when does your school aim to get UCAS applications in by ?

[lamettarules]

Have been stressing for months about DD getting hers in but school seem unperturbed .
They say " don't worry the closing date is not till 15 January " .
But her insurance choice - whom I contacted about campus tours - have said that they are interviewing candidates next week .
I've told the school this and finally after much effort the form has finally gone .
Surely children who have schools that help them get their forms off earlier are at an advantage ?
If they get an offer they want to accept they can get off the starting block and secure accomodation ?
If they get no offers they have time to consider ,think about extra and be prepared for clearing ?
I think the school are quite pissed off with me for pressing them ,so perhaps I'm missing something .

Our school aims for UCAS forms to be in by 26th October.

Most state schools have a Jan deadline, unless a young person is applying for certain courses that require early apps (e.g. medicine, I think?).

Grammar and private schools usually have Sep/Oct/Nov deadlines. And yes, they are at an advantage, I would say.

DD2's state school aims for UCAS forms to in the week after the October half term which is similar to the other local state schools that my friends DCs are at. DD2's went in some time in November in the end as a few things delayed it - she has 4 offers and has already been on a post application open day. It means she can put it all to one side over Christmas and think about Jan modules.

You were right to push it lamettarules there is no point in waiting for the Jan deadline. Don't worry about the accommodation though as that isn't applied for until after candidates have chosen which is their firm and insurance universities in May.

We aim to get the non-Oxbridge/non-medic applications in just after the October half-term.

Anything later than this is due to the student being sluggish.

It depends on the university as to whether it disadvantages the student by submitting later. Some universities don't look at anything until after the January deadline; others do a form of triage, and others offer by return. You need to speak to the sixth form tutor to understand where you stand.

Surely children who have schools that help them get their forms off earlier are at an advantage ?

Don?t quite understand what you mean by ?advantage? but I have an idea. But anyway, please remember it is in the universities? own interest to have the best students that match their own particular profile and all unis keep saying the cycle only ends in April/May so there?s plenty of time yet. I was like you just earlier this year in thinking that by applying early you get a better chance to have your application looked at more closely, e.g. your personal statement read through thoroughly etc. So when my DS took it cool and easy even at the second week of October this year (he?s applying for a course and universities that have October 15th as closing date) I was about to read the riot act to him. But even that wasn?t easy as he?s at a boarding school. He finally delivered with just hours to spare on October 14th.

But very quickly he?s been invited to interview and by the first week of this month (Dec) he?s done two interviews. I know the other unis don?t even look at his application till next year. He must now be thinking what was I on about?

And yes, you don?t have to do anything until ALL your unis have replied. Which reminds me three years ago DD got an offer from Leeds well before Christmas but she was waiting for Bristol for months without a word and then suddenly in late March/early April letter called for interview followed immediately with an offer. So don?t panic ? as long as you send in your application before the closing date you?ll be fine. I don't think you'll be disadvantaged.

This is what I meant by an advantage

^If they get an offer they want to accept they can get off the starting block and secure accomodation ?
If they get no offers they have time to consider ,think about extra and be prepared for clearing ?^
And if you do get an offer and want to (re ) visit the uni ,better to get out of way before the mocks ,resits ,run up to exams next year .
Peteneras ,if your DS ( and his school ) had left it until Jan to apply those 2 interviews ( and any others ) would all be taking place nearer to his exams ,rather than having 2 already done and dusted .
But I'm reassured that my desire to get form in is more to do with me liking to get things sorted than a real need from application process .
If that makes sense !

I would say there is an advantage to the student in getting the UCAS application in during the Autumn term rather than after Christmas just simply because the whole process is so distracting. Getting the thing in, getting a few offers and doing some visits as early as possible means it doesn't interfere with exam preparation. DD2 could have spun out her personal statement for months if she's been allowed to!

Most universities give out offers as soon as forms go in - except for very competitive courses/universities - so what would be the point in hanging on till the final deadline?

Yes lamettarules, it does make sense of course to do things early and believe me, I'm a firm believer of that. That's why I was paranoid when DS was dilly-dallying when closing date was staring him in the face and this coming from my constant reminder since early summer. Sometimes, and more othen is the case, the school itself is holding up the application when they have not prepared or finalised the reference/report etc.

My point is that as long as the application is sent before the closing date, his/her chances of gaining a place is not jeopardised or disadvantaged which is the main thing here. Again, nobody can force the university's hand in demanding an early interview as in the case of my DD - an early offer in December did not help matters because she was waiting for another one which she preferred that didn't come till Easter.

As for accommodation, most unis in the UK would give a first year undergraduate a guaranteed accommodation. And they are pretty much the same campus-wide unless you want to pay more for extras such as on-suite bathroom, own kitchen, etc.

agree with what Peteneras has said about chances not being jeopardised. However, I was relieved that DS's school ensured all students got their applications in just after October half term (non oxbridge/med)
DS has had three offers so far and it is nice knowing that he/we can relax a little bit over christmas and he can concentrate on revising for his exams at the beginning of January without distractions.

End of October

BUT

If a 17/18 year old cannot get their UCAS form in at a sensible time surely you have to question their thought processes

Why is it the school?s responsibility to set an early deadline

To be fair, I've read quite a few stories where the students have done their application and PS and submitted it to the school and the school has delayed for some considerable time doing the references and predicted grades etc. Very frustrating for students and parents

From what I've read ,uni's mainly guarantee accomodation to students who have confirmed an offer as a first choice .
And if you've received an offer in November you can go ahead and confirm .
And the unis DD applying for do seem to have accomodation both in short supply and in varying forms .
And while I know where you're coming from Talker ,I'm afraid my DD needs a little guidance and support . I've done my best ,but it was difficult because she preferred to listen to school than me ( fair enough ) but school didn't really seem to be offering it ,or not currently .Perhaps they'll go for it in January .But that's when she's taking early modules , resits and ( FFS ) mocks .
I'm sure my DD isn't the only 17 year old who could benefit from help with PS ,choosing courses and having the schools reference and predicted grades added in say November rather than January .
Old story ,some schools are better than others - thougfh hers is rated " Outstanding " . I don't see it myself .

I may be wrong, but I thought you couldn't confirm firms and insurance offers until you'd received ALL offers. DS has three offers so far but still waiting to hear and one of his choices historically doesn't offer until as late as Feb/March.

Also, wouldn't you rather wait till you have the results of your Jan exams before you confirm? Just in case.......

I worked as an admissions tutor for Russell group uni. We processed applications as they came in. There was (and still is) no advantage for early applications. We would be daft to do otherwise.

In the old days we would fix our benchmark at the start of the cycle. Now we make clear yes/no decisions as we go and keep all the 'maybes' until after the closing date.

In some cases (eg access courses it makes good sense to wait until January so that references and predictions are better informed.)

There you go - from the horse's mouth!

Yes ,good to know - though I don't understand the comment about waiting to confirm until after the January exams .

FrumpyintheFrost means that if you have all your offers in its better to wait to confirm choices until after the results of the Jan exams are out in march - that way you have a better indicator of what results can be achieved ie if you need an A* for a uni and get a terrible result in the relevant jan module then it might be better to rethink that choice.

Oi ... Who are you calling a horse?

:)

Of course I can't guarantee that all depts do things as we do, or that occasionally a dept doesn't 'run out' of offers, but IME it usually doesn't matter when you apply.

Right ,so January application not a problem with regard to receiving an offer .
It's probably just a few of us who like to get things sorted early and not have to run around in run up to exams viewing Unis ,wondering what to do if no offers received etc .But that's kind of a personal preference.
So really I'm being unfair in thinking school is not being very helpful.
Moi ,critical ?
Surely not!

And the course that DD has applied for that is holding interviews this week will ,I guess ,hold more after 15 January .

I would assume so. We used to have interviews starting in dec and ending in feb.

Schools seem to have different strategies. Some seem to try and get them all in really early. This is often the case for those that put a lot of Oxbridge applications in. Others seem to think it better to give the students longer to work on their ps.

Tbh I'd be more concerned about the widely different amount of help given with ps writing, and the differing levels of effort put into references. This is where some schools don't IMO help the students as much as they ought.

Also, early application doesn't necessarily mean early offer. In the new world of mega competition for places if is becoming increasingly common to hold batches of applications until after the January deadline.

I'm sure that there will be another set of interviews after Jan 15 lamettarules but I do agree that the school leaving everything till Jan isn't helpful to their students as while they will still have an equal chance of offers the rest of the stuff around uni applications has to be squashed into a smaller window.

Also last year there was enough chaos in Jan with schools closed for snow when exams were on, imagine if you were waiting for a reference to get your UCAS form in as well (I think DD2 would expire from stress in that situation).