An American Student’s Guide to UCAS

If, as an American student, you decide to study in the UK, you will almost undoubtedly encounter the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) application. It’s essentially the British version of the Common App. It’s pretty straightforward, but it’s not written for international students. Differences in terminology and some parts of the application can make the UCAS difficult and confusing to complete. In this post, I hope to walk you through UCAS so you have an easier time completing it than I did. (It might be easier to understand some of this post if you can see the UCAS application.)

There are eight sections to complete in the UCAS: Personal details, Student finance, Choices, Education, Employment, Statement, Reference, and View all details. Some of these sections are simpler, while others are more difficult and/or confusing. The main sections I’ll try to address are Choices, Education, Statement, and Reference.

In addition to some of the more challenging sections, I’ll also mention offers, visas, and general advice I wish I’d known when I completed the UCAS application.

Choices

You can have up to 5 “choices” on the UCAS application. This means that you can apply to up to 5 majors (courses)/ entries. In other words, you cannot apply to as many UK schools as you want. You must know what your top universities are.

When you add a university, the UCAS will ask for an institution code. If you select the “see list” button, you will be given the option to search for your intended university, and you can select it from here. You can also do this for the course code and start date.

I recommend using the “see list” button for the campus code, though you can use the university’s website to confirm your choice, especially if there are multiple campus options.

Most students will be applying as freshmen, so you can probably ignore the “Point of Entry” box. You can refer to the help button and the university’s website (or contact the university) to confirm this if you want.

Education

This section can be extremely difficult to complete because of differences in British and American English. Once you know what you are including in this section, it is relatively simple to complete.

Include your high school and, if you are dual-enrolled, include the college/university you are attending.
Unless you will have a Bachelor’s degree or higher before you start attending college in the UK, you will have “Below honours degree level qualifications.”

Qualifications:

  • List all of your 11th and 12th grade courses as qualifications. You will need to search for “Other (International Non-EU Qualifications).”
  • List all SAT, ACT, SAT Subject, IB, and AP scores you have and/or will have. Please note that the individual sections of the SAT (Evidence-based reading and writing, Mathematics, and Essay) will be split up, so you will need to count them as individual qualifications. The ACT may work like that as well, but I do not know for sure (I never took the ACT).
  • If you do not have a grade or score yet, either leave the box blank, or, if there is a drop-down menu, select “pending” so universities know that you do not have these scores yet, but that they can expect them.

Personal Statement

The Personal Statement is the UCAS essay. You will have a maximum of 47 lines or 4,000 characters to explain what you want to study and why, why you are suitable/qualified for the course you want to study, why you want to study outside your home country (and why you chose the UK), and any other relevant information. Here are some suggestions for writing your Personal Statement:

  • Get straight to the point. Don’t waste time with an introduction; start your essay by explaining what you want to study and why.
  • All the universities you are applying to will see this essay, so avoid mentioning any by name.
  • Do not use quotes in your essay. Universities want your statement to be entirely your original work.
  • Check course pages on university websites to see what kind of qualifications they might be looking for, what skills you should have, and what types of assignments you will have (e.g. research papers). This information can help you figure out what to emphasize in your statement.
  • Do not mention extracurricular activities unless you learned a valuable and relevant skill from it or can tie it back to the course you want to study. UK universities are not necessarily looking for well-rounded students; they are looking for students who meet academic entry requirements and who possess the skills necessary to succeed in their universities. For example, you might be very passionate about music, but unless you learned a valuable skill from it (e.g. time-management, dedication, responsibility) or you are planning to study music, do not mention it.
  • Explain why you want to study outside the U.S., and, more specifically, why you have chosen to study in the UK.
  • Do not end your statement with an exact rephrasing of your introduction or key points in your essay. You can restate, but do not use phrases and/or sentences you have already used. You could also use the conclusion to mention what you want to use your degree for after you graduate, if you have not already mentioned this in your essay.

Reference

While this might seem simple and straightforward, there are some important differences between getting a reference for an American university and getting a reference for a British university.

The UCAS application asks for a “referee,” which is different than a reference. For this application, you can have more than one reference, but you can only have one reference letter. A referee is someone who will compile your reference letters into one letter and send it to UCAS.

When choosing your reference(s), you will want to choose the most relevant possible references. For example, if you want to study psychology and you have taken/are taking psychology, ask your psychology teacher to be a reference. If you want to study chemistry, ask your chemistry teacher, and so on. It may be helpful to use an English or composition teacher as a reference to testify to your knowledge of and experience with English. For a STEM major, a math teacher may also be helpful.

Once you have chosen your reference(s) and referee and have received their permission to use them for this application, you will initiate contact between your reference(s) and referee so your reference(s) can send their letter(s) to your referee to compile. You will fill in the Reference section of the UCAS with your referee’s information and have the UCAS send your referee a request for a reference letter (it will be on the bottom of the section once you have completed it).

You cannot mark the Reference section as complete until you have marked the Education section as complete and your reference letter has been turned in. You cannot submit the application until all sections have been marked as complete.

Offers

Congratulations! You application has been submitted, and now it’s time to wait for responses. The waiting is agonizing. It feels like an eternity before you’ll start getting responses, and you won’t get them all at once.

In the U.S., you are either accepted or rejected from a college after you apply. In the UK, however, you could receive an unconditional offer, a conditional offer, or you could be rejected.

  • An unconditional offer means that you have gotten into the university, no strings attached.
  • A conditional offer means that you must meet certain conditions before receiving an unconditional offer. This could be something as simple as sending in scores or grades you didn’t have when you applied. Once you have met the university’s conditions and submitted all necessary materials, you will (most likely) receive an unconditional offer.

Visas

In order to attend a British university, you must have a visa, typically a Student Visa (formerly a Tier 4 (General) student visa). You must have an unconditional offer at a university in order to apply for this visa.

I recommend researching the Student Visa. I don’t really know how best to explain the visa process. Research it before you accept an offer, because you may need to meet financial requirements (e.g. prove you can afford tuition and living costs) before receiving your visa. This is unlikely coming from the U.S., but it’s better to be sure.

With this visa, you are legally allowed to study in the UK, and you may work up to 20 hours a week (depending on the university you will be attending).

What I Wish I’d Known

There are very few resources available to assist American students interested in attending a university abroad. This made figuring out the UCAS, my qualifications, and university entry requirements a challenging and slightly frustrating learning curve. Here are some of the key things I wish I had known before starting the application process:

  • Dual enrollment is an amazing option if you plan to attend college in the U.S., but most UK universities will not accept these classes in place of AP or SAT Subject Tests. Some universities are now considering accepting dual enrollment courses as a substitute for AP, but AP is your best option, especially now that SAT Subject Tests have been discontinued.
  • UK universities do not care about who you are or what you do outside of the classroom. Unless an activity you participated in taught you something relevant to the degree you are interested in, they do not want to know about it. They are academically oriented.
  • US college credits cannot transfer to a UK university because they have no common curriculum.
  • Apply by the UK deadline, NOT the international deadline. This will ensure that you receive an offer by the end of March, in time to make decisions regarding U.S. colleges in addition to UK universities. Some programs (e.g. medicine) have a much earlier deadline.
  • If possible, start considering UK universities early (around 10th grade) so you have time to take AP and any other required tests without additional stress.
  • If you are planning to attend an information session or a similar event (which I recommend), keep in mind that the UK is 4-6 hours ahead of Eastern Time (usually 5, but time change doesn’t line up, so there are a few weeks of the year where it is 4 or 6).
  • If you have any questions after checking university websites, contact the university. This is the best way to get answers and avoid working with false or incomplete information.

Hopefully you’ll find this helpful. Attending college/university in the UK is a great experience, completely worth figuring out the application. I’m including some (unsponsored) links to further information. I found these extremely helpful, especially for completing the UCAS.

Remi Rose

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