Transcript Slide 1
GOING TO UNIVERSITY
QUESTIONS
Why go?
What will I do?
How much will it cost?
Which course?
What qualifications do I need?
Which university?
How do I apply?
What happens next?
WHY GO?
Employers like graduates (transferable skills)
Graduates are less likely to be unemployed than non
graduates
2009, average starting salaries for graduates around
£27,000
Graduates earn, on average, 20-25% more
(£130,000) over their working lives than those with 2
or more A Levels
Gain independence
Chance to live away from home
Make new friends, enjoy new experiences
WHAT WILL I DO?
Undergraduate Degree Course
Completed in 3 - 4 years
Single or Combined subjects
Sandwich course combines 1 year’s work
placement with 3 year’s study
BA – Bachelor of Arts
(Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts)
BSc – Bachelor of Science
(Science, Technology, Business)
Foundation Degree Course – vocationally inclined, 1
or 2 years
HND – Higher National Diploma 2 years
What will it cost? Tuition Fees
The maximum fee payable for 2010/2011 is £3290 unless
you are studying at a private institution
The Tuition Fees Loan is not means tested
You must be eligible for financial support
You will not have to pay anything upfront
The payment of the fees will be made directly to the
University/College by the Student Loans Company
There will be a report out later this year which will advise
the Government on fees; they may well go UP!
Maintenance Grant 2010 / 11
Household
Income
Maintenance
Grant
£25000 or
less
£2906
Between
Partial grant
£25000 and
£50020
More than
£50020
No grant
Maintenance Loans 2010 / 11
Full Year Student
Loan
Parental Home
Up to £3838
London
Up to £6928
Elsewhere
Up to £4950
Overseas for at least one
academic term
Up to £5895
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
(For a typical 3 year degree)
HE Grant
£0
Bursary
£0
Student Loan
(elsewhere rate)
£14,850
Tuition fee Loan
£9,870
TOTAL
£24,720
AAAAAGH! TOO MUCH – HOW WILL I PAY IT BACK?
Repayments are based on how much you earn, not
how much you owe
Repayment is calculated using a formula:
Salary minus £15,000 (x9%) = Annual Repayment
Eg £16,000 salary, minus £15,000 (x9%) = £1,000 x
9% = £90 pa = £7.50 per month
PAYING IT BACK
Earn under £15,000 = no repayments
Earn £20,000, repayments = around £37.50 per
month
Earn £25,000, repayments = around £75.00 per
month
Earn £50,000, repayments = around £262.50 per
month
From 2011, graduates will be able to have payment
breaks totalling up to 5 years without repayment
Any debt not repaid after 25 years will be written off!
SETTING THE SCENE
327
325 Universities / Colleges
50,000+ courses
APPLICANT FIGURES FOR 2010 ENTRY
Total Applicants
570,566 (up 22.9% on 2009)
Number of places on offer
(approx)
350,000
So, 38.66% of all applications were REJECTED
Source UCAS final figures for 2009 entry and 2010 application, www.ucas.ac.uk
Top 10 subjects by application January 2010
Nursing
94,644
Psychology
87,590
Law by Area
83,567
Design studies
82,521
Pre-clinical Medicine
80,894
English studies
58,232
Management studies
57,580
Combinations within Business &
Admin Studies
53,003
Training Teachers
52,871
Social Work
52,238
WHERE DO I GO?
Close to home?
Away from home?
In the city?
In the country?
Near the coast?
HOW DO I CHOOSE?
Visit open days
Taster days
Talk to students
Choose 5-10 and find out more
UCAS convention
WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR?
Campus / Non-campus
Do you like the area?
Reputation – league tables
Accommodation
Cost
Self catering
Catered
En-suite
Broadband
University or privately rented
Study facilities – IT / Library
Sports & Social
Make an informed choice
WHICH COURSE? WHICH UNIVERSITY? WHAT
QUALIFICATIONS DO I NEED? HOW DO I
APPLY?
Gaining a place at university or college has two stages:
Research
Self presentation (i.e. the UCAS application)
THINK ABOUT
What do you enjoy in school/outside
List your possible careers
Discuss Options
Research your interests
Does your potential career choice require any specific
qualifications?
Paper based research
2011 Checklist
2011 Big Guide
UCAS subject guides
ELECTRONIC RESEARCH
www.unistats.com
Compare entry requirements and other
information for different subjects and institutions
Read what over 177,000 students felt about the
quality of their time at university
Find out what sort of jobs
graduates are doing 6 months
after leaving their course
Electronic research
UCAS website can help with:
Links to HE websites
Stamford Test
Course Search
Entry Profiles
Bursary and Scholarship Comparator
Entry Requirements
www.ucas.com
THE UCAS WEBSITE
WHICH COURSE?
1
2
HOW MANY COURSES CAN I APPLY FOR?
5
Courses
Invisibility of choices
1
Personal statement
4000
Characters long
ARE ALL UNIVERSITIES THE SAME?
Red Brick – older, established universities
New – formed from the old Polytechnics
Russell Group – 20 research-intensive universities
(some red-brick, some new):
Birmingham LSE
Bristol
Manchester
Cambridge Newcastle
Cardiff
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Queen’s Belfast
Glasgow
Oxford
Imperial
Sheffield
King’s
Southampton
Leeds
UCL
Liverpool
Warwick
Russell Group – Aims and Objectives:
•
•
•
•
•
inspiring the best undergraduate and training the best postgraduate and
postdoctoral workers to create the next generation of innovators and
leaders
maintaining and developing through their strategic planning processes,
research teams, research facilities and scholarly resources capable of
matching the very best competition internationally
directing research resources to wherever particular research work can be
best undertaken to the highest international standards
focus for best research, including the commercialisation of research ideas
and innovations
taking a central role in the development of UK policy and development,
through commissioning research and public analysis of the very highest
quality.
COMPARISONS – BUSINESS DEGREES
UNIVERSITY
OFFER
Anglia Ruskin
160
Bournemouth
320
Canterbury
200
Edinburgh
300
Leeds
AAB
Liverpool
ABB
Manchester
AAB-ABB
Northampton
220
Warwick
AABb
MAKING YOUR CHOICES
You apply on-line via www.ucas.ac.uk for up to 5
courses
Cost:
£11 to apply for 1 course
£21 to apply for 2 – 5 courses
You don’t have to apply for them all at the same
time
Pay on-line by card
WHAT ARE ADMISSIONS TUTORS LOOKING FOR?
Independent learning skills
Motivation and commitment
A realistic understanding of what the course entails
Good numeracy and literacy
Essay writing and research skills
Time management skills
Enthusiasm to learn and to go beyond the syllabus
Potential for success on the chosen course
WHAT EVIDENCE DO ADMISSIONS TUTORS USE?
GCSE results
AS results
Other academic and vocational attainment
Predicted grades
Personal Statement
Reference
Admissions tests
Piece of written work
Portfolio
Interview
Audition
PERSONAL STATEMENT
MUST be personal – UCAS now uses software to detect
plagiarism
Hit them hard with why you’re interested in the course
Show enthusiasm
Let them know what you’ve learned from your work
shadowing / community service / academic studies
Show your commitment to study and voluntary work
Possibly outline your career aspirations
4000 characters, including spaces
Spelling, punctuation and grammar must be PERFECT!
Attend the sessions on personal
statement writing
ADMISSIONS TESTS
Applying for Medicine / Dentistry / Veterinary
Medicine / Law / OXBRIDGE?
Chances are, you’ll have to take an
additional test.
Transparent selection process
Admissions tests:
UniTest
UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT)
Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT)
Medical School Admissions Test (MSAT)
National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT)
Oxbridge Tests:
History Aptitude Test (HAT)
Modern & Medieval Languages Test (MML)
Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Sixth Term Examination Papers (STEP)
ADMISSIONS TESTS – WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY
TAKE THEM?
Cognitive ability tests (verbal reasoning, numeric
reasoning, abstract reasoning, decision making)
Knowledge tests – supposed to be GCSE level, but
need to be able to reason with the knowledge
Writing ability tests
Examination supplements
Attitude and personality tests
To enable universities to choose more reliably
between highly qualified applicants
To ensure that selected candidates have the mental
abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours
required for success
BMAT – THE BIOMEDICAL ADMISSIONS TEST
University of Cambridge
A100 Medicine
A101 Graduate Course in Medicine
D100 Veterinary Medicine
Imperial College London
A100 Medicine
University of Oxford Medical School
A100 Medicine
B100 Physiological Sciences
Royal Veterinary College
D100 Veterinary Medicine
D101 Combined Degree Programme
University College London
A100 Medicine
UKCAT – THE UK CLINICAL APTITUDE TEST
Consortium of 26 Medical and Dental Schools:
Aberdeen
Leicester
Brighton & Sussex
Manchester
Cardiff
Newcastle
Dundee
Nottingham
Durham
Oxford
East Anglia
Peninsula
Edinburgh
Queen Mary
Glasgow
Sheffield
Hull York
Southampton
Keele
St Andrew’s
Kings
St George’s
Imperial
Warwick
Leeds
Queen’s Belfast
LNAT – NATIONAL ADMISSIONS TEST FOR LAW
Used by:
Birmingham
Bristol
Cambridge
Durham
Exeter
Glasgow
King’s
Nottingham
Oxford
UCL
HOW DO I TAKE THEM?
There are 365 testing centres around the UK
You go to them
BMAT advertises cost as £32.10
You’ll pay a test centre £62 to take BMAT
£60 UKCAT
£40 LNAT
It’s YOUR responsibility to organise!
FURTHER INFORMATION
Go to www.spa.ac.uk/admission-tests/ for up to date
information on the tests being used and links to
individual websites
Practice materials can be found on all the main
admission test websites eg:
www.ukcat.ac.uk
www.bmat.ac.uk
www.lnat.ac.uk
FAILURE TO REGISTER FOR AND TAKE A TEST
MAY RESULT IN AN UNSUCCESSFUL
APPLICATION TO YOUR CHOSEN UNIVERSITY
OFFERS
“…and they want me to get 280
points including a ‘B’ in Physics,
excluding General Studies and
with not more than 60 points
coming from a 3 unit
qualification…”
Conditional points score offers
Conditional offers based on total for post-16 programme
unless specifically excluded:
UCAS Tariff
e.g. 320 points
or
Exam grades (level / qualification)
e.g. ABB at A level
or
Combination of both
e.g. 320 points including grade A in English
UCAS TARIFF – A LEVELS
AS GRADE
UCAS
POINTS
A2 GRADE
UCAS
POINTS
A*
70
A*
140
A
60
A
120
B
50
B
100
C
40
C
80
D
30
D
60
E
20
E
40
UCAS TARIFF – INSTITUTE OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
CeFS
UCAS
POINTS
DipFS
UCAS
POINTS
A
60
A
60
B
50
B
50
C
40
C
50
D
30
D
30
E
20
E
20
HOW DO I WORK IT OUT?
EG:
A Level English Grade B
= 100 points
= 100 points
= 60 points
= 60 points
= 40 points
A Level Business Grade B
DipFS Grade A
CeFS Grade A
Extended Project Grade C
Total Points
= 360 points
FIRM AND INSURANCE CHOICES
From your offers:
Choose one as a firm acceptance
Choose one with slightly lower grades as an
insurance
DON’T choose an insurance offer with higher
grades than your firm choice!
IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE SURE THAT YOU WANT
TO GO THERE! THIS CONSTITUTES A CONTRACT
– IF YOU GET THE GRADES FOR YOUR FIRST
CHOICE, YOU GO THERE, IF YOU DON’T GET
THOSE GRADES, BUT GET THE GRADES FOR
YOUR INSURANCE PLACE, YOU GO THERE!
WHAT DO I DO NOW?
THOROUGH research into courses / universities
Draft a personal statement
Make an appointment to meet your mentor or a
member of the Sixth Form team
Begin completion of your on-line application
When you are happy with this, send to referee
Investigate whether or not you need to register for
additional tests – it’s your responsibility to do this
Track progress of your application using UCAS Track
DEADLINES
Check LNAT, BMAT, UKCAT websites for deadlines
for entry and testing
OXBRIDGE applications MUST be received by UCAS
by 15 October 2010
All other UCAS applications MUST be received by
UCAS by 15 January 2011
THAT MEANS:
OXBRIDGE APPLICATIONS TO REFEREE BY
1 OCTOBER 2010
ALL OTHER APPLICATIONS TO REFEREE BY
15 DECEMBER 2010
AIM TO HAVE YOUR APPLICATIONS TO
REFEREE BY AUTUMN HALF TERM TO GIVE
YOURSELVES AN ADVANTAGE
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.ucas.ac.uk
www.lnat.ac.uk
www.bmat.ac.uk
www.ukcat.ac.uk
www.unistats.com
www.hotcourses.com
www.foundationdegree.org.uk
www.stepmathematics.org.uk
www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk
THIS PRESENTATION IS AVAILABLE VIA THE
SCHOOL WEBSITE
Questions