Tip: As well as reading this information sheet we suggest you go to and watch the guides for Apply.

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1 The start of something big Your UCAS application is your opportunity to impress universities and colleges, so it is important to take the time and make the effort to do it well. The vast majority of UCAS applications are made online using a system called Apply. Although it is a straightforward process, completing the application will take several hours. Take your time, save your progress at regular intervals and return to your application at a later date to look it over. Prepare as much information as you can in advance and take time to familiarise yourself with the UCAS website, including the different sections and how to navigate through them before you begin. Note: Please note that international students may apply to study only at an institution that appears on the UK Border Agency s register of Tier 4 sponsors The benefits of UCAS All UCAS institutions are recognised by the UK government or offer courses that are validated by UK government-recognised universities. UCAS centralises the application and admission procedures to undergraduate programmes at UK universities and colleges. All applicants are treated fairly under UCAS procedures and rules. The benefits of applying for a course through UCAS are: up to five choices on one application apply to a wide range of different courses and institutions apply online and track the progress of application, and accept or decline offers using Track the local British Council office may be able to help with applications. Tip: As well as reading this information sheet we suggest you go to and watch the guides for Apply. Applying online UCAS has an online application system called Apply. You can use it independently or through a school, college or other organisation registered with UCAS. This is by far the preferred method of application by institutions and can be used by all students with access to the web. Dates for your UCAS application Although, there are three deadlines for course applications through UCAS: 15 October, 15 January and 24 March, it is important to check when the course you are interested in will start, as some courses start between January and May. You can do this by looking at the table on the Course information screen in the UCAS Course Search. For courses that start between January and May, you may need to apply before these deadlines as the universities and colleges will need time to consider your application. Although some will be happy to receive applications right up to the start of the course, be prepared to send your application early. Please remember you do not have to apply for all your choices at the same time. You can add further choices as long as you have not used up all your choices and have not accepted a place.

2 Application deadlines If you are applying from the UK/EU If you are applying from the UK or an EU country, you should submit your application to UCAS by the deadlines given below, check at for the dates. 15 October: Application deadline for the receipt at UCAS of applications for all medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and veterinary science courses. This is also the deadline for all courses at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. 15 January: Application deadline for the receipt at UCAS of applications for all courses except those with an October deadline and art and design courses with a 24 March deadline. Check the course information screens of the art and design courses you are interested in, to find out if they have a 15 January or a 24 March deadline. 24 March: Application deadline for the receipt at UCAS of applications for art and design courses, except for those listed with a 15 January deadline. Check the course information screens of the art and design courses you are interested in to find out whether they have a 15 January or a 24 March deadline. International applicants If you are applying from outside the UK or EU, whatever your nationality, you can apply at any time between mid-september and 30 June. This is unless you are applying to the University of Cambridge or the University of Oxford, or for courses in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and veterinary science, in which case you should apply by 15 October. You are advised to apply as early as possible. Universities and colleges do not guarantee to consider applications they receive after 15 January, and some popular courses may not have vacancies after this date. Please check with individual universities and colleges if you are not sure. Remember to allow enough time to apply for entry clearance, as well as make travel and accommodation arrangements, which can take longer during the summer when immigration departments are busy. If you think you may be assessed as a home (UK or EU) student for the purposes of tuition fees, you should apply by the relevant deadlines shown above. Checking UCAS dates Dates published in this section were correct at the time of going to press but could change. You can check all dates and keep up to date with any changes to deadlines, including those for Clearing and Extra, on the UCAS website ( You will also find the proposed dates for when you can expect to receive an institution s decision. Preparation Before you start your application process, keep the following points in mind: Password: In order to apply online you must register. When you do this, you will be asked to choose a password consisting of six to 14 characters, including at least one letter and one number. You will need to remember it easily so it s best to try and think of something in advance. Security questions: You will also need to choose four questions that you can answer as a security check, for example, What was the name of your first school? and What is your father s first name? Choose your courses: Decide on the five courses you d like to apply to in advance and have their UCAS codes, as well as the UCAS code of the institution offering the course, to hand. You will find all the information you need on courses offered by UK institutions and their codes on Course Search on the UCAS website. Be aware that two different courses at the same university will count as two separate choices on your UCAS application. Exam boards and centres: You may need to know the exam board that awarded (or will award) your qualifications and the number of the exam centre where you took your exams, particularly if you attended a school or college in the UK. Your school or college will be able to tell you this. Candidate numbers: For some qualifications, you may also need your candidate number for the exam board. Your school or college will be able to give you this information. Employment: You will be asked to give the addresses and telephone numbers of any previous employers you may have had (including any part-time and holiday jobs) and the dates when you started and finished.

3 Personal statement You will need to describe yourself in a personal statement. Think hard about what you want to write in this section. We strongly recommend you first write the personal statement using a word-processing package and then paste it into Apply. There is no spell-check facility on the UCAS website, so make sure that your spelling and grammar are accurate when you have finished. Your personal statement should be about 4,000 characters long (including spaces). Your reference You will need a copy of your reference, either in written form so you can type it into the field on the application website, or in electronic form so that you can cut and paste it. You should discuss this in detail with the person you choose as your referee and make sure that the statement they write is the correct length, as you should not edit it to make it fit. If your referee is not sure what to write, you can find a helpful guide to writing references in the How to Apply section of the UCAS website. This can also be accessed directly when you are logged into the Apply system. You can also find information here on the kind of person you should ask to be your referee. Your reference should usually be written by someone who knows you academically, as most references will talk about you from a teacher s or tutor s perspective. You may find it useful to have a pen and paper to make notes throughout the application process. If there are exceptional circumstances why you cannot apply online, your local British Council office may be able to help you with alternatives. Stage 1: Registration Before you can begin an online UCAS application, you must register. This simple process gives you a username and password so you can access your details at any time from any computer. Go to and click on Apply. On the log in page, click Register/Log in to use Apply and then click Register. You will be asked to enter personal details such as name, address and an address. Once you have completed these, you will then be prompted to enter a password containing at least one number and one letter. Choose your password and make a note of it. You will also be prompted to select four security questions and answers. This will allow you to log in if, for some reason, you forget your password. Click next. This completes the first part of the registration process. You will be sent an with a verification code and you will immediately be assigned a username, which you will use, along with your password, to access the site. Be sure to make a note of this username. Stage 2: Logging in Once you have been assigned a username, you can use it to log in to Apply from any computer with internet access. On the Apply homepage, enter your username and password. This will take you to the next screen. If you have any problems logging in, try the following: Check that your username and password have been entered in lowercase letters only. If you start your name with a capital letter, the website will not recognise it. If you shut down the browser without logging out of your account, your account will be locked. The next time you attempt to log back in, you will be presented with a message that says You are already logged in. Please ensure this is your only active session. Click log in if you wish to proceed. Clicking log in now will allow you back into your account. If you are still having problems logging into your account, contact the UCAS Customer Service Unit by telephoning (UK) or (from outside the UK, international call rates apply). The team there will be able to help with any problems you are having. Once you have logged in, you will be asked how you are applying (through your school or college, as an individual, through a careers organisation or through another organisation) and whether you live outside the UK. After you have answered these two questions, you will be given a Personal ID that you can quote if contacting the UCAS

4 Customer Service Team. You will also be asked to confirm your address by inputting the UCAS verification code ed to you when you registered. Stage 3: Navigating You will now be on the Apply main menu screen, showing navigation tabs for each of the six sections. These are: Personal details; Choices; Education; Employment; Statement; and Reference. There is a View all details option that will allow you to check over the information on all of the sections at once. There is also a Help button and an Options link, should you wish to change your password or security questions/answers. To enter one of the six sections of the application, click on the link in the navigation bar on the left. If you have any problems or are not sure what to do, select Help at any time for an explanation. In addition, all individual fields will have a question mark icon next to them click on this icon to find out more information on what you need to complete. You should complete each of the sections, filling in all the information as requested. Information on each section is listed below. Personal details Many of these details will already be completed from when you registered. However, some additional information, such as your nationality and permanent home address will still need to be supplied or confirmed before your application can be processed. If you wish to change any of this information, click on the appropriate text (for example; if you wish to change your postal address, click on change my address ). Here are some helpful tips for filling in the personal details section: Title If the title by which you are usually known does not appear here, please select the closest approximation. First/given name(s) Write your given name in full; do not use initials. Previous surname at 16th birthday If you have had any previous surnames or family names, please give them in this section. This will help universities and colleges to verify your qualifications and educational records. Postal address The address you give here is the one that UCAS will send your mail to, so make sure that it s accurate. You must update your entry if your postal address changes, in case UCAS needs to get in touch with you. Home/mobile phone numbers Remember to include the international dialling code for your telephone number. Update any information immediately should your telephone numbers change. Residential category You will be offered a series of choices under this category or if you are not sure, you can click on the question mark symbol to help you. Student support Choose from the options given to indicate who will be paying your tuition fees. If you don t know yet, select the most likely option. For example, you or your family will pay your fees, or you hope to obtain a scholarship from the British Council or another source. Disability and special needs Institutions are very willing to help students with disabilities, special needs and serious medical conditions. To provide you with the best support, they need to know about any specific conditions you have. Colleges and universities treat all this information confidentially and will judge your admission application only on the basis of your academic ability. Enter the most appropriate description of your needs from the selection offered, and add any extra information you think may be relevant. When you are happy that the personal details you have given are correct, tick the section completed box and click save. Remember to update your personal details should any of the information change during your application process, particularly your postal address or telephone number. Choices The Choices section is where you enter the subjects you want to study and the institutions you would like to attend. Before you start the application process, decide which courses you want to apply to. It also helps to make a note of their names, course codes and institution codes. Information on all subjects and courses you can apply to through UCAS is available on Course Search at If you are applying to a private (non-state-funded) university or college, look at the institution s prospectus before you complete this section. Neither UK nor EU students receive grants for these institutions.

5 Remember that if you apply for more than one course at the same university or college, each course will count as a separate choice. In the Choices section, you will see a button saying add a choice. When you click on this, you will be asked to complete the following fields: Institution code, Course code, Campus code, Start date, Further details, Live at home and Point of entry. Institution code This is the code for the institution you wish to apply to. It consists of a letter and two numbers (e.g. A20). To find out the code for your chosen institution, click on the see list icon to the right of the institution code box, and use the alphabetical listing to find your chosen college or university. Course code To select your chosen course, click on the see list icon to the right of the course code box. This gives you an alphabetical listing of all the courses offered by the institution you have already selected and their course codes. Click on the course you want. Campus code Click on the see list icon to the right of the campus code box to see if your chosen course is available at more than one campus. A pop-up box will appear with the names of the different campuses and their codes. If the institution has only one campus, the pop-up box will give you the instruction Main Site (-), in which case you should select this. Start date Click on your preferred start date from the see list option. Further details Only fill in this section if it is requested within the course search or in the university or college prospectus. Otherwise, this section should be left blank Live at home? If you would like to be offered university accommodation, tick the no box. Only tick the yes box if you have already arranged to stay with friends or family in the UK. Point of entry Use this box to indicate if you intend to begin the course at a later stage rather than the beginning of year one (for instance, if you are joining the third year of a degree course, following an agreement with a university, you would enter 3). If you intend to start the course at the beginning, leave this box blank. When you have completed all of the fields, tick the save box at the bottom. This will take you to a Choice summary screen with a section completed box. If you haven t completed all of the information, don t tick the box. This will enable you to return and complete your information later. If you need to amend any course information after you have ticked the section completed box, go back into the Choices section. Click on edit or remove next to any of your courses, and this will allow you to amend or remove your choices. Education This section covers the education you have completed to date. You need to enter the details of the most recent educational establishments you have attended (or are still attending), the qualifications you have gained and the exams you are planning on taking before you begin your chosen course in the UK. You must include all qualifications that are relevant for entry to your chosen course, as well as qualifications you have not yet completed or for which you don t yet have the results. You should also include exams you took when you left schools, exams you took to get into higher education, vocational exams and any other qualifications, awards or English proficiency tests. Please do not try to give a UK equivalent for any of your qualifications. School/college: When you first go to this section, it will offer you the chance to list the school or college you are currently at or have attended in the past. After you have entered this, you can either add another (up to a maximum of 10) or move on to the next screen. Once you have entered all your schools, don t move on to the next section until you have entered your qualifications. You will find the qualifications section by clicking on add qualifications. Qualifications: When you reach this section, you will be asked to enter all the qualifications you have gained and are hoping to gain before beginning the course to which you are applying. If you have been at school in the UK you will need to give the name of the exam board and the number of the exam centre (in most cases this will be your school) where you sat the exams. An exam centre number is not usually required for international qualifications. For some qualifications, such as BTECs, you will also need your candidate number. If you find that you are missing information, you can still continue through the fields but if the missing information is important, you will not be able to mark the section as complete. You may need to come back and fill it in at a later date. When the information in this section is complete, you can mark it as complete by ticking the section completed box and clicking on save. Employment: In this section, you can enter details of up to five different paid jobs you have held. This includes part-time and holiday work as well as full-time positions. You will need to fill in the name and address of all your employers along with the dates when you started and finished working for them. You may need to prepare this information in advance. Once you have entered your most recent job, click on add an employer to add another until you have listed all your employment details. When you have entered information on all the jobs you have held, tick the section completed box and click save. Note that if you haven t had any paid work experience this is no

6 problem simply do not fill anything in but mark the section as complete by ticking the section completed box and move on. Statement Your personal statement is an extremely important part of your application. This is an excellent opportunity for you to talk about yourself and it can be a crucial factor in persuading an admissions tutor to offer you a place. The admissions tutor will use your qualifications and your personal statement to decide whether your achievements, together with your motivation, current interests and future plans, will make you a successful student on the course. Your personal statement should include: why you have chosen the particular courses on your application brief details of how you have already gained knowledge of the subject(s) you wish to study any work or activity that directly relates to the subject(s) you wish to study, including hobbies and voluntary work what you most enjoy about your current or previous studies your future career plans (how you will use your qualification after you finish the course) any positions where you have had authority or have used communication skills (for example, in a part-time job or as part of a sports team) details of any sponsorship or work placements you have gained if you intend to defer your entry for a year, you should explain why you want to do so why you particularly want to study in the UK your interests and hobbies. There is a link from Apply to a guide to writing your personal statement and a video to help you complete this section. Your personal statement can make a significant difference to your application, so carefully plan what you want to say before you start filling it in. Tip: We strongly recommend you write the personal statement using a word-processing package and paste it into Apply. There is no spell-check facility on the website so you will need to carefully check the spelling and grammar yourself. Your personal statement can be a maximum of 47 lines (4,000 characters including spaces). When you have posted your statement into the box, click save before doing any editing. Press preview to see how your statement will appear to the admissions tutor. The preview facility will also tell you whether your statement is shorter or longer than required. You can leave it short if you wish, but it must not be too long. If you need to change your statement at this point, click on edit. This will let you make amendments. When you are happy with your statement in preview, tick the section completed box and click save to complete it. UCAS will carry out checks to verify that your personal statement is your own work. If it appears to have been copied from another source UCAS will inform the universities and colleges to which you have applied. They will then take the action they consider appropriate. UCAS will also contact you by to tell you that this has happened. Reference In this section, you fill in details of the person or persons providing a reference for you. Click on help for guidelines on how to fill in this section. Your referee needs to have written your reference in advance and you must have a copy of it with you when you fill in your application. Tip: We recommend that your reference is prepared offline using a word-processing package because the Apply system will time-out after 35 minutes of inactivity. If you enter the reference directly online, you should click on 'save' at regular intervals to reduce the risk of losing data. Your reference cannot exceed 47 lines (4,000 characters including spaces) though it may be shorter than this. You must provide at least a telephone number or address for your referee, as they may need to be contacted to verify your reference. If you are currently studying, please insert the predicted grades provided by your referee. Do not attempt to fill this in if your referee has not provided any predicted grades. If your reference doesn t fit the space provided, you should save the preview without marking the section as completed and go back to your referee so that they can amend the text. You shouldn t alter their text in any way yourself.

7 Stage 4: Completion Tip: When your application is ready to be sent through to UCAS, you can check all the information you have given in the view all section. You can also print a copy out and take it away with you to check it over. It s a good idea to leave a few days between completing your application and actually sending it off so you have time to think about whether you should add or amend anything else. You might want to give a copy to someone who can read it through for you and offer a different perspective. After you are sure that your application is ready, click on pay/send in the navigation bar. Making changes to your application If you decide that you want to make changes to your application, you must do this before you send it to UCAS. To edit your details: log in as normal click the tab for the sections you want to amend when you have made your changes, re-mark the section as complete and save. Remember to keep a note of the Personal ID that you receive when you log into Apply. Should you need to contact customer services you will have to quote this Personal ID. Submitting your UCAS application Once you are happy that all the information on your application is accurate and complete, click on send to UCAS to make your application. You will need to agree to the UCAS terms and conditions. How to pay If you are applying through your school, your teacher will be able to tell you about payment arrangements. If you are applying as an individual, you will need to use a credit or debit card to pay online at the end of the application process. Note: Please note that not all schools use the registered centre process with UCAS. If your school is not registered, then you need to indicate that you are applying as an individual rather than through a school or college (even if you are actually attending school or college) when you start your application. Schools which are registered centres will need to give you a buzzword to use. Your application has been sent After processing your application, UCAS will send you a welcome letter that lists your choices. You can view your application in Track using your Personal ID and the same username and password you used to apply. Your username is printed on your welcome letter. Track allows you to follow the progress of your application and find out what decisions institutions have made about your application. When UCAS receives your application, it will send a copy to each of your chosen institutions. Each institution will consider your application and send its decision to UCAS. The institutions decisions will be displayed on Track. Institutions might send you an invitation, which asks you to attend an interview or audition, or to provide a portfolio of work, an essay or other piece of work. Invitations can be sent for any course. If the institution sends you an invitation, it will show in Track which you can use to accept or decline it, or request an alternative time or date. If you need to change the time or date you will also need to contact the institution. They can then update the invitation so that the revised details are shown in Track. Please try to attend on the date requested as it may be difficult for an alternative to be offered. Once the invitation request has been completed, e.g. you've attended the interview or sent the piece of work, the institution will tell UCAS if you've been offered a place or not, and their decision will show in Track.

8 For each application, three outcomes are possible: You will be sent an unconditional offer, which means you already have the qualifications you need for the course and have been accepted. You will be sent a conditional offer, which means you have to achieve specific grades or results in the exams you are yet to take. You are unsuccessful in your application. If you have used all five choices on your application and receive no offers, or decide to decline all the offers you receive, you can use UCAS Extra, a system that allows you to refer your application to additional courses, one at a time. Extra is available from the end of February until the end of June. All institutions that have course vacancies in Extra are shown on the UCAS website. If you are not successful here, you can also apply to another UK institution through Clearing later in the year. Responding to offers Do not respond to any offers until UCAS asks you to reply. Then you can accept up to two offers. Your first choice will be your Firm choice (F): the offer you most want to accept. Your second choice will be your Insurance choice (I): a back-up offer usually with lower entrance requirements in case you don t meet the entry requirements for your Firm choice. You don t have to accept an Insurance choice. If you accept an unconditional offer as your Firm choice, you will not be able to make an Insurance choice as well, as once you accept an unconditional offer, you are committed to that course. Notification of exam results Individual colleges and universities will confirm or withdraw their conditional offers after they have been notified of the results of your qualifying examinations. It is important, therefore, that you send your examination results to the university or college from which you are holding offers as soon as possible. (If you took UK qualifications, UCAS will usually do this for you. A full list of the results UCAS will send to institutions is available on the UCAS website.) Accepting an offer You must think carefully about your replies to any offers as you will not be expected to change your mind once you have accepted or declined an offer. UCAS will pass your results for most UK qualifications (excluding access and foundation courses apart from the Diploma in Foundation Studies: Art and Design) on to the institutions you have applied to as soon as they appear. For all international qualifications other than those listed on the UCAS website, send a copy of your results slip direct to the university or college at which you are holding conditional offers. If you have met the conditions of the Firm offer you are holding, the institution will make the place unconditional. If your Firm choice institution confirms your place, your Insurance offer is automatically cancelled and you don t need to contact the institution yourself. If you did not quite achieve the grades required for your Firm choice you should contact them, as they may still offer you a place. UCAS will notify you of the institution s final decision. If you missed the required grades and the university or college cannot accept you, you will be eligible to enter Clearing. British Council Using UCAS Extra, Clearing and Adjustment Applying after the UCAS January deadline If, by the end of February, you are not holding offers at any of the five choices on your UCAS application, you may be eligible for UCAS Extra. Extra helps applicants with no offers to find a place before the Clearing process begins. It is completely optional and runs from the end of February to June for courses starting the same year. UCAS will tell you if you are eligible for Extra when it sends you the final decisions about your application. You are eligible for Extra if: you have had unsuccessful decisions or have withdrawn from all five of your choices you hold no offers and have cancelled any outstanding choices you have received replies from all five choices and have declined all offers. During this period, the courses available through Extra are highlighted on the Course Search service on the UCAS website. You can also contact universities and colleges directly to find out what courses are available. Colleges

9 and universities have 21 days to consider an Extra application and make an offer. If you are unsuccessful or decline an offer, you can make a further application. For more information about Extra and how it works, see Clearing chance Clearing is a further opportunity for students without a place to apply to universities and colleges that have vacancies. Clearing runs after Extra, from July until the end of September. Course vacancies for Clearing are advertised from mid-august on Eligibility for Clearing You are eligible for Cleaning if you have applied in the current application year and: you have not withdrawn your application you hold no offers your offers have not been confirmed because you have not met the conditions you have declined your offers or not responded by the due date your offers have not been confirmed and you have declined any alternative offers from the same university you have applied after 30 June. If UCAS received your application after this date, they will not have sent it to any universities or colleges. Adjustment If you meet and exceed the conditions of your firm choice you will be eligible to register to look for an alternative course through UCAS during the Adjustment period. The Adjustment process is available from A level results day (19 August 2010) until 31 August Your individual Adjustment period starts on 19 August or when your conditional firm (CF) choice changes to unconditional firm (UF), whichever is later. From this time you have a maximum of five calendar days (five 24 hour periods, including Saturdays and Sundays) to register and secure an alternative course, if you decide this is what you want to do. If you register but do not find an alternative course, you keep your place at your original first choice institution. More information about Adjustment can be found at Entry requirements for UK higher education courses vary depending on where and what you want to study. Realistically, you are unlikely to be accepted onto many degree courses with less than 140 points and, depending on the course and institution, you could be asked for as high as 360 points or more. HND and foundation degree courses accept students with scores from 40 points upwards and the average score of students on these courses is around 100 points. There may be restrictions on how you can compile the points tariff. You will need to check this with your chosen institution. For example, they may exclude certain subjects or qualifications. Your points score should be made up from different subjects. For example, you may not be able to count points from a BTEC National in Engineering and an A-level in Engineering towards the same total. If in any doubt, contact your chosen institution to discuss your qualifications.

10 Where can I find more information? The British Council has produced the Education UK websites and publications to provide international students with a wide range of information and guidance that will help them find out more about studying a UK course and other important issues, such as applying to study, entry clearance and living in the UK: Education UK website Your guide to UK undergraduate and pre-university, and Postgraduate and MBA Your guide to UK universities, colleges and schools handbook Club UK and Postgraduate UK magazines. The publications are available at selected British Council offices for students to use: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Ghana, Greece, Gulf UAE, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Korea, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Uganda, UK, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam. Also contact UCAS and visit their website for further information and help: UCAS Rosehill New Barn Lane Cheltenham GL52 3LZ Telephone from outside the UK enquiries@ucas.ac.uk While every effort has been made to ensure that the information given here is correct and up to date, the British Council accepts no legal liability for its accuracy, currency or completeness. January 2010 British Council 2010 The United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: (England and Wales) SC (Scotland).