A Brief UCAS Guide For Parents

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1 A Brief UCAS Guide For Parents

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3 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents Welcome There are a number of options available for students after QES. The vast majority of Year 13 will make an application to University through the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Application Service) system. Other students will continue their education through an alternative route to University. Perhaps they may apply for a Foundation Art course before moving onto a degree, or choose a vocational qualification, an apprenticeship or employment. This booklet is designed to give parents some guidance with a view to helping students with their UCAS applications. It is a distilled version of the booklet that all students receive at the start of the UCAS process. For additional queries staff are available at QES and the UCAS website has a section specifically designed for parents, which is easily accessible on their website: There are a huge amount of Universities in the country that provide thousands of courses. This booklet gives you an insight into some of the options that are available. Inside the booklet you will find some screen grabs and links, so that you know what to expect. There are sections that gives you details about UCAS tariffs, personal statements, student finance and gap year websites. Finally, there are some important key dates for the process of applying to University. 3

4 Year 13 What happens when and how? Year Year When? What? How? 17th June 17th June onwards HE Day Students researching and registering on UCAS website Presentations and workshops to launch the UCAS programme for all Year 12 students. PD, General Studies and Study Periods. Everyone registers online. 20th June 6pm Higher Education Evening in Main Hall Presentation about HE choices, finances, and the UCAS programme at QES 21st June Launching UCAS PD presentation from Mr Rushton 18th June- 24th June Leeds, Manchester University Open Days There are many Open Days over this period, some of which will need booking. Y12 28th June How to write a personal statement Presentation in HT 30th June Study Scotland Talk 2.20pm Edinburgh University Student Recruitment 1st July UCAS Convention Carlisle Trip organised by QES; all students are expected to attend: pm May/June June/July Sept/Oct References written by tutors using material from teaching staff Additional open days Reference request material completed by staff and passed to tutors Organised independently, some are advertised through assemblies and noticeboards Y13 September Explanation of the procedure Given through assemblies and PD Distribution of guide material from UCAS September Final target grade First week back-completed by staff 4

5 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents The process The process: - Student Students research and complete the online application form. The personal statement should have been proof read by the form tutor. A hard copy of the form is submitted to Miss O Neill, Mr Rushton or Mr Domingues (CO/PR/LAD) for comment. A slip to confirm it has been checked and is ready for reference is given to the student to pass to the form utor. A hard copy is passed to the Tutor to help finalise the reference. Students send the Form (electronically) to the referee (form tutor) and pay through a credit or debit card ( 24). They must tell the tutor that they have done this. The process: - Tutor Your child s form tutor writes the reference directly on the student s application form. This can be done at any time. CO/PR/LAD approve references and send the application forms directly to UCAS students should see CO/PR/LAD to do this! Top Tips! Monitoring: Students must follow the application process at each stage through the TRACK facility. Students can allow parental access to their online form. Interviews/aptitude tests: Several members of staff are on hand to give formal interview practice and this is also covered during PD sessions. It may be that students need to apply for and take an aptitude test such as the LNAT for Law or the UKCAT or BMAT for medicine, dentistry or veterinary science/medicine. Applications should be with tutors by October half term. Students need a lot of encouragement and support. They must make difficult choices about courses and institutions. Trips to Open Days at Universities will be very useful. Prospectuses are now available on-line. Once they have made their choices, then they need encouragement to complete their UCAS form online and then send it off. The personal statement is particularly important. Start thinking early, go on as many open days as possible to research each University. Open Days to universities were very helpful as you could speak to tutors and have a look around to see what it is like. The UCAS Convention was very useful as we had all the information in one place in an interactive environment. Visit as many open days as possible. Get your application completed as soon as you can. If in doubt ask for advice. 5

6 Courses Use the ucas site to research. Make sure you are searching courses for 2017 entry. There are many other websites that offer guidance on University and course choices. Get it done early. Make a list of all possible universities and/or courses and then keep narrowing it down. Research courses carefully by checking the entry profiles. Don t forget some Foundation degrees are available on UCAS too, along with some specialist Music courses. You can apply through CUKAS (Conservatoires UK Admissions Service) at the same site and many performing arts courses can be searched here. 6

7 The Personal Statement Your Personal Statement This is the chance to tell Universities why you are applying and why they should want you as a student. It is an important part of the application process. Included in your child s booklet are some of last year s students personal statements for you to consider, but remember that how they write their application is up to them, and it should be a personal statement, which highlights their qualities. If a student is interviewed, the personal statement will almost certainly be referred to, so they must feel confident about everything they write. It should be technically flawless, so it needs careful proof reading. Some points to include: Why they have chosen the courses. What interests them about it. Why they are particularly well suited to studying it. Comment on any job, work experience or voluntary work, particularly if it is relevant to the course. If it is not directly relevant to the course, comment on skills developed as a result of these activities. Extra-curricular activities both in and outside school Duke of Edinburgh, music, drama, sport, mentoring, lower school committee, reading scheme, Amnesty International, Sixth Form Committee, hobbies, interests and leisure time. Future plans If students are taking a year out they should say why and what they plan to be doing. Length A Brief UCAS guide for Parents It can be up to 47 lines. UCAS recommend that you prepare it off line, and then cut and paste following their instructions. You will not be able to change the format all statements are written in Times New Roman, font size 12, no bold, italics or underlining. The reference The reference is an important part of the process and we are very thorough in making sure that students get the best reference possible, whilst also maintaining a good reputation with universities about our integrity as a school. It will be written by the Form Tutor; Miss O Neill, Mr Rushton, or Mr Domingues will also read them all, along with the complete application form, before it is sent off. Students should start writing personal 7

8 UCAS When UCAS receive the application they will send confirmation and students will be able to track an application s progress at through TRACK. Once registered on TRACK, students will have a username and password. Students can use this system to check on the status of all applications and offers. An offer is likely to be conditional and either based on exam grades at A2 or UCAS points. See the UCAS tariff age for an explanation of UCAS points. The earlier the application is submitted the better the chances of an early offer. Students will be asked their response to each of the offers. The deadline will be in early May depending on when the offer was received. They can accept one offer firmly and another as insurance if appropriate. (An insurance offer should be lower than the firm offer) If students meet the conditions of the firm offer then that is the place they are expected to take. A summary of a student s offers and acceptance is then sent through as shown below. Key F Offer Accepted as Firm Choice Uni / College Code Uni / College name Course/ Campus Status Entry Date Entry Point I Offer Accepted as Insurance Choice CD Conditional Offer Declined REJ Unsuccessful Application UD Unconditional Offer Declined D86 DUR L112 G F M20 MANU NL11 I L23 LEEDS L112 CD S36 STA NL21 REJ E84 EXETR L112 UD

9 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents The UCAS Tariff System Students may be given an offer based on UCAS points. The charts on this page show how these are calculated. EPQ AS level A level New Tariff points BTEC Subsidiary Diploma The table on the right shows the UCAS points for A-Level grades, double awards and BTEC subsidiary diplomas. The final column shows the points that are awarded. A* 56 D* A 48 D B 40 C 32 M A* 28 A D 24 B A 20 C B E 16 P D C 12 D 10 E 8 E 6 The table below shows all of the UCAS points that are available for musical examinations. 9

10 Student Finance Students will be given materials that outline finance at Higher Education, which will explain in detail the current situation regarding tuition fees,and loans. It is important that they do as much research as possible on finance as different Universities, and different courses will have a variety of support available. The organisation that deals with fees and loans is Student Finance England. The UCAS site will lead you to their link at the Direct.gov website (see below). Fees for Universities There is now a variable tuition fee of up to 9000* a year for degree courses. There are non-means tested loans for fees and repayments start once graduates earn over 21,000 per annum. There are also bursaries available for students including those given on the basis of income or academic performance. Maintenance loans are currently at 3 rates: at home, away from home or away from home in London. The standard loan is 8,200* but the full amount available depends on household income. Students loans Info: Online application: A number of websites offer additional advice on student finance such as The ucas.com site has the latest information regarding student finance and has links to each institution so you can research the particular A variety of bursaries and scholarships are also available for many courses, indeed universities are required to offer bursaries that support students whose parents are on lower incomes. Remember always check for their availability! * details for current year, subject to change for 2017 Click on the Student Finance link for all the information you will need about course fees, financial help and more. 10

11 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents Oxbridge Oxbridge If applying to Oxford or Cambridge, it is vital that students complete their application as soon as possible, as Oxford and Cambridge expect to have your completed form by October 15 th. This means that students need to have made their other choices too. Remember, you can only apply to Oxford or Cambridge...not both. A lot of work goes into the references, so applications must get to Miss O Neill or Mr Rushton by 23rd September. Students must make sure we know they are applying and the focus is on them to see teachers, get information and get drafting their application straight away. We would expect students who are serious about an application to either of these Universities, to have completed a version of their personal statement, and have done their research by the time we return in September. Students can get help and advice from Miss O Neill or Mr Rushton. The websites for each of the universities will be your starting points: and Many Oxbridge courses require specific admissions tests so careful research and preparation is required. Students interested in Dance and Drama, Music and Art and Design must consult with subject staff at an early stage as part of their preparation. Medicine, Veterinary Science, Law and Dentistry At the moment, some Universities offering these subjects expect students to complete an additional test, taken in the Autumn. These are called the BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test), UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test; this test is required for medical courses at a large number of UK universities must, registration begins in May) and LNAT (Law National Aptitude Test). When researching courses these requirements need consideration; Mr Rushton and Mr Martin are available to discuss these requirements. Example tests are found on-line at most of the Universities and at the test home-sites. There are also agencies that support test preparation. Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry applications must be submitted to the University by the 15 th October, so you must complete your application by at least September 23rd to allow enough time for references to be completed and any amendments to be made. Remember, for selective courses, additional admissions tests may be necessary. Students need to check the requirements on the Entry profile for courses on the UCAS site. Organisations like Medsim, although expensive, offer additional support. 11

12 Queries C.O Form tutors and subject teachers The UCAS website - The UCAS Customer Service Unit You can also University Admission tutors directly - check University web-sites for Admission Tutors addresses. for the Guardian s current guide to universities. for University and College Open Day details is the Which? Magazine guide for students and parents For Gap Year Research try: Of course some students will be thinking about a job or apprenticeship. Mr Burnett is available for discussions about these throughout the year. You can also check for more information. NB. NOMINATED ACCESS Students can nominate parents so that they can access the UCAS application but not edit it. EXTRA and CLEARING If students end up with one or no offers you can add another application through UCAS Extra. Look out for the logo that will appear on Track. If things go badly wrong with results there is a system called clearing, whereby students can apply to the remaining available courses after results day. Course lists are available on-line and in the national press. 12

13 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents Some key UCAS dates 24th May th September 15th October UCAS Apply 2017 becomes live UCAS applications can be sent Oxbridge, Medicine, Vet courses, Dentistry applications must be October half term End of Autumn term Early 2017 on-going 25th February 31st March 4th May 17th August QES Applications should be complete All late applications sent Can apply for student finance Extra starts Most offers should be received Must have replied to offers received by 31st March later deadlines will be indicated in TRACK Results: places confirmed in TRACK, clearing in operation 13

14 Notes Useful UCAS links

15 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents 15

16 A Brief UCAS guide for Parents