[Potally_Tissed]

This thread is for 2012 applicants and prospective applicants to chat and ask questions about the university and applying to it. I've tried to cover the most common queries in this post, but if you have any questions that aren't answered here then go ahead and post it here. I ask only that if your question isn't answered here then you look on the university website first

Before Applying

How to apply

All applications for undergraduate study at Loughborough University must be made through UCAS. This applies to all applicants, including international applicants. The only exception is the Art and Design Foundation Programme.

For 2012 entry, you must apply between September 1st 2011 and January 15th 2012. You are guaranteed equal consideration if you apply during this period; if you apply after January 15th you may not receive the same level of consideration.

GCSEs

Candidates must have GCSE grade C or above in English Language or Use of English. Note that for some courses the requirement is at least grade B.

Candidates are required to have GCSE grade B in Maths. For some courses grade A may be required; AS level Maths of at least grade C may be accepted instead of this.

GCSEs generally play a minor part in university applications. Loughborough does not have any "minimum requirements" for number of A or A* grades, but be sure you meet the minimum requirements in maths and English for your chosen course.

AS/A2 levels

Candidates are expected to offer at least three full A levels, though this may occasionally be replaced with two full A levels and two AS levels. For a list of qualifications that are accepted instead of A levels, see this page.

General Studies is not generally accepted as part of an offer.

Specific courses, particularly engineering, may require certain subjects at A level, most commonly maths, physics, or chemistry. A minimum of grade B, or in some cases grade A, is required. You are advised to check the course requirements carefully as they differ between courses.

Offers from Loughborough are typically between BBC and AAA (280-360 UCAS points), depending on the course.

Predictions

If your predicted grades do not meet the minimum entrance requirements for the course then your application will obviously be riskier. How much so, or whether it would result in an automatic rejection, I am unable to say.

English language ability

UK candidates are expected to have a minimum of GCSE grade C in English Language or Use of English. For some courses grade B is required.

International applicants should see this page.

International students

Loughborough University welcomes applications from international students. You are however advised to check the English language requirements, particularly if English is not your first language.

Mature students

You are considered a mature student if you will be aged 21 or over at the time of your course starting.

The university welcomes applications from mature students. In some cases the entrance requirements may be different; you are advised to contact the university for queries related to this.

Multiple courses

It is generally inadvisable to apply to more than one course at any university.

It is harder to write a good personal statement for two even slightly different courses, and the university will know of both your applications which could make you appear less focused.

Deferred entry

Loughborough accepts students for deferred entry provided the year is spent pursuing "worthwhile activities".

Fees

Loughborough University has announced it's intention to charge the maximum £9,000 tuition fees for courses starting in 2012.

After Applying

How long do replies take

No one can say; be patient. There is no need to contact the university if you are still waiting to hear from them as it will not get you an answer any faster.

Interviews

Loughborough does not generally carry out interviews for most courses, the exception to this being for engineering. These interviews are fairly informal and the majority of those interviewed go on to receive an offer, but you should not be complacent.

Rejected despite meeting the minimum requirements

Meeting the minimum requirements is no guarantee of a place. Many courses at Loughborough are highly competitive and receive multiple applications per offer made.

If you wish to know why you were rejected then you should contact the university, though there is no guarantee that they will provide you with clear feedback as thousands of applicants will be unsuccessful.

After Receiving an Offer

Accommodation

See the accommodation megathread.

Replying to an offer

See the UCAS deadlines for replying to offers.

Anything Else

Extra/Adjustment/Clearing

Certain courses may be available in Extra, Adjustment, or Clearing.

Only a small number of courses are likely to have places in Adjustment or Clearing, and all courses that are available through one are available through the other. If a course if not available in Clearing it is not available in Adjustment either.

If you have any questions that are not answered in this post, feel free to post them here. If the same questions come up frequently I will add them to this post, along with anything else I think of later that would be useful information to have here.



DISCLAIMER
I do not work for Loughborough University or represent the university in any capacity beyond being a student there. The advice or information given by me in this thread is therefore unofficial and not to be considered representative of Loughborough University. In all cases you are advised to contact the university directly if you have any doubt over any aspect of your application.

[Potally_Tissed]

Reserved in case the first post somehow reaches the character limit

[BigV]

Just for mature students:

According to Unistats Loughborough doesn't have many mature students (3%) when compared to say Nottingham (13%) or Leicester (19%), but it is trying to encourage more to apply and in my experience they are very welcoming of all enquiries/applications and even run a special 'mature students open day'.

I would add that there is the double bursary worth upto £2900 a year depending on household income. And I also think they have a tendancy to interview older students as I was and I know of 2 matures on my course who were also interviewed for different courses to me. This is possibly an advantage for older students and a chance to sell yourself.

[Lyddii]

Unfortunately I have missed my offer from Loughborough by a measly 5ums marks :'( I am considering not going to my insurance because I know I could never be as happy there as I would be at Loughborough and resitting one or two modules to bring my grades up and then reapplying in the 2012 cycle because I really did fall in love with the course and university.

Does anyone know Loughborough's attitude towards resit students? I know it's difficult to say for definite but if anyone has any success stories it would be great

[Potally_Tissed]

(Original post by Lyddii)
Unfortunately I have missed my offer from Loughborough by a measly 5ums marks :'( I am considering not going to my insurance because I know I could never be as happy there as I would be at Loughborough and resitting one or two modules to bring my grades up and then reapplying in the 2012 cycle because I really did fall in love with the course and university.

Does anyone know Loughborough's attitude towards resit students? I know it's difficult to say for definite but if anyone has any success stories it would be great

I've never known it actually being a problem but to be safe I suggest checking with the relevant department to see what their policy is, as you will be taking exams outside of the usual two year period. You might well get a vague answer along the lines of "each application is considered on its individual merits" which is basically fine, what you don't want them to have is a policy of A levels over three years = very bad.

[babyinks]

(Original post by Lyddii)
Unfortunately I have missed my offer from Loughborough by a measly 5ums marks :'( I am considering not going to my insurance because I know I could never be as happy there as I would be at Loughborough and resitting one or two modules to bring my grades up and then reapplying in the 2012 cycle because I really did fall in love with the course and university.

Does anyone know Loughborough's attitude towards resit students? I know it's difficult to say for definite but if anyone has any success stories it would be great

you may not have to resit depending on the entry requirements

last year for psychology, the entry requirements were AAB-ABB and i was unfortunate enough to get given the AAB entry requirement, but i was 3 marks short and they wouldn't let me in , and there was a mistake made with my insurance but when i sorted it out i realised i didn't want to commute to uni so i cancelled that offer and reapplied again for this year

but i didn't retake anything because i was too lazy to revise etc so i just applied with the same grades i got last year because i got ABB, and i applied on jan 13th, then i got a reply like 10 days later with an unconditional offer, i guess because i already had the grades

so depending on what your course entry requirements are, and what you actually got, you may not need to resit your exams

[TJ92]

Missed the grades for this year, couldn't find anything in clearing and when I did eventually get through to courses and unis I was interested in the places were already full after having a phone stuck to the side of my face for hours on end haha.

Same as Lyddii really, I loved Loughborough and the course. I'm considering taking a year out, finding a job to get some extra funds, resitting my exam in January and applying to Loughborough for 2012 entry. I'll phone admissions sometime soon and ask them for their views on resits. I'm interested in International Relations and they're asking for ABB-ABC grades.. currently have ABD (boo for the D) so looking to resit that.. if I pushed it up to a C would I have a possibility of getting an offer? I'll phone and ask. I hope they don't ask for ABB only since they've listed ABB-ABC for 2012?

[Oh my Ms. Coffey]

(Original post by Lyddii)
Unfortunately I have missed my offer from Loughborough by a measly 5ums marks :'( I am considering not going to my insurance because I know I could never be as happy there as I would be at Loughborough and resitting one or two modules to bring my grades up and then reapplying in the 2012 cycle because I really did fall in love with the course and university.

Does anyone know Loughborough's attitude towards resit students? I know it's difficult to say for definite but if anyone has any success stories it would be great

I resat my AS year and got an offer.

[Lyddii]

(Original post by Potally_Tissed)
I've never known it actually being a problem but to be safe I suggest checking with the relevant department to see what their policy is, as you will be taking exams outside of the usual two year period. You might well get a vague answer along the lines of "each application is considered on its individual merits" which is basically fine, what you don't want them to have is a policy of A levels over three years = very bad.

(Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey)
I resat my AS year and got an offer.

(Original post by babyinks)
you may not have to resit depending on the entry requirements

last year for psychology, the entry requirements were AAB-ABB and i was unfortunate enough to get given the AAB entry requirement, but i was 3 marks short and they wouldn't let me in , and there was a mistake made with my insurance but when i sorted it out i realised i didn't want to commute to uni so i cancelled that offer and reapplied again for this year

but i didn't retake anything because i was too lazy to revise etc so i just applied with the same grades i got last year because i got ABB, and i applied on jan 13th, then i got a reply like 10 days later with an unconditional offer, i guess because i already had the grades

so depending on what your course entry requirements are, and what you actually got, you may not need to resit your exams

Thanks for the quick replies I think my situation is pretty similar as the course requirements were 280 - 300 ucas and I had the offer of 300 ucas. Unfortunately I missed out on that by just a few marks.. so I actually have 280 ucas points. I think I will enter for a resit anyway as it really was just one bad exam... then hopefully I'll either get an Unconditional or Conditional based on the resit. Fingers crossed. I've emailed the department for their view anyway

(Original post by TJ92)
Missed the grades for this year, couldn't find anything in clearing and when I did eventually get through to courses and unis I was interested in the places were already full after having a phone stuck to the side of my face for hours on end haha.

Same as Lyddii really, I loved Loughborough and the course. I'm considering taking a year out, finding a job to get some extra funds, resitting my exam in January and applying to Loughborough for 2012 entry. I'll phone admissions sometime soon and ask them for their views on resits. I'm interested in International Relations and they're asking for ABB-ABC grades.. currently have ABD (boo for the D) so looking to resit that.. if I pushed it up to a C would I have a possibility of getting an offer? I'll phone and ask. I hope they don't ask for ABB only since they've listed ABB-ABC for 2012?

I hope everything works out alright for you it sounds like we both love the uni equally as much!

[kotrynka]

Hello, everybody. I'm applying to Loughborough this year. If I get an offer I will take this university as firm. Oh PS I'm applying to automotive engineering. Is anyone here also applying to this course?

[jdurnall88]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to apply for Loughborough Uni as a mature student, I've sent an email to the Uni to ask for their views but I got the standard reply of each application will be consider individually and then offers will be made.

Regarding admissions for mature students, On the AAT website it states:


Loughborough University

Holders of AAT Level 4 Diploma in Accounting will be considered for entry onto year one of degree programmes in the Business School. In addition to AAT Level 4 Diploma in Accounting, applicants will also be required to have GCSE grade B for Maths and English Language as a minimum. Applicants will be interviewed and may be asked to gain more qualifications.

I just wanted to know if this is the same admission policy for 2012/13? as this has not been updated on the AAT website. As I'm expected to complete Level 4 AAT in June

Also I have opted out of studying for a BTEC National Diploma in Business and Enterprise, choosing instead to gain employment within a bank. I'm hoping this would improve my chances of entry to a Banking, Finance and Management BSc (Hons) Degree, as it will provide me valuable experience and knowledge that I believe will be helpful if I was accepted at Loughborough University.

Would I be correct in assuming this?

Regarding a good profile of GCSE's, what does the university consider good? would that be A*-C or B and above? and how many GCSE's requires and good profile?

I have 6 GCSE's B-C and 1 D (Maths - B, English - B, Physical Education - B, Science (double award) - CC, I.C.T - C, Statistics - D), I had completed GCSE Maths 6 months earlier and went on to study Statistics for the remaining 6 months in 2004. In 2010 I achieved GCSE English - B.

Would this be consider as a good profile?

As a mature student I have five years of work experience with DHL (International logistics company), I believe that I have developed skills such as time management, communication techniques, most of all applying logic to solve problems and overcome issues.

Would these skills be consider in my application?

I'm looking to gain information as I'm unfamiliar with the application process and research my possibilities

Can anyone give me any advice if i have a chance of getting admission into Loughborogh?

Many thanks for your reply in advance

[luke1993jackson]

@ kotrynka

Hey, I'm applying to loughy for the auto engineering

The uni is amazing and it will defo be my firm choice

[kotrynka]

(Original post by luke1993jackson)
@ kotrynka

Hey, I'm applying to loughy for the auto engineering

The uni is amazing and it will defo be my firm choice

HEY! I'm applying to the automotive engineering too. And if I get an offer it will be my firm choice, as well.

[doubled99]

Hey! anyone else applying for chemical engineering? i'm definitely putting loughborough as either firm or insurance, i loved the campus, and plus i'm a very sporty person so all those amazing sporting facilities would be handy

[ashpaul]

anyone doing aeronautical engineering?

[catrin92]

(Original post by doubled99)
Hey! anyone else applying for chemical engineering? i'm definitely putting loughborough as either firm or insurance, i loved the campus, and plus i'm a very sporty person so all those amazing sporting facilities would be handy

Im Applying for Chem Eng, When are you thinking of sending your application off?

[doubled99]

(Original post by catrin92)
Im Applying for Chem Eng, When are you thinking of sending your application off?

well i sent my application off last week, but as im not applying to oxbridge my referee basically said she wont look at it until after the oxbridge deadline because she'll be busy with the oxbridge applicants until then (there are only 4 of them however -_-) btw im going for the Meng with a year in industry hopefully

[rossla]

Hey I am thinking about applying to Loughborough for entry in 2012 to do politics. I was just woundering what the uni was like in general and if people have enjoyed their time there? I heard the nightlife was bad is that true? Do you have to be sporty to go there? Thanks x

[Oh my Ms. Coffey]

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=1702175

[StacieG]

Heyy!!

I'm a finalist at Loughborough and it is absolutely amazing!! I can't believe it is almost over!! I wouldn't say the nightlife is bad at all!! Town isn't the best admittedly, but the union is pretty good, and there is always nottingham and leicester nearby! And don't worry, there are lots of people here who don't do sport.