Is UCAS a fundamentally flawed system?

Don't get me wrong, I like UCAS and what they're trying to do, but when I see how stressed applicants get about applications, and a lot of your chances ride on predicted grades which, according to this here article in the Guardian, are only accurate half the time (!?), it all looks a bit shaky and unpredictable.

So are you happy with the current applications system, or would you prefer a big UCAS overhaul?

It is very hard to reform UCAS because much of the system of post-16 education and university life has grown up around it. UCAS looked at proposals for major reform (to a post-A level system) a couple of years ago. Most participants in the process wanted it but no-one wanted to change what they did. It was all the other groups that had to change the way they operated.....

If English students sat the decisive exams in their second last year, as the Scottish do, instead of their last year of school then the predicted grades problem would be solved. They seem to be so inaccurate half the time that it makes the system rather unfair.

I think it is seriously flawed from many sides, not just predicted grades wise, and should be abandoned. The whole admissions system is very messy.
Bullet points:
- It's stressful during a very crucial point in time. Many unis interview people in January, which is when many people do their module exams.
- And then unis take their time to reply (as is only fair on them because they do get many applications, after all) and we've got to wait for them and the wait is none too easy. We're constantly hounded by the thought of whether or not we're going to get in and what to do if not, when actually we should be STUDYING.
I don't think most unis give predicted grades much credibility.
Tbh the only fair thing about the admissions process is the entrance test system that some courses/unis have employed.
If they do reform UCAS it'll be too late for us oldies anyway.

Great post, very enlightening


In other countries, the university entrance system is completely different. In Japan for example, you take an entrance exam for the universities you want to apply to, and if you pass, you're in. It doesn't take into account your academic record so far or any kind of personal statement. The range of subjects available to you depends on your grade in the entrance exam, so only those who really ace the exam can do medicine,for example. In China, everyone takes exams at the end of high school, basically the same exam but if I recall correctly, there's a humanities stream and a science stream. The scores in this standardised exam determine which universities will accept you. again, if you make the grade, no questions asked.

I'm not sure if UCAS is more fair, as it's more individulised, or less fair because so much depends on your PS writing skills.

They've abolished January exams now, by the way.

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Lol UCAS is what you make of it. It's absolutely fine. Does the job. What do you want, a ****ing email with a massage voucher when you submit?

The Japanese system sounds like a good one. I hated filling in my UCAS because of having to put in every last little detail. If someone took a GCSE and they don't want to declare it for whatever reason, UCAS doesn't make that possible.

Also the way the university's decision has to be based on your academic history almost entirely (slightly different in the case of Oxford entrance exams etc and the BMAT for doctors etc.) and this discriminates against people who've had a **** time of it at school. If you've gone to a good school, you've had extra help for your exams, help writing your PS and help for just about every other aspect. Whereas, if you've been to a terrible school, you get no help at all. That's my main issue with the UK application - the focus on academic history.

Applying to uni should be a level playing field. We should have the same exam board and the same exam content for secondary education. Then everybody sits a test based on the content of the exams which determines where you go to uni.

Ta. da.

Interesting, would do away with the possibility of compulsory gap years if they were to stop using predicted grades. That said, how do you ensure that students keep working in the last year of they've already got their place?

+1

Best post on this thread.