-Undergraduate Admissions

2005 Undergraduate prospectus - links to prospects
2008 prospectus

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Contacts

How to Apply

UCAS and How to Apply

To apply to any of our undergraduate and HND programmes you will need to apply through UCAS, which is a centralised admissions system for most higher education courses. You apply on line using a web-based form available on the UCAS website.
http://www.ucas.com/apply/index.html

Your school, college or Connexions office will be able to help you.

Or you can contact UCAS:

Application Requests,
UCAS
Rosehill,
New Barn Lane,
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire, GL52 3LZ

Web: www.ucas.com
Tel: 01242 223707

How we make the decision

Admissions Tutors in the relevant subject areas decide whether to accept students or not. They base this decision on the following:

Filling in the form

You will need to allow plenty of time to complete the form and you should try to return it to UCAS well before the deadlines listed at the end of this section.
Once UCAS receive your form they then send out copies of it to all the universities or colleges you have chosen - you're allowed a maximum of 6 choices. You may then be invited to an interview or a decision may be made on the basis of what is written on the form. If a university makes you an offer you then have to decide which one is going to be your first and second choice - you are only allowed to hold two offers.

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Section 10 - The Personal Statement


We advise prospective students to start working on Section 10 - the Personal Statement before the start of year 13. As you can see from the above this is an important part of the form.

You will probably need to do several drafts in order to get it right and you will need to give your teachers the opportunity to discuss it with you before they write their references. There are a number of places you can go to for help and advice with this but probably your best starting point is the UCAS booklet which accompanies the form and your school/college. There are a number of websites which give advice on writing personal statements but these can often be contradictory. Some suggest writing in continuous prose, avoiding conformity and being humorous while others tell you to use headed paragraphs and bullet points. You may also be advised to list all your work experience or only put down what is directly relevant.

What we think you should put in your personal statement:


Whether you choose to write in note form, paragraphs or use headings is irrelevant as long as you appreciate that the need to be articulate is a prerequisite for a university place. Stick to the style which suits you best.

However there are some musts:

It should contain the following key elements:

Think how any of the following may have contributed to your choice:

Academic study:

Higher Education activities:

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Personal experiences:

Even if these do not seem directly relevant they may help you demonstrate your ability to balance the demands of school, paid work and a social life!

What would you bring to a University?

What do you hope to do with your degree?

Even if you're not sure about your career direction yet, you can discuss broad areas of interest.

Taking a gap year


Generally we are happy for you to take a year out - but it's important to make it clear on the form that you are intending to defer entry. There may be one or two departments that won't accept a deferred entry - this doesn't mean they don't want you to take a gap year but they prefer you to apply in the year of entry. Check with individual departments for their policy on this.

Think about some of the ways that taking a gap year may help you at university:

And finally....
Whilst it's fine to get help and advice do not be tempted to copy other people's personal statements or make things up. You could well be asked questions about it at a later stage.

UCAS Applications Overview

For full details of application deadlines see the UCAS website: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/getting/deadlines/.

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