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The "I'm applying to UCAS for 2012 entry" thread

Woo

I don't have anything relevant to say as of yet. Still haven't gotten the buzzword from my Sixth, shouldn't be too long from now though.

EDIT: Actually, I've thought of a question - I keep being told to choose at least one 'safe' option, and I do feel like this is a good idea... but how safe? How much lower should the grades required at the safe option be compared to my predicted/real grades?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 81

ByronicHero

20

Original post by Accalia

Woo

I don't have anything relevant to say as of yet. Still haven't gotten the buzzword from my Sixth, shouldn't be too long from now though.

EDIT: Actually, I've thought of a question - I keep being told to choose at least one 'safe' option, and I do feel like this is a good idea... but how safe? How much lower should the grades required at the safe option be compared to my predicted/real grades?

This is a judgement call you need to make really and is dependant on the general quality of institution you are applying to amongst other things. A few grades would be fine. My predictions were: A*AAA and the university requirements were: A*AA, AAA, AABb, AAB, ABB to give you my personal experience :smile:

good luck everyone!!

Original post by Accalia

Woo

I don't have anything relevant to say as of yet. Still haven't gotten the buzzword from my Sixth, shouldn't be too long from now though.

EDIT: Actually, I've thought of a question - I keep being told to choose at least one 'safe' option, and I do feel like this is a good idea... but how safe? How much lower should the grades required at the safe option be compared to my predicted/real grades?

I would of thought that a 'safe' option would be anything with grades lower than what you're predicted/achieved at AS (assuming your PS etc is good). But don't take this as gospel as I'm applying this year too. :colone:

The thing to remember though is to not waste a choice. Even if it's a safe option you should still ask yourself "if I get rejected from my other choices, would I be happy to spend 3(+) years of my life there?".

Reply 84

WhatYouKnow

We're getting the info to apply sometime this week! I'm excited but scared at the same time - anyone else remember being younger and thinking "wow, one day I'm going to go to university" and now we're months away from sending off our UCAS applications? It only seems like yesterday that I was in primary school :eek:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 85

ByronicHero

20

Hello,

I've only just seen this due to the lack of quote :smile:

Original post by carnationlilyrose

(In answer to Paddy Power - Didn't put the quote in. Sorry.)

I am very glad to hear it. The adolescent view that teachers are in some way 'out to get you' should really have been shed by the time a student is applying to university. I am unable to assign any meaning to 'many' other than that which seems to be held by the majority of dictionaries.

Indeed. The point here though is that you are assuming I believe those that are bad to be bad on purpose. I believe a vast majority of teachers do generally care and those that give poor advice give it because they believe it to be good. I understand your defensiveness I just don't feel it is entirely appropriate given the amount of assumptions you've made to arrive at your conclusion. Perhaps I would react with equal anger (I'm aware I am assuming the anger) in your position.

How many teachers do you come across? May I ask in what capacity?

I dare say I good deal less than yourself, but I did state that much of the experience is indirect. I am aware of the advice that was given to partners, friends and members of family for example. During my own application I was consulted because I knew the process better than the school. I know several teachers personally as well, if this was part of the question.

I have been a sixth form tutor for 23 years in 3 different schools and I have not found the 'unsatisfactory' quotient to be high. By all means encourage applicants to do their own research and not rely on what they are told, but I would expect some evidence for a student's view to be produced if it went against the bank of information that schools build up over many years' experience of the application process. Every year, my school processes in the region of 160 applications. We learn from the feedback every year. We see the patterns of acceptances/rejections and we use that to help the next year's cohort.

Excellent, I'm glad to hear it. I don't doubt every school attempts to do the same.

Why should we not be a reliable source of information?

I didn't say you aren't, I said you might not be and that in my experience some of you aren't. Some teachers, as well as most students (we are, unsurprisingly, far worse as a group in this respect), are heavily influenced by information promoted by the media which is often completely spurious.

It has led to some schools being so needlessly authoritarian with the process that it is clearly to the detriment of the student. I have a friend, for example, who was told they cannot apply for X university without Y grades. They were not told, as would have been considerably more appropriate, that applying there was a long shot and they may wish to consider somewhere else, they were told categorically that they can't. This is, as I'm sure you can agree, the height of fatuity. The only reasonable situation that would mitigate this was if the student wouldn't meet clearly set prerequisites but this wasn't the case. This is probably rare, but casue for concern all the same.

Why should we lie?

I didn't say you did.

In this era of accountability what earthly use would be served by our league tables taking a bashing by our students failing to get into the university of their choice? This is what I mean by life experience. There is hardly a subject or a university we have not had a student apply for over the years, and for the usual subjects and the popular universities we have had hundreds, and we work hard to use the knowledge acquired for the benefit of subsequent students.

Again, well done. I genuinely think this is excellent and the students are lucky to be at a school that takes such care to offer good advice. Experience is always more appropriate that assumptions. By now you've realised things that many schools haven't about the worth of extra curricular and why listing books is facile and this can only be to the benefit of your students. The sooner other schools catchup the better.

I don't think newspapers give valid account of everything but I certainly don't think this forum can claim the moral high ground in terms of accurate information either.

Well, morality was probably an ill-chosen word here but I agree that no single source can arrogate supremacy as a provider of broad advice about the process, what I encourage is people not to be quick to blindly accept the opinion of any source be that myself, other posters on here, teachers papers or other websites. We are the other side of the equation and our accumulated knowledge is also large. This doesn't automatically make us any better or worse but it makes us equally worth listening to and this is what I support - I support students taking advice from a wide range of sources and deciding for themselves what they want to do. My one sentence that sparked this obviously gave, at least to you, a misleading impression.

Teachers have a hard time of it. We cannot win, and it is pretty amazing that most of us don't just lie down and give in, but we don't. A great many of us do our best for our kids.

I'm sure you do; I think we have clarified by now that I didn't say anything to the contrary.

I am sorry that you have had the experience of many teachers letting you down. I think you have been very unlucky. I don't think it is right or fair to give the impression that a great many TSRians will have the same experience, because the result will be that the some of the more half-baked notions that pass for advice on this forum (and I specifically do not refer to you here) will gain credence and students will suffer.

I wouldn't so much say I was let down, as given reign to do my own research which has, in the long run, served me well. I've had some excellent teachers and the school, despite not having much knowledge of the process, was incredibly supportive in terms of facilitating exams, paying for me to attend interviews and all manner of things. This is why I wish to stress the difference between a statement saying that teachers purposefully offer poor advice, or one implying they don't care, and one saying that they, for all their good intentions, sometimes get it wrong as we all do.

I have, to stress the point that my broad opinion of teachers is not negative, been the recipient of huge acts of kindness on the part of a variety of teachers throughout my life who have gone far and above what they had to do to help me - it is why I am still in contact with several now who have not taught me for many years.

Sorry, I think I'm just in a bad mood. Didn't mean to be so strident. Of course there are bad teachers, just as there are bad dustmen and bad hairdressers. We just get more public stick than they do. Got it off my chest now.

It's okay, I do partially understand the annoyance. From my conversations with teachers the job is hard, usually thankless and prevalently misrepresented so it isn't surprising you rise to the defence of your profession. I wish all teachers had your conviction and that all schools followed your practices but this isn't the case.

My opinions may well be unfairly coloured by experiences that are rarer than they appear but they are still experiences and have still occurred. I stand by my point that teachers can and do give bad advice, but hopefully you, and anyone else reading this, better understands the rationale behind it.

For the record I'm even considering being a teacher, and when If I do become one I will encourage my students in much the same way as I do while I reside on this side of the fence (I hope).

:smile:

Reply 86

Junaid16

14

Original post by Accalia

Woo

I don't have anything relevant to say as of yet. Still haven't gotten the buzzword from my Sixth, shouldn't be too long from now though.

EDIT: Actually, I've thought of a question - I keep being told to choose at least one 'safe' option, and I do feel like this is a good idea... but how safe? How much lower should the grades required at the safe option be compared to my predicted/real grades?

I think it depends on the typical entrance requirements for your choice. I'm going for a high risk strategy, since I'm applying for Law. I'm planning to apply solely for A*AA/AAA in an ideal world. I'd rather take a gap year, then go to a mediocre university for Law, if my grades exceed the requirements.

Reply 87

Accalia

12

Original post by Silly Goose

The thing to remember though is to not waste a choice. Even if it's a safe option you should still ask yourself "if I get rejected from my other choices, would I be happy to spend 3(+) years of my life there?".

I know

but I feel like at least after applying, I'll end up only really wanting to go to one or two of them. Five options at the moment seems like so many.

Reply 88

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by paddy__power

It has led to some schools being so needlessly authoritarian with the process that it is clearly to the detriment of the student. I have a friend, for example, who was told they cannot apply for X university without Y grades. They were not told, as would have been considerably more appropriate, that applying there was a long shot and they may wish to consider somewhere else, they were told categorically that they can't. This is, as I'm sure you can agree, the height of fatuity. The only reasonable situation that would mitigate this was if the student wouldn't meet clearly set prerequisites but this wasn't the case. This is probably rare, but casue for concern all the same.

I do partially understand the annoyance. From my conversations with teachers the job is hard, usually thankless and prevalently misrepresented so it isn't surprising you rise to the defence of your profession. I wish all teachers had your conviction and that all schools followed your practices but this isn't the case.

My opinions may well be unfairly coloured by experiences that are rarer than they appear but they are still experiences and have still occurred. I stand by my point that teachers can and do give bad advice, but hopefully you, and anyone else reading this, better understands the rationale behind it.
:smile:

My annoyance comes from the fact that after nearly 30 years of teaching I am aware that there is always more than one side to a story and many incidences of students being given wrong information actually go like this:

I want to be a doctor and think that if I want something hard enough, I can have it.

Mr X says I can't be a doctor because I don't have A level Chemistry and relevant work experience, and I'm doing Golf Management Btech. Mr X is a snob. I'll show him.

I'm rejected from everywhere. I'm hurt and ashamed. I need to blame someone to make myself feel better.

'Mr X didn't tell me I had to have Chemistry and work experience. It's his fault. He's such a loser. It's so unfair.'

There is often a mismatch between what a student is told and what a student actually hears, usually because what is told doesn't chime with what the student wants to hear. It is a feature of adolescent make up to think they are right and others are wrong. This is not a value judgement on my part, it's part of the developmental process and is part of what makes teenagers so agreeably passionate about life and fun to work with, but it does take a certain maturity on one's part to accept responsibility for making a wrong decision and not taking advice. In this image conscious world, there is a lot of pressure on young people to get into the right university etc (hence the existence of this forum) and it is a lot easier to tell everyone Mr X didn't do his job properly than to face the uncomfortable truth that your application wasn't good enough. I totally understand why kids do this. Saving face is very important at any stage in life, but especially so in adolescence. I just object to the way it becomes a given that teachers don't know what they are doing if people accept what students say at face value without any insight into the psychology behind it.

Reply 89

Tateco

14

I'll be applying in this round as well, for economics. Got given the buzz word today and have just filled out all the starting information, it's a little bit of a messy system but I'm sure I'll get to grips with it.

Going to start coming up with some ideas for my personal statement and maybe start it off slowly this weekend, I'd like to get a full draft done before the summer holidays so I can get some sound advice before our internal deadline.

Reply 90

-raisa

Original post by lilGem

Just done my first draft of my personal statement (applying for Spanish and Italian) and will be returning to college tomorrow along with the start of the whole UCAS process

any other MFL applicants?

:smile:

MFL applicant here! but for French and German :biggrin:

you've finished a first draft of your PS already?! :eek:

I haven't even started thinking of mine yet... (which is probably a bad idea, since I will be applying to Cambridge - grades permitting)

Reply 91

punctuation

16

Original post by -raisa

MFL applicant here! but for French and German :biggrin:

you've finished a first draft of your PS already?! :eek:

I haven't even started thinking of mine yet... (which is probably a bad idea, since I will be applying to Cambridge - grades permitting)

Hello fellow Canadian! *clings to kindred spirit*

How are you? Mind if I discuss some things/act utterly lost with you?

Starting with, where in Canada do you hail? Are you in an IB program or ?

On a relevant, UCAS note... damn Oxford application deadlines being so early! How on earth do they expect us to get things sorted so quickly? :frown:

Reply 92

Deceiver

10

Original post by -raisa

MFL applicant here! but for French and German :biggrin:

you've finished a first draft of your PS already?! :eek:

I haven't even started thinking of mine yet... (which is probably a bad idea, since I will be applying to Cambridge - grades permitting)

MFL applicant here too, for French and (most likely) Portuguese. Where are you thinking of applying other than Cambridge? :smile:

I'm going to wait until my results until I begin to write my PS, or at least until I go back for A2 and my teachers start giving advice about what to put down.

Should I wait for my school's 'buzzword' (whatever that is :P) before applying?

Reply 93

-raisa

Original post by punctuation

Hello fellow Canadian! *clings to kindred spirit*

How are you? Mind if I discuss some things/act utterly lost with you?

Starting with, where in Canada do you hail? Are you in an IB program or ?

On a relevant, UCAS note... damn Oxford application deadlines being so early! How on earth do they expect us to get things sorted so quickly? :frown:

yay! a fellow Canadian! we can act utterly lost together :biggrin:

I'm from Ontario & I'm in IB; you? :smile:

Original post by Deceiver

MFL applicant here too, for French and (most likely) Portuguese. Where are you thinking of applying other than Cambridge? :smile:

I'm going to wait until my results until I begin to write my PS, or at least until I go back for A2 and my teachers start giving advice about what to put down.

Should I wait for my school's 'buzzword' (whatever that is :P) before applying?

I'm thinking of St. Andrews and UCL, possibly Edinburgh as well :smile:

I'm also waiting for my exam results before I start writing my PS!

Reply 94

Deceiver

10

Also, if I happened to get AACC at A-level, would it be worth applying to ABB courses? I think I have a decent chance of potentially being predicted A* for either Maths or French and I could probably beg my Geography or Classics teacher to predict me a B as I was predicted As in both (but I have no idea how the exams went!). So if I get AACC but I'm predicted AABC or AABB, would I have as much consideration as someone who got ABB at AS and is predicted ABB?

Original post by -raisa

I'm thinking of St. Andrews and UCL, possibly Edinburgh as well :smile:

I'm also waiting for my exam results before I start writing my PS!

Oh nice, I'm thinking King's, UCL, Nottingham, Bristol, Queen Mary, maybe Sheffield? Depends on my grades :P

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 95

QStah

1

Hey, I'm completely clueless about all of this, I just wanted to ask if there's an option to still submit your UCAS this year along with everyone else but to take a Gap Year, so that I'd be going to to university after a year, rather then the following year ?

Reply 96

punctuation

16

Original post by -raisa

yay! a fellow Canadian! we can act utterly lost together :biggrin:

I'm from Ontario & I'm in IB; you? :smile:

I'm thinking of St. Andrews and UCL, possibly Edinburgh as well :smile:

I'm also waiting for my exam results before I start writing my PS!

I'm in the GTA (peel district)... not IB, but enhanced/gifted program.

You're applying to Cambridge, St. Andrews and UCL, possibly Edinburgh, I see. :biggrin:

What program are you going into? :smile:

I'm applying to Oxford, UCL, RHUL, Bath, and Bristol... if we both happen to go to UCL (a long way down the road, it seems!) we can be mates! XD

On a UCL note, did you meet up with the international officer person, Monika Malak, when she came to Toronto a few months back? Or did you attend the Study Abroad Fair in October? :smile:

Original post by QStah

Hey, I'm completely clueless about all of this, I just wanted to ask if there's an option to still submit your UCAS this year along with everyone else but to take a Gap Year, so that I'd be going to to university after a year, rather then the following year ?

Yep, it's called deferred entry! :biggrin:

Most universities accept this option, but make sure to check with yours before doing so to make sure. (For example, I know that Magdalen at Oxford doesn't accept it)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 97

QStah

1

Original post by punctuation

I'm in the GTA (peel district)... not IB, but enhanced/gifted program.

You're applying to Cambridge, St. Andrews and UCL, possibly Edinburgh, I see. :biggrin:

What program are you going into? :smile:

I'm applying to Oxford, UCL, RHUL, Bath, and Bristol... if we both happen to go to UCL (a long way down the road, it seems!) we can be mates! XD

On a UCL note, did you meet up with the international officer person, Monika Malak, when she came to Toronto a few months back? Or did you attend the Study Abroad Fair in October? :smile:

Yep, it's called deferred entry! :biggrin:

Most universities accept this option, but make sure to check with yours before doing so to make sure. (For example, I know that Magdalen at Oxford doesn't accept it)

Oh okay, thank you so much :biggrin:

Reply 98

Quoi?

6

Original post by paddy__power

I think under the data protection act or something similar you can demand to see it at some point, at least I vaguely remember finding something like this. I was allowed to edit my own reference though so obviously got to see it :tongue:

References are exempt from the Data Protection Act, as such; schools are under no obligation to show them, although some obviously do :smile:

.

Original post by carnationlilyrose

There is often a mismatch between what a student is told and what a student actually hears... etc.

I feel that it is slightly unfair to generalise "adolescents" as you call them. They are not all characterised by the inability to take responsibility and a belief that they alone are right. However, what you say is valid certainly, at least in some cases.

Reply 99

Minerva

17

Original post by Quoi?

References are exempt from the Data Protection Act, as such; schools are under no obligation to show them, although some obviously do :smile:

.Under the Data Protection Act, UCAS is required to release to you all information they hold about you (for a fee, of course) which includes your reference. However, schools are not required to show your reference to you before it is submitted. Policy on this varies considerably. Once it has been submitted, you would be able to get your reference out of the school (assuming they've kept a copy on file) on the basis of a DPA request, but people seem to go direct to UCAS instead.

The "I'm applying to UCAS for 2012 entry" thread

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