The five steps of a uni application

1. Choose your course and five uni options

Before you even start thinking about writing your application, you need to decide what and where you’ll study, so it’s time to do some research. Whether you have all clue or no clue what you want, Here on Whatuni we have everything you need for this part, just saying

Feeling indecisive? The good news is you can apply for up to five universities, and don’t be scared to apply to the maximum number either.  You don’t need to have completely made your mind up at this point, just having a general idea is enough.

2. Write your application

When you’ve done this, it’s time to write your personal statement, aka your uni application.

You'll have three questions that you need to answer, and you've got 4,000 characters to do this with. The three questions are...

• Why do you want to study this course or subject?

• How have your qualifications or studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

• What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Now, it’s worth knowing that you can’t write specific personal statements for each university – the same one goes to all your options.  So don’t mention specific course names or universities. You want to make sure each admissions team think you only really want to go to their university!

Remember, you only have 4,000 characters to answer all three questions. So be clear, concise and relevant.

3. Get someone to check it

Finished? Don’t hit send just yet!

While your personal statement is likely to be a literary masterpiece, there’s no harm in asking someone to check it over before you send it off. Whether it’s a teacher, your folks, or the person who sits next to you in class who you copy notes from, the more eyes that see it, the better.

4. Send it via UCAS

Happy? Then it’s time to head to the UCAS website.

Find your course and university on the site, and complete the relevant forms. There will be several sections to fill out, but these will be very self-explanatory so shouldn’t take too long to fill out, and will be easy compared to what you’ve just had to go through writing your personal statement.

Quick tip, make sure you save sections as you go along. There’s nothing worse than spending ages filling out forms only for your computer to crash and for you to have to start all over again!

Then, click the final submit button, sit back and feel smug that you’ve not missed the deadline.

5. Wait

That’s it. You’re done. Just sit back and wait for those uni offers to come in….