How to Process your UCAS Application Form
This is only for students at Birkenhead School. It is to be used only as a guide. UCAS has a very good help menu within the web based application form.
N.B. If at any stage you lose the screen you are expecting and are told to try the “Refresh” button, type CTRL+R.
1. Registering
- Go to www.ucas.com
- Click on Apply.
- Click on Student login: 2008 entry.
- Click on Register – do not try to enter details in the boxes.
- Read the information on the screen, then click Next.
- Click on a school or college.
- Read the information, then click accept.
- Type bushell hall (case sensitive) into the box. This is the school buzzword. Then click next.
- You should now get a screen saying you are at Birkenhead School. If this is correct, click yes.
- Select your Form Tutor from the drop down list showing their initials. Click next.
- Fill in your name and date of birth on the next screen. Be very careful about capital and lower case letters – it DOES matter. You are not texting your friends, but making a formal application which could affect the rest of your life.
- The UK button should already be selected. If not, select it, the click next.
- Type in your postcode (capital letters, with a space between the two halves) and your full, correct postal address. Use the TAB key to move to the next line, not the return key. Do not type “England” – you don’t need to use every line! Decide whether to tick the next box or not, then click next.
- Fill in your telephone numbers, leaving a space between the code (e.g. 0151) and the number. Fill in your e-mail address, paying careful attention to lower/upper case. Decide whether to tick the boxes or not, the click next.
- Check your details on the next screen. If they are correct, click next. If you wish to correct anything, click on the description of the data (e.g. “telephone number”) rather than the data itself. You will then be taken back to the appropriate page, and can amend the details.
- Choose a password, which must contain at least one number, and type it in. Retype the password in the “confirm password” box. Type in a security question and answer. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU REMEMBER THESE DETAILS – WRITE THEM DOWN AND KEEP THEM SAFELY. I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TELL YOU WHAT THEY ARE. (I will only be able to reset them for you). Then click send.
- You will now be told your user name. WRITE THIS DOWN AND KEEP IT SAFE – I WON’T BE ABLE TO TELL YOU WHAT IT IS OR RESET IT FOR YOU.
- You have now successfully registered, and you have the choice of whether to continue or whether to come back later.
2 Filling in the rest of the details
Once you have registered you can log on to the system at any time as follows.
- Go to www.ucas.com
- Click on Apply.
- Click on Student login: 2008 entry.
- Fill in the details on the screen, exactly as you typed them in when you registered. If you get anything wrong three times it will lock you out as a security measure, and I will have to unlock it for you, so BE CAREFUL. Then click login.
- Click on how to use apply and read it carefully. You can complete the sections of the form in any order, by clicking on the title of the section, but I shall go through them in the order in which they appear.
Courses.
This is probably one of the last sections you will complete. You can choose by course code, which you can obtain from the UCAS website, but it is just as easy to use the course name. You can fill in up to five courses, of which only 4 can be medicine, dentistry or veterinary science. You do not have to use all six choices. You can choose more than one course at the same university if you have a good reason for doing so, but this counts as more than one choice.
You must make sure your choices are realistic in terms of your predicted grades; check the requirements via the UCAS website, and ask your teachers what your predictions are. It is OK to apply for one or two which are JUST above your predictions, as long as you realise they may reject you. It is also important to realise that you may get rejections anyway, particularly for competitive courses such as English, Medicine, Physiotherapy, Law, History and Drama.
For some universities, e.g. Cambridge, you need to fill in a campus code. Make sure the course you wish to do is offered at the campus you choose. For Oxford, the college code goes in “further details” – see below. For most universities there is only one choice, which will be the one called “main site”. You cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge.
For some courses, e.g. languages, you may be required to fill in further details. These will be in the form of a code or codes which you can obtain from the UCAS website in the course search function (make sure you are looking at 2008 details) in the section “details required to fill in your UCAS form”. If you are not required to fill in further details, leave this box blank, but you must check the UCAS website for every course you choose to see if this is the case.
- If you wish to live at your present home while you are at university, click the appropriate box.
- If you wish to defer entry to 2009, click the “defer entry” box.
- Leave the point of entry box blank unless you are applying for entry into the second year at a Scottish university.
- Click “save” to save your choices at any time. You can come back later to alter your courses or add more.
When you are sure your choices are complete, click the red section finished button at the top. You do not have to do this now, you can come back later (this applies to all sections). Then proceed to the next section, or click log out if you have finished for now.
The next screen only applies if you have already left school and have previously applied through UCAS. It also asks if you want to apply for Art Route B courses. For most of you the answer is “No”
Education
The centre number for Birkenhead School should already be entered – this is 34735
Select the month and year in which you started the senior school (NOT Birkenhead Prep School) – for most of you this will be September 2001. Leave the date of leaving blank – you haven’t left yet. Click the Full time button, and answer the question about other secondary (post age 11) schools. If you have attended other schools, you will get other screens to fill in. If you took your GCSEs elsewhere you can fill in the name of the school and then click “search” to find the centre number – just click the name of the correct school. Click next, check the details on the next screen, and click next. If any details are wrong, move the cursor over them and click, and you will be taken back to the appropriate page.
You now have to enter your qualifications. Click GCSE/GCE. You then get a list of possibilities – you need to enter all your GCSEs. Make sure you get the exact title of the subject (as on your certificate/results slip), the correct date (Summer exams are all regarded as JUNE) and the correct exam board (Edexcel is E, see list below for details of examination boards). Your qualifications WILL be checked.
Exam Boards For UCAS Forms
This is only for students who sat their examinations at Birkenhead School. Others should check their certificates to establish the relevant board before completing the examinations section of the UCAS form
| GCSE in 2006 | ||
| AQA Dual Award
Science |
WJEC Design Technology |
EDEXCEL Religious Studies |
| A2 in 2008 and AS Level in 2007 | ||
| AQA General Studies |
OCR English
Language |
EDEXCEL Maths |
When you have finished adding your GCSEs, click finished. Then click add a qualification and repeat the process with your AS subjects (this is GCE Advanced Subsidiary (NEW)), then with your A level subjects (GCE Advanced Level). Don’t forget General Studies.
If you have other qualifications such as MUSIC, DRAMA OR YOUNG ENTERPRISE, click on add new qualification and then Other, and follow the same process. (Type DIST for Distinction – it won’t take the whole word). Give just the HIGHEST grade reached in each instrument etc. You do not need a centre number for Music or Dance qualifications – just ignore the red warning and click “finished”.
When you have finished all your qualifications, click finished.
The next screen asks if you have a progress file. For those who were at Birkenhead School in Year 11 you do not. For those who were elsewhere, you may or may not have a pre-16 one; you will not have a post-16 one. The other boxes are not applicable– leave them blank and click next.
The next screen lists your qualifications as you have entered them. Your AS subjects will have a red warning symbol next to them – this will disappear when you have entered the results. You will only be able to tell it the section is finished once this is done.
You can now log out or move to the next section.
Employment
This bit is easy! Just click the appropriate button, then follow the instructions. This is only about PAID employment, not unpaid work experience or voluntary work (which you can put into your Personal Statement). If you are still doing a job, leave the finish date as “to present”. The Employer’s name is the name of the company, not your line manager’s name.
About You
The first screen gives you the option to change your registration details. Answer the initial questions, then go on to “Further Details”.
Select your country of birth taken from the drop-down list (you can have UK, or England/Wales etc. if you feel strongly about it) and also your Nationality (British for most of you). If you have Dual Nationality, you should select the second nationality from the drop down list.
Your “Area of permanent residence” should be selected in a similar way. It is the name of your county, Wirral, if your council tax is paid to Wirral.
Your residential category will be A (UK Citizen or EU National) for most of you. If in doubt, use the help button. The next line asks about criminal convictions – answer the question, then move on.
In the “Student support” section your fee code will usually be 02 (LEA) unless you are applying for certain health professional courses (but not medicine) when it is 05 (Department of Health). It is NOT 01 (Private Finance) – your local authority pays the bulk of your fees, whatever your parental income. The “Student Support Arrangements” should be filled in by clicking on LEA selection, then selecting either Wirral or Cheshire appropriate from the list. This is your Local Education Authority, and should be the same as your Area of Permanent Residence.
The next section is about special needs. You must select an option from the drop-down list – in many cases this will be “none”. If you are dyslexic, use option 1. Conditions such as Diabetes or Epilepsy should be given as option 7. If you select anything other than “none” you will then have an extra box in which to describe the nature of the problem. If your condition does not require any special support on the part of the university, say so.
You are asked for your ethnic origin on the next screen – use the drop-down list. This information is only used by UCAS for their statistics – it does not go to the universities.
The occupational background should be that of the highest earning parent, NOT yourself. Give the actual occupation, not the name of the company. This is again for UCAS statistics only, and is so you can be allocated to a socio-economic group. Thus “Managing Director” is fine. NHS is not – you need to specify “Doctor”, “Nurse” etc. “Self-employed” alone is not sufficient – give the type of work. If in doubt, ask me.
Click section finished in the next screen when you are sure the details are complete – otherwise click save.
3 The Personal Statement
The statement should NOT be written directly into the box, as there is no
spell checker, and it is very difficult to edit while keeping the formatting
correct. Instead, you should type your statement as a separate Word document,
remembering you have a maximum of 47 lines and you should use 12 point Times New
Roman.
When you have finished, transfer your statement into the form as follows.
Place the cursor anywhere in your document and hit CONTROL A (i.e. select all). Then hit CONTROL C (Copy).
Return to your UCAS form and go to the Personal Statement section. Place the cursor in the box and hit CONTROL V (Paste). Your statement will appear correctly placed justified and in the correct font
If at any time you wish to amend your statement, do so in the Word version, delete the version in the UCAS form, and paste the new version across as above.
Remember that the most important part of your personal statement is why you want to do the course – this should be your first paragraph. Follow this with any experience you have which is relevant TO THE COURSE (e.g. work experience for medics, lawyers and teachers; what you have liked about A level History for historians; what you have read about philosophy if that is what you are applying for, etc.) Talk about your results at AS as appropriate. Then you can talk about positions of responsibility such as being a Prefect or captain of a team (say what you have learned from these), and then your interests – sport, D of E, music etc. Finally a two or three line paragraph stressing your commitment to the course and your key qualities which make you suited to the course and to university study.
When your statement is finished, hit preview and click section finished if you are sure you don’t want to edit it …I promise you Mr Clark will!
To down load Dr Julia Moore's Power Point presentation on personal statements click here
Hints:
- don’t feel you have to fill all the lines – 2/3 of a page can have more impact than a densely–packed slab of text
- don’t try to include every detail of your life – think (a) what is relevant to your course and (b) what makes you stand out from the crowd
- do write in paragraphs (4 or 5 are enough) and separate your paragraphs with a blank line; if you are going to indent at the start of a paragraph make sure each indentation is the same
- do develop your statement logically, starting with a substantial amount (a quarter of the whole statement would not be unreasonable) on why you want to do the course and why you are well suited to it (evidence of relevant work experience and extra reading may be important here)
- do try to give them a flavour of who you are and what makes you tick
- do end your statement with a final, free-standing sentence summarizing your commitment to the course and your suitability for it and university life.
- do avoid starting every sentence with ‘I’
- subordinate clauses are good; e.g. ‘having spent a week working for a taxidermist, I am sure this course is the perfect one for me’; ‘although I know this course will involve a lot of hard work, I am ready to make that commitment’; etc.
- do punctuate properly and use spell-check carefully
- do get your statement checked
- don’t lie or spin (it’s so obvious!)
4 Send to Referee
It is important you keep your Form Tutor informed on the progress of your application, this will enable them to prepare your reference. When all your sections are complete, you will see a new screen, which gives you the option of editing the form or sending it to your referee.
- Click view all and then Printable Version. (You can do this at any stage of the process).
- Click File and then Printout to keep. You may wish to give a paper copy to your Form Tutor.
- Close the printer screen and go back to the main menu.
- Click send to referee.
- Read the Declaration, tick the box and click I agree.
- You now reach the payment screen. Select one of the credit or debit cards, and pay by card.
We will now know that you have finished your form, and can start to process it; you cannot alter anything on it at this stage.
Your Form Tutor will process your reference and then either pass the form back to you for editing or on to the Headmaster. It is very unusual for a form to go through without editing, so don’t feel you are being picked on! You will then need to edit the form (which we will have “unlocked”) and redo the Declaration and Send to Referee section as well as the Payment section. Don’t worry – you won’t be charged twice – the payment only goes through once we send the form and reference to UCAS.
Please note that we cannot process any form which has not been sent to the referee.
When your form has been accepted and your reference completed, both go to Mr Clark, who will edit your reference and send your form to UCAS.
If you need help at any stage, please ask - that is what we are here for.
