Missed UCAS application deadline - HELP

Hello,

Asking for help here as someone who wishes to be a mature student (currently 27) who has missed the deadline for applications for a September 2025 start.

I went for a guidance meeting as I wanted advice on how to become a graphic designer. I use to work as a marketing assistant where my main duties were creating graphics, photography for social media and website, and managing the social media platforms for the business (this job entailed lots of other things such as creating newsletters, slideshows, taking part in weekly marketing meetings) I did this job for 1 year but I also had an extra role which coincided with this one for one of the sponsors of the company that I worked for, which also involved the same kind of thing but was more focused on content creation and social media management. I struggled to find another creative role when my contract ended. I then went into sales for a few months which I hated as there was zero creativity, then I did a cleaning job for 1 year which I had to leave as I hated it so much it was affecting my mental health. I tried so hard to like and stay at this job, I built up my working week to clean an extra site 3 times a week and also covered sick and holiday days at a different site, but enough was enough. I had absolutely no passion or interest in this job and just felt like a slave with a duster and a mop bucket.

As of February 2025 I have been unemployed for just over 1 year due to not being able to find a job as I ‘don’t have enough experience’ despite getting interviewed for a lot of these roles that have come up with this conclusion. During this time I found success selling my old clothing on vinted and manage to make a little side hustle for myself to get by whilst not working. I now have over 80 five star reviews. I had a lot of interviews in the late summer but nothing came of them and some of the roles I found to sound quite boring upon the employers explanation of tasks at the interview.

In September, so around 6 months ago I started to become interested in graphic design as apposed to digital marketing as I always felt something was missing when I was in that role. I have since found out that I wanted more creative control and graphic design does that perfectly. Since September I have been watching graphic designers on youtube, invested in an ipad to create digital art, purchased Adobe Illustrator ao I can create custom typography and minipulate fonta, and created brand identities for brands I have made up entirely from imagination. One project that I created is for my dads painting business, which was a new brand identity (logo, business cards, tshirts, posters etc), l have drawn 5 of my own animal crossing villagers and gave them personalities, birthdays, and names, and also did some illustrations of key-rings my best friend made which I drew up as cartoon characters digitally on my ipad. I am currently working on another graphic design project with a campaign idea as an extra, which takes experience from my marketing assistant days as I wanted to show that I can also do that side of things as well and that I am versatile.

So at my meeting at the education centre they said I would have no problem getting onto a degree that has a foundation year. We discussed access courses but none available in my area. Closest one is nearly 3 hours away by public transport which just isn’t realistic. They did not tell me the closing date for applications was 29th January, i found this out on the radio on the way back from doing a food shop on the day of the deadline. The education centre just booked me onto the uni open day, which isn’t until 15th March. They also didn’t tell me about writing a personal statement, which I am struggling with as this is a first for me, I pretty much went from school, to college and into the work place a couple years later so the only thing I’ve ever had to write is a personal statement on a cv and a cover letter.

Back to the missed deadline. What do I do now and what are my chances of getting into uni to start SEPTEMBER THIS YEAR? Should I just complete my application as quickly as possible and apply via UCAS? Or do I have to wait to submit my application at a later date now?

I have no idea how to write a personal statement and what to include. I have done some research and it says to write something unique and different about yourself which I don’t feel like I have as I was forced to leave education just 2 weeks into year 9 due to bullying that the school refused to deal with. So I lost my chance to pick my options and had to do the rest of school from year 9-11 at an alternative schooling option and they did not have facilities for GCSE’s or options. Luckily I could do Art & Design there and i got a btec level 1 in it. I also got my functional skills level 2 in English there and i managed to pass my Level 1 maths at a later date and I also studied level 1 performing arts at college when I was 18.

All i know is, I want to be a graphic designer and I have put lots of effort into building a small portfolio of work and have also dedicated my days into learning about the field through design books, YouTube videos/tutorials, and taking advantage of the only thing I have to learn from, which is the internet. My other hobbies include photography (had a DSLR camera since the age of 16), fashion, digital art/illustration, creative writing (i have written a 6 page blog about second hand fashion), I am also teaching myself keyboard currently as music is also something I love and I want to be productive whilst I am not in employment. I love playing video games and had a whole Instagram pages that accumulated quite a few followers that I created content for, I enjoy making things with my hands like paracord keychains. I did a little craft with an old gameboy case a few years ago, with a pokemon character on it and turned it into a forest like scene. Basically everything I do is creative😂

I am so passionate about art & design and really want to go to uni in September this year but I am so worried I have now missed my chance and at 27 (28 in July) the clock is ticking for me and I feel this could be my last chance to do this. I have written pages and pages of bullet points and paragraphs for my personal statement but I am such a natural story teller that I am not very good at getting things down in a straight to the point kind of way. I am really unsure of the information i should be putting on there. Should I be explaining my whole education history since year 7 to leaving, then from college to my work experience to now? I really have no idea and I appreciate if anyone read this far, so thank you so much if you have, and I would appreciate any advice on these two matters.

Thank you💖

Hello,
Asking for help here as someone who wishes to be a mature student (currently 27) who has missed the deadline for applications for a September 2025 start.
I went for a guidance meeting as I wanted advice on how to become a graphic designer. I use to work as a marketing assistant where my main duties were creating graphics, photography for social media and website, and managing the social media platforms for the business (this job entailed lots of other things such as creating newsletters, slideshows, taking part in weekly marketing meetings) I did this job for 1 year but I also had an extra role which coincided with this one for one of the sponsors of the company that I worked for, which also involved the same kind of thing but was more focused on content creation and social media management. I struggled to find another creative role when my contract ended. I then went into sales for a few months which I hated as there was zero creativity, then I did a cleaning job for 1 year which I had to leave as I hated it so much it was affecting my mental health. I tried so hard to like and stay at this job, I built up my working week to clean an extra site 3 times a week and also covered sick and holiday days at a different site, but enough was enough. I had absolutely no passion or interest in this job and just felt like a slave with a duster and a mop bucket.
As of February 2025 I have been unemployed for just over 1 year due to not being able to find a job as I ‘don’t have enough experience’ despite getting interviewed for a lot of these roles that have come up with this conclusion. During this time I found success selling my old clothing on vinted and manage to make a little side hustle for myself to get by whilst not working. I now have over 80 five star reviews. I had a lot of interviews in the late summer but nothing came of them and some of the roles I found to sound quite boring upon the employers explanation of tasks at the interview.
In September, so around 6 months ago I started to become interested in graphic design as apposed to digital marketing as I always felt something was missing when I was in that role. I have since found out that I wanted more creative control and graphic design does that perfectly. Since September I have been watching graphic designers on youtube, invested in an ipad to create digital art, purchased Adobe Illustrator ao I can create custom typography and minipulate fonta, and created brand identities for brands I have made up entirely from imagination. One project that I created is for my dads painting business, which was a new brand identity (logo, business cards, tshirts, posters etc), l have drawn 5 of my own animal crossing villagers and gave them personalities, birthdays, and names, and also did some illustrations of key-rings my best friend made which I drew up as cartoon characters digitally on my ipad. I am currently working on another graphic design project with a campaign idea as an extra, which takes experience from my marketing assistant days as I wanted to show that I can also do that side of things as well and that I am versatile.
So at my meeting at the education centre they said I would have no problem getting onto a degree that has a foundation year. We discussed access courses but none available in my area. Closest one is nearly 3 hours away by public transport which just isn’t realistic. They did not tell me the closing date for applications was 29th January, i found this out on the radio on the way back from doing a food shop on the day of the deadline. The education centre just booked me onto the uni open day, which isn’t until 15th March. They also didn’t tell me about writing a personal statement, which I am struggling with as this is a first for me, I pretty much went from school, to college and into the work place a couple years later so the only thing I’ve ever had to write is a personal statement on a cv and a cover letter.
Back to the missed deadline. What do I do now and what are my chances of getting into uni to start SEPTEMBER THIS YEAR? Should I just complete my application as quickly as possible and apply via UCAS? Or do I have to wait to submit my application at a later date now?
I have no idea how to write a personal statement and what to include. I have done some research and it says to write something unique and different about yourself which I don’t feel like I have as I was forced to leave education just 2 weeks into year 9 due to bullying that the school refused to deal with. So I lost my chance to pick my options and had to do the rest of school from year 9-11 at an alternative schooling option and they did not have facilities for GCSE’s or options. Luckily I could do Art & Design there and i got a btec level 1 in it. I also got my functional skills level 2 in English there and i managed to pass my Level 1 maths at a later date and I also studied level 1 performing arts at college when I was 18.
All i know is, I want to be a graphic designer and I have put lots of effort into building a small portfolio of work and have also dedicated my days into learning about the field through design books, YouTube videos/tutorials, and taking advantage of the only thing I have to learn from, which is the internet. My other hobbies include photography (had a DSLR camera since the age of 16), fashion, digital art/illustration, creative writing (i have written a 6 page blog about second hand fashion), I am also teaching myself keyboard currently as music is also something I love and I want to be productive whilst I am not in employment. I love playing video games and had a whole Instagram pages that accumulated quite a few followers that I created content for, I enjoy making things with my hands like paracord keychains. I did a little craft with an old gameboy case a few years ago, with a pokemon character on it and turned it into a forest like scene. Basically everything I do is creative😂
I am so passionate about art & design and really want to go to uni in September this year but I am so worried I have now missed my chance and at 27 (28 in July) the clock is ticking for me and I feel this could be my last chance to do this. I have written pages and pages of bullet points and paragraphs for my personal statement but I am such a natural story teller that I am not very good at getting things down in a straight to the point kind of way. I am really unsure of the information i should be putting on there. Should I be explaining my whole education history since year 7 to leaving, then from college to my work experience to now? I really have no idea and I appreciate if anyone read this far, so thank you so much if you have, and I would appreciate any advice on these two matters.
Thank you💖

It's a soft deadline. People will still be applying and going through Extra clearing. You've missed the equal consideration, but there's nothing stopping you applying.
As others have suggested trying reaching out the the course leaders of the course(s) you are interested in.
Take a look on the UCAS website for advice on how to write your personal statement. Have a look at the unis course website and try to identify any skills/attributes they might be looking for. See if there are any virtual open days or information on YouTube, social media etc of what they might be after. Take a look at their admissions pages for further ones e.g. commitment, ambition,.leadership etc etc. For each attribute, you want a personal example of how you exemplify it. You can group up a couple of attributes that are related to one example if you like. Then write a short paragraph in the structure of Point (the relevant attribute/s), Example, Explain (how this will make you a good student. Be shameless, you need to sell yourself).
You need to structure your personal statement.e.g.
Introduction (be specific about what you want to study and what it is important to you)
Main body (the PEE paragraphs about the attributes)
Summary (highlight your key attributes and relate them back to your reasons find the subject interesting from the example)
Be aware that there is a 4000 character limit and a limit on th number of lines, but you're looking for about an A4 typed page of text to sell yourself.
You need a reference. Doesn't have to be academic, just a non relative/friend who can provide an objective (and hopefully glowing) viewpoint on you. Unfortunately it's not just providing their contact details. They need to submit they reference before you can complete your application. While I think that referee is can see your application form, I'd suggest filling out the basic details (personal details, education, employment etc) and while you are working on your statement fill out the referee section to generate a link for them to complete their bit. Its more.than just a typical HR reference of just acknowledging that someone did work from such and such a dare doing some roles they need to write a bit too. Speak to your reference and check that they're happy to do this. You can change referee if you need toz but best not to waste time.
Good luck.

Spent all day yesterday writing my personal statement and managed to finalise it and send my application off today with a great reference from a family friend who has known me my whole life and can vouch for my creativity
I had no idea I had the skills to be able to produce something so good so fast🤣 once I got going it was hard to keep to the character limit. I wrote about who inspired me and why as graphic design is a pretty new venture of 6 months. I didnt mention i have a portfolio as i thought that was pretty self explanatory as I mentioned I have worked on passion projects.