My sister is applying to universities through UCAS at the moment -- I think in general the deadline is in January, though the earlier you apply, the better. Especially since you won't have any exam results to wait for so any offers you get should be unconditional.
I think I applied in November or December.
And you can only apply for bachelor-level courses through UCAS -- for masters (and some other courses) you apply directly to the schools.
Basically with UCAS you apply to up to five (I think they've changed it back to five, but when I did it it was six) courses and UCAS forwards your applications to the university. The disadvantage of the system is that you only write one personal statement (stating how brilliant you are, why you want to do the course and why they should pick you, plus if you're from outside the UK why you want to study there) for all five courses you're applying for. If you're applying for the same type of course at different schools that's not so much of a problem, but it does mean you can't say "I want to go to this particular place because of X and Y" as your statement has to be relevant to everything you apply for.
Anyway, once UCAS has sent the applications to the universities the universities will write back saying whether they want to offer you a place or not, and stating any conditions you need to fulfil to take up the offer. I think this happens around March. Then when all your offers are in UCAS will ask you to pick a "firm" and "insurance" choice from the offers you've received -- the insurance being in case you don't meet the conditions of the offer for your first choice. But as I do think you'll get unconditional offers this part isn't so important. With an unconditional offer you just accept and that's the end of the process.
I had a conditional offer from UCL (average of 5 with 5 in maths & physics), which I didn't meet, but I informed them of my results (average of 4.94 with 4.5 in maths & physics...) and they let me in anyway :D
Also, since we're on a vaguely related subject, make sure no one tries to make you pay international student fees. Switzerland has a bilateral agreement with the EU which allows you to pay EU/Home fees -- much cheaper!
I think I applied in November or December.
And you can only apply for bachelor-level courses through UCAS -- for masters (and some other courses) you apply directly to the schools.
Basically with UCAS you apply to up to five (I think they've changed it back to five, but when I did it it was six) courses and UCAS forwards your applications to the university. The disadvantage of the system is that you only write one personal statement (stating how brilliant you are, why you want to do the course and why they should pick you, plus if you're from outside the UK why you want to study there) for all five courses you're applying for. If you're applying for the same type of course at different schools that's not so much of a problem, but it does mean you can't say "I want to go to this particular place because of X and Y" as your statement has to be relevant to everything you apply for.
Anyway, once UCAS has sent the applications to the universities the universities will write back saying whether they want to offer you a place or not, and stating any conditions you need to fulfil to take up the offer. I think this happens around March. Then when all your offers are in UCAS will ask you to pick a "firm" and "insurance" choice from the offers you've received -- the insurance being in case you don't meet the conditions of the offer for your first choice. But as I do think you'll get unconditional offers this part isn't so important. With an unconditional offer you just accept and that's the end of the process.
I had a conditional offer from UCL (average of 5 with 5 in maths & physics), which I didn't meet, but I informed them of my results (average of 4.94 with 4.5 in maths & physics...) and they let me in anyway :D
Also, since we're on a vaguely related subject, make sure no one tries to make you pay international student fees. Switzerland has a bilateral agreement with the EU which allows you to pay EU/Home fees -- much cheaper!
UCAS website, in case you haven't found it yet: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/
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