UCAS firm/insurance offers

Mutleybm1996

Hello, i'm going into year 12 in september so i've not been introduced to UCAS yet but i was wondering if it would be possible to ask a question regarding the different sort of offers that can be held.

Currently i have no idea what i want to do at university so would it be possible to apply like this?:

1-Medicine at bristol
2-economics somewhere
3-economics somewhere
4-law somewhere
5-law somewhere

if i did this- would UCAS give me a firm offer from say #1 and an insurance from #2? or do i get offered a place and have to decide which is my firm/insurance? am i allowed more than one insurance so..if i get my results and get into bristol and have an insurance of #2, could i then accept an offer from #5?

sorry if it's a little confusing :/

Ben

Reply 1

Mutleybm1996

if it's possible to enquire further- are we allowed to send multiple ps's so one for #1 and a different one for #4?

Reply 2

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by benwalters1996

You would get no offers at all with an application like that, I'm afraid. All three courses you name are extremely competitive and you will be expected to focus your application entirely on one subject. You only get one personal statement to cover all your five choices and you would be clearly uncommitted to any course if you had three such varying subjects in it. The way the firm/insurance system works is that you have to wait until all your universities have replied and then, if you are in a position to make a choice, you choose your favourite to be your firm and your second favourite to be your insurance. You have to reject all others and they then disappear. I suggest you have a look at the Ucas website to get an idea of how the system works, but don't worry, your form tutor will explain it all to you during the later part of year 12.

Reply 3

Beebumble

I'm no medicine expert but if you want to do medicine you have to be sure you want to do it. You have to do loads of work experience, prepare for interviews, take further tests etc. Your personal statement has to be completely about medicine so will have no room to fit anything else in. It's really hard to get into and you'll be up against people who'll be sure they wanted to be doctors for years.

You can apply to different course though yes. Once you're given offers you choose one firm and one insurance.

Reply 4

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by benwalters1996

if it's possible to enquire further- are we allowed to send multiple ps's so one for #1 and a different one for #4?

No, you can't. It's one ps to cover all 5 courses. There are some situations where a university may agree to accept an additional ps, but this isn't one of them.

Reply 5

tara121kool

If you were to try this, you would have to somehow tailor your personal statement to three different subjects and as they are individually very competitive courses it is unlikely that you will be successful as they will see your lack of commitment to any individual subject.
Each course/institution that you apply to isn't assigned a number for example your 1st choice etc you just put them in however, when you get an offer you can choice to firm, insurance or decline it. If you firm the offer if you fulfill the conditions of the offer that is where you will go unless you decide to enter clearing or not go to university at all. if you miss the grades for your firm choice but achieve those for your insurance assuming that they are lower you go there.
It is sometimes possible to get released from your firm to go to your insurance but this can be risky as there is no obligation for the insurance university to take you.

Reply 6

_Fergo

Original post by benwalters1996

if it's possible to enquire further- are we allowed to send multiple ps's so one for #1 and a different one for #4?

Unfortunately, you are only allowed one personal statement. Seeing that the subjects you're interested differ alot, it is impossible to produce a quality personal statement to satisfy all admission tutors.

Reply 7

Mutleybm1996

Thanks guys, i'm well and truly scuppered then- i have a keen interest in Medicine and also in a mathematical one like economics(i wouldn't have more than two different course choices realistically), i just wanted to try to see if i could get into bristol medical school(i've chosen options that could open up pretty much all branches) and if i could i'd go down that route rather than the other 4 say..economics..options.

Original post by Beebumble

Original post by carnationlilyrose

No, you can't. It's one ps to cover all 5 courses. There are some situations where a university may agree to accept an additional ps, but this isn't one of them.

Original post by tara121kool

Original post by *Stefan*

Reply 8

TenOfThem

Original post by benwalters1996

The reality is that Medicine is probably not for you - people who get offers are so passionate about medicine that they would not consider anything else

Typically they apply for 4xMedicine + 1x another (related) course and their PS is so taken up with the details of their medical based work experience that there is no space for talking about maths or economics

Visit the Medical forums on this site to see the level of the competition

Oh and what A Levels are you taking
Medicine would need Chem+Bio
Economics would need Maths, Further Maths, and Economics (preferably)
Law would need at least one humanities based course (I would think)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 9

Mutleybm1996

A-levels:
maths,further maths, physics, chemistry, biology(AS)

and one further question if possible..for the reference part of the application is it possible to have more than one reference on the same page? so one from a teacher at my old school(yr7-11) and one from my new one(yr12-13)?

Reply 10

TenOfThem

Original post by benwalters1996

No, you will have one reference only

Reply 11

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by benwalters1996

The important thing is to realise that you haven't even started your A levels yet and it's early days for making your mind up definitively, unless you are serious about medicine, in which case you should have been stockpiling work experience during the last year and planning more for this one. You have another year to decide what you really want to do and still apply at the same time as anyone else, but here's the really important thing, you don't have to go to university straight from school. If you are still this undecided in a year's time, take a gap year and don't waste time and money on a course you aren't seriously committed to.