University, where do we start?

[schoolnut123]

Hello. I’m looking for advice I have no idea where to start. So my child is in his second year of A levels but is completely clueless about what/how to apply for universities. I assumed this is something they would be doing through college? College say they’ve given him info, so I assume he needs to start applying directly to universities himself? I’m sorry it seems like a stupid question but I really don’t know how this process works (never had the opportunity myself!)

The UCAS website should have all the information you need, I think.

Yes they have a section for parents, you can sign up for emails to keep you up to date with key stages etc. TBH most 6th forms would have got pupils to do at least the first draft of the PS by now. Our deadline for the application to be filled in is the end of this month but the final UCAS deadline is in January.

Has your dc done any research or gone to any open days yet?

Thank for the replies. He hasn’t done anything. His 6th form tutor is off until after half term break. He claims they’ve mentioned personal statements but not done anything. Should I be worried that he’s oblivious?

Does he want to go to university? Does he have any idea of what he’d like to do?
Most colleges have deadlines of October to apply - although he can apply as late as January.
If he’s not motivated enough to organise his application, and he will have been offered help with it by his college, then I really doubt he’s motivated enough for university.

He has until mid January to apply. There are still some open days to come but he will need to plan these carefully now. What subject is he interested in and would he realistically make the grades?

At this point in the cycle there are very few opportunities left to visit any universities prior to applying. I would suggest deferring this for a bit until he seems more motivated.

I find it very hard to believe his college has done nothing about starting the process of applying with their students. The entire cohort of students are being set up to fail if that’s the case.

If he does want to go to university, I'd suggest at least visiting a couple. It'll help him work out what he really wants from a course in terms of modules, type of university he might prefer. If he applies to any he hasn't seen and gets an offer, some have offer holder days, talk and walks(and some meet a tutor) or you can request to visit.

When he knows what he's looking for in terms of a course, search sites like WhatUni for courses, also The Student Room forum (and obviously here) are good places to ask questions.

He does need to qualify with his college when his personal statement needs to be ready, ie when they want pupils to subject their application. We've got two unis lined up at end of October, I found out in the week that DD's school date is 16 October, although some are a lot later.

There may be relatively few organised open days left between now and the UCAS deadline of January 15th (nb this means paid for and completely ready to submit before 6pm on that date, not, just done personal statement, referee hasnt had a chance to do reference...) but if he looks at the universities' websites he should find how to visit just to look round the campus or possibly still on a guided tour. Some universities put on extra tours in the coming half term.

Sixth form tutor off over the Oxbridge / Medicine application period sounds like poor planning, btw

Universities have open days in the summer and Autumn and most prospective students would go and look round a few in Year 12 before doing the application at the start of Year 13.
It's not compulsory to look round first but you are committing to spending three years living there.
I suspect his college have been telling him all through the last year about the process.
If he really does want to go to university, it's possible for him to start now and choose five places he would like to apply to. He needs to look at what A level grades are expected for his chosen subject at those unis. Most people apply to one "aspirational" and four more realistic options.
He does all this through UCAS but the college are involved at every stage.
Then when he gets his offers through he will be invited to an "offer holders" day. That will be his chance to go and look round properly.

Thanks all.

Not to worry that he hasn't got started yet, he has plenty enough time if he gets on the case now with your help. First things first - does he definitely want to go and does he know what subject? There is masses of information online on ucas and all the university websites. Its quite nice to send off for prospectuses to flick through and I think it will focus his mind even if all the same info is online too. Open days are overrated I think although it is nice to wander about the place you're thinking of living in to get a feel for it. DS didn't bother for most of his choices as he was choosing from a short list anyway and he can visit after offers for all of them.

Once he has the essentials of what and where, I think the worksheet on the ucase site is a good way to approach the personal statement - www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/ucas-personal-statement-worksheet.pdf

Good luck!

Does he want to go? If he does, does he know what subject(s) he wants to study?
DS did it all himself without support as we were living abroad and the school had zero interest in helping those not going to university in the country. He also started the process fairly late so don't fret, it can be done.
He needs to do lots of research asap and narrow his choices. There is a huge amount of info on the UCAS website, the student room and the websites of the universities he might be interested in.
If he isn't keen personally I wouldn't push it. It costs too much to do it just because your friends are or because you can't be bothered to look at other options.
Good luck.

Where my DD went to school, everyone was talking about university applications and possible subjects in y12. The deadline is mid Jan but if he’s not started even thinking about it, how interested is he? What are his friends doing? Usually there’s chat in a group about all of this. If he’s a bit immature, he can apply for 2020 after he has his results.

Chopchop most universities' deadline is January. Only Oxbridge/medicine/vetmed has an October deadline.

Lonicera, I did say he could apply as late as January. However, in my experience the 6th form colleges like the applications to be completed by mid to end of October.

If he does think he wants to apply in this round, he needs to make sure that the relevant person at his college knows this - an individual at the college has to write his reference (hence my previous comment about making sure that every aspect of the application has been completed well before the actual deadline). That being said, for individual courses, universities will be okay about late applications - if the number of on-time applicants indicates that a course will be undersubscribed, they would rather try to fill places rather than be pedantic about closing dates. Any really late applicants (after 30th June) go straight into Clearing.

Does he have any idea about what he would do with a gap year, if he took one? Or alternatives to university altogether?

Start him off on the UCAS website and see what he makes of it, perhaps. I would assume that he hasn't actually set up an account yet, but you never know, he might surprise you...

In my experience they just want them before Christmas.

Lonicera, we have able to agree to differ on our advice then.

Agree to differ obviously!!

Although the sooner you get it in the better IMO. DD needs to redo personal statement this week.

In my school, the Oxbridge/medic/vet/dentists internal deadline is the end of September. Staff wrote subject references in July. The 2 weeks between 30th September and 15th October is for their references to be written and checked. The internal deadline to apply to take the pre-uni tests (e.g. BMAT) within school was around 21st September.

Once those have gone off, the other students do theirs. There is a notional deadline of the end of the autumn term, but to be honest I have known kids who have suddenly decided over the Christmas holidays that they are going to apply, and it has been done before the deadline.

To the OP, I'm a bit surprised that you have not been included by the school/college in the process. However, all is not lost. Firstly, your son does not have to apply to uni for September 2019. He could get his results and then apply for a September 2020 start. He could focus solely on getting great results, then use the time after his A levels to do some research on universities. Alternatively, do some research now. Although open days are interesting, you can learn a lot just by visiting the university at a weekend/half-term. Even though I'm a native of the city (albeit in SW exile!) my DDs hated my home city university. It's RG, has an excellent reputation, the city is amazing (they love shopping there when we visit relatives) but they just thought it was too big and impersonal. Both much prefer smaller cities or campuses. By visiting the universities, they whittled their long lists down.

Finally, don't panic about the chat on here about how many offers people have received so soon. The vast majority of students will not have yet put their applications in, so please do not worry.

Thanks so much for all the information. I personally am shitting myself. He isn’t. Although we have booked in for a few open days and he’s looking at courses at the moment. 6th form college isn’t solely to blame although we have had no contact about applying or references. I’m assuming the child has been told all of that? 😬

Ours is done through the PSHE programme in y12 and a parents' evening about Higher Education. Does the college have anything on its website for parents?

Are you sure there have not been sessions offered about this which may have passed him by? Traditionally , how many progress to university from the college, are they perhaps more into work focussed. Could he/you contact their information and guidance office?

My son's at a normal comp and he's written his personal statement. He's looking into which universities to apply to right now. His school took them to 2 open days last term and he wouldn't go to any others