University Entrance
THE BRITISH SECTION GUIDE
TO
UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction p.2 2. Financing a degree in the UK p.2 3. Choosing a course p.3 4. Choosing a university p.4 5. Assessing suitability: do you fulfil the entry requirements? p.5 6. Making your application p.6 7. Receiving and responding to offers p.7 8. What to do if you are unsuccessful p.8 9. What to do on results day p.9 10. Calendar of key dates p.10
1. Introduction
With 18 universities ranked in top 50 worldwide and 6 in top 10, a degree from a British university is clearly a very strong ‘currency’ in the graduate recruitment market. However, with over 55,000 courses at over 300 institutions of higher education, the choice is a daunting one. The purpose of this guide is therefore to introduce you to the means by which you can make considered choices about your future in higher education, as well as to the practicalities of applying to British universities.
2. Financing a degree in the UK
A degree from the UK is not free and does not come cheaply. However, with the average graduate earning substantially more than the average non-graduate, it is best to see university education as an investment. A rough guide to the main costs are listed below:
Tuition fees o England & Wales: around £3,225 o Scotland: around £1,735 (£2,700 for medicine)
Living expenses o Approximately £8,000 (London) o Approximately £7,000 (outside London)
EU residents (non-UK passport holders) are eligible for loans1 to help pay tuition fees but are NOT eligible for student loans to help cover maintenance costs. UK passport holders are eligible for both types of loan but the maintenance loans are means-tested on parental income.
Visit: www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/S tudentsFromOtherEUCountries/fs/en for further up-to-date details on student finance.
1 Students will repay nine per cent of their earnings over £15,000 after graduation until the loans have been paid off. Interest on the debt is linked with inflation and currently stands at 2.4%.
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Many universities now offer bursaries and scholarships. Information about these can be found on university websites. See also Brian Heap’s book, University Scholarships and Awards (available in the CDI) and www.scholarship-search.org.uk
3. Choosing a course
Applications to British universities are made through the centralised admissions agency, UCAS. You are entitled to enter FIVE course choices on your UCAS application. Applicants to medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences are limited to FOUR course choices but can make ONE additional application to another course. The universities that receive your application will not know where else you have applied.
Points you will need to consider when making your choice of course include: Whether the content of a particular course suits your interests, aptitudes and abilities; Whether you are on track to meet the entry grades usually sought from applicants to the course; Whether to opt for a combined or single honours degree; How the course is taught; Whether the course includes a period of study abroad; Whether the course includes work experience (a ‘sandwich year’).
If you already have a good idea of which career you wish to pursue, you should try to find out which university courses are the best ones to help you succeed in that field.
Many higher education institutions supply Entry Profiles for their courses – accessible on the UCAS website – which can help with the decision-making process by providing you with detailed information about the course structure and content, as well as descriptions of the sorts of people they are looking for.
The following websites also provide tests to help you decide your suitability for different courses: www.ucas.com/getting/before/index.html - for a useful guide called ‘how do I find the best course for me?’ (this page also gives useful information about the application process); www.ukcoursefinder.com - a free online careers questionnaire providing links to university websites; http://uk.tickle.com - for a personality profiling indicator test; www.channel4.com/brilliantcareers - builds a profile of what you are like & what you like; www.prospects.ac.uk - links your interests with specific careers.
And, of course, your CENTIGRADE report (taken in Première) should provide a starting- point.
Resources for finding out about different careers & university courses can be found in/on: Your complementary copy of ‘Degree Course Descriptions’ The Lycee’s library (see the British Section’s librarian, Mrs Moser, who will introduce you to the careers section);
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www.ucas.com/search/index.html - to search by course name; The ISCO website (www.isco.org.uk, student login password: HORIZONS – click submit rather than pressing ENTER); University websites/prospectuses;
Taster & Headstart Courses More and more universities are running Taster courses: these are residential courses that introduce potential applicants to what it is like to study a particular subject at university. They can be free but can also be fiercely competitive courses to get on to, so look and book early. More information about many of these can be found in the Sixthformer’s Guide and the UCAS/COA booklet, University and College Open Days including Taster courses and Education conventions available in the CDI. Go directly to www.headstartcourses.org.uk for a list of residential and day courses introducing pupils to engineering and science-related courses and careers and www.medlink-uk.com for similar opportunities introducing medicine and related courses.
4. Choosing a University
When you have decided what you want to study, you now need to decide where you want to study it.
Criteria for deciding might include: Do you want to live in the city or in the countryside? Do you want to be in town or on a campus? Do you want to go to an old or a new university? Does the university have a reputation for a particular activity eg – sport, dance, theatre? What is the accommodation provision? Are there halls of residence or will you have to ‘live out’? What is the quality of teaching overall and in your particular department? What are the facilities and equipment like in your department? How much does it cost (tuition fees & accommodation)? Are there any bursaries or scholarships for undergraduates in your subject area? What do graduates end up doing? What is the drop-out rate? Can you achieve the qualifications needed for entry? (see later for assessing the answer to this question)
Where should you start your research? www.ucas.com/instit/index.html - for a map of the UK showing the locations of, and giving website links to, all UK higher educational institutions; www.ucas.com/getting/events/index.html - gives details on spring and summer UCAS Education Conferences; www.tqi.ac.uk - reports on the quality of teaching at individual higher education departments; Brian Heap’s book Degree Course Offers – gives details of the “UCAS points” needed for most courses at most universities; The Times Good University Guide (available online as well as in the CDI) – ranks universities in order of excellence by subject;
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The Push Guide to Which University – describes the main attractions and specificities of the majority of UK higher education institutions; Other university guides available in the English Language Library (in the Lycee’s CDI) University prospectuses (available online and in hardcopy in the CDI)
Go to as many Open Days as you can and try to get onto a Taster Course, especially if the subject you are thinking of applying for is one you have not previously studied at school eg – Engineering, Psychology etc.
REMEMBER when looking at University League Tables: “A league table will not identify the most suitable course for any prospective student: that is a matter of personal preference, involving the location and character of a university, and above all the syllabus.” (p7, The Times Good University Guide, 2007)
5. Assessing suitability: do you fulfil the ‘entry requirements’?
Whereas in France, passing the Bac qualifies you for entrance to university, in the UK universities select their future undergraduates according to the quality and suitability of the application they make in Terminale (see below: 6. Making your application) and make conditional offers (for pre-Bac applicants) usually based upon the achievement of certain grades in, for our purposes, the OIB (see below: 7. Receiving and responding to offers).
An example conditional offer (‘entry requirement’) from X university: 12/20 overall with 14/20 in Mathematics
As a general rule: the more POPULAR the course/university, the higher the likely entry requirements.
It is therefore important that our students aim for the courses and universities whose entry requirements best reflect their academic potential: there is no point in sending an application for a course which typically requires 16/20 when the student’s academic history suggests he/she is unlikely to achieve more than 12/20 because a) they are unlikely to be offered a place and, b) if they are, they are unlikely to fulfil the conditions of the offer.
This said, we want our students to aim for the best possible courses/universities they can and we recognize that students often do better in the OIB exams than their termly bulletins indicate and therefore we advocate some flexibility when making university/course choices.
The typical entry requirements for courses/universities can be found in Brian Heap’s book, Degree Course Offers. There are reference copies in the English Language Library. THESE BOOKS ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY although pupils are free to photocopy relevant pages from them.
Some university courses also require that applicants have/will have an understanding of certain subjects. For example, applicants for engineering must be enrolled in the Bac scientifique. This information can be checked in the Entry Profiles listed on the UCAS website or in university prospectuses.
How to decide if you meet the entry requirements for your course & university choices
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Typical offers will often be published by Universities on their websites. However, it is rare to find typical offers for the OIB due to the small number of pupils taking the qualification. As a result, we have drawn up a table of equivalents matching typical A Level offers with what our experience and judgement reveals to be the approximate OIB equivalent. To find out if you are likely to reach the entrance requirements of a course, find out what the typical A Level offer is and use this table to convert it into a typical OIB offer. You should also discuss your choices with your application supervisor who has details of previous years’ offers.
A-Level Grades Approximate OIB equivalent AAA 14-16 AAB 13-14 ABB 13-14 BBB 12-13 BBC 12-13 BCC 11-12 CCC 11-12
6. Making your Application
All applications to British universities (except for some nursing courses and art foundation courses) are processed by the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). This organization acts as an intermediary between applicants and universities and the majority of communications between applicants and universities will be via UCAS. All of our pupils will apply online.
To register with UCAS, go to www.ucas.com, and follow the online instructions.
See the sheet ‘UCAS checklist’ (available on the British Section wiki) for guidance on how to complete the various sections of the UCAS form.
PERSONAL STATEMENT Type up your personal statement in ‘Word’ or any other word processing programme so you can easily make amendments and copy and paste the final version at the very last moment before sending the application to your referee.
See the sheet ‘How to write a persuasive personal statement’ (available on the university entrance wiki)
Shortly after making your application, you will be issued with your UCAS APPLICATION NUMBER. This number, together with your original PASSWORD, will enable you to log in to the UCAS database TRACK to track the progress of your application and view offers as they come through.
KEEP A CAREFUL NOTE OF YOUR APPLICATION NUMBER – YOU WILL NEED TO QUOTE IT EVERY TIME YOU DEAL WITH UCAS OR THE UNIVERSITIES TO WHICH YOU HAVE SUBMIITED YOUR APPLICATION.
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PLEASE EMAIL YOUR UCAS APPLICATION NUMBER TO YOUR APPLICATION SUPERVISOR AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE IT.
ADMISSIONS TESTS Some subjects require pupils to register and take admissions tests as part of their application. For more information about these, see the university entrance wiki: Applying to the UK, Useful Websites.
More courses are introducing admissions tests and it is the responsibility of the applicant to check requirements. This information can be found in ‘The Big Guide’, available in the CDI. Equally, you will be warned if you need to take an entrance test when you enter the courses you want to apply to on the online UCAS form.
DEADLINES See the university entrance wiki (Applying to the UK) for important dates and deadlines.
7. Receiving and responding to offers
Decisions will come from your chosen universities in random order. They should start to arrive a few weeks after you apply and are transmitted to you by UCAS. If you have a long wait, it may mean that you are regarded as borderline although this is not always the case. Remember, you application is one of the many hundreds that admissions tutors must work through, so be patient!
Universities have to decide whether or not to offer you a place before 28th April. Before they make a decision they may call you for interview; alternatively, they may offer you a conditional or unconditional place and invite you for an Open Day.
Each decision must be one of these three:
U: unconditional offer (no further qualifications are required. If you accept this offer then you are in!)
C: conditional offer (still some work to do, but if you accept the offer and achieve the conditions in the examinations you are about to take, a place will be guaranteed)
R: unsuccessful (no place)
Please keep your application supervisor informed of any offers received since we do not receive any further information after the application has been sent.
REPLIES
You have to reply to any offers you receive BUT NOT UNTIL YOU HAVE RECEIVED ALL YOUR INSTITUTIONS’ DECISIONS. When you receive your last decision, you will also be told when you have to respond.
According to UCAS:
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Applicants who have received all their decisions from Universities and Colleges by the END OF MARCH must reply to their offers by early May.
Applicants receiving all their offers from all their choices by 9th MAY must reply to their offers by early June.
IMPORTANT: the deadline for declaring choices depends on the date of the last decision that appeared on TRACK and might therefore be different from the deadline for other members of the year group. YOU MUST THEREFORE CHECK TRACK REGULARLY AND REPLY BY THE DEADLINE STATED THERE. Failure to reply by the stated deadline will result in all offers being withdrawn.
You can reply to your offer(s) using TRACK on the UCAS website.
Consider your replies carefully and meet with your application supervisor to discuss your options. As a general rule, your FIRM choice should be the course you really want to study and hence the offer you really hope to be able to achieve. Your INSURANCE offer should generally be a LOWER OFFER just in case you miss the FIRM choice entry requirements.
DO NOT ACCEPT AN OFFER (FIRM OR INSURANCE) UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU WILL BE HAPPY TO ENROL ON THE COURSE.
REMEMBER: these commitments are binding: YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO ALTER YOUR CHOICES AT A LATER STAGE.
8. What to do if you are unsuccessful?
In the unlikely event that you a) receive no offers or b) you decide that you no longer want to go to the places that have made you offers, you still have the chance of finding a course elsewhere by withdrawing and using a new service called EXTRA from mid-March until 12th July. This scheme enables applicants to make additional course choices, one at a time, where vacancies still exist. Courses available on UCAS EXTRA will be highlighted on COURSE SEARCH on www.ucas.com.
If you still have not managed to find a place by 12th July, or you miss the grade required for acceptance on both your FIRM and INSURANCE offers, you still have the opportunity of getting a university place in CLEARING.
Clearing starts on A-Level results day (usually 17th AUGUST). You MUST be at home if you hope to find a place in clearing; your parents cannot do it for you!
To go through Clearing, you need to check the official lists of higher education vacancies (published on www.ucas.com) and then contact a university or college with places on a course that interests you. It is best to speak directly to the admissions tutor, who may ask for your CLEARING ENTRY NUMBER (found on TRACK).
See the document ‘Clearing’ (also available on the British Section website).
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9. What to do on results day
If you have achieved the conditions of your FIRM CHOICE, we will send you results to the institution and your place is secured. Make sure you contact the university to find out about accommodation, term dates, introductory arrangements etc.
If you have NOT ACHIEVED the conditions of your FIRM CHOICE but have achieved the conditions of your INSURANCE OFFER, we will send a your results with a plea letter to your FIRM choice (who might still accept you) and a letter confirming your results to your INSURANCE OFFER who are obliged to accept you if your firm choice decides not to take you. Your firm choice institution might contact you with its decision but you will most likely have to wait until A-Level results are published on August 17th when their decision will appear on TRACK. When you have the answer, don’t forget to get in touch with the university that has accepted you to find out about accommodation etc.
If you have missed BOTH your FIRM CHOICE AND your INSURANCE OFFERS, we will send your results with plea letters to both institutions who might still accept you. Be ready to speak to the admissions tutors who might wish to contact you. It might also be an idea to contact the admissions tutor yourself but allow time for our letter to reach them before surprising them on the phone with the news! Again, be prepared to have to wait until August 17th to find out their decisions.
If you have still been unsuccessful, get ready for going through CLEARING (see section 8 above).
The British Section will host meetings to advise students who have missed offers, and their families.
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10. CALENDAR
PREMIERE
AUTUMN TERM (September to December)
Take the CENTIGRADE careers questionnaire.
Meet with your tutor to discuss your aptitudes, interests and the results of the CENTIRGRADE questionnaire.
WINTER & SPRING TERMS (January to April)
Start to research your higher education options in the light of these results. Perhaps do some more research on your aptitudes and interests by taking one of the other tests listed above.
Meet with your APPLICATION SUPERVISOR (you will be told who this is).
Find out about and book OPEN DAYS and perhaps enrol on a HEADSTART/TASTER COURSE.
Arrange some work experience during the summer (this is especially important for entry to courses such as medicine, veterinary sciences, social sciences and land-based industries.
SUMMER TERM (May to July)
Find out if you need to take additional entrance tests and start preparing for them if you do.
Attend OPEN DAYS and a Taster course if you can/if relevant.
Research and start to organize your GAP year arrangements if you plan to take a year out.
Gather material/evidence from which to draft a Personal Statement for your UCAS application.
Distribute Reference Support forms to your French teachers.
Research the financial implications of your higher education choices and start to find out if you might be eligible for financial support from, for example, bursary schemes etc.
Oxbridge applicants: attend the meeting for Oxbridge applicants in the CDI (the time and date will be announced).
SUMMER VACATION
Draft your PERSONAL STATEMENT (Oxbridge applicants: read widely and deeply and write a couple of essays).
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TERMINALE
AUTUMN TERM (September to December)
Register with UCAS (send you username, password and application number to your Application Supervisor).
Review your courses again (and meet with your Application Supervisor to make final decisions).
Complete your Personal Statement showing drafts first to your tutor and then your Application Supervisor.
Register & sit entrance tests (if relevant).
1st OCTOBER INTERNAL DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY, VETERINARY SCHIENCES AND OXBRIDGE APPLICATIONS
1st DECEMBER Internal deadline for all other applications.
SPRING TERM (January to April)
Apply for bursaries, sponsorships or scholarships (as appropriate).
From 14th March If you are NOT holding an offer from a higher education institution (ie – you have been unsuccessful or you have withdrawn) you can start to use the EXTRA option UNTIL 12TH JULY.
By 28th April Replies should have been received from all higher education institutions.
SUMMER TERM (May to July)
EARLY MAY ALL APPLICANTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED ALL THEIR DECISIONS FROM UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES BY THE END OF MARCH MUST REPLY TO THEIR OFFERS
EARLY JUNE APPLICANTS RECEIVING ALL THEIR OFFERS FROM ALL THEIR CHOICES BY 9TH MAY MUST REPLY TO THEIR OFFERS
IMPORTANT: CHECK YOUR INDIVIDUAL DEADLINE FOR RESPONDING TO OFFERS ON UCAS TRACK.
Apply for assistance with your tuition fees using the forms found at the following website: www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/S tudentsFromOtherEUCountries/fs/en
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Make sure you apply even if you think you are not entitled to any assistance because if you do not apply you will be charged the OVERSEAS rate which is substantially more than the HOME/EU rate!
July Results published – British Section informs FIRM AND INSURANCE universities of your results by post.
17th August CLEARING STARTS
20th September last date for Clearing applications
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