#asks: ucas

[youcanucastoo]

I was a day late for the October deadline due to certain errors what do you think will??? Im sooo nervous i feel like i have no chance

If it was an error made by UCAS themselves then contact UCAS on 0371 468 0 468 and beg them to do what they can.

If it was an error made by you, your referee or something else out of UCAS’s control, then I’m really really sorry but you’ve probably got very little chance. You can always try contacting the individual universities and asking if they’ll still consider you, but the October deadline is for very competitive courses and they’re often very strict about it. By all means try, but please don’t get your hopes up too high - the most likely response you’ll get is asking why you didn’t send your application in earlier.

(Please remember the October deadline is for any Oxbridge courses and for medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine courses at any institution only. If you’re applying for courses outside those parameters then the deadline is in January and you don’t need to worry).

[youcanucastoo]

my english teacher is really incapable of writing a reference for UCAS! What should I do? None of my other teachers are willing.

You’re going to need a reference from a teacher, unfortunately there’s no way of getting around it. What’s making your other teachers unwilling to do it? You can reassure them that it’s not a huge thing they need to write, it won’t take them more than 20 minutes or so. There’s plenty of help and guidance on how to write and send a reference on the UCAS website, found here. 

[youcanucastoo]

Applying for the October deadline. I just sent off my application today. But is the deadline actually for the time you click submit or for the time the universities receive your offer, e.g. after processing? What happens if there are any payment errors now?

The deadline is for UCAS receiving your application, including your reference and with completed payment. If you sent yours yesterday then you should be fine; the deadline is at 6pm BST today, 15/10/15. Payment errors would usually be picked up as soon as payment is processed, so there shouldn’t be anything standing in your way now, but if you receive correspondence that something has gone wrong today with your payment then call UCAS ASAP on 0371 468 0 468. 

If you’re applying for one of the courses listed in the post below and you still haven’t sent your application, get it done as early as you can today so that your teachers can attach your reference and get it sent before the deadline.

[youcanucastoo]

Hi, me and my friend both applied for uni two weeks ago (i applied for biomedical sciense and she for social scienses). She has started getting offers already, but i havent got anything yet. Does that mean i'm not getting any? 😁

Please try not to worry! It’s highly unlikely that you’re not going to receive any offers, as long as you applied sensibly to places you have a realistic chance of meeting the requirements for. There are loads of reasons that you haven’t heard anything yet, from the admissions tutors being on holiday, to them waiting until a certain date to start considering anyone, to there just being too many applications to get through quickly right now. You’re going to be fine, just stay calm and the offers will start coming soon!

[youcanucastoo]

this is probably a question i need to ask ucas customer services but i hate talking on the phone so i thought i'd try here first. i applied to university last year but was unsuccessful in getting place. i've gone back to school to do another year and i'm applying again this year. what i'm really trying to ask is if i apply for the same courses as i did last year do you know if i can use the same personal statement or will it flag up as being plagiarised?

I’ve had this question before, and as far as I’m aware it’s still the case that yes, you can use the same personal statement again. It would be worth double checking with UCAS to make absolutely sure though.

I would, however, say that copying and pasting your old personal statement word for word into a new application may not be the wisest idea, especially if you were unsuccessful last time. It’s definitely worth a few days of your time to go through and at least edit your old personal statement - it’s been a year since you wrote it, and it’s likely that you’ve got a years worth of experience now that will make you a good candidate for a place that the old statement doesn’t contain. For more advice, see my personal statement post here.

[youcanucastoo]

Hiya, if you want to apply at university but most of your grades are bad apart from your GCSEs English and maths let's say a btec which is equiv to 4 GCSEs from a-c is that okay ? Thanks :)

You need a Level 3 qualification to get on to any university course in the UK. GCSE’s are a Level 2 qualification, and are not sufficient on their own to be able to get onto a course, although most universities do request at least 5 GCSE’s at A*-C (your BTEC may be sufficient but it is up to individual universities to decide).

Level 3 qualifications include A-Level’s, higher BTEC’s (subsidiary diploma, diploma or extended diploma), Scottish Highers, Irish Leaving Certificate, IB, Welsh Baccalaureate, Access courses and NVQ Level 3′s. You’ll have to have, or be predicted to gain, a combination of Level 3 qualifications that meets the minimum points or grade requirements for a course to be considered. Universities have individual requirements that can be found on their websites or in their prospectuses.

If you have Level 3 qualifications but the grades are not high enough to be considered, it would probably be best to retake those or look into alternative equivalent qualifications such as an Access course or Foundation Year.

[youcanucastoo]

I took GCSE Latin in college and a Uni put getting an A in it as a condition for entry. I'm worried I will go into clearing, so how do you suggest mentioning Latin to the Unis even though Alevel results day is before GCSE results day? Thank you ☺

You won’t be put automatically into Clearing - call the university confirmation hotline to ensure that they’ve received your A-Level grades and they’re all in order, and emphasize that you’re just expecting a GCSE grade. If a university made it a requirement, they’re likely used to having to deal with this situation and everything should be okay.

[youcanucastoo]

Is it a must to go through clearing? What are the odds of me getting into a competitive course through clearing? Thank you.

If you applied via UCAS after the end of June, your application will only be processed through the Clearing system. Clearing for universities in England and Wales opens tomorrow morning, and has been open for Scottish universities for a week. A lot of very good courses at very good universities are made available through the system, and the vacancies can be found on the UCAS website and the Telegraph newspaper. It’s just a case of finding the one you want and calling up to see if you can get a place.