Not heard back from some unis after applying in early December, should I be worried?

Hi, I applied to Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde for Journalism in early December, but I’ve still not heard anything back. Does anyone know if this is normal for these courses, as I know they are very competitive. I also applied for English Lit at University of Glasgow and have also heard nothing back. I have received an offer from Stirling uni for Journalism and I have also received an offer from Glasgow Caledonian for media. Not sure if I am worrying myself over nothing lol!

Hi @ahriana From our perspective this isn't out of the ordinary right now, and unfortunately it does just come down to the volume of applications we receive and the high competitiveness for the course. You've applied by the equal consideration deadline so you've done everything you can on your end in terms of your application.
Universities have until May to make decisions on applications, but normally we'll work towards having offers out by end March- mid April so it usually isn't as late. Our admissions teams will be making their way through applications at the moment but it is a really busy time.
Big congrats on your offers at Stirling and GCU I'll keep my fingers crossed you hear back from your others soon!
Caitlin
Official University of Strathclyde Rep

Hi, I applied to Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde for Journalism in early December, but I’ve still not heard anything back. Does anyone know if this is normal for these courses, as I know they are very competitive. I also applied for English Lit at University of Glasgow and have also heard nothing back. I have received an offer from Stirling uni for Journalism and I have also received an offer from Glasgow Caledonian for media. Not sure if I am worrying myself over nothing lol!

Unis are businesses that wanna make money. You applied for a easy course at 2 easy unis, they are probably just slow, you will get the offer soon as long as you have decent grades because they want the £££

Thanks, I’ve heard back from all now most replied last week.

Did you get interviews or just straight offers- I heard the Caledonian course has a very full on interview.

I was told at the open day that the course had an interview process. However, I didn't get an interview. I'm not sure if I received an offer without an interview because I had three different sources of work experience related to Journalism or not. Caledonian invited me to join an app for their offer holders and I have noticed that there are only four other people so far that are offer holders for Journalism (although some people may have not read the email to join the app). I was very surprised that I didn't get an interview, as I was told the course is very competitive and there was limited places on the course, especially as Caledonian offer double accreditation. I'm not sure if Caledonian are still in the interview process or have issued all their offers, as I know many unis aimed to issue most offers by the 31st of March. Did you apply for it too?

That’s fantastic that you didn’t need to go to the interview - yes must be because of your work experience - I’m going to apply for the same course for next year - can I ask what kind of things you’ve done for work experience - need to get more. Thanks

I want to go into quite a niche area of Journalism specifically motorsport and formula series’ such as f1, f2, and f3. So first of all I created a blog where I’d write articles about motorsport. Then I did some interviews at my local radio station, they weren’t long and they weren’t to do with motorsport. Although it was unpaid, it still gave me some experience in Journalism, and it was something a bit different to writing articles. And then I am involved with my school’s newsletter, I wrote several articles to do with events occurring in my school, and I also incorporated my interest in motorsport by writing some articles about formula one. I’m not sure whether you’re going to be in school next year so obviously the newsletter to whether you will be attending school. If you’re in school next year definitely get involved in your school newsletter or set up a newsletter. If you’re not in school definitely contact local community newsletters (if you have any local papers) they would be more than happy to have you write some articles for them, it doesn’t have to be paid as any experience paid or unpaid counts! Definitely get experience in different aspects of Journalism whether it be; blogs, newsletters, radio, social media etc. I didn’t mention this in my personal statement but I created a f1 news account on Twitter that gained a few thousand followers, I’m not sure if creating a news account would count as ‘work experience’ but it’s definitely something to consider doing as it gives you more experience when it comes to the media side of Journalism! I did all my work experience whilst having a part time job at the same time, this job wasn’t to do with Journalism but I think it demonstrated that I was able to balance a part time job whilst doing work experience involved with Journalism. If you have a specific area/type of Journalism you are interested in get involved in that, it will definitely set you apart from other people applying to the course. For example in my personal statement I said that I wanted to get involved in motorsport Journalism as it is a male-dominated industry and I would like to make contributions to this industry as a woman. I think that set me apart from the crowd, so if you want to get involved in something niche definitely do, standing out will get you into the course! Finally, I accepted my offer for Caledonian and I am more than happy to give you feedback on the course a few months after I’ve started in September. Totally up to you but let me know if that would be any help to you!

Thanks so much for all the information - really appreciate you taking the time- it’s all really helpful and I’ll definitely get on to some more stuff and make the next 6 months count before I have to apply, so I have more to put in my Uni personal statement. I’ll speak to my school about maybe setting up a newsletter - good idea. Thanks again and good luck for when you start in September.

Absolutely no problem! One more thing I’d say is send in your personal statement as early as you can, my school didn’t tell us this but if you submit your UCAS application the earlier the better. People in my school who applied in October received offers soon after submitting their application, I submitted mine in December and didn’t hear back from many until March/April. If you have any more questions in the future I’m more than happy to answer. All the best for your work experience, and good luck with your application in the future!

Oh I hadnt even thought about applying early- I just assumed the school led on that and it would be around December time - I’ll definitely look into an earlier application - great idea. Thanks and good luck with everything.

Sounds perfect - shall def do that - now to go google all about personal statements - thanks 🤩

You’re very welcome!

Did you put any links in your personal statement for them to see any articles/blogs etc you’d written?

I hadn’t put in a link to my blog as my teacher didn’t say I needed to. The universities know what school I go to so finding my school’s newsletter would be quite easy for them. I mentioned the name of the radio station I did work experience for. Here’s the template my school gave me below. I also forgot to mention earlier, for when you apply Caledonian said the interview would include questions such as; “who is the Home Secretary” “who is your favourite journalist” etc. However, it might change make sure you attend Caledonian’s open day, out of all the open day’s I went to it was definitely the most insightful.
Introduction
Esxperience linked to study pathway (open days, work experience etc)
School: Subjects studied and skills learnt
Whole school opportunities
Interests outside of school: Hobbies, part time job etc
Conclusion