And so it begins.
You’ve had a look around. Had a think. Had more of a think. Add on seventy five more years of thinking, and now you’re here. At this point. Starting your UCAS application.
First of all, don’t panic. As tempting as it is. Do. Not. Panic. You’re still not actually at the scary bit, believe it or not. There’s way more to come, don’t you worry.
In all seriousness, it’s okay. Even if you haven’t thought about all this as much as you think you should have, that’s okay. For now, you can just go with it and hope for the best.
The first step of this, really, would be to go to the UCAS website. But, to be honest, this you should already know. If you’re an A Level/Level 3 student currently (or equivalent, sorry Scotland) then your teachers will have been pushing that site down your throat for the past few months. So you know what it is. If you’re a person on a gap year/full-time work/whatever else, then you might not be as familiar with UCAS as you would like.
In the coming month(s), I will be providing you all with a Full Comprehensive UCAS Guide (although I’ll be naming it something different… that one wasn’t too catchy, was it?) so keep your eyes peeled for that. And don’t worry, it will absolutely be out way before the deadlines hit.
DISCLAIMER: If you are applying for medical-based courses, or to extremely prestigious universities such as Oxbridge, your deadlines might be sooner than you think! PLEASE go and inform yourself and get on your applications IMMEDIATELY if you haven’t already. DO NOT SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU.
Anyway, now that bit’s out the way, focusing back on us average lot, aiming for the not-so-clever courses (I’m kidding). For the rest of the average-Joe lot, you need to create a UCAS account. Right now. Immediately. So you don’t forget.
You’ll then be supplied with your UCAS login name (which will be randomly assigned to you) it will incorporate some aspect of your first and last names and then a number. DO NOT LOSE THIS. Nothing awful will happen, it’ll just be a bloody hassle to find your login again. And I’d recommend just using your same-old password for your UCAS (we all have them, don’t lie to me), and you’ll receive a confirmation email, yadda yadda yadda. Done? All finished? Awesome.
Now the only other thing I want you to do for now is to explore the Track portal. That’s the thing you come onto that has all the things for your application, looks a little something like this:
Rather than jumping right in and filling out every single thing you can at this given moment (which is what I did last year), just have a peruse, take a look at the types of info you need, what you know by heart, what you need to dig up, and what you need to work on. Maybe start making notes on each thing that you need to remember, e.g. get your passport out, ask your teachers about how their references work, etc.Trust me, as much as you want to go and get it all done as soon as humanly possible – or at least, the boring bits like your Personal Details – you cannot rush any of this. Take your time, and more importantly, Manage Your Time. You’ve got plenty of it.
Look out for more posts in the uni series coming very soon, and also look out for Sundays’s upcoming post, something a little different this time! Thanks for reading,
Jess
Jessica G Allen 