Applying through UCAS and applying personally

Hey! As a international student I have a problem with picking the right way to post my application. There are organisations who help you go throught ucas when u write down their buzzword, and they negotiate offers online, and there is other organisation who sends your papers via e-mail to the uni and they reply in like 2-3 weeks - and they say its better way and they got more options to negotiate the conditions.

What do you think about this? What should I do?

Reply 1

parentlurker

I suspect organiisatons that claim to "negotiate offers" or conditios are scam artists. You can apply yourself through UCAS - take a look here http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/international UCAS have lots of help pages and you can get advce here or on the UCAS Facebook

Reply 2

Carnationlilyrose

Agreed. There is no need to to go through an agency. It is all very well explained on the Ucas website and people on here will help you.

Reply 3

Philipekk

Are you guys sure? But one of these companies has 11 years of experience and their offer is that you dont need no english certificate (if you are from Poland) so they got some connections.

Reply 4

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Philipekk

Are you guys sure? But one of these companies has 11 years of experience and their offer is that you dont need no english certificate (if you are from Poland) so they got some connections.

Yes, we are sure. That is not how university admissions work in this country. No agency can exempt you from needing a certificate. It is for the university itself to decide what it requires. The application process is open to anyone and it is done either on an individual basis or (most often) through a school. In addition to the dodginess of agencies, there are only 4 days left before the deadline and I doubt an agency would make it in time. Do it yourself and do it quickly.

Reply 5

Philipekk

No agency can exempt you from needing a certificate. It is for the university itself to decide what it requires

Hey, but it's a fact - even if they require certificate from international students, if you work with agency they just give you english matura required levels - and often they are low.

Reply 6

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Philipekk

Hey, but it's a fact - even if they require certificate from international students, if you work with agency they just give you english matura required levels - and often they are low.

Universities usually require IELTS as a qualification.

Reply 7

Klix88

There is nothing to negotiate. Universities will send you offers - they do not change them if they don't suit you.

Unless your agents are offering to supply you with fake qualifications, there's nothing they can do for you, that you can't do for yourself - for free - via the UCAS website.

Reply 8

Philipekk

I still can't understand why you guys don't believe me, that agencies ( who are paid by UK goverment because of EU projects) can help you for free with applying and they are able to help you even if you got no english certificate, because as a proof of english knowledge Unis require only high levels on polish matura ( if you work with agency). And these aren't fake qualifications - just give me the reason why you don't believe it, when there are many students from Poland who applied with agency and they didnt have to have certificates

Reply 9

Klix88

If you're that convinced, why are you here asking us? Something must have made you suspicious enough to ask.

If you're absolutely confident about them and not confident about your own ability to handle the UCAS system, then you should use them.

I say again - neither you nor a third party acting on your behalf, can "negotiate" a uni offer. The unis make the offer and you either accept/meet it, or you don't get in.

Reply 10

Carnationlilyrose

Exactly what Klix88 says. We don't have a culture of 'agencies' here. You apply for a university place and take your exams. If you don't pass, nobody 'gets' you a certificate. You don't have that qualification. Therefore the university won't accept you. They certainly won't accept anyone with an exam certificate which isn't obtained through the normal method of sitting an exam and passing it.

Reply 11

Winterose

Just fyi, I am applying from Germany and after emailing all of my uni choices they insured me, that a certain grade in my final exam in English here in Germany will be sufficient and I won't have to take an IELTS test. Some other unis, however, wouldn't accept my grades as equivalents for an English language test, so it seems to depend on the uni. I'm pretty sure that the universities accepting my grades would also accept the Polish qualifications that you mentioned. If the deadline wasn't in 4 days, I'd advise you to simply ask the universities about it, but like this, you'll probably have to stick to your dubious agencies... Or you could wait a year and actually make sure you know how everything works in time before you apply.

Reply 12

skye218

I'm a Canadian and I used studyacrossthepond to help me apply for uk schools. They were really helpful in the application process. There was also a link to them on the university of Leeds website so i do trust them. You can do it yourself but it was nice to have someone to answer question along the way about the schools and the application process. It terms of negotiating offers, they also claimed to do that but I'm not sure how that is even possible

Reply 13

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by Philipekk

Agents aren't paid by the UK government - they're paid by universities on commission for recruiting students to them.

It is not in an agents best interest to get you to the best university for you - it is in their best interest to send you to the university that pays them the highest commission. Because of that they're often willing to fund translation of certificates through NARIC and other official bodies themselves.

Reply 14

parentlurker

all students whose first language is not English are required to demonstrate sufficient competence in the English Language.to cope with the degree course. Reputable universities usually require an IELTS test. If you dont have a certificate you risk ending up somewhere that isn't worth your money and possibly failing to complete the course because you cant cope with the language. You don't have time to mess around before the deadline but you can apply without a certificate as long as you get one later.