Does it matter if I select 'prefer not to say' on UCAS?

On the UCAS application it asks a lot of things about your background, identity etc. I'm a straight, white, middle class male, which has made it a lot more difficult applying to things like work experience, particularly in STEM. Of course I'm all for increased diversity but I really don't want to be disadvantaged because of things out of my control, so should I just put 'prefer not to say' on questions like that, or would that not help? And before anyone says, obviously they do care, otherwise they wouldn't ask 🙃

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sophie220007

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Original post by plenka

On the UCAS application it asks a lot of things about your background, identity etc. I'm a straight, white, middle class male, which has made it a lot more difficult applying to things like work experience, particularly in STEM. Of course I'm all for increased diversity but I really don't want to be disadvantaged because of things out of my control, so should I just put 'prefer not to say' on questions like that, or would that not help? And before anyone says, obviously they do care, otherwise they wouldn't ask 🙃

I think if you believe it would put you at a possible disadvantage by selecting ‘male’ for example then I’d say you should just put prefer not to say. It wouldn’t be putting you at a disadvantage by doing this, if anything it would help you if that’s how you believe the system works. I’m not disagreeing with you in that they don’t do this, I’m honestly not sure but to be on the safe side you wouldn’t be in a bad position by saying prefer not to say. :smile:

Original post by plenka

On the UCAS application it asks a lot of things about your background, identity etc. I'm a straight, white, middle class male, which has made it a lot more difficult applying to things like work experience, particularly in STEM. Of course I'm all for increased diversity but I really don't want to be disadvantaged because of things out of my control, so should I just put 'prefer not to say' on questions like that, or would that not help? And before anyone says, obviously they do care, otherwise they wouldn't ask 🙃

Most demographic data isn’t provided to universities until after the end of the year. The data is used for monitoring and identifying problems not for decisions on individual applicants.

The “sensitive” data passed to universities at the point of application is your gender, address (and postcode) and any disability information to allow universities to make reasonable adjustments to any selection process (wheelchair access, sign language interpreters etc for interviews)

Does it matter if I select 'prefer not to say' on UCAS?

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