How to make the most of an open day in four simple steps

Open days are a great opportunity for you to get to know a conservatoire better. You get to see the facilities and they give you the chance to meet current students and staff so you can ask any burning questions. Before you attend one, make the most of your visit by following these four simple steps:

1. Make a shortlist – visiting every conservatoire might be a bit ambitious, so choose the ones that offer the course you’re interested in. There are eight conservatoires and all open days are listed on their website:

• Birmingham Conservatoire
• Leeds College of Music
• Royal Academy of Music
• Royal College of Music
• Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
• Royal Northern College of Music
• Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
• Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

2. Know what to expect – each conservatoire will have a planned itinerary of tours, talks and chances to ask questions. This will vary from each conservatoire so make sure you check their website to find out what’s on the agenda for the day.

3. Plan ahead – think about what you’d like to find out more about, and which departments you'd like to look at.  Prepare some questions you’d like to ask current students and the academic staff. They’re the ones who know the place best so make sure you make the most of this opportunity!

4. Taster sessions – as well as attending an open day, you could see if they run taster sessions to give a flavour of the course you’re interested in.

If you have any questions about applying to a conservatoire put them to our helpful advisers on Facebook and Twitter.

Get the views of conservatoire student Charlotte, who has been sharing her experience in her blog.

Three tips to choosing the right course

Have you considered a career in music, dance, or drama? If so, check out what’s on offer with UCAS Conservatoires.

But how do you know which is the right course for you? Our tips will make sure you choose the course that best suits you.

1. Research courses in our search tool.
The first place to start will be our search tool. Once you’ve found a course and conservatoire that’s taken your interest, find out more about the course, the conservatoire, the entry requirements and the audition fees by clicking on the course in question.

2. Attend open days
Open days will give you the opportunity to check out the facilities, meet current students and staff and give you the chance to ask them questions. Search for open days by conservatoire on our website. If you attend an open day, make sure you plan ahead by checking out the itinerary for the day. This will give you an idea of what to expect and what questions to prepare.

3. Check conservatoire reviews
If you’d like to get further information on a conservatoire there are lots of resources online. You can read student opinions on Unistats or conservatoire reviews on QAA.

If you have any questions about applying to a conservatoire put them to our helpful advisers on Facebook and Twitter.

Get the views of conservatoire student Charlotte, who has been sharing her experience in her blog.

It's not too late to Apply!

Thinking about starting uni this year? It’s not too late to apply! The last date you can send an application with up to five choices is 30 June - so if you’ve made a last minute decision about going to university, there are a four things to consider before you submit your application.

1. Search for vacancies
Universities can still consider applications as long as they have vacancies. In our search tool you can find courses that are still accepting applications by selecting ‘Courses open to new applicants.’ Before you add a choice however, it’s worth giving the uni a quick call to double check. The last thing you want to do is apply to a uni that may not have any places left to offer!

2. The application form
You need to complete an application so the unis can look at your details. This includes writing a personal statement and getting a reference. If you need help completing the application all the advice you need can be found in one place - our website.

3. Prepare for interviews
Some courses require an interview, even at this stage of the year. But don’t worry, they don’t need to be stressful. Head on over to our blog post full of handy interview tips.

4. Check for open days
If you haven’t already, it’s always a good idea to try and attend an open day to get a better idea of what the uni has to offer and to meet the tutors to get an understanding of the course. All upcoming open days are listed here. Check out our top tips on how to make the most of your visit before you attend one.

And finally… 

Good luck with your application!

If you have any questions about applying, send our advisers a question on Facebook or Twitter and they’ll be more than happy to help.

10 places to get personal statement pointers

If a bit of personal statement inspiration is what you need, then look no further – here are the 10 best places to pick up more than a pointer or two!

1. The UCAS website
   Start your planning at www.ucas.com/personalstatement. There are tips on how to get started and what to include. It also covers the technical aspects you need to bear in mind, such as the character count.
    
2. Personal statement timeline
   Check out our personal statement timeline. It’s packed with advice on how to spread out the planning and writing stages so you’re not cramming at the last minute.
     
3. Our blog
   A few years ago we asked uni admissions tutors to tell us what they’re looking for in the personal statement and the advice they shared has been so well received that it’s still our most popular blog post to date! Have a read of it here.
    
4. Teachers and tutors
   Speak to your teachers and tutors at school to find out from them what they think your strengths are – they might point out a few areas that you hadn’t even considered, but that are really relevant when it comes to showing that you’d be a dedicated and hard working undergraduate student.
    
5. Open days
   Open days are not only your chance to find out what a uni has to offer, but also to find out what they expect from their students. Take the opportunity to ask as many questions as you can - speak to course tutors to find out what they want to see in your personal statement, and what will make you stand out. Find out when open days are happening in our open days search.
    
6. Students’ top tips
   No one knows more about the task at hand than your peers. We asked our Facebook fans who had already applied to uni for their personal statement top tips - here’s what they said:
   
   
7. Video guide
   This brilliant video with Jane Marshall from Imperial College has everything you need to know about how to write your personal statement.
   
   
    
8. Personal statement mind map
   Although it might look a bit chaotic, this personal statement mind map is a great way to get your thoughts in order.
   
   
9. Search for course details
   Every course you can apply for is listed in our search tool, together with entry requirements and a description of what it covers. Find the courses you’re interested in and try to match up your strengths and experiences to the course requirements.
    
10. Friends and family
    Once you’ve got your personal statement drafted, try reading it aloud to people you trust. They’ll be able to offer fresh insight in to how your statement flows and any areas you might have missed.

Open days: how to plan valuable visits

A survey published this weekend suggests that a quarter of students don’t attend open days before applying to university. We found this quite surprising, as open days are so helpful when it comes to painting a picture of university life and choosing courses. Yet our own research also suggests that a similar percentage of students still choose not to make these important visits before applying.

Keith Carter, Professional Development Officer at UCAS, explains more about the value of open days, where to find key information and how to make the most of visits.

Keith Carter, Professional Development Officer, UCAS.

I think it’s essential to visit a university or college before committing to at least three years of study. It’s another way of making sure your choice is right for you. Open days are an important part of researching courses and can make all the difference when it comes to making informed course choices.

By just setting foot on a campus you'll immediately get a feel for the place; perhaps you'll be able to picture yourself going there almost every day for the next few years, or the opposite - 10 minutes might be all you need to know that a particular university definitely isn’t for you!

Open days are often on weekends as well as weekdays and take place throughout the year. To help you plan your visits, we’ve made finding out about open days as easy as possible with our new open days search tool. All you have to do is choose the university or college you’re interested in visiting from the list, hit ‘Select’ and away you go! You’ll see upcoming open day dates, contact details and links through to the unis' own websites for more info.

Going on a visit will help you understand what university life is like, as you’ll be shown around lecture theatres, labs, catering facilities, bars and halls of residence. You’ll get some idea of the geography of the area and how close you’ll be to key services like train stations and supermarkets.

Open days are also prime opportunities to ask questions - not just to the staff, but perhaps more importantly, the students already studying there. You can ask almost anything and it can be far more revealing than reading a prospectus.

By making an effort to include open days in your research, you can avoid the disappointment of starting a course and finding it isn’t what you expected.

The new open days search tool is a great place to start this chapter of your journey to university. Once you've got the dates in your diary, have a read of our open days hints and tips to help you make the most of your visits.

How to choose a course

There are over 37,000 courses listed in our search tool. Quite a daunting statement if you haven’t made your mind up yet about what you want to apply for, right? It doesn’t have to be though, after all every year there are hundreds of thousands of people in exactly the same situation as you’re in now, and they all manage to choose. So wouldn’t it be great if you could ask how they did it? How they narrowed down 37,000 to five course choices, and then ultimately just one? Well that’s exactly what we did.

We asked those of you on Facebook who already know what you’re going to study, or what you plan to apply for, how you decided that your course was right for you. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories, we had heaps of responses. Reading through them all, I could see that most people chose their course through one of five ways, so here they are in a nutshell.


Some people just know
There’s a group of people out there who, for one reason or other, have always known what they wanted to study. Perhaps they were inspired at a young age by their favourite TV character or by a family member they looked up to. However it came about, they’ve been focussed for as long as they can remember on a particular career, and this is guiding their studies. You might think they’re a lucky bunch, because for them the decision never really had to be made – but spare a thought for those who were inspired by Bananaman...

Start with your heart

Looking at what you enjoy – what makes you tick – is a good way to kick-off your research. If you love writing for example, courses with plenty of written assessments are a good starting point. Moving on to your broader interest, you might be able to find courses that reflect your hobbies and extracurricular activities, as well as subjects you know you’re good at. If you can do this then you’ll probably find writing your personal statement a piece of a cake, as you’ve got heaps of evidence to support why you’re genuinely interested in the course you’re applying for.

Work experience works
Work experience, both paid and unpaid, can help you narrow down what you like doing, and – as importantly – what you don’t. If you’ve already got some experience then think about the tasks involved and also the industry it was in, to determine whether these are areas you can see yourself learning more about. If you haven’t got any work experience, then arranging to work shadow someone in a career you’re interested in is a great opportunity to find out whether you want to study a course which could lead to something similar. Although having your sights set on a job isn’t the only reason you’d choose to go to uni (this video explains lots of other motivations) it’s one that we know is important to some people.

Speak to those in the know

Although no one knows you quite as well as you know yourself, there are other people who can help you choose a course. Current and past teachers can give you insight in to where your strengths lie academically, and therefore what types of course you could be well suited to. If you have a particular career in mind then speak to people who work in that profession already – it’s a great way to find out which courses might help you to pursue it.

No idea? No boundaries!
Sometimes not knowing what you want to study can seem like you’re in the dark, but try to see it instead as having an open mind. Look at as many different avenues as possible, and do as much research as you can. Attending open days and UCAS conventions gives you the chance to find out about lots of different courses, some of which you might never have considered (or heard of). Take the opportunity to speak to staff from universities and colleges on these days – they’ll be able to give you far more information than could possibly be crammed in to a prospectus!

Watch our UCAStv video guide to choosing courses for even more great advice.

                                         

University open days: getting the most out of them!

Beyond the prospectuses and pretty pictures lies the eye-opening experience of an open day. Sarah Gordon, Senior Events Manager at London South Bank University (LSBU) offers applicants her tips for test driving their university choices before making a final decision:

It’s that time of year. Offers from universities you shortlisted are flooding in and now you need to make your big decision as to which university will be your first choice offer and which will end up in second place. But how do you decide?

Sarah Gordon,
Senior Events Manager at LSBU

There’s probably a huge stack of prospectuses in your room gathering dust. You’ve probably spent hours trawling university websites, looking at blogs and going through league tables online. You’ve probably spent time talking to your friends and family about their opinions on the universities you’ve shortlisted. But have you been for a visit?

So many students find going to an open day a hassle: taking time out from work or social activities to make a long journey to see a university they’ve looked at online a hundred times. Do you really need to visit as well?

But things have changed so much in recent years, both in the way universities teach and in the cost of higher education. If you were spending a similar amount of money on purchasing something for yourself, perhaps a car or a home, you wouldn’t just go by the online advert and pictures in a sales brochure. You’d take a test drive or visit so you knew exactly what you were investing your money in.  Why not employ the same tactic when choosing your university?  

There is only so much insight you can get from looking at a prospectus or online course guide. The only way you can get a true feel for whether a university is the right one for you is to hop on a train or jump in the car and actually experience it for yourself; the good, the bad and the ugly.

So here are my top tips on getting the most out of a visit to a university open day:

Get out there

Visit as many open days as you can; at least two and ideally three, including one wildcard option. The more universities you visit and view, the more you will get an idea of what is and isn’t important to you.  

Don’t go it alone

Do take friends and family with you if you can. Having someone else with you to help take it all in is invaluable, and everything is always more fun with company. They’re going to remember the stuff that you don’t and will think of things to ask that you won’t.

Capture the experience

Make notes as you go and take photos to remind you of the day afterwards. It may look a little weird but if you’re visiting a few different places, they can soon all merge into one.

Be prepared

Buzz: a busy LSBU open day in 2012

Plan ahead, not only on a practical level (how you will travel there? Is parking available? Are there places for lunch?) but also be prepared to be both disappointed and pleasantly surprised at what you may find when you get there.

I speak to many students who were very clear about their first choice university, until they went to visit. They realised that, despite the pretty pictures in the prospectus and the high ranking in the university guides, it really wasn’t somewhere they could see themselves. Remember, you are not just joining a course, but a university community. You need to know you’ll be happy with the course but also the tutors, your fellow students, the campus facilities and its location. I have also spoken to students who’ve accompanied friends on open day visits, to universities they hadn’t considered themselves and have fallen in love with them.

Let open days open your mind

Be open-minded. Think before you go about what your wish list would be for the perfect university and then think about what you may be prepared to compromise on as you visit.

Get past the gloss

Don’t be afraid to speak to any student guides or ambassadors that are there. Although many of them will be paid to work, they will also happily give you a warts and all view of student life. That’s what they’re there for and they will all be keen to talk to you about the course they are doing and why they chose that particular university.

Sit back and relax

Take time out during your visit to head to the coffee shop or refectory, grab something to eat or drink and sit back and take it all in.  Can you see yourself here for the next two to three years?

Grill the tutors

Finally, talk to the tutors too and ask about the course you’re interested in. Find out how it’s assessed, which building it’s taught in (and visit that building if you can), what a usual week’s timetable looks like. This will help you to start building up a picture of what you’re signing up for.

Open days offer a great opportunity to double check that the universities you’ve chosen really are the right ones for you. It’s not just a course you’re buying, but three years of your life and you need to make sure that you’re going to be happy in your new home.  And nothing will beat that feeling of leaving an open day happy and confident that you have chosen the right place for the next chapter of your life.