Completing a UCAS form sounds as if it is straight forward, however there are several questions under the different sections that can be confusing. There are seven sections for the student to fill in and one for the referee.
The personal details section is mostly easy to follow however it asks for reference numbers and passport details. These are not for UK students, and are usually required for international students, or for those who are applying from overseas. However if a British student has studied and lived overseas, then answers to these may also apply. In addition student support refers to how a student intends to pay for tuition fees, and the most common replies to this are 01 for private funding (the bank of mum and dad) or 02 for those taking up a student loan. Nominated access is useful to fill in, especially if students will be overseas when their results come out in August. UCAS and all universities will ONLY speak to the student about specifics of an application. If a student becomes unavailable for any reason, then a parent or sibling who knows the most about their application is the best person to choose.
The education section can be tricky too – if only for being time consuming. This is where ALL official exam grades are entered, from GCSE onwards. There are a vast array of qualifications, including music and Duke of Edinburgh that can be mentioned here – make sure they are added under the correct exam centre. Importantly students must remember to put their current school, and the A levels (or equivalent) that they will be taking in the following summer sometimes this gets forgotten! Employment is only included if students have been officially paid for their work, and then there is the free text box for the all-important personal statement. The limit is 4000 characters (not words), which equates to approximately one side of A4. Students are best advised to write this on a word document, and edit their draft before copying and pasting this in.
When all sections have been checked and completed then the application is ready to send. A thorough check of the education section is essential, and Sarah McWatters at Ivy Education is an expert an giving her professional eye to this. The UCAS form is a contract with universities, to confirm that everything a student has entered is correct to the best of their knowledge. The universities could check any false information or hiding low grades, and this runs the risk of nullifying the whole application. A stern warning perhaps, but by being thorough at this stage, students can be confident that their applications have been well put together. One last word on the choices section; make sure that degrees have been selected to fit with predicted grades, as only in this way students are likely to invite offers from the universities they have chosen.