UCAS help!

[Hapagirl48]

Hi everyone. I applied through UCAS a million years ago and only applied for History because I loved it and knew I wanted to do it. All very straight forward. My DD doesn't really know what to do, has an idea but wants to apply for two wildly differing courses. Either a healthcare vocational degree (think nursing / PT/ OT type thing) or a purely academic degree (think History, Geography, English type thing). She'll be good at both and has a part time job as a carer. Anyway, school are very much advising against it as you can only write one Personal Statement and telling her to choose one or the other. Should we follow their advice or should she just go for it and see what she gets? I can understand not knowing what to do at 17... Thanks for reading.

My advice may be totally out of date, there are plenty of knowledgeable posters who'll be along to help I imagine but I would listen to the school. It would be very difficult to convey in your PS the love you have for the subject you're applying for if you can't even mention the subject in there because you're applying for wildly different courses. You can't talk about a passion for healthcare when also applying for English or Geography, and vice versa an aptitude for 19th century literature when applying for health science etc. I think you'd end up so generic you'd miss on both counts.

I have, however, seen someone on here say their child wanted a specific course at a specific uni and if they didn't get in their backup was something very different. They spoke to their first choice uni and asked if they could submit separately a second personal statement directly to them. I imagine this isn't common though, and would depend on the university. If it's a popular course they've no need to be accommodating because they'll get plenty of great applicants who know exactly what course they want and can tailor their personal statement in that way.

I’m a midwifery lecturer and she wouldn’t get an interview unless her statement was 100% midwifery focused.

I'd normally say don't worry too much, but given one of her areas is healthcare she would need to have a tailored statement. So the school is right in that she should focus on one or the other - the choices are very different.

What subjects is she doing that qualifies for both healthcare and English/History though?

The school are the professionals. Why would you prefer the advice of people on Mumsnet unless they are in admissions in a uni?

Assuming DD will put a 3/2 split either way (forgetting about PS), then she could put the 3 in UCAS first (with the relevant PS), see what offers come in, then add the 2 later (and change the PS to suit those).

What if she got one offer on each 'type' (and had to firm one and insure the other) - pose the question to her now to see if she can choose between them.
Would be a stack better/easier to go for one subject.

With a split you obviously reduce the number of aspirational, target and safe options you can put down (especially for the '2' type).

Schools often get things wrong. And there are plenty of HE people on MN (two have already posted on this thread).

Because sometimes schools get their ucas advice really wrong.

I didn't think you could change or update your PS once sent to UCAS?

@fitforflight
IIRC, it has been on here before, that you can, but will await an expert/someone who has done it.

Edit - sorry, no you can't. But can send a version to Unis direct.
https://www.ucas.com/faqs/can-i-change-my-personal-statement

My dd originally applied for an allied healthcare degree and wrote her PS accordingly. She applied to 3 courses and after interviews had a change of heart. At that point she decided to apply for an English degree instead. She emailed the university she wanted to go to, had a very quick response from the lead tutor, emailed him back an alternative PS and was offered a place within day (she was applying post A level so had her results in her hand).

It's a longer, more complicated route but certainly do-able.

It would help if you could say which allied health profession course it is as I’d assume some are more cut throat than others. I know midwifery and paramedic science are inundated with applications.

I sometimes get emails from people saying they’ve applied for a different course but now want to apply for mine and can they submit a new statement directly to me but I always say no. Nursing where I am would say yes.

I think because nursing/ healthcare courses are generally so competitive she would need to jump one way or the other otherwise she is literally doing the opposite of demonstrating her commitment to being a nurse/OT etc.

Geography and History degrees are offered at the majority of universities. If I were her I'd apply for the vocational degree and then come August, if she's changed her mind, she should easily find a place at a decent uni through clearing for Geography or History.

Speak to the Universities. Some will let you submit a separate personal statement but it's very much dependant on which course/university. More likely if it's niche.

@Rocknrollstar there are several UCAS sixth form advisors on MN and who frequent these boards as well as uni admissions staff and uni academic staff. Sometimes teachers do get it very wrong when advising. The best thing about MN boards is that lots can add opinion and debate the merit of an opinion. Plus lots of us have supported our children through the application process and may have had several children go through. Some MNetters have had 5 or 8 children go through it.

The problem is even when being able to submit a completely different and more tailored personal statement it looks like you can't make up your mind and so are not as committed to your choice. Sometimes in the case that I think fit is mentioning the course was the only one in the country and the applicant was completely committed to that, I think it was something like rail network planning.

There can be times you can make the personal statement cover both options but it does depend how closely they are tied. Alternatively apply for one and wait and to see if any offers. If not apply with grades in hand for the other?

I teach a girl who has done this. The universities said she could send extra personal statements. So she wrote a nursing one, and then sent a separate history one to her other choice.

Hmmmm, I think the personal statement will be tricky. But it may also depend on her predicted & achievable grades and the kind of university she's aiming for. In subjects like Geography or History, it's likely she'll be offered a place at most of the middle-ranking universities.

The health-related degree may actually ask for a more specific and relevant personal statement, and an interview.

We don't see the other courses applied for on the UCAS form.

Does she need to go to university straight away? Her indecision might suggest she's not ready to, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to take a bit of time. It would be such a waste for her to make a decision, and then 6 months into whichever course she chooses, realising it's the wrong one ...

I have a student in a very similar position. In his case we know that some local universities do not look at personal statements for the course in a specific academic subject he is interested in. This had been mentioned at Open Day and then we confirmed by contacting a lecturer/course director.

Therefore the student has written a personal statement tailored to the AHP course, and has used 2 of the choices for courses in another academic subject. I do have another student in the same position, but we don’t know yet whether the PS will be looked at, so are trying to find out.

I agree with a previous poster that if the subject they want to do is something like History or Geography they should be able to get offers from somewhere for those.

She’ll need to make firm and insurance choices (assuming she gets offers) by early June, so you’re only buying a few more months decision time.

Most healthcare courses are competitive. If she wants to apply to those, generally she’d be best focusing her application and efforts there. Depending on the course, it’s not that uncommon to hear of solid applicants getting no offers, so realistically you’d be wanting to maximise your chances by using all five slots.

History (and other single subject non-vocational, non-Law) places are generally easier to come by, especially if you’re not chasing Oxbridge/very selective universities.

Has she had chance to visit many universities for either option? Is she leaning more one way or the other, is it a wobble or genuine 50/50 indecision?

My personal advice, for what it’s worth, would be to go for it with healthcare applications, and see how the offers go. If she doesn’t get offers, or decides the other subject is actually what she wants, then either go for something in clearing or reapply for the year after and take a gap year.

Thank you everyone. We are sitting down this weekend to hash it out. I'll show her this thread and its advice. The healthcare area she is considering is not very popular and quite specialised so I was thinking clearing / UCAS extra but I have to look into those options a bit more.
@titchy I should have mentioned in my OP that we are in Scotland and she is applying only to Scottish unis so she did 4 Highers last year with good grades and doing a mixture of Higher / Advanced Higher this year with good predictions. So she has a mix of social and science Highers.
@Rocknrollstar Sometimes I think her school advise on the easier option for them / what reflects better in their stats so I was seeking the objective advice of people who might have experienced similar either in a personal or professional capacity. This has kind of confirmed what they have said but also thrown up other possibilities / options so it was worth asking I think.
DD is genuinely interested it both areas and that's why it's a hard choice. I think she is worried about the future job market and pragmatically knows that the healthcare degree will pretty much guarantee a job but the other degree may not. Thanks again everyone.

Is the healthcare route available as a Masters - that could assuage her concerns about employability if she knew the option to train was still open?

I was wondering whether the healthcare option was one where funding is available as a second bachelors degree (but not sure whether that only applies in England / Wales?). If so, and she is genuinely torn, the logical way round would be to do the 'academic' subject as a first first degree?

I did nurse training first, then went to university later on to do something loosely relevant (the agency work available being a good way to supplement my grant), then a PGDip in something more relevant to the area of work I ended up in - but that was in the pre- nursing as all-graduate days.

She cannot change her personal statement. This is incorrect advice.

To The OP: if she was to apply for 4 healthcare but has good enough grades for Durham they will let you submit an entirely different personal statement if the course is substantially different to that covered by the UCAS statement.

@Spirallingdownwards
Yes, I did correct myself.

If it wasn't for NN DC1 would never even have got an interview at Uni. His school, at the time the best regarded 6th in the County was giving shocking advice.

I'm not saying that this is the case here, but it's not always best to blindly follow what the school say unquestioningly.

We are very fortunate in Scotland that we can get 5 years of uni free from tuition fees. Ds(19) is in 2nd year of his 5 year integrated masters in engineering, buses in on the free public buses for under 22s and hasn't a penny of debt (yet!)

Something to consider is not wasting that huge benefit if she is still unsure at this stage and had two widely different choices. Even though it is free it is a one off deal, 4-5 years of study is a huge commitment and if she picks the wrong course it could be very costly.

Health care imo is more of a vocation and you need to be 100% commited and driven it is what you want to do, is a gap year and doing some health care work experience a possibility?