University entry 2027, open days, UCAS applications, portfolios ...

[Issy422]

It seems a bit early, but with exams almost over and open days starting, I thought I'd start a thread for 2027 university entry. Join us whether you are highly experienced in all matters UCAS and happy to share your knowledge, a first-time university parent like me ready to receive all that wisdom or anywhere in between.

In my case, I went to university in Wales a long time ago, doing a subject that couldn't be further from DDs intentions, so feeling more than a little clueless about the whole thing. DD looking at either music (musical theatre or vocal performance) or design, so we'll have auditions, UCAS conservatoire and portfolio to consider as well.

ECA open day on Monday is the first for us, missing the first day of S6 and quietly hoping the induction morning is a repeat of last year and DD isn't missing any hugely important information.

We've decided not to do DJCAD S5/6 taster day on 10th as it would mean another long journey and two days off school so soon afterwards. Hoping there is another in the autumn.

Anyone in the know wanting to chip in with a brief summary of all things applying to university in Scotland would be most appreciated.

We’re going to the Edinburgh open day next weekend. I wondered if it would be cancelled in light of the forthcoming 5 week staff strike but it appears to be going ahead. We’re also going to the Strathclyde uni one on 3rd October. My DS is interested in Law with Spanish LLB which will be a challenge I’m sure.
@Issy422just reading your post. What does ‘GSA’ and ‘ACES’ mean? I think our postcode counts under the Urban Rural Classification criteria but according to ChatGPT this is only applicable to Strathclyde uni law applications.

I did a postgrad at York @YouBelongWithMe , back in the mid-90s.

@shopaholicanon GSA is Glasgow School of Art and ACES is Access to Creative Education in Scotland. It's run by a different university depending where you live. Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Robert Gordon. It's for Art, Design and Architecture. The criteria list is at www.dundee.ac.uk/aces

Thanks @Issy422
I’ve just checked the Strathclyde uni minimum entrance requirements and our postcode doesn’t actually qualify for the Rural thing. AI was wrong!

You may not be wrong. There are two postcode things to check. One is for SIMD, which is about deprivation and the other is to do with rurality. The Dundee page has a link to an Excel spreadsheet for the latter. 8 is under 3000 population and 60 mins from somewhere with 10000 and 7 is 30 mins from 10,000.

It was a big day for open days yesterday with Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh campus), Napier, QMU and UWS (Lanarkshire campus).

We did Napier. They only have three design programmes, Graphics, Interior & Spatial and Product. DD liked the Graphics course, but ruled out the other two as leaning too much towards technical/engineering over creative. With that in mind, it doesn't really have the creative hub feel that other places with more design courses would have. It wasn't a surprise, but DD liked the Creative Thinking course (accredited by Napier) so much at school, she wanted to give Napier a chance.

We saw the Bainfield accommodation. It was tower blocks around a square housing lots of flats of 4-8 rooms, very similar to Dundee, but off-campus and newer. They try to house students from different courses in each flat. Very expensive at £200pw for the cheapest rooms. Directly opposite a cinema and lots of restaurants too, so difficult to live cheaply with temptation on the doorstep.

DD not quite ready to rule it out as an option, but definitely gone to the bottom of the list.

How did everyone else get on?

My dd went to Edinburgh yesterday, she’s only 5th year but we wanted to get seeing places early as she isn’t sure where she wants to go. She really liked the campus and the course. I’m a bit taken aback at the cost of halls, I went to a uni in edin (granted 20 years ago) but halls were £3k for the 1st year catered and now it seems it’s £13k!! She went to the Stirling open day last week but I think she’s ruled it out as the course wasn’t exactly what she was looking for.

DD went to Dundee yesterday with her friends, she seems quite keen.
She’s going to Stirling on the 24th.

I think going to open days in S5 is very wise and wish we'd done some last year now. It would have helped DD in choosing a specialism and then related coursework for S5 and S6.

I think Dundee is at the top of DD's list because it's a general foundation year, so she can delay choosing her specialism. We did a brief campus tour in April and the accommodation was a bit dated, but it's a lot cheaper for accommodation once they leave halls than bigger cities. We're going to the open day at the end of October.

DD could travel to Dundee, which I think she’d prefer and since DD1 has just started 1st year at the very expensive Glasgow Uni it would be a much cheaper option!

We did Napier on Saturday and Stirling the week before DD has already been edinburgh and glasgow open days. Her first choice is Edinburgh but if she doesn't get edinburgh she's quite happy with any of the others. She's staying at home but we are quite central for commuting to them all.