If you would like an alternative version of this booklet, in a format more suited to your needs, please telephone:

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2 If you would like an alternative version of this booklet, in a format more suited to your needs, please telephone: Or see the student Zone on the ELRAH website:

3 Deadlines and Closing Dates UCAS is the organisation which processes all applications for full time university degree courses in the UK. You must use the UCAS system to apply to university and this guide will help you to do this successfully. There are 3 UCAS application deadlines. It is your responsibility to check the deadline for each of your choices. All applications are made online at You must get your application in on time or the universities may not look at it. 15 th October 2010 Deadline for receipt at UCAS of all applications, including the tutor reference, for medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and for all courses at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge 1 st December 2010 To give staff enough time to check your application and write your reference, it is advisable to complete your application by the 1 st December. 15 th January 2011 Deadline for receipt at UCAS of all applications, including the tutor reference, for all courses except those with a 15 th October deadline, and Art and Design courses with a 24 th March deadline. 24 th March 2011 Deadline for receipt at UCAS of applications for Art and Design courses except those listed with a 15 th January deadline. 9 th May 2011 If you receive decisions from all your university choices by 31 March, you need to reply to any offers by this date (unless you are applying through Extra). If UCAS don't receive your replies by the deadline, you will lose your place. 30 th June 2011 Applications received after 30 th June are entered in Clearing.

4 The UCAS Process Decide on a maximum of 5 university course choices Register as a UCAS applicant at using the college buzzword Ask your tutor if they will write a reference for you Complete your UCAS application inclding your personal statement Hit send to referee and pay 11 for one choice and 21 for 2-5 choices for your application Once the reference is completed the application is then sent to UCAS who send copies to all chosen universities Each university or college decides and makes their offer Unconditional Offer Conditional Offer based on grades yet to be achieved Unsuccessful Reply to your offers by the deadline using UCAS track Talk to Student Services about EXTRA and CLEARING

5 Step 1: Choosing courses You can apply for up to five courses through UCAS and there is no order of preference. The tools and advice given on the website links below are a great place to start when deciding on what course to study at university. UCAS Course Search - a comprehensive online database of courses available at more than 300 universities and colleges. This covers about 95% of all full-time HE undergraduate courses in the UK. ELRAH Articulation database - If you are currently completing an HNC or an HND, you can often go straight into the second or third year of a degree. Ask your tutor or Student Services for information about the agreements your college has with some universities to allow students entry to year 2 or 3. Even if your college has an agreement with a university you still need to apply through UCAS by the deadline. It is better to apply as early as possible. More information can be found here: or by speaking to your ELRAH Adviser. Entry Profiles - these provide information about the course, specific entry requirements and career possibilities, and the qualities or experience admissions staff are looking for in applicants. uirements Plan It Plus - is an excellent website giving information on Careers and Courses in Scotland. It is important to research which courses you are interested in and what qualifications you require. It may not be too late to pick up that extra qualification you need this year.

6 When deciding on a university course, it is important to consider; The exact course that you want to study The job you would like to do after graduating The qualifications you will need from college to gain entry to different courses and universities What the various universities are like and which you prefer Further Help and Advice For further help and advice, call in to Student Services and ask to see your college s Careers Adviser. If you are currently studying for an HNC or HND, check on the ELRAH database or speak to Student Services about which degrees will allow you to apply for 2 nd or 3 rd year entry. UCAS workshops There will be UCAS workshops running in the college. These will provide lots of helpful information. Ask your tutor when your session is. Open days and taster courses It is important to visit the universities to see if you like it before you apply. You will need to consider how easy it is to get to, childcare facilities and if it feels right for you. Most universities have open days, where you can visit and look around, advertised on their websites but you can check when all the university open days are here:

7 Step 2: Applying online Applying for only one course or applying for courses at only one university is a risky strategy and should be discussed with the Careers Adviser or Student Adviser. To register and apply at UCAS Enter web address 1. Click on Apply. 2. Click on Register/Log in to use Apply If it is the first time you are using apply, click on the red register button on the next screen. 4. Follow instructions on the next few screens. Find out your College Buzzword for 2011 entry. 5. You will be asked to choose a password and devise four personal security questions. (For example What is your favourite sport?) 6. Verifying your address - Your address needs to be verified before you can send your application to UCAS. When you enter your address, UCAS will send you an with your verification code and instructions on what to do. UCAS can then send you s alerting you to changes to your application including decisions made by your chosen universities. 7. Username: You will then be issued with a username. You must make a note of it. It will not be displayed at a later stage. Please keep your username and password in a safe place you will need them each time you log on to Apply. 8. At the next screen you are asked How are you applying? Click on Through my school/college. On the next screen enter the BUZZWORD 9. You will then be asked if you are registering through your College. Click YES. 10. The next screen issues you with a Personal ID Number. Keep this number in a safe place. You will need to quote this number if you telephone UCAS.

8 Important Points 1. Fee Code - Likely to be 02 if SAAS will pay your fees. If unsure, contact Student Services. 2. Student Support Arrangements - Likely to be SAAS (Student Awards Agency for Scotland) if you are a Scottish student so select Student AA Scotland from the drop down list. If unsure, contact Student Services. 3. Entering your qualifications Education - You are expected to list all the qualifications you have, but especially those you are taking at College, including units or modules you may not have started yet. You will need a list of the subjects, units or modules making up your present course. 4. Don t forget to add your Scottish Candidate Number (SCN)! 5. Unless you want to be considered for entry into year 2 or 3 of your degree course, you should leave the point of entry section blank Your Reference Once you have registered it is your responsibility to make sure your Class Tutor knows that you are making a university application so that your academic reference can be added. This is essential, as UCAS will not process applications without a reference. Make sure you ask your tutor for a reference early on! Your Address College staff, UCAS staff and universities may use the address you give on your application to contact you please make sure that you use an address you check frequently. Remember your address will be seen by the universities you apply to so please make sure it does not cause offence! It is essential that you check and respond to your s regularly whilst you are making a UCAS application to make sure you don t miss any important messages.

9 Step 3: Writing your personal statement Your personal statement is a very important element of your application and can make the difference between gaining a university place or not. The university selector will want strong candidates who are self-motivated, interested in the subject area, and have the academic ability and personal attributes to succeed. Just think if you were a University Selector, what would you be looking for, and how can you demonstrate this through your personal statement? Below is a guide which covers some of the main areas that Universities are looking for. However, all universities have different selection requirements and we would advise you to get in touch with the University or department that you are applying to and ask them directly what they are looking for in applications. They may also have advice and guidance on the personal statement on their website. It is useful to look at examples of UCAS personal statements. To view examples and for a few more helpful tips and ideas see: The main points that should be included in a good personal statement are: Reasons for choice of course Background to your interest in this subject Relevant employment, work experience and/or placements Achievements Particular interest in your current area of study Career aspirations Industrial/professional placements and sponsorships Social/sporting hobbies, interest or pastimes With increased competition for places at University this year, a strong personal statement is essential.

10 Reasons for your choice of course - Have you: Shown evidence of research into course(s) you are applying for? Demonstrated your interest in the course? Commented on your enjoyment of relevant subjects? Have you researched career aspirations? Although universities will be interested in what activities you do outside of college, you should always relate them to how they will make you a better student. Relevant employment, work experience/placements - Have you: Included skills and experience from life, as well as college, related to your course choice? Included relevant career aspirations? Shown evidence of your motivation and ability to succeed as a student - do you have good time management, determination, selfmotivation, an ability to be an independent learner at university? Shown what have you learned through your part-time jobs, past jobs, family life, sports activities, and voluntary work? Given evidence that others rate you highly or have given you responsibility? If your degree choice is vocational - Have you: Spoken to professionals to find out what the most challenging parts of the job are, what skills and attributes you need, and then ask how can I demonstrate I have these? Tried to get work experience or voluntary work relevant to your degree/career choice and evidence what you have learned from it? Demonstrated that you have the skills, personal attributes to do well in this vocation? Researched the vocation online, by speaking to someone who works in the profession or your college lecturer: are there certain initiatives, policies or buzzwords that you should be familiar with? Remember for vocational courses, universities are still looking for academic ability to show that you can cope with the course.

11 10 Top Tips for your personal statement 1. Don t be scared of saying positive things about yourself! Be proud and confident about your path and achievements in life. 2. Spend time doing your statement! Don t do it in a hurry, draft and re-draft. 3. First impressions count! Make sure you have perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation. 4. Seek advice - from the universities you are applying to and show your personal statement to friends and family, Careers and Guidance staff at your college. 5. Use your contacts - if you have a family friend who is a teacher, and you want to go into teaching for example, make sure you talk to them. 6. Make sure your statement is well set out - use paragraphs rather than one block of text. 7. Remember if you are starting in Year 2 or Year 3 at university, you need to demonstrate that you will be able to cope with joining at this level. Your College Articulation Support Adviser will be able to offer help and support too. 8. Don t start every sentence with I - try to be more creative! 9. Start and end on a positive! If you have had bad results in school or college, you can mention this but it would be best to put this in the middle of your statement. Explain what you have learned from this, how you do things differently now and what motivates you to do well now. 10. Demonstrate it! Don t just say you are interested in something, relate it to your course and demonstrate it with evidence! The UCAS application personal statement section does not spell check your statement. Prepare it in MS Word and copy and paste it into the application form. There is a limit of 4000 characters (including spaces) and 47 lines. Your statement is individual to you and should demonstrate your suitability for your chosen course/s. Universities will check your statement for plagiarism - so make sure it is written in your own words!

12 This student went on to a Nursing degree I work in an NHS hospital and have been a Health Care Assistant for over five years. During this time, I have helped different clientele groups in the health care industry. I have looked after people with alcohol abuse, substance abuse problems and clients with depression. My duties include; observation, writing care plans, interacting with them, escorting clients when they go shopping, ward rounds with panel of healthcare professionals, serving food, helping them with personal care, assisting the nurse in charge with observation on their medication, encouraging some of the clients on withdrawal to interact with others for group therapy. This has given me the chance to realise how my services are needed in the health sector and has inspired me to further my training to become a mental health nurse. I am currently studying Access to Health Studies with the hope of going to university. I am enjoying studying different modules; psychology, numeracy, human biology, health and drugs, communication, IT and research. All the above subjects need a lot of time spent within the college and outside. They involve a lot of preparation on assignments and research, a lot of planning and time management to complete. I am finding the above subjects to be helpful with my future career... A student applying for an Accountancy degree- I have worked part time in a bar for the last three years while attending college. My time management skills have helped me to balance the conflicting demands of part time work, full time study and my family responsibilities. At college, I have been a member of the students Association and served on the Executive Committee or two years. This involved representing the views of students to college management. I would like to continue my studies at university, firstly because I feel I would have the ability and determination to succeed and secondly, to further my career prospects in accountancy. Here are some comments from real Admissions Tutors: We don t want platitudes. In other words don t write things like: I would like to work in the media because I get on well with people or Studying English has given me good communication skills or I enjoy reading. These kinds of sentences are too shallow and obvious. Instead, give your statement a bit of individuality and pizzazz! Admissions tutors are busy, so you need to grab their attention what is it that makes you different? And do enthuse about the subject you re applying for. They like to see people who share their passion for their subject. But they also know their stuff, so don t be bland or patronising.

13 Step 4: Making sense of your offers You will receive a letter from UCAS with details of how you can follow the progress of your application on TRACK. You need your application Password and your Personal ID Number to access TRACK. Keep this information safe! Your reply deadline will be displayed in Track. The reply date is your individual reply date and it is often 9 th May. It is based on when you received the last decision from the universities and colleges. Your dates for replying to your offers may be different from your friends. Please check and reply by the right date or your offers will be declined by UCAS on your behalf. You can use TRACK to Follow the progress of your application Change your postal address, address and/or telephone number Make additional choices of course (if you applied for less than five) Apply for other courses in UCAS EXTRA Reply to your offers Withdraw your application UCAS will reply to each of your choices with one or more of three possibilities: Unconditional Offer Conditional offer Unsuccessful

14 Unconditional Offer Conditional Offer based on grades yet to be achieved All Offers Unsuccessful Offers Firm Acceptance If you accept this offer, you must decline all others Talk to Student Services about EXTRA and CLEARING Firm Acceptance This is your preferred choice out of all the offers you have received Insurance Acceptance Your insurance choice can be conditional or unconditional and acts as a back-up to your firm choice Unconditional Offer - This means you have already met the criteria to allow you to study this degree programme. Conditional Offer - This means that the university has set certain conditions that you have to meet before you can start this degree e.g. obtaining certain grades in your graded unit, certain portfolio requirements, and/or passing an interview. The condition(s) will be made clear to you. Unsuccessful - This means that your application was unsuccessful and you have not been offered a place in this degree programme. This may be because you are not studying the subjects required for entry. The reason will either be made clear by UCAS at this stage or sometimes it notes that the university will be in touch with you directly to explain. Your reply to UCAS will depend on the type of offer(s) that have been made and your preference of degree programme. Your reply can consist of firm acceptance and/or an insurance acceptance and/or a decline.

15 Firm Acceptance The firm acceptance is used to accept your first or preferred choice out of all the offers you have received. However, there are important differences between a firm acceptance of an unconditional and a conditional offer. Firm acceptance of an unconditional offer: If you accept an unconditional offer, you are agreeing to attend the course at that university or college and you must decline all other offers. Therefore, you should make a firm acceptance of an unconditional offer ONLY if it is your first or preferred choice. Once you have made a firm acceptance of an unconditional offer, you are committed to that choice Unconditional Offer If this is your FIRST CHOICE, make a Firm Acceptance You must then decline all other offers. If this is NOT your first choice, consider making an Insurance Acceptance If you accept an unconditional offer as your firm acceptance, you cannot accept another offer as an insurance acceptance. All other offers must be declined. Firm acceptance of a conditional offer: If you accept a conditional offer as your first choice, you are agreeing that you will attend the course at that university or college if you meet the conditions of the offer. However, it is recommended that you also accept a second offer (which can be conditional OR unconditional) as an insurance choice, in case you don t meet the conditions of your first choice.

16 Insurance choice If your firm choice is a conditional offer, you can accept a second offer as insurance, in case you don t meet the conditions of your first choice. Your insurance choice can be conditional or unconditional and acts as a back-up to your firm choice. So, if you do not meet the conditions for your firm choice but meet the conditions for your insurance choice, you are committed to that course. It is recommended that you select an insurance choice, making sure that the insurance choice requires a lower grade than your firm acceptance, especially if the insurance choice is also a conditional offer. Conditional Offer If this is your FIRST CHOICE, make a Firm Acceptance If this is NOT your first choice, make it an Insurance Acceptance An unconditional offer can act as a perfect insurance choice if the firm choice is conditional. Decline Once you have decided which offer to accept firmly, and which (if any) to accept as an insurance, you must decline all other offers. If you do not want to accept any of the offers, you may decline them all. You will then become eligible for Extra or Clearing, depending on your circumstances. You can accept a MAXIMUM of two positive offers a firm acceptance and a insurance acceptance. All others must be DECLINED

17 UCAS Extra Is the opportunity for you to apply for another course if you do not hold any other offers. It runs from 25 th February to 6 th July You are eligible for Extra if you have: - already made five choices - received decisions from all these choices - had no offers or declined all offers received If you are made an offer through Extra and accept it you cannot apply again through Extra. If your Extra choice does not make you an offer or you do not receive a decision within 21 days you can apply for another choice, time permitting. If you are not made any offers you should contact the Careers Adviser to discuss other options. UCAS Clearing Clearing is a service available between July and September, but for most people it is used after the exam results are published in August. It can help people without a university or college place to find suitable vacancies on degree courses. If you are flexible and you have reasonable college results, you will be able to look for another course through Clearing. Due to high numbers of university applications in recent years, fewer universities are advertising places through clearing. Official vacancy lists are published on the UCAS website and in the national media following the publication of exam results in August. If you have any questions during clearing, you should always check your application online on Track before contacting UCAS. However, if you need to phone UCAS, the Customer Service Unit on (or for CUKAS call ).

18 Step 5: Getting your college results Know your login details for Track Make sure you know your login details, as you'll need these to see if you've been accepted. Use the login reminder service on the Track page if you're not sure. Be available You need to be available when the results are published. You might have to make quick and perhaps difficult decisions about your future so be prepared to speak to universities and colleges yourself and not leave this to somebody else. Check your contact details Check that your personal details are correct in Track - we and the universities and colleges contact you by , letter and sometimes by phone so make sure that we have your up-to-date details. If you change your address, please arrange for your mail to be redirected in case letters have already been sent. Making changes If you want to make changes to your choices, check the page which explains what to do. Getting your results Please note that SQA will normally send your certificate to you in July. It is your responsibility to forward this onto the university as soon as possible. This will enable the university to confirm your place as appropriate, and start sending you any joining information. It is your responsibility to give a copy of your results to the university as soon as you receive them in the summer.

19 Step 6: Next Steps and Further Advice UCAS Yougo - is the UCAS social networking site that allows you to meet and chat with people who are also starting university next year. All you need is your Personal ID no. UCAStv - offers video guides to help understand the application process. Forgot your password or username? Click on student login, 2011 entry. Click lost login details. Or, call UCAS on Lost your qualification certificates or not received your results? Call Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on or customer@sqa.org.uk Need help with your personal statement? Check out websites like Ask your lecturer, family and friends for input. Go to a UCAS workshop arranged by Careers or your ELRAH College to University Adviser. Make an appointment with your Careers Adviser or ELRAH College to University Adviser or ask their help at a drop-in session.

20 What is Articulation? HN Articulation means using a Higher National Qualification (HND/HNC) to progress to degree study. Year 4 of degree SCQF level 10 Exit with honours degree Year 3 of degree SCQF level 9 Exit with ordinary degree HND SCQF level 8 Year 2 of degree SCQF level 8 HNC SCQF level 7 Year 1 of degree SCQF level 7 Entry to HN Traditional entry using school qualifications Note: Other entry points to a degree are possible and you can seek further advice on this from [appropriate role in college] If you are currently completing an HNC or an HND, you can often go straight into the second or third year of a degree. Ask your Tutor or Student Services for information about agreements which your college have with some universities to allow our students entry to year 2 or 3. Even if your college has an agreement with a university you still need to apply through UCAS by the deadline. It is better to apply as early as possible. More information can be found here: or by speaking to your ELRAH Adviser.

21 UCAS Checklist- Have you... Choosing courses Read the UCAS student guide? Attended a UCAS workshop? Spoken to a careers adviser? Downloaded or ordered prospectuses? Checked the course entry requirements? Had your application checked for spelling and grammar? Found out if you can enter yr 2 or 3 of your degree? Visited the universities you are applying to? Attended the Going to University Event? Applying online Used the college buzzword? Asked your tutor for a reference? Noted down your Personal ID and password? Asked people you trust for their feedback? Kept a note of all the important deadlines? Added your current qualifications? Paid for your application? Replying to your Offers Got a note of your reply deadline? Visited the universities? Chosen a firm and insurance acceptance choice? Replied by the deadline? Or if you don t get any offers: Spoken to your Careers Adviser about your options? Investigated and applied for other courses through UCAS Extra and Clearing? Getting Your College Results Got a copy of your results? Sent off your results to the university?