Support thread for anyone applying through UCAS this year

[Lorelai]

Following on from a thread in chat I thought I would start this so that we can hold each others' hands through the UCAS process with all its challenges.

Who's with me?

ds1 has finally firmed his first choice so yesterday we attempted the student finance application.

Can I ask any of you lot out there with older dc, when it asks for a bank account, is it ok to leave it blank until the autumn? ds was expecting to wait until post results time b4 opening an account so he could take advantage of any offers that the banks were making at the time. Does he need to open a normal account now and upgrade it to a student account in september?

He has a building society account which birthday/xmas money has gone into since he was born but doesn't even have a hole in the wall card for it. What is the usual way of sorting it?

My DC have all had accounts for years so it hasn't been an issue. What I would say is that Student Finance can be so incredibly difficult if even the smallest detail is left blank that I wouldn't risk it, not for a moment. I'd also say that if a student has an existing bank account the bank will give all the preferential overdrafts anyway etc. even though the account isn't new. If you've already filled in the form, it's best to send it off and put 'tbc' against the bank details so as to get in ahead of the main rush towards the end of May but then for your DS to get fixed up with a bank ac asap.

Yes, open the account and fill in the form. In August the bank will, on request, upgrade it to a student account and send out the railcard!

eatyourveg DD2 left the bank accounts section blank and then completed it after A level results when she opened a student bank account. It wasn't a problem.

Do just check about how particular banks operate as my DD had friends who banks wouldn't change their accounts 'easily' to a student account. So we did the same as webwiz. Student accounts can only be opened when you have a confirmed place (letter from the university) and I don't think my DD got that until end of August.

DD has now firmed her latest offer. She got a rejection before interview from the last one and, in a way is relieved ,because there are no 'what ifs'. Looking into accommodation now. It's all so exciting and great to see her so happy.

Will ask Nat West about upgrading her account.

Adamschic so exciting for her,is the offer a high one or is she quite comfortable?
Ds announced yesterday that he has decided on his firm,I think it is the right choice and it's a tremendous opportunity but I think we all feel sad about one of the others as he fell in love with the place and it's been a tough call.

It's a safe offer so no need for insurance. She has to complete a foundation year so doable grade wise.

Can I ask a quick question about the student loan form? It all seemed to go a bit easily when dd filled it in online this morning so I wonder if we're missing something. I registered too.

She's not applying for a maintenance loan (certainly not at those new rates) so it's just for the tuition fees. There weren't any complicated or invasive questions about our income or living arrangements. It said application accepted so I guess that's it??

Goingmad,haven't dared look yet but what are the new rates and how will she fund her accommodation,are you going to pay yourself?

goingmad there's quite a strong argument for taking maintenance loan anyway as repayments are exactly the same however much you borrow unless you pay it off before the 30 years are up. As the system is designed so that most graduates won't ever pay it off, then unless you are certain she will go into a very high paying job (quite a bit above the average even for graduates) and not take a career break for any reason then it's a waste of your money to pay her maintenance loan now.

Oh for a crystal ball...

mrswoodentop, interest accrues at cpi (currently 3.4% this month I think) plus 3% while studying therefore 6.4% at the moment, then at CPI while earning under £21k. £21 - £42k will vary between cpi and cpi plus 3% depending on income, so could soon add up particularly if fuel etc cause inflation to go up. Last Sept rate was 5.2% so is very variable. It's a big hike on last year's rate. I got all political when I found out. Our lot have been royally shafted by the coalition. I don't think they've publicised it very well for some reason....

Gelatinous, my dd is studying Law. She's very driven and loves nice things and (recession permitting) certainly plans on earning a lot. At the old rates I'd definitely have encouraged her to take the loan.

Yes goingmad - that is probably it for the form the tuition fee loan isn't based on income so no questions in that respect.

Thanks saggar.

thanks all

eatyourveg - we left the bank account thing blank and they sent a form later.

dd has had a complete wobble. She's contemplating declining all her offers and making a UCAS extra application.

How does that work then? Would it still be for 2012?

unitarian I'm very clear that Imperial is rigorous but DS was surprised, given it's reputation, that Imperial was quite so informal. He'd expected the interview format to be very similar to Oxford, but it wasn't. What's interesting is that the content for interviews for Medicine don't seem to correlate to the perceived level of academic rigour of the course. I quite see the point about academic standards being taken as given, but the variation in approach interests me. Imperial didn't even quiz him on what he had observed during his work placements; really very very laid back. Did your DD find her interviews very different?

goingmad very good luck to your DD but if she's thinking of mega bucks and MC firms then bear in mind that vac schemes at the moment are excruciatingly competitive. And by no means all successful vac schemers get Training Contracts. It really may be worth your/ her while re-thinking the maintenance loan, just in case. There's not much at this stage to lose.

Yes goingmad - apparently if you don't get any offers or as in dd's case decline all your offers you can make an application for one course at one university as long as they still have vacancies (denoted by an x next to the course on UCAS)

Wow! All that stress again. Mind you if it's what she really really wants to do it's probably better than spending forever thinking "what if". (Can you tell I still wish I'd done a different degree even though I'm 48 ?)

Yes, yellowtip. They were all three completely different. This in itself can throw a candidate off his/her stride, I feel!
Her first was, she said, like speed dating. They were interviewed on one aspect of their PS and then moved on to two more 'stations' for an interview on some other aspect. There was also a group discussion about a medical dilemma which included grad entry candidates so the 17 yr olds had to make sure they weren't drowned out by more confident older ones.
The next was very laid back, as discussed and the third was an old fashioned interview panel.
All excellent experience.

I assume your DS is firming Oxford though.

I know that you weren't suggesting that a relaxed interview format made for a relaxed course. And I get why you ask the question.

I think each med school is different and rather likes being different. I've said before that it isn't one-size-fits-all so there is no formula for applying which works for all. Success in getting a place seems to me to depend on making the right choice very early of which ones to apply to in order to capitalise on your particular strengths. Schools don't always give the right advice and, if anyone is approaching this for next year, I recommend doing the spade work before the start of Y13.

I realise that I've gone off on a sort of tangent there and still haven't really touched on the point you were making.

The speed dating interview was at a med school which does a great deal of PBL so I can see why they would want to see how each person coped in a group discussion and interacted with others.

In other words, maybe an interview format is chosen to uncover the particular qualities that a med school believes a student needs in order to deal with the way their course is taught.

Thinking about what DD said about her Imperial interview, they were most interested in the experience she had had teaching/coaching. There is a great deal of that in the years to come.

....and a great deal of learning, too, in the years to come!

Medical schools are different. I would choose one where the teaching is outstanding. And the living costs as reasonable as possible with as little travel as possible. Good luck, great that the DC are doing so well and have these choices!

A huge amount of learning! I know I couldn't do it. DD is extremely happy with the quality of the teaching she's getting and her suitcase contained surprisingly little laundry but many many books.

They do seem to start passing on what they've learned surprisingly early.