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Ucas is down

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Original post by :)ella
Ucas is down:

"ucas.com is currently unavailable due to a criminal denial of service attack. No personal information has been compromised.

We are working hard to restore the service and have contingency plans in place to ensure no one is disadvantaged.

We are confident that Confirmation and Clearing will go ahead as normal tomorrow.

You'll still be able to access Clearing vacancies at midnight via search.ucas.com and Track from 08:00 tomorrow at track.ucas.com"

(from the UCAS facebook page)

I'm a bit thick. What does this mean?
Original post by carnationlilyrose
UCCA?
Edit: Should have read to the end before posting. Remember PCAS, anybody?


What did/ does PCAS stand for? I'm assuming this is the seriously retro version of UCAS.
Reply 22
Original post by .snowflake.
What did/ does PCAS stand for? I'm assuming this is the seriously retro version of UCAS.


UCAS was formed in 1993 by the merger of UCCA and PCAS, UCCA used to do University admissions and PCAS did Polytechnic admissions.

Edited to Add: I'm sure there was another admissions service, as well as the art and design registry (the art and design registry joined UCAS in the late 90's IIRC)...
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by .snowflake.
What did/ does PCAS stand for? I'm assuming this is the seriously retro version of UCAS.

It was the polytechnic application process. UCCA was only for universities. Then they merged and became UCAS. (Polytechnic and Colleges Admissions Service? Something like that.) Seriously retro. As am I.
Original post by carnationlilyrose
It was the polytechnic application process. UCCA was only for universities. Then they merged and became UCAS. (Polytechnic and Colleges Admissions Service? Something like that.) Seriously retro. As am I.


So some people would have submitted two applications then, before they merged? Just doing one personal statement was more than enough for me!
Original post by .snowflake.
So some people would have submitted two applications then, before they merged? Just doing one personal statement was more than enough for me!

Yes, two forms, BUT no personal statements at all.
Reply 26
Original post by .snowflake.
So some people would have submitted two applications then, before they merged? Just doing one personal statement was more than enough for me!


In my case, I applied to UCAS. But, you would have done it in your best handwriting... and cried when, for the tenth time, you mucked up your PS right at the last paragraph!
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 27
Original post by carnationlilyrose
Yes, two forms, BUT no personal statements at all.


Was there no PS for UCCA and PCAS? I definitely recall doing one when I did my first UCAS application in 1996.
Original post by Bunnyjo
In my case, I applied to UCAS. But, you would have done it in your best handwriting... and cried when, for the tenth time, you mucked up your PS right at the last paragraph!

Not as much as your head of sixth would have when giving you another form. They used to limit the numbers and only give you about 10 over the number you requested.
Original post by Bunnyjo
Was there no PS for UCCA and PCAS? I definitely recall doing one when I did my first UCAS application in 1996.

You are comparatively young.... It's been 25 years since I processed my first UCCA and PCAS forms and I wrote my own UCCA form in 1976.... No ps then... I can't remember when they first came in, tbh. It's all hidden in the mists of time.
Original post by Bunnyjo
And you would have done it in your best handwriting... and cried when, for the tenth time, you mucked up your PS right at the last paragraph!


I'd hate that. As if deciding what to put wasn't stressful enough!
Original post by carnationlilyrose
Yes, two forms, BUT no personal statements at all.


OOOh, so when did personal statements appear?
Original post by .snowflake.
I'd hate that. As if deciding what to put wasn't stressful enough!


OOOh, so when did personal statements appear?

I can't remember. When I first became a sixth form tutor 25 years ago, there weren't any. I can't remember at what point since then they started to become the bane of my life.... Seems like forever.
Original post by carnationlilyrose
I can't remember. When I first became a sixth form tutor 25 years ago, there weren't any. I can't remember at what point since then they started to become the bane of my life.... Seems like forever.


Aww. Do you think that the application process is better with/ without the blasted PS? Our head of sixth form literally spends all summer writing our references, all 70 odd of them.
Reply 33
Original post by carnationlilyrose
Not as much as your head of sixth would have when giving you another form. They used to limit the numbers and only give you about 10 over the number you requested.


In the end the head of Upper 6th was tippex-ing out mistakes! He was bald and, after watching him do a round of UCAS applications, I could see why. He must have tore his hair out in sheer frustration! I loved him though; one of the most motivating, kind and gentle teachers you could meet.

I remember him doing 6th form assembly. He made a point of saying that someone had left a copy of 'More' magazine in the common room and would any of us care to elaborate on what 'position of the fortnight' was about! We nearly died of laughter and embarrassment!
Original post by PQ
Same here - in fact so long ago most of the staff still pronounced UCAS as Uck-ass (because they'd got used to UCCA)

< / TSRgranny>


Omg my dad was calling UCAS like uck-ca and I was there for 5 minutes wondering what on earth he was talking about xD
Original post by Bunnyjo
In the end the head of Upper 6th was tippex-ing out mistakes! He was bald and, after watching him do a round of UCAS applications, I could see why. He must have tore his hair out in sheer frustration! I loved him though; one of the most motivating, kind and gentle teachers you could meet.

I remember him doing 6th form assembly. He made a point of saying that someone had left a copy of 'More' magazine in the common room and would any of us care to elaborate on what 'position of the fortnight' was about! We nearly died of laughter and embarrassment!


I don't think you can be a head of 6th form and being responsible for all of the UCAS stuff if you didn't care to be honest.
LOL just seen this on the facebook page. trolololol, nice one UCAS
Original post by .snowflake.
Aww. Do you think that the application process is better with/ without the blasted PS? Our head of sixth form literally spends all summer writing our references, all 70 odd of them.

I don't actually think it could be done without them now. In the age of steam radio only 3% (give or take, but roughly that) of the school leaving population went to university, so tiny numbers compared with now. Grades were all that mattered and very few people, comparatively, did A levels, so the selection procedure was simple. Now, with SO many applications, there has to be an additional layer of discrimination brought in just to deal with the numbers, because if you consider how many people actually have identical qualifications, what else can you do? Other than what my old landlord, who was an admissions tutor, used to claim he did - stand at the top of the stairs, throw all the forms down them and admit those which reached the bottom.
Original post by Bunnyjo
In the end the head of Upper 6th was tippex-ing out mistakes! He was bald and, after watching him do a round of UCAS applications, I could see why. He must have tore his hair out in sheer frustration! I loved him though; one of the most motivating, kind and gentle teachers you could meet.

I remember him doing 6th form assembly. He made a point of saying that someone had left a copy of 'More' magazine in the common room and would any of us care to elaborate on what 'position of the fortnight' was about! We nearly died of laughter and embarrassment!

He probably did too, once he got to the staff room. We have to make our own entertainment.
Original post by .snowflake.
I don't think you can be a head of 6th form and being responsible for all of the UCAS stuff if you didn't care to be honest.

No, you can't. For you guys, today comes once in a lifetime. For me, it's every year (and I'm only a tutor, not head of sixth) so that's 25 of them, plus two for my own kids. It's hard not to get involved, which is why I'm here, actually.

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