UK Admissions

Introduction

Universities in the UK have a long and illustrious tradition of serving as institutions for higher learning. Within their hallowed halls, students from across the globe gather in search of knowledge and insight. And in time, these students will go on to shape the world with their new found understanding.

Universities in the UK

As with the Ivy League in the US, universities in the UK are grouped and ranked. Oxbridge typically refers to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge while the term Russell Group is much broader and includes 24 top end universities in the UK. Often times, Russell Group is used to refer to world class universities in London such as King’s College, LSE, Imperial and UCL.

Advantages

Course Length

Applying to a UK university brings with it certain advantages. In terms of courses, many universities offer bachelor and master programmes. Students finish their bachelor degree in 3 years and go on to attain a masters after 1 additional year. This is a relatively short amount of time compared to places like the US where the same process would take 6 years (4 years for a bachelor degree and 2 years for the masters).

Prospects

A degree from the UK is highly prized by employers in many countries and England is without doubt an attractive destination when deciding where to further one’s education.

Alternatives to Applying Directly

Traditionally, students would apply to the UK university of his or her choice and complete their entire degree at that university over the course of 3 years.

Nowadays, there are more options available to students. Some universities like Warwick offer a 2 + 2 pathway where 2 years of studies are completed at a partner university and the last 2 years are spent at Warwick.

Overview

The requirements for applying to the UK are relatively straightforward. As long as you provide the following documents via UCAS, your applicant can be processed. Most students do not even need to supply additional documents such as high school graduation certificates.

1.

Academic qualifications

2.

Personal statement

3.

Reference

4.

Proof of English Proficiency

Bear in mind that if you are applying to competitive universities and courses, there are some extra assessments which will require more time to prepare for. These include:

1.

Admissions Tests

2.

Submission of Written work

3.

Interviews

Academic Qualifications

The most common academic grades used to apply to the UK are GCSEs and A-Levels:

•

GCSE: age 14-16 qualification

•

A-Level: age 16-18 qualification

Admissions Requirements for the UK

Students apply to UK universities using an online form called UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). This usually takes place between 01 September and 15 January of the applicant’s third year of high school.

UCAS serves as an intermediary between applicants and the universities. Applicants fill in a form which can be used to apply to five different universities of their choice.

There are four main sections in the UCAS form

1.

Education history and academic qualifications

2.

Personal statement

3.

Reference letter

4.

Personal information section

After completing the form and paying the application fee of £24, you submit your application. That’s it!

Registering with UCAS

You can apply as a school student or as a private candidate.

Most A-Level and IB schools are UCAS registered schools and have a specific UCAS code which you as a school student should use for your application.

Private candidates are students who attend a non UCAS registered high school or do not attend high school.

The difference between non-UCAS and UCAS registered schools is that UCAS schools are automatically given permission in the system to write reference letters. School candidates cannot access the reference section. Private candidates get to manually assign a referrer.

Application via UCAS

Introduction

The following table sets out the various deadlines that you should be aware of. Note that the deadlines indicate the latest date by which your application must be submitted. It is possible to submit your UCAS application at an earlier date.

In fact, applying early works to your advantage since various universities give out offers on a rolling basis. This means that the offers are made as and when applications come in, even if the deadline has not closed yet. Some universities give out offers as early as late October. By late December, a large percentage of the offers available might already be given out so it pays to apply early.

Application Timeline

Other Points to Note

•

Imperial College may require interviews for some subjects from between November to February

•

Some steps in the application process may be brought forward for Cambridge applicants wishing to be interviewed in Shanghai, Singapore and Malaysia:

•

STEP, the admissions test for Mathematics, is taken after the interview stage somewhere between mid to late June

•

For some arts and design courses, the UCAS application deadline may be in March. Therefore the deadline by which the university makes its admissions decision and the deadline by which applicants must decide their first choice university and insurance university will be pushed back accordingly

For more information, please visit the official Oxford and Cambridge application timeline pages:

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford?wssl=1

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/dates-and-deadlines

Application Timeline

Key Points

1.

The personal statement plays a crucial role in differentiating your application from that of the other students.

2.

Focus on your interest in the subject instead of your interest in a particular university.

3.

Personal statements for Oxford and Cambridge require extra emphasis on academic interest.

4.

Demonstrating interest in the subject and keeping within the word limit are two of the most common difficulties faced by students writing their personal statements.

Introduction

In this section, we’d like to tell you more about how to write a strong and persuasive personal statement.

Why is the Personal Statement Important?

Scores for the A-Levels and IB exams are grouped into bands (A*/A/B/C/D or 7/6/5). This includes the predicted grades that you submit in your UCAS application.

Therefore, from the university’s perspective, a student who scores 99% is identical to a student who scores 91% for his or her subject. Both students will have their grades reflected as either A* (in the case of an A Levels student) or 7 (in the case of an IB student).

So how should the university decide who to pick? This is where the personal statement comes in. It helps to showcase your personality and academic interest. These are the things which will help you stand out from the crowd.

Personal Statement Structure

These days you can find plenty of personal statement templates on the internet. But in truth, there is no magic formula for writing a compelling personal statement. The best personal statement is one that is written in a style which suits you.

Having said that, good personal statements tend to share certain common features. Here’s the first similarity: they all have a coherent structure.

Having a clear structure is often just as important as having good content. You’re not the only applicant. The admissions officer has to read hundreds, even thousands of applications. If your personal statement doesn’t have a good structure, you’re going to lose the attention of your reader even before he or she gets to the content.

Personal Statement

Introduction