I need help desperately

Hi,
I've asked around but no1 seems to offer me much help. My problem is that I am planning to go to uni 2009 after taking a gap year but i'm unsure whether to apply this year and do a deferred entry or apply January 2009. I would rather have a settled place by the end of this year and know exactly where i'm going after my gap year, however I didn't acheive well in my AS's but am planning on doing retakes to get the grades I need for uni. I'm hoping to do Theology and English studies at Uni so am not sure how competitive a subject it is. Thing is I don't want to apply this year and not get any offers because that would really bring me down. Also I heard you can only apply once for the course you want to do (am not sure how true this is). Please please help me as it's getting really soon to applying time lol

Reply 1

valeryblack

er...apply this year and if u don't like ur offers/get rejected,apply again next year...

Reply 2

hunibuni

You can definately apply again for the same course and even the same unis two years running. The only thing is that you will be asked to put down your old UCAS code so the unis will know you are applying to them again if you did before and so if they rejected you first time, they might not be keen to take you 2nd time round.

So, this year or next? Well....it depends on a couple of things which you didn't mention. I mean, firstly, I'm guessing you're in yr 13 (just starting like me) now? So you have a whole yr to imrpove those AS grades and unless your school certificates (or "cashes in") AS you don't need to write down individual module grades on your UCAS so your unis will only ever know your final grade. That means you shouldn't let some bad AS results stop you applying this yr. You are bound to get in somewhere - just pick a variety of grade ranges, so maybe apply to a couple with very high grades but make sure there's a back-up in there that you like with lower ones just in case. Look at it like you get 2 shots in a way and remember that it is easier to apply this year for a deferred place while you are still at school. I would, though, advise that you make sure your gap year plans are 100% relevant to your course because if not it may not look good on your PS.

In terms of the popularity of your course, I am unsure - I would think it would be reasonably popular myself but check out the uni websites and they often give admissions stats (like how many people get in or no. applications per place) that will give you an idea of what you're up against.

Good luck with whatever you decide but try not to panic....there is still plenty of time to choose even with the Oxbridge deadline. Talk to your teachers too and see if they have any helpful ideas to add.

Reply 3

qubog

Apply this year and defer. You can reapply if you want to

Reply 4

philj

hunibuni covered it well...

as long as your school aren't cashing in your AS grades you won't have much of a problem - and its a good idea applying for defferred entry so that you don't have to worry about it on your gap year. The only thing you will need to check is what grades your predicted? Obviously if you've underachieved in your exams this summer and there's some sort of reason, and your retaking, your school should probably be happy with keeping your original predicted grades

plus a strong personal statement & reference for the subject and you should be fine - as i said just need to check those predicted grades though and talk them back up to what they should be