Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

When to apply?

If i know what i want course to do, and where i would want to go and have pretty much sorted my personal statement, should i look to be applying pretty much as soon as i can. I mean this will leave to focus on year 13 stuff right?

And does anyone know roughly the time it takes from apply until you get your ucas number as i need this to register for an admission test?

When is everyones else going to apply?

Reply 1

generalebriety

I was the first in my school to apply, mid-September. You shouldn't be sending it off any earlier than that, really. Let your teachers write their references, check through your statement, whatever. :p:

Reply 2

yellow96

You can apply from the start of September, but there is a myth about Oxbridge prejudice which you may find has some effect on the offers you recieve if you apply too early. Most people apply between October and December, so any time then is good. Your school will probably start making a fuss about your personal statement as soon as you go back, so hand it in nice and early, get your application details all in order and make sure you're first in line to get your application sent to your referee (if your school has one). Schools sometimes won't start the ball rolling for quite some time, so you may find you're waiting to apply longer than you need to, but there's no real advantage to getting in there early other than potentially finding out if you have an offer earlier; though some universities wait until the January 15th deadline to make offers. You get your UCAS number within days of sending off your application, by post I believe. If your school is dawdling with your application, you could tell them you need your UCAS number quickly, but otherwise I'm afraid it's pretty much up to them.

Reply 3

Oddball

A chap came in to our school from Glamorgan university to talk about the UCAS applications etc. He said that on average, the bods that read the applications spend about 5 minutes reading them in September-November time. After that, the time spent reading each one rapidly decreases to about 30 seconds....so get those applications in! :smile:

Reply 4

kellywood_5

If your application is complete and you're happy with it, there's no reason not to send it as soon as possible. You can apply from 1st September. I applied on 15th October 2005. You might be kept waiting for a while for your school to do your reference, depending on how organised they are, but in my opinion, it's definitely best to get your application sent off as soon as you can. That way, admissions tutors will have more time to spend on your application (because they won't have as many) and as you said, you'll be free to concentrate on studying.