UCL deferred entry application-related Q (so sorry it turned out so long!)

Hi, hello, forum, I'm Steph and I'm brand new at TSR. And also not sure if this is even posted in the right forum and section. Sorry for that.
I hope to make new friends around here, have my questions answered, be able to answer any questions of yours, and, aye, there goes my first post! Lol, even though I've been actively following certain threads for over half a year now. :smile:

There's no denyin', a stalker isn't too strong a word to call me.

Being an international EU student, I've applied to a few universities in Europe, for their respective Undergraduate Programmes and I haven't yet sent any applications for UK universities. The truth is, even from the very beginning, I more or less totally dismissed any chance of being accepted at a more prestigious university in UK and therefore didn't really make a stronger effort to improve my GPA or make a real attempt to fit in their deadlines.

The only one on the island I actually e-mailed and expressed an open interest to was Aberdeen, and they completely slaughtered whatever that was left of my hopes of ever being considered. That happened the beginning of this month, so I guess it's pretty self-explanatory, huh?

I also imagine my GPA played a significant part as well.

After a hefty dose of consideration, however, (ah, those wisdom-filled epiphanies with their perpetual tendency of hitting a wee bit too late) I figured I should probably give it a go, no matter how minimal my chances would be at this point.

Trying hard to just be chill and consider my options realistically, I assumed and probably assumed right, that I would be rejected by all top universities in Britain, but the idea of applying to those like Sunderland couldn't really lure me in, no matter how hard I tried. Not to undermine them or any of that kind, but I wondered and tried to picture what the actual experience would be like, and I somehow still feel Sunderland would not be the right choice for me.

With the risk of some of this coming off as a joke, the decision I made a bit later could be considered pretty ridiculous by many. I decided to take a whole other approach and send my application to UCL and Birmingham because their programmes, along with many things I've come across during my research, kick serious butt and I just find them dreamy? Oh dear God, I really want to become a student there eventually and I've decided I don't give a ratsass about the route and the time it'll take them to get me admitted.

Yeah, so now you know what I mean. Told you. I'm also really sorry I couldn't have phrased it any less loco.

And so, I've decided to come to you guys first. Do you know if there's a deferred entry option for UCL and could you be able to provide some more information regarding that University Preparatory Certificate (UPCH) aside from what's written on their website? Does UCL offer loans, like the ones available for the normal courses there?

Also, are Birmingham and UCL ever inclined to wait applicants until June, for normal applications and UPC applications or is it that rare and way off the table? Admission is not guaranteed even in the case of a deferred entry, so this is a topic of strong concern, as well...

My case is pretty unusual, aiming that steep, being, may be, too hopeful with odds so slim. Now I don't even know if I'm an underachieving masochist or an overachieving masochist.

I honestly hope there are some of you that could understand my situation and be more apprehensive to my case. Have you ever found yourselves or known anybody in a similar situation?

Any help, advice, tip or suggestion could come in handy and would be honestly appreciated.

For those of you interested, I'm from Bulgaria, born and raised.

Thank you in advance.
P.S. I also feel the need to apologize for the length of this Q again. So, yeah. Sorry.

Reply 1

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

Do you know if there's a deferred entry option for UCL? Yes, for most courses.

Does UCL offer loans, like the ones available for the normal courses there? I've never heard of UCL, or any university offering loans to international students, or any students for that matter.

What degree did you want to do? I know that some UCL depts accept Open University credits for entry (120 credits at level 1), this is what I am doing - you could do that from Bulgaria and it will be much cheaper.

University College London

London

Reply 2

inufetc

Original post by Samual

Thanks a lot for the response and also bearing with me, lol. :biggrin:

In fact, after triplechecking, I can claim with certainty that you could apply for a loan for their regular courses, given you're a UK or a EU national. What isn't available, however, are the maintenance loans, but eh, that only seems fair.

Their foundation year course is not integrated with a degree, therefore they aren't offering any loans, which also accounts for the majority of foundation courses in RG unis, unfortunately. The main problem is that in most, EU students aren't eligible.

I was actually very disappointed when I first found out that quite a few of them, like Bristol for instance, would not consider Bulgarians or other eastern Europeans at all. Although I can imagine why, in my humble opinion it's far from fair and they could only lose, having made that decision.

My choice of course varies from Anthropology, Linguistics to PPE. And yours?