UCAS is not the same as when I applied. Help!

[HighFlierNowWaiting]

DD is unsure about which subject to take at Uni. Like. She literally cannot decide, despite doing serious thinking on this for the past year.

When I applied to UCAS (several decades ago!), you put your five Uni choices in at the same time, same form. It had to be the same form/same time because the application was on paper.

I understand that you can now apply one Uni at a time, see their response, and then apply to another, and so on (assuming the Uni doesn't wait till the deadline in ?April).

Is it therefore possible to apply to University 1 for say Chemistry, change the personal statement, and apply to University 2 for Biology? Or once done, can the personal statement not be amended, even if you apply to different places over the course of several months?

TIA

Afaik you have to apply for all 5 at the same time on the same form still. I look at applications for a popular course and every year I see loads of personal statements where they re obviously applying for two different courses and have tried to hedge their bets on the PS by not mentioning the name of the course/career. They all get rejected.

I think there is something where if you don’t get any offers from your original choices you can add some more but I may have dreamt that.

Her school should be advising her for stuff like this. If she’s really unsure about subject though maybe she needs a year out?

Her school has a new careers advisor this year. I assume they are qualified etc, but DD hasn't been impressed so far.

DD is likely to take a gap year (we have family abroad so she intends to travel a bit and then stay with them - and work!). Ideally though, she'd like to get her Uni placed settled this year.

I have suggested she contact UCAS direct to ask the question, but thought I would try here first.

Darn if that is the case!

You can't really wait to see the first university's response, because some are very late in getting out their offers. I think there's an option to submit applications for additional courses if you didn't use up all the spaces on the form in your original application, but that doesn't allow for an entirely new application.

Hmm, this sounds interesting.

DD definitely needs to get it form the horse's mouth via UCAS doesn't she!

It might be ucas extra you’re thinking of www.swansea.ac.uk/undergraduate/what-is-ucas-extra-your-comprehensive-guide/

DD definitely needs to get it form the horse's mouth via UCAS doesn't she!

It is all there in the one place...

5. Select your course choicesYou can choose up to five courses (all now or some later). There’s no preference order and your universities/colleges won’t see where else you’ve applied until after you reply to any offers you get.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/filling-your-ucas-undergraduate-application

You absolutely do not have to apply for all 5 at the same time. You can apply for between 1 and 5.

It will however be the same personal statement which is submitted at the time you first submit. There is a charge for one uni or a slightly higher charge for two-five. If you apply for just one initially then you are charged the top up fee when you submit a second. Often it is therefore easier to put two choices when first submitting. The additional choices are added in by just logging in to the application.

Universities will generally not accept a different personal statement. However Durham does for a different subject and within a tight time schedule which they will advise you of.

The ps stays the same throughout. You can add up to five choices by January or additional ones later if no offers.

UCAS Extra is a different thing entirely and is used when a student either holds no offers because they have been rejected or if the student withdraws their application. If a student applies to any university after the equal consideration date (25 January 2023) they should check with the university that they are prepared to consider late applicants.

It was called an UCCA form when I applied. Showing my age now...

My daughter applied to four for vet med. couldn’t decide on her fifth choice at all, so left it blank. She then changed her mind and applied for a fifth completely unrelated course. She rang the fifth uni admissions, said she’d made a mistake and would they consider her. They asked her to email them a new personal statement. She received an offer the next working day.

PP is correct. You don’t have to put all choices down at once you can add them as and when (although you should add all five choices before the January deadline and it’s not recommended to add one then wait for responses because there’s no guarantee on response times - unis get till May)

It’s one personal statement for all five choices although you could call individual unis and ask if they’ll accept a different or supplementary personal statement. They aren’t required to though.