UCAS = FAIL

Doonhamer · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:30

G-MAN2004 said:
Weather is a bit terrible lately up there.

Just a bit. The fact police tell us not to travel unless its life or death( there words not mine) says it all really.

RDM · 7 Jan 2010 at 19:07

Butterworth said:
Yeah theirs definately the option to apply as a Non-Ucas applicant as theirs a section about it in the back of the Welcome Guide i got from UCLAN earlier in the week , dont have the guide to hand but im sure it roughly mentions that if you dont have the relevant UCAS points but are a mature student and can provide the required proof of valid life experiances / portfolio of projects you will be offered an interview etc - Pretty sure thats what they mean by the "unspoken requirements" you meantion

I would also suggest that if you are going to try and apply outside of UCAS do it very quickly, if they turn around and say "You must apply via UCAS" as one university did with me then you only have a very short period of time before the UCAS deadline for 2010.

PGdude · 7 Jan 2010 at 19:17

I did my UCAS application online, as did all my friends. No problems with that. It was pretty simple, bar the odd confusing bit here and there. You still have until the 15th of this month to complete your application. £20 is a small price to pay to go to university.

TFleming · 7 Jan 2010 at 19:44

Your going to uni man, they aint going to ask you not to do anything and give you a place straight away. The statement isn't going to UCAS, it gets sent to the unis. UCAS is just a middle man who deals with communication between you and the uni. They dont do that for free obviously.

All my mates did it this year with no problems.

britboy4321 · 7 Jan 2010 at 19:46

I didnt bother with UCAS I just wrote to the universitys asking for a course, and got one.

Massive misconception that UCAS is required at all ..

Strife212 · 7 Jan 2010 at 19:47

Macky said:
Wow this does sound like absolute Fully star out swear words!. Was tempted to say Cool story, bro. But this actually does sound absolutely crap..

This is just the standard procedure, if you want to go to uni you have to do it, everyone does.

sniffy · 7 Jan 2010 at 20:17

UCAS and the whole procedure is pretty lame.

The thing that annoys me the most is their point-scoring system. Why on earth is an A in Maths worth the same amount of UCAS points as an A in, say, Media Studies? I appreciate that people excel in different areas but cmon...

Hxc · 7 Jan 2010 at 20:22

sniffy said:
UCAS and the whole procedure is pretty lame.

The thing that annoys me the most is their point-scoring system. Why on earth is an A in Maths worth the same amount of UCAS points as an A in, say, Media Studies? I appreciate that people excel in different areas but cmon...

The only universities that care about points are those which people who get As in maths should not be applying to, quite frankly.

sniffy · 7 Jan 2010 at 20:23

I wasn't aware some universities ignored them. That's good!

Hxc · 7 Jan 2010 at 20:25

Good unis care about grades in specific subjects. Pretty much all of the unis I am applying for are gonna want AAB or AAA with certain results in certain subjects. Only unis of a er, "lesser calibur" will say xxx points however you get them we don't mind etc.

sniffy · 7 Jan 2010 at 20:32

Well even the "lesser" universities I looked into asked for grade minimums. I don't think that means universities that make such requests disregard UCAS points entirely.

Keltik THC · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:09

Doonhamer said:
I'm in the second year of that course. You need to speak to Tim Musson. He is a decent guy but he is snowed under so you may need to keep on top of it and phone him rather than the other way around.

that's the guy i've already spoken to who advised me to apply through UCAS, although i didn't question him on it. I will try and get ahold of him when he returns.

Application deadline is the 15th lol, so i left this all a bit late. I had filled in most of my application in like July last year just never got round to finalising it until today as im snowed in and i have no other responsibilities to deal with.

If i don't go to Uni until 2011 i guess it gives me a bit more time to earn some more cash for Uni, I'm still in a good paying job at the moment and to tell you the truth its a bit of a leap of faith quitting and going back to Uni full time but im going to do it hopefully whether i get my application in for this year on time or next.

thanks again for some of the advice guys.

Doonhamer · 7 Jan 2010 at 22:02

What are you doing now and how old are you?

Any questions feel free to hit me up on here.

steve-h · 10 Jan 2010 at 09:17

roboffer said:
And your chosen University was obviously better off without you. If you cant be bothered to fill in one form it doesn't say much for your drive or desire to actually study your chosen subject does it?

Doesn't go for everyone that... I'm about to start filling it out and I really can't be bothered. I'm already studying my subject and have been for a few years now, tons of drive

Indy500 · 10 Jan 2010 at 09:25

Never used UCAS for my own application, although the university decided to place my details on the system for fee checking purposes (non-EU nationals pay a much higher rate).

BennyC · 10 Jan 2010 at 10:08

Pay the £20 it's not that much money.

Speak to the leader of your course and go for an interview with him. This is what I did as I wasn't going to make the grades required and the resulting points total. He explained as my course is practical (BA in Furniture) the academic points system doesn't apply and was just listed because it needed to be. I showed him some of my GCSE & A Level work and he said ,providing I got reasonable grades, I was on and that he was happy to have me.

The offer changed to an unconiditonal the night before results were released. UCAS do 'clearing'. They don't just rob you and leave you to it.

UCAS is just a formality, contact the course leader.