What is the point of UCAS?

To apply for undergraduate degrees you need to have to do so thought UCAS but I really don't see the point in this. UCAS applications limit the amount of applications you can make to only five and also cost a lot of money.

Applications for postgraduate degrees don't require UCAS applications and don't cost money either afaik. This means there is no limit on the amount of courses and universities you can apply for.

Additionally, applying to do courses at college do not require UCAS applications meaning it is possible to just to have undergraduate applications done on the websites of universities.

So with that in mind should the UCAS system be ended and applications entirely by the universities themselves as college courses are?

Reply 1

Napp

22

it simplifies and streamlines the process. To compare it to postgrad seems a bit specious though, far fewer people apply for those courses unlike undergrad where its a deluge.
As to the 5 limit, it makes quite a lot of sense in people not being allowed to spam all the universities and given there are only a limited number of places it makes everything work much smoother without disadvantaging people. Not to mention it stops all the people reviewing uni applications from topping themselves if tens of thousands applied.

Whats your problem with UCAS though? Aside from the price being mildly irritating i dont recall there being any egregious flaws in it?

Reply 2

nulli tertius

21

Original post by Hotel Charlie

To apply for undergraduate degrees you need to have to do so thought UCAS but I really don't see the point in this. UCAS applications limit the amount of applications you can make to only five and also cost a lot of money.

Applications for postgraduate degrees don't require UCAS applications and don't cost money either afaik. This means there is no limit on the amount of courses and universities you can apply for.

Additionally, applying to do courses at college do not require UCAS applications meaning it is possible to just to have undergraduate applications done on the websites of universities.

So with that in mind should the UCAS system be ended and applications entirely by the universities themselves as college courses are?

The fundamental problem that led to UCCA’s
(UCAS’s predecessor’s) creation is the problem of multiple acceptances. People accept multiple offers and then enrol with only one.

There are enormous problems with holding applicants legally liable, not least that many applications are made by minors and teenagers haven’t got any serious money.

Forfeitable deposits don’t work (as they do in the USA) where students aren’t paying fees up front.

The only way to prevent applicants from accepting multiple offers is to force them through a process where they can’t.

Incidentally, this also explains why Oxbridge has special privileges in the admissions system. Oxbridge didn’t join when UCCA was created because they gained nothing. They didn’t have a problem with being jilted. The other universities persuaded them to play a year or two later but it was on Oxbridge’s terms.

Reply 3

harrysbar

21

Original post by nulli tertius

Incidentally, this also explains why Oxbridge has special privileges in the admissions system. Oxbridge didn’t join when UCCA was created because they gained nothing. They didn’t have a problem with being jilted. The other universities persuaded them to play a year or two later but it was on Oxbridge’s terms.

Ah...so that's why people can't apply to both Oxford and Cambridge via UCAS? Because neither uni wants to risk being jilted for the other?

Reply 4

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Also fwiw - look at audition charges for drama schools/conservatoires. And the charges from some universities for applying postgrad. And the charges for common app applications.

UCAS is actually cheaper than it would normally be because they make a large amount of money from selling applicant details/contact/adverts. That subsidises the application fee.

Reply 5

nulli tertius

21

Original post by harrysbar

Ah...so that's why people can't apply to both Oxford and Cambridge via UCAS? Because neither uni wants to risk being jilted for the other?

The double application used to be allowed when I applied but one only sat one entrance examination and the results were passed on. Only one offer was made and very few received an offer from their second choice. I have no information who were the lucky few.

I suspect it might have been 2nd choice mathematicians at Oxford and until the universities largely went mixed 2nd choice women at Oxford. It is not so easy to think of whom Cambridge might have let in after rejection at Oxford; classics perhaps. The three year Cambridge course would be less attractive to some than Greats at Oxford.

This was all abandoned some time in the 1980s. It was all too much trouble for what it was worth.

What was left were the organ scholars but that is much more like an American sports draft. Organists get sent where the need and their ability dictates.