to make sure your application is the best it can possibly be, and you won’t be able to do this if you leave it until the last minute.

Read our blog post and follow our five steps to avoid deadline drama.

How to avoid deadline drama....

The 15 January deadline isn't too far away so we’d like to share some tips with you to make sure you don’t miss it! The deadline for most courses is 18:00 UK time on 15 January, but if you’re not sure you can check the details for your courses in our search tool. Your entire application, including a reference, must be sent to us by this time to be classified as on time.

To apply on time and be in with the best chance of being accepted follow these five steps.

1. Know your login details for Apply

First of all, we’ll start with the basics. Make sure you know your login details. If you can’t log into Apply then try and resolve the issue online. If you’re still having problems you’ll need to give us a call so we can reset your password.


2. Give yourself plenty of time to complete your personal statement

You don’t want to be rushing your personal statement at the last minute and risk missing out vital information. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time before the deadline to draft a version offline, ready to put in your application. If you’re struggling for ideas of what to include then this blog post has lots of advice to help you along the way. We also have some top tips from Jane Marshall, who reads personal statements for a university.

3. Make sure the reference is complete

When someone misses the deadline it’s often to do with confusion about the reference section. Your referee must complete a reference before your application can be sent. You can check the status by logging in and checking the message on the home screen.

i) If you’re applying through your school or college:

After you've sent your application to your school or college, you should see a message on the ‘Welcome page.’ It’ll either say your application has been sent or that we are waiting for your centre to finish your reference or send your application.

If your centre hasn't completed a reference or sent your application then it’s best to check with them that they’ll be able to complete this for you before the deadline.

ii) If you’re applying independently:

Does the reference section have a red tick against it? If so then it’s been completed by your referee and you’ll be able to send us your application once you've completed all the other sections. If the reference box has three green dots then it means it’s still incomplete. Speak to your referee to make sure they’re happy to provide you with a reference before the deadline.

4. You’ll need to pay before you can send your application

When you come to make your payment, wait for the transaction to go through. As soon as it’s been processed the ‘Pay/Send’ section will be marked with a red tick.

It’s worth leaving plenty of time to make a payment in case you encounter any problems. If you’re applying through a centre then your school or college won’t be able to process your application until you've made a payment so try not to leave it until the last day!

If you’re applying independently then the payment will be the last thing you need to do.

5. Be prepared, your school or college may send your application back to you

Sometimes your centre may return your application if they feel you've entered any information incorrectly or missed off important details. You’ll receive an email when this happens but to be sure you can check this when you log in.

Once you've made the necessary changes you need to go through the ‘Pay/Send’ option. If you've made a payment already then you won’t be asked to do this again, you’ll only need to send your application back to your centre.

Once we've received your application you’ll get an email within 48 hours to confirm your application has been processed. Add enquiries@ucas.ac.uk as a contact in your address book to make sure the email doesn't fall into any junk folders.

And finally…… Good luck with your application!

If you have any questions about your application send us a message on Facebook or Twitter. If you've already applied and have some spare time on your hands, download our game Uni Leap for iOS http://ow.ly/DRWWB or Android http://ow.ly/DRWWC while you’re waiting for the universities’ decisions!

Better late than never? Making an application after the 15 January deadline

Karen Pichlmann, Head of Admissions at Bournemouth University, explains why there are deadlines in the first place, what making a late application means and the options you'll have open to you:

Karen Pichlmann

Did you decide today that you want to go to uni only to find the deadline has passed?  That’s OK, you can still go.  And the choice is either to wait until next year (putting the deadlines in your diary now) or see what’s available to late applicants.  Deadline doesn’t mean dead-end. 

Deadlines

UCAS application deadlines are there for a reason, from your perspective it means your university application is out of the way before you get down to the all-important revision.  Deadlines also mean universities can manage the selection process – time for interviewing, portfolio presentations, selection days etc.  Universities deal with vast numbers of applications, and in order to give each one the consideration it deserves, we need time.  Plus it works the other way too, universities have to let you know their decisions by certain deadlines.

Many schools and colleges really encourage their students to meet the deadlines (some students may say ‘nagging’!) and the vast majority of applicants do.  For some prospective students, they just aren’t ready by the deadlines for a variety of reasons.  The decision to go to university may come later in the year, once they are further through their A levels or BTEC for instance.  Students who aren’t in a school or college may not be aware that deadlines exist – understandable when they seem so early compared to when university starts.  Indeed, some students at university currently may have a change of heart and need to change course.

Missed the deadline?

So now we know why the deadlines are there, the next logical question is “are there deadlines for late applications?” Yes of course!  See UCAS’ important dates section.  You can apply now and until 30 June as a late applicant.  After this time, you will go into Clearing.  Five months sounds like a long time, but I’d urge you not to delay as some courses may close over the coming months.

Equal consideration

Before you proceed, I need to tell you about ‘equal academic consideration’.  Essentially it does what it says on the tin, and guarantees each applicant equal consideration as long as they apply by the deadline.  Applying after the deadline, means a university doesn’t have to employ this rule and can reject you even if you meet the entry criteria.  Most universities will let UCAS know that their courses are full and cannot accept any more applications.  Some may only be looking for a few select applicants.  Others know that good applicants sometimes miss deadlines, and give equal consideration.  I’d put Bournemouth in all three categories – some of our courses are full, some will have a small number of offers to make and some will consider late applicants more widely.

What will be available?

The short answer is not everything. 

Example: you’re suddenly consumed with a burning desire to study, say, English.  You love literature, the classics, to write and to read widely.  You start to research what’s available and discover that the number of available English literature courses is limited.  Looking more closely, you can see English language, English and Politics, English and Communications courses available for example.  Reading the detail of these courses will tell you if they will be suitable for your goals and interests.

Therefore, you may have to be more flexible and think of alternative pathways if you apply now.  Universities offer help and advice on your options. At Bournemouth we have a dedicated future students team to answer your questions and so do other universities. 

Finding out what’s available

Research is the key to applying to university, whenever you do it.

University websites should tell you if they are accepting late applications. Bournemouth has it clearly on each course listing as does the UCAS course search. 

How to apply

There’s no different process for applying now.  You register to use UCAS Apply and away you go.  I can’t emphasise enough the need to complete the application in full, including your references.   Whilst we are happy to consider late applications, we want to consider good ones.  UCAS provide lots of advice on completing your application.

I hope this has given you the confidence to get started on your application, knowing that it’s not too late to start university this year.  Remember to get in touch with the universities you’re interested in.  Good luck!

3 reasons why your application might miss the 15 January deadline... and how to avoid them!

It’s never nice to see someone miss the 15 January deadline. We know how much work you've put into your application, how much frustration there can sometimes be with it and the hopes you have pinned on it.

Missing the deadline means your university choices no longer have an obligation to consider your application. Some can choose to consider you after 15 January but it’s entirely at their discretion. However, for those courses and universities where competition is high it’s unlikely that the application will be considered.

Here’s the good news though: you’re reading this blog now and not after 15 January! In most cases for applications which miss the deadline, you can pinpoint the reason for it to something that happened (or didn’t happen!) during the Christmas break and early-January.

So let’s get it all out in the open. Here are the three main things that cause issues in those vital last couple of weeks before the big day:

1. You assume your school/college have sent your application to UCAS. And they haven’t.

Your tutors and advisers will put a lot of work into coordinating all your UCAS applications, advising you on what to be putting into it, what to be leaving out, writing references, checking the applications for mistakes and then getting them sent off. It’s no easy job but it’s one they carry out with great diligence on top of their usual workload.

However, everyone’s human and sometimes mistakes can be made and an application might not get sent off. These mistakes are relatively rare but that’s no consolation to those it happens to. Thankfully it’s very quick and easy to check if it’s been sent. So take 30 seconds to log onto Apply and look at the Welcome page. If your school have sent the application to UCAS, it’ll look like this (click on image to enlarge):

If they’re still writing the reference, it’ll look like this:

If the reference has been written but the application hasn’t been approved by your school, then it’d look like this:

All fairly straightforward really. So, if your Welcome page doesn't say the magic words 'Your application has been sent to UCAS and will be processed shortly' you need to get in touch with your school and ask them when this will be sent. If they've already given you a date for when they’ll do this then there’s no need to chase them, just keep an eye on it. However, if they've given you the impression that the application has already been sent to UCAS, then get in touch with them and have the situation clarified.

2. Your referee hasn't finished their reference.

Every year there will always be some people (both independent and school/college applicants) in a mad panic that their reference hasn't been finished (or started) and that they've got no way of getting in touch with the referee. Without the reference, the application can’t be sent off.

So, if you've exhausted all possibilities of getting in touch with your referee and there’s no way they’re going to be able to complete it by the deadline, here’s what you can do:

i) Get someone else to write the reference

They way you do this will differ depending on whether you’re applying through a school or applying independently. 

If you’re applying through a school, already sent it to them and have no way of contacting a tutor then you’d need to register a new application and complete that one instead. However, if you've not yet sent the application to your school, you can call us and an adviser will change it to an independent application thereby allowing you to request someone else to write the reference.

If you’re applying independently and you've not clicked on the option 'Ask a registered school, college or organisation to write your reference only' you can click on the link to ask someone else to write it.

If you’re applying independently and have clicked on the option 'Ask a registered school, college or organisation to write your reference only' you’d need to call us and an adviser can reset your reference request. You can then click on the option to ask someone else to write it.

ii) Send it off without a reference

This should only be done as a last resort and it carries a degree of risk. If you follow the same steps as above for getting someone else to write the reference, you can tick a box to say that no reference is required:

As the message states, you should only use the option if all your choices have agreed that you can send the application without a reference. If you haven’t spoken to them and got the OK to do it, then they can choose not to consider your application if they wish.

However, if you’re not able to get in touch with all your choices and your options are either to not send the application by the deadline or to get it in on time without the reference, then the second option is obviously better.

You’d then need to get in touch with your choices as soon as you can to explain why you had to send off your application without a reference and to ask if they’ll still consider your application if you were to arrange for the reference to be sent direct to them.

We'll be on hand to deal with any
last-minute late-night issues on 15 January 

3. Your application has been returned to you by your school/college for amendments and you’ve not sent it back to them

As many of you are probably well aware, your school can return the application to you for corrections to be made. If this happens, you get an email from UCAS telling you to log onto Apply. Once on the Welcome page, you’ll see a message from your school explaining what needs to be amended.

If you do have to correct anything in your application, make sure you send it back to the school after! You just need to click on ‘Pay/send’ (you don’t need to pay again though). The requirement to send it back to your school sometimes gets overlooked and results in the application not being sent by your school.

Stay Calm... 
Above all though, try not to stress about it! Our Customer Service Advisers will be putting in extra hours this week and next to answer all your queries on our social media channels and telephone lines. They’ll also be available until 00:30 (UK time) on 16 January to make sure your questions are answered right up until and beyond the midnight deadline. 

5 Essential Things To Know About Your UCAS Application Over Christmas

1. UCAS opening hours over Christmas

Monday 24 December	10:00-16:00 (UK time)
Tuesday 25 December	Closed
Wednesday 26 December	Closed
Thursday 27 December	10:00-16:00
Friday 28 December	10:00-16:00
Saturday 29 December	Closed
Sunday 30 December	Closed
Monday 31 December	10:00-16:00
Tuesday 1 January	Closed

2. Letters will not be sent out by UCAS over the Christmas period

The last day before Christmas that letters will be sent from UCAS will be Thursday 20 December. We'll then resume sending letters on 2 January 2013. Therefore, if you send your application over the Christmas period, the Welcome letter won't be sent out before 2 January.

3. Track will update over Christmas (if updates are made by your uni choices!)

Each year we get asked whether Track will update over the Christmas break. Track will work as usual over this time BUT bear in mind it's only going to update if universities are actually making decisions during this time. As many universities will either be closed or operating with reduced staff over Christmas, it'll mean less decisions get made and as a result Track might be fairly quiet.

4. Schools and colleges will be closed over Christmas

Yep, stating the obvious now but there's good reason to do it! There are some things on your application that only your school can process. These include:

Sending your application to UCAS

Approving your application

Moving you into another tutor's group to write a reference

Returning an application to you for amendments (if it hasn't yet been sent to UCAS)

Therefore, if you need any of these things to be done over Christmas, you'll need to get in touch with your school when they reopen. Also bear in mind, whether you're applying independently or through a school, the reference must be completed before the application can be sent to UCAS.

5. Applications will be processed over Christmas

Any applications sent to UCAS over the Christmas period will be processed as usual, although as mentioned in point 2, a Welcome letter won't be sent until 2 January at the earliest.

15 January deadline: Last minute issues and how to avoid them!

The 15 January deadline is fast approaching. The deadline has probably been seared into your memories by your schools, colleges and advisers so you probably don't need another reminder! Instead I've gathered together the sort of issues that've caused applications to be submitted late in previous years and given some advice on how to prevent them happening to you!

Know your login details for Apply

Make sure you know your login details, as you'll need to log in to Apply to send your application. Use the login reminder service on the Apply page if you're not sure. You can also find guidance on login problems for Apply here

Send it earlier if you can

The deadline is midnight on 15 January (23:59 UK time) but try to send it sooner in case you experience any problems, e.g. internet connection issues, payment problems.

Be prepared for any payment issues

You must pay for your application before it can be sent to UCAS. If you enter invalid payment details five times, you will be locked out from making any more payment attempts - if this happens, you'll need to call us so send your application early just in case. You can get some guidance on payment problems here

If you're applying through a school or college, they'll need time to review your application

Your tutor needs time to complete the reference section and check and approve your application before they send it to UCAS. If they spot any errors, they'll send your application back to you to amend. If this happens, you need to change it and send it back to them, so that they can send it to us. It may not happen, but it's good to allow time for this just in case. Simply sending it to your school or college before the deadline won't count as sending it on time; it has to be received by UCAS.

You need a reference before you can send your application to us

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

If you're applying independently, allow enough time for your referee to read the instructions, write and attach the reference, and confirm that it has been completed. A red tick will appear next to the 'reference' link in Apply once it's complete. This means you can complete the rest of the application and send it to us.

If you're applying through a school or college, send your application to them early to allow them time to do write the reference and carry out the other checks before the deadline.

If you've agreed with the universities that a reference is not required - check the information on the reference page to see what to do.

8 tips for preparing for your university interview

With interviews becoming an increasingly popular topic of conversation over the next few weeks, we thought it was high time to get a university's perspective on what they're looking for and how best to prepare for the big day. So up stepped the University of Bristol to offer eight valuable tips:

It’s around this time of year that you may have been invited to an interview from one or more of your university choices. Not all courses invite candidates for interviews but they’re often required for popular courses where there are large numbers of high quality applicants and/or where the course requires a high degree of ‘people skills’ for success. The likelihood of an interview being part of the selection process will be reflected in a course’s advice on applying, which will be available on the relevant university’s website.  For example, Bristol’s Undergraduate Admissions Statements are available here

Getting invited to interview is a great achievement in itself – it means that the admissions tutors are impressed with your application and are seriously considering making you an offer. If you have been invited for an interview, or you know that one or more of your course choices uses interviews as part of the selection process, here are some tips on what to expect and how to prepare:

1. Remember that the interview is not only the university’s opportunity to assess your suitability but also a   chance for you to decide if it’s the right choice for you. Use the interview day as an opportunity to explore the university and surrounding area – can you picture yourself studying and living there?


2. Interviewers are not there to catch you out or make you nervous – they’ll be genuinely interested in you and your potential to succeed on their course. Research as much as you can about the course content, the department and the university to show the interviewers your interest and commitment. 


3. Make sure you re-familiarise yourself with your personal statement and prepare for generic questions such as ‘why did you apply to this university?’ and ‘why do you want to study this particular course?’


4. Interviewers are likely to be seeing several candidates so don’t expect to spend a long time with them. To make a good impression within a limited time, think about the qualities you have to offer that you feel make you stand out from the competition. If you’ve done relevant work experience, read widely around your subject or have won awards or accolades, make sure you use the opportunity to highlight this. 


5. Practice doing a ‘mock interview’ with a parent, teacher or careers adviser. The interview situation can seem unnatural and pressurised so to practise talking about yourself and presenting in a confident manner can be really useful. 


6. Wear something that is smart but also practical – rehearse sitting down and walking in your outfit to make sure that it remains presentable and comfortable throughout. 


7. Read your invitation letter or email carefully to ensure that you know where you need to be and when. You may have been asked to bring a piece of work or other documentation so make sure you have these prepared. Arrive at the interview venue in plenty of time so that you don’t feel rushed. This will give you the opportunity to relax and go over some key points before you start. 


8. Be yourself and be confident in your potential to succeed in the interview and on your chosen course. 

More guidance about interviews at Bristol is available here where you can download a factsheet about interviews and see a video of a mock Medicine interview.
Good luck!

Sian Hughes, Assistant Publications Officer, University of Bristol