Application tactics

How to make sure that your application is successful.

It can be very difficult to get into some courses, especially at the most popular universities.  Admissions tutors are often faced with very large numbers of excellent applicants for very few places.  What can you do to improve your chances of success?

 

Apply Early

Many universities start to make decisions as soon as they start to receive applications early in September.  Inevitably, admissions tutors will regard those who apply early as being the most motivated and committed and will be less likely to offer places to those who apply later in the application cycle. Tutors only have a limited number of places to offer.  Complete your application as early as you can.

However, there are circumstances where this advice may not apply:

• Don’t make an early application if you are unsure about what subject you want to study or to which universities you want to apply.  It is better to spend a little more time and make a well considered and carefully researched application.
• You may have got slightly lower AS results and therefore lower A level predicted grades that you think you will eventually receive.  One strategy is to work really hard in the autumn term of the U6 and really convince your teachers that a higher predicted grade is appropriate and then make an application later in the term.  But remember that you must sustain this work rate throughout the year if your eventual result is to match this higher predicted grade.

 

Choose the universities that suit you

Everyone wants to go to the "best" university for their subject, but just because a university requires a high offer does not necessarily mean that the course is good. In fact, high offers indicate a university's or department's popularity, not its quality.

 

The question that you should be asking is not ‘which is the best university’, but ‘which is the best university for me’, and that will require you to consider a range of factors.  Look in the ‘Choosing your universities’ section of the website for advice.

 

Be realistic in your choice of universities

The grade requirements vary from university to university and from course to course. The trick is to make applications for courses and to universities for whom the likely grade requirements are in the range of grades that you are likely to achieve. For example, if your likely grades are BBC there is little point in making applications for courses or universities that will require you to get AAB.  My best advice is to speak first to your subject tutors or Heads of Department and get from them your predicted grade – the grade they think, on current performance, that you are likely to achieve.  Then base your applications around these grades.  For example, you might make one or two applications that will ask for grades higher than your predicted grades, one or two at your predicted grades, and one or two for lower grades.

 

If your AS grades are disappointing you may have to re-evaluate some or all of your choices.

 

Apply for courses that are the same or closely related

If you choose a mixture of subjects, it will be very hard for you to write a good personal statement that covers several different subject areas and, inevitably, admissions tutors will start to question your commitment.  Thus, your choices should be for the same or similar courses or at least ones with a common thread running through them (eg, Law, Law and French, Law and French Law, Law and European Law OR Business Studies, Management Sciences, Commerce, Accountancy and Finance).

 

Think carefully about your insurance choices

It may not be wise to apply to six highly prestigious universities, especially if the subject you are applying for is very popular. Even excellent applicants have found themselves receiving several rejections in such circumstances.

For example, someone who is applying for subjects that have many applicants for each place, such as Law, English or History to Oxford or Cambridge, Bristol, Kings College and Durham might well be rejected by all four. Even if you are predicted to achieve A grades for all your A level subjects you should apply to at least one or possibly two universities that are less popular, though they must be ones that you are prepared to go to.

The most popular subjects, in no particular order, are Law, Medicine, English, and History.  Subjects like Psychology and Economics come close.

Note that some surprising subjects are very popular, with many more applicants than places.  Examples are Physiotherapy and Midwifery.

 

The quality of your personal statement can be critical

Your Personal Statement is the only part of the UCAS form over which you have any real control – all the rest is just factual information – so it is your opportunity to sell yourself to the admissions tutor.  Read the advice in the Personal Statement section of the website carefully.

 

Many university departments are now putting detailed information about their admissions requirements, what they expect to see in a personal statement and what happens at interviews in the entry profile on the UCAS website or own their own university website. Read this very carefully

 

Do not assume you can change courses once you get to university

You may well meet people who tell you that it is easy to change subjects once you get to university.  Whilst this may be true for some subjects and for some universities, it is seldom true for the most competitive subjects.  For this reason, it is a dangerous strategy to apply to a popular university for a less popular course, and then try to change to the course you really want once you are there.

 

Think carefully about which offers to keep as your firm and insurance offers

Once you have sent your application form in you will start to receive their responses, either a conditional offer (if your application is made pre A level) or a rejection. If you receive more than two offers, you must choose which to reject. You are only allowed to keep two offers, and must reject all others - usually by the end of April. One offer should be for the university that you really want to attend and should be in line with your predicted grades; keep this as your firm offer.  The other should be for lower grades in case something goes wrong; this will be your insurance offer. Remember that if you only make the grades for your insurance offer and that is the place you get, you must take it up or drop out of the UCAS system altogether for that year, so it must be for a university that you are prepared to attend.

 

If you change your mind after applying…

Many people change their minds after applying to university.  For example, you might be re-considering:

• Whether or not to take a ‘gap year’, or
• The subject you want to study, or even
• Whether to go to university at all

All these things are possible; applications can be deferred, subjects can be changed, applications can be withdrawn, but seek some advice before you take any action.