If you aren’t yet sure which course or universities you want to apply to, see here (link) for our advice on these.

Writing your UCAS application:

1. Register for an ‘Apply’ account with UCAS here. You’ll have to:

• Give some personal details
• Get a username & password
• Give your school/college’s UCAS buzzword (if you’re applying as an independent student, don’t worry about this)
• Set the answers to your security questions (to reset a password)

   

2. Once you’ve registered, you can login to your account & fill in your application (UCAS guide to filling in your application):

Section 1 – more personal info: 

• Your residency status, if you have a disability or learning difficulty, funding options, if you have any criminal convictions. N.B. You won’t be at a disadvantage if you declare a disability; the offer rate (80.5% UCAS 2023 round) is exactly the same for those declaring a disability and those not.

Section 2 – equality monitoring: 

• You’ll be asked your ethnicity, nationality, parents’/guardians’ education level & jobs, if you’ve ever been in care, etc.
• These details do not influence your application, they just help to monitor social mobility i.e. who has access to university.

   

Section 3 – student finance: 

• UK & EU students can opt to have their details sent to the bodies organising their student loans, to kickstart their loan applications.

   

Section 4 – course choices: 

• You can enter up to 5 course/university choices (4 for medicine, veterinary medicine or dentistry). The order you enter them in doesn’t matter (the universities can’t see your other choices). 
• N.B. You can only apply to Oxford or Cambridge, not both.

   

Section 5 – education history:

• List the schools you attended & dates you were there. There are drop-down menus to enter your qualifications (if you’re in year 13 & haven’t got your A level results yet you still need to enter the courses you’re taking, list the result as ‘pending’). Overseas qualifications should be listed or can be entered manually. 
• Any extra-curricular qualifications you have e.g. DofE awards, dance, music & drama exams, even some horse-riding awards can count towards extra UCAS points!

   

Section 6 – employment history:

• If you’ve had full- or part-time jobs you can add up to 5 here, along with dates of employment, company names & addresses. Any work experience or volunteering belongs on your personal statement.

Section 7 – personal statement:

• This is your chance to explain in 4,000 characters why you’re interested in this particular subject & why you’re good at it. You can find tips on writing a personal statement below.

   

3. Check your application: you can ask family & teachers to help too. Make sure you save it, mark all sections as complete, then read & agree to the declaration (this allows UCAS to process your info & pass it on to the universities you’re applying to, so it’s important!). 

4. References: If you attend a school or college, your application will (thanks to the buzzword you entered at the start!) first be sent there, for them to add your academic reference. If you’re applying independently, you’ll need to find an academic or professional referee to write one for you. School referees will write about your studies, ambitions and your current predicted grades.

5. Pay: you’ll be asked to pay the UCAS application fee; this is £20 if applying to 1 course, or £26 in total to apply for 2-5 courses. 

• If you’re applying via school/college, they will either ask you to pay them (to pass on to UCAS), or they will ask you to pay UCAS directly, before they add your reference & send your application in for you.
• Independent candidates will be asked to pay after you’ve added your reference and, along with some school applicants, pay UCAS directly via direct debit online.

   

6. Send: independent applicants can now submit your application; if you’re applying via school/college they will do this on your behalf.

Once you’ve sent your application, you have to wait to see if you are made offers of a place (this may be conditional on exam results), offered an interview or rejected by the university. You will be emailed about any updates to your account on ‘UCAS track’. 

What happens next?

After a few weeks or months, you should hear back from the universities you applied to. They may reply with:

1. An unconditional offer – regardless of your exam results, you’re in!
2. A conditional offer – you’re in, as long as you get certain grades! 
3. An invitation to interview – Oxbridge, some other universities & many medicine courses interview candidates before making offers.
   1. We offer info on disabled-access at interview here (link to section on access within cambridge application process doc).
4. A rejection – unfortunately you didn’t get in – don’t worry, you have 4 other universities & clearing to find a place.