How are applicants selected

 

This page gives a brief summary of what admissions tutors are looking for and the sources of that information.  When you have read this, look at the Tactics you should employ to give yourself the best chance of an offer. You also need to understand Entry Profiles and the UCAS Tariff system.

General selection policies

University and college departmental admissions tutors are responsible for selecting candidates. At the more competitive universities this can be particularly difficult because they do not know if an applicant will get his or her predicted grades, nor if he or she will accept the place even if he or she does get the grades. In a course where there are, say, 50 places and 200 applicants (a fairly low demand course, bearing in mind that each applicant may have also applied for 4 other universities), the admissions tutor will often seek to get about 40 firm acceptances and 40 insurance acceptances.

What is he or she looking for? There is little doubt that academic achievement and academic promise are the most important factors for most courses, although many other things are taken into consideration, especially for subjects such as medicine and other health courses and teaching, where the personal qualities of the applicant will weigh very heavily with the admissions tutor.

 

• Academic achievement.
• GCSE results. 
• AS results (if you have cashed them in and can therefore enter them on the UCAS form.)  Remember that, from 2006 onwards, the universities have access to individual module grades).
  
• Current progress in A Levels subjects and expected grades. These will form the main part of your reference. Your predicted grades can be the single most important factor in the selection process.
  
• Academic potential. Interest in your chosen subject, academic strengths and weaknesses and academic motivation, possibly revealed in your statement, at interview or in the reference;
  
• Personal qualities. Powers of expression, independence of mind, industry, determination, sense of purpose, reliability, responsibility and lots more. Your personal statement and your reference will help the tutor get an idea of what you are really like as a person.
  
• Interests. These will be in your personal statement and can tip the balance in your favour. Admissions tutors are less interested in seeing a tedious list of, for example, School and House teams, and much more interested in what you did and what you got from these experiences.
  
• Key Skills. Universities are increasingly looking for evidence of "transferable skills." These include communication skills, numeracy, IT skills, the ability to solve problems, work in groups and to take responsible for your own learning and progress.

 

Interviews

Interviews are an important part of the selection procedure for some courses (for example, teaching and any health related course) and some universities (especially Oxbridge).  Go to the Interviews page for more information.