UCAS is the University and College Admissions System that all students must apply through for admission to higher education at the end of their sixth form. The school submits a form that consits of the students options, personal information, statement and reference. The following guide will help students and parents understand the procedures involved in making an application.

[ The Personal Statement ]

1(a) Importance

The Personal Statement is important because :

• It provides university Admissions Tutors with a piece of your writing and a glimpse into your personality.
• It provides material for your Interviews - you may be asked about items on your Personal Statement.
• Admissions Tutors may look at your Personal Statement in borderline situations on Results Day when they are making their decisions.
• It is a chance to sum up your learning so far.

1(b) Format

• The Personal Statement should be divided into two halves.
• The first half should focus on your choice of course (subject specific).
• The second half should focus on your extra-curricular activities (non-subject specific)

(i) The Personal Statement (first half): Subject Specific

It is important to remember that you are applying for a specific subject over others. You are therefore applying as much to a department as a university. It is vital that you demonstrate an obvious passion for the course.

• You must say why you want to study that course. Analyse what it is about the subject you like. You could include how you think the course will assist you in your future or include something about why you believe the course is important in the world today.
• Talk about your experience of that subject - You may like to identify a particular piece of work, field trip/educational visit/conference, book (referring to the to author and title), favourite topic, area of research for coursework.
• Use some of the subject terminology - each subject has a language - use it and prove you are fluent.
• Career plans need mentioning even if you are undecided. This is particularly important for "professional" courses (eg Law, Medicine etc). Having some work experience in your chosen area is a great advantage as it proves a genuine interest.
• Be specific and detailed, Be creative and interesting. You need to make an impression.

An extract

I love the challenge that Mathematics can provide. No other subject offers me the reward of total satisfaction in successfully tackling a problem that might have seemed insurmountable but is later discovered to have required only a different approach.

The bizarre idiosyncrasies of Mathematics provide such great drama: "the tragedy of a beautiful hypothesis slain by an ugly fact!".

Maths will always find another way and never ceases to surprise. It is a subject that fascinates me and sometimes bewilders....

I have a real passion for learning and Mathematics is helping me to develop a more logical and systematic approach to study. The increasingly analytical approach is helping me in many ways not all of which are science based.

• Remember that your personal statement will be seen by each of your chosen universities so don't make it specific to one institution or you will alienate the others.
• The conclusion of your finished personal statement should return to the reasons for your course choice.

(ii) The Personal Statement (second half) : Non-subject Specific

The focus here is you. Get it right and you will come across as a sensible, literate and worthy individual. Approach it casually and the reader is likely to pick up equally strong negative messages. Universities want to know what kind of person you are (they have to choose people they want to teach for three years!). You need to tell them about you (your personality, attributes, skill, how you have changed in the Sixth Form etc) and what you do (your interests, achievements, responsibilities etc).

• Describe your achievements. eg appointment as a Senior Prefect, selection for a sports team, playing a lead role, winning a Speech Day prize.
• State which extra curricular activities you have done and why. Describe what skills you have gained from them and the attributes you needed to be successful in them. Refer, again, to specific concerts/productions/sports/expeditions where you have proven your skills - eg prefect duties (teamwork), club captaincy (leadership), charities week (organisation), work experience (independence), paired reading scheme (responsibility).
• Indicate what interests you have outside school. Again be very specific as to how they demonstrate the type of person you are or how they have influenced the person you are.

Some ideas

Do you help support your family (baby sit etc) ?
Do you like to travel ?
Which authors do you like to read for pleasure ?
Which films do you enjoy (actors, directors, genre) ?
What type of music do you listen to ?
Which sports teams do you support ? (or even hold a season ticket for !)

• Ask parents and teachers for suggestions - they may well remember things you had forgotten or thought too trivial.
• If you have too much material, drop the points which are old/trivial/repetitive. If you have too little, either include more points or expand on the ones you have. Supporting detail is important.
• If you are asking for "deferred" entry you must include a brief comment on your plans for the year off. This often fits naturally at the very end of the personal statement.
• You will certainly need to write several drafts of your personal statement (your tutor will want to read at least two - the latter typed). Persevere, the final impression will be worth it. A selection of personal statements from former students is available on request from your Head of Year.

[ UCAS Reference ]

The School aims to give every student the best possible reference. It is often the first thing the university admissions tutor reads.

2(a) Procedure

• Your form tutor will ask you to provide them with information regarding your chosen universities, courses and their likely grade requirements at the beginning of September.
• This information will be provided to all of your subject teachers who will in turn provide your tutor with written information to contribute to the reference.
• Your form tutor will then compile a balanced UCAS reference citing the information provided by your subject teachers. It is vital that they have your completed UCAS form to refer to when writing your reference.
• Your form tutor will probably talk to you to ensure they have covered everything.
• The reference is then checked by the then checked by the Sixth Form Senior Tutor who may wish to make additions.
• It is then checked by the Head of Sixth Form, before being typed by the office staff on your completed UCAS Form.

To carry out the above procedure the School requires two weeks. The School can not therefore guarantee that any UCAS forms handed in after the School's final deadline of 30th November will be processed in time to make the UCAS deadline.

Important

The School will not accept UCAS forms handed in after 7th November 2005.

All references provided by the School are positive.

2(b) Predicted Grades

• On your UCAS form the School has to give predicted grades for all your subjects. These grades are put at the top of the reference.
• These grades are "best possible" grades ie the best grades that you are likely to achieve in the summer not necessarily the grades that you will achieve.
• The grades are predicted by your subject staff based on your work in the Lower Sixth and the grade you achieved in the A/S level.
• You must take note of the predicted grades when deciding upon a university course. If they are lower than the university is likely to require for a particular course, then you are unlikely to receive an offer. Be mindful of the best possible nature of predicted grades
• The School wants to give you as much opportunity as possible. Giving optimistic grades is another way of getting good results. The ideal is that you get a challenging offer and you work harder to get better grades than you would otherwise have achieved. However, the School cannot jeopardise future students' applications' by predicting unrealistically high grades in order to get a student an offer.
• Predicted Grades can be discussed with staff at the Upper Sixth Parents' Evening in September. The judgement and experience of staff should be respected in this process. Should you have any concerns please discuss them with your Head of Year or the Head of Sixth Form.

[ Choosing a Course and a University ]

3(a) Choosing a course

• You will apply to (at most) six institutions for a course of study. (Remember you are applying as much to a department as a university).
• Your choice of course is vitally important. You should consider the following points when deciding on a course:

• Is this course available at your preferred university? (though you can study an array of subjects, you cannot do all of them everywhere).
• Will you achieve the grades required to study the course ? (be optimistic but realistic !)
• Will the course keep your interest for at least three years ?
• Are you capable of being successful on the course ?
• What reputation and resources does the department have ?
• Do the first year examination results count towards the degree ?
• Is it a modular course with a flexible structure ?
• Is the course three or four years ? (Scottish Universities tend to be four)
• Are there possibilities to study abroad for a year or to have one year's work experience ?
• Will a degree from this course be useful to you after university ? (many departments can provide destination lists for former graduates)

• You should certainly choose something which you can talk about at interview and show an interest in on your Personal Statement.
• You may decide to deepen your grasp of one of your A-Level subjects, you may decide to study a new subject or you may decide to study for Combined Honours degree.
• Use the following sources of information to inform your choice: university prospectuses, the UCAS Big Guide (includes likely grade requirements), the UCAS Handbook, the UCAS Website, open days and subject staff.
• It is vital that the courses you choose have a "spine" or "common denominator" - inconsistency does not show much course commitment. You can apply for one or two different types of subjects but be very careful that all your course choices have something in common. See the course choices in the following example:

• It is important that within the final six choices you make that you have one course requiring grades that are significantly below what you might be expecting. Make sure that it is a course that you would want to study. This will mean that you have somewhere you have chosen to study (if you don't get the grades you want) rather than to go through clearing. Remember that you have more choice now than in clearing. See "university Z" in following example:

3(b) Choosing a University

• Like courses, you have to choose somewhere where you think you will be happy for at least three years.
• You should consider the following points when deciding on a course:

• Is it in the right area of the country ? (close to home / away from home)
• Is the area expensive to live in ? (London in particular can be expensive)
• What did you make of it when you went for the Open Day ?
• What do former TBSHS students think of it ?
• Do you want to go to a campus or city university ?
• What is the quality/availability of accommodation ?
• Do they offer the extra-curricular activities you want ?

• The same sources of information that you use when looking for a course can be used to answer these questions. Hopefully you found the University / College Day useful.

[ The UCAS Form ]

Completing the UCAS form

Once you have made your decisions you are ready to complete the UCAS form.

• Students must follow the instructions in the UCAS booklet entitled "How To Fill Out The UCAS Form".

[ UCAS Correspondence ]

Once your form is sent off, you must check carefully and file safely every piece of correspondence from universities and UCAS. Once you have been allocated a UCAS number, write it down and keep it safe ! you will need to quote it whenever having contact with universities or UCAS.

Although some universities start sending decisions before Christmas, the majority of decisions are made between mid-January and mid-March.

5(a) Offers

Each university has its own timetable for considering applicants: some start early, others prefer to wait (UCAS' decision deadline for universities is in May). In addition, many universities make decisions in batches, making the obvious ones early ("must accept", "nowhere near"), but leaving others until later while they try to gauge the take-up of offers made earlier. In general, it is acceptable to telephone universities to ask when a decision is likely to be made if you have not heard from them by mid-March. UCAS can take a while to relay universities offer notifications.

A university offer may be "conditional" (ie - specifying certain examination grades you require in order to take up a place) or, less common, "unconditional" (no specific grade requirements).

5(b) Rejections

Universities' procedures for assessing forms often involves preliminary filtering on the basis of criteria such as the number and quality of GCSEs (predicted grades, an interesting personal statement and positive reference might not be enough).

It is generally difficult to find out exactly why a particular application has been turned down; enquires usually meet a bland response along the lines of "so many good applicants this year !". You are very unlikely to be successful in trying to persuade a university to change its mind. Certainly you should only consider this if you have a cast iron reason for doing so and only if you have the School's support. You must speak to the Head of Sixth Form if you wish to pursue this course of action.

Another aspect of the UCAS system, which can explain some seemingly odd decisions, is that any university is able to find out how other universities have chosen to respond to your application. Remaining universities may reject you if you already have several generous offers.

If you follow the guidance contained in this guide relating to course choices you are unlikely to rejected by all your chosen universities. However, in this event you will have a great deal of careful thinking to do before entering the "clearing" system when your results are published. You must speak to your Head of Year for advice as soon as you are aware that you have not been made any offers. It is worth writing to universities that are likely to have courses available in clearing before the end of the Upper Sixth. It may guarantee a place as soon as clearing starts.

5(c) Decisions

You need to decide on a "firm" and "insurance" offer. Wait for responses from all your universities before making a decision. Deciding which offer to hold firmly should be reasonably straightforward: you should choose the one place that you most want to attend, irrespective of the level of other offers.

There is one important complication, which may affect the choice of firm offer, and will certainly need consideration when thinking about the insurance offer. This is the binding nature of the choice. Once your decision slip is returned to UCAS it cannot be changed without great difficulty. This means that you are bound to go to the "firm" choice university if accepted by it, and failing that, you must go to the insurance university if it accepts you. In this scenario you do not have the right to enter clearing. There are procedures for getting UCAS to allow change but they are awkward and permission is not guaranteed. It is therefore very important to have an insurance university that you would be happy to study at or, if none are attractive, you only hold a "firm" offer and rely on clearing if you don't achieve the grades. Due to the risky nature of this it is not advisable. If you find yourself in this situation you must seek advice from the your Head of Year.

It is important to notify your decisions to UCAS by the specific date you are given. Failure to do so will result in UCAS declining on your behalf.

5(d) Interviews

Preparation must include work on obvious questions. Mock interviews are arranged in School and should prove useful to you provided that you take them seriously and that you don't think that you will feel exactly the same in the real thing ! Read the photocopy of your UCAS form to remind yourself of what you wrote in your personal statement. It will give you an idea of the areas that the interviewer may want to pursue with you.

[ Post-Results ]

You will automatically be placed at your insurance institution if you fail to meet the firm conditions and are rejected but do meet the conditions of your insurance offer. If you do not meet the entry conditions for your insurance institution and are rejected then you will enter Clearing. The Results Day service is the pride of the School. Even if you are confident of obtaining the grades required for your "firm" choice, you should collect your results in person. Staff will be on hand for those who may need to rely on Clearing for a place. Written information will be made available on the day. For those receiving results, it is the height of folly to be away on holiday during the second half of August.

[ Personal Statement Template ]

UCAS Personal Statement template: Ucas200_.doc
(Right hand mouse button - Save Target As)

6. BMAT and LNAT

- 6.1 BMAT (BioMedical Admissions Test)

The BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) is a subject-specific admissions test taken by applicants to certain medicine, veterinary medicine and related courses.

For more information, go to http://www.bmat.org.uk/index.html for further details.

- 6.2 LNAT (National Admissions Test for Law)

The National Admissions Test for Law, or LNAT, is run by a consortium of UK universities. It helps universities to make fairer choices among the many highly-qualified applicants who want to join their undergraduate law programmes.

What kind of test is it? The LNAT is an on-screen test including multiple-choice questions and essay questions. When and where do I sit the test? You choose a date to take the LNAT at a test centre near your home, school or college. Test dates begin in September 2005. Watch out for university-specific deadlines! How do I register? You register online for the LNAT. There is a small exam fee to pay, but some candidates will be eligible for a free test under bursary schemes. Who has to take the LNAT? The LNAT must be taken by anyone who is applying for 2007 entry (or deferred entry in 2008) to an undergraduate law programme at ... University of Birmingham University of Bristol University of Cambridge Durham University University of East Anglia University of Glasgow King's College London Manchester Metropolitan University University of Nottingham University of Oxford University College London

For more information, go to http://www.lnat.ac.uk for further details.

- 6.3 UkCat

UKCAT (UK Clinical Aptitude Test)

The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) is used in the selection process by a consortium of UK university Medical and Dental Schools.

The test helps universities to make more informed choices from amongst the many highly-qualified applicants who apply for their medical and dental degree programmes.

It ensures that the candidates selected have the most appropriate mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours required for new doctors and dentists to be successful in their clinical careers.

The UKCAT does not contain any curriculum or science content; nor can it be revised for. It focuses on exploring the cognitive powers of candidates and other attributes considered to be valuable for health care professionals.

The test is run by the UKCAT Consortium in partnership with Pearson VUE, a global leader in computer-based testing and part of Pearson plc. It is delivered on computer on a worldwide basis through Pearson VUE's high street centres.

Who must take the UKCAT?

With effect from 2006, the UKCAT must be taken by all applicants applying to study medicine or dentistry, on the courses listed below.

The requirement to take the test applies to all EU and the majority of international applicants as well as to all UK applicants. Test centres exist in many locations worldwide, including all EU countries.

If there is no test centre in your country, or no safe transport route to a test centre, you must first consult the list of exempted countries and rules for exempted candidates. If your circumstance is different to the ones highlighted, you must then contact the UKCAT Administrator, for further instructions.

If you have any doubt about whether you are required to take the UKCAT, please contact the universities to which you are applying.

Neither the UKCAT Consortium members nor Pearson VUE can make rulings or give advice on who must take the test.

Key Dates

UKCAT structure and content

The UKCAT is designed to be a test of aptitude rather than strictly academic achievement, as evidenced by GCSEs, A Levels, Scottish Highers or undergraduate degrees.

The test assesses a wide range of mental abilities and behavioural attributes identified by university Medical and Dental Schools as important.

For candidates sitting the examination in summer 2006, the UKCAT will consist of four sub-tests:

• Verbal reasoning– assesses candidates' ability to think logically about written information and to arrive at a reasoned conclusion
• Quantitative reasoning– assesses candidates' ability to solve numerical problems
• Abstract reasoning– assesses candidates' ability to infer relationships from information by convergent and divergent thinking
• Decision analysis – assesses candidates' ability to deal with various forms of information, to infer relationships, to make informed judgements, and to decide on an appropriate response, in situations of complexity and ambiguity.

Including 'warm-up' time (which is the time allocated to reading the instructions), the test will be delivered in 90 minutes. Each of the sub-tests will be in a multiple-choice format and will be separately timed.

There will be no curriculum content as the test will seek to probe innate skills. There will be a more extensive non-cognitive element from 2007 onwards.

UkCat - Further Information

For further, more detailed, information on the tests, please go to the website:

http://www.ukcat.ac.uk.