Kennicott higher education evening 13 june 2012

1. Higher Education
Evening
Kennicott Sixth Form Centre
Welcome!

2. WELCOME
1. Welcome
Mr Jon Starkie, Assistant Principal
2. University Life
Dan Wilde and Danny Shelton, Plymouth University
3. How to Apply: An Overview
UCAStv
4. Finding your course and choosing your university
Mr Jon Starkie, Assistant Principal
5. Writing your Personal Statement
Dave Waistnidge, Assistant Head of Sixth Form
6. Timetable for Applications/Special Deadlines
Dave Waistnidge
7. Student Finance
Chris Walker

3. University Life
Dan Wilde and Danny Shelton
Plymouth University

4. How to Apply: An Overview
Jon Starkie

5. UCAStv
This is an example for Apply 2012.
Apply 2013 will be available from end June.

6. Finding your course
and choosing
your university
Jon Starkie

7. Q: How do I search for courses?
Q: How can I find out which is the best
university or college for my chosen
course?
Q: How do I find the entry requirements
for the course?
www.google.co.uk
www.unistats.direct.gov.uk
www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk
www.push.co.uk/Choose-a-uni
www.thestudentroom.co.uk
www.ucas.ac.uk/yougo

8. Writing your
Personal Statement
Dave Waistnidge

9. Planning Your Personal Statement

10.  Large numbers of
students applying through
UCAS – impossible to
interview for all courses
 You may be competing
with other students from
across UK for small number
of places – personal
statement could make the
difference between a
successful or unsuccessful
application.
 Admissions staff want to see
evidence that students are
enthusiastic, well-prepared
and have the right skills to do
well at university.

11. • Before you
start, remember this is a
personal statement - i.e. it's
about you, and there is no
real right or wrong way to do
it.
• Personal statements are
specific so if you decide to
change the course you are
applying for you will need to
rewrite your personal
statement.
• When the admissions and
subject tutors look at your
personal statement, they are
likely to be asking two main
questions:
1. Do we want this student
on this course?
2. Do we want this student at
this university?

12. Admission Tutors
• Is the student suited to the course that they are applying
for?
• Does the student have the necessary qualifications and
qualities for the course?
• Is the student conscientious, hardworking and unlikely to
drop out?
• Will the student do their best and cope with the demands of
the course?
• Can the student work under pressure?
• Will the student be able to adjust to their new environment at
university?
• What are their communication skills like?
• Are they dedicated to this course and have researched it
well?
• Do they have a genuine interest in the subject and a desire to
learn more about it?
These are the questions you will need to address in your personal
statement.

13. • What do you want to
study at university?
• Why?
• What specific aspects of
the course interests you?
• What school work have
you completed that is
relevant?
• What practical work have
you completed that is
relevant?
• What have you read
related to the subject
area that has inspired
you?
• What personal
experiences which lead to
the decision to take this
subject?
• Where you hope a degree
in this subject will lead?

14. What experiences show
you are a reliable and
responsible person?
• Part-time jobs?
• Business enterprise?
• Community and
charity work?
• Sixth Form
committee?
• Extracurricular
activities? (Young
Enterprise, Duke of
Edinburgh Award,
Debating, Sport, etc)
• What have you gained
from these
experiences?

15. Your interests and
skills
• What do you do in
your free time?
• Any sport and
leisure activities?
• Any subjects you
study which are
not examined?
• Do you play a
musical
instrument?
• Do you speak any
languages?
• Have you won any
prizes?
• Do you have any
role or
responsibility in
any of your
interests?

16. Gap Years/The
Summer
• Why are you
taking a Gap
year? (if you are)
• Why do you want
to take a gap
year?
• What do you plan
to do?
• How does this
relate to your
course?

17. Now, for each point you have
made, comment on:
• What it says about your character;
• What skills/knowledge has it given you;
• Why it makes you a suitable candidate
for the course and the university.

18. If you need help, do ask your parent/carer or Tutor for assistance.
or phone the UCAS Student Helpline on 0871 468 0468

19. PERSONAL STATEMENT
Medicine Personal Statement
Medicine for me is a unique profession in that it does not
discriminate in its universality of application. It has therefore
captivated me as a challenging field of continuous learning that
allows me to explore my love of science in a way that is
beneficial to humanity..
Medicine Personal Statement
Given that over ninety nine percent of the body consists of just
six elements, it is hard to imagine the human body as an
intricately synchronised and immensely complex machine. Yet, it
has done well to puzzle even the brightest minds in history-but I
am drawn to a challenge; I cannot think of anything else more
fascinating to work with..
English Language
English has long since endured an inappropriate reputation of
being boring, lack-luster. However, it is not until you've become
engrossed in the language that the true power is revealed, how
a single word can bend someone's mind to a cause, take them
to a world they can only dream off, or create an atmosphere so
tense you can not stop reading..

20. English Personal Statement
Emily Bronte had the Yorkshire moors, Austen and Shakespeare
had Chawton and London respectively, and I have my bed. This
is where their sleeping words are shaken awake by my
subjectivity. This is where I become a man.
Maths Personal Statement
“It has become a very strange and perhaps frightening subject
from the ordinary point of view,but anyone who penetrates into it
will find a veritable fairyland"(Kasner E and Newman J).This
saying is perhaps the most fitted to describe my enthusiasm for
Maths.
Law Personal Statement
I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. My father had always told me my career destined in the
profession of Law; I had of course been ignorant to this.
Thinking the only reason he had told me so was to carry the
family tradition, as he was one himself.
Journalism Personal Statement
The amplification of the inexplicable joy as I finished producing
my first piece was too palpable to ignore. It perpetually hung in
the surrounding air as waves of electrifying impetus to the
growth of the infantile writer residing in every fibre that
constitutes my body and whom I gradually nourished with a
lucid thought-process and dexterity at juxtaposition of words.

21. Timetable for Applications/
Special Deadlines
Dave Waistnidge

22. YR12 Spring Term
June 2012  Higher Education programme begins.
 HE Evening with parents .
 Apply for ‘UCAS Card’ to receive free monthly newsletters providing advice on the application process,
advance information on universities, and discounts on goods and services www.ucas.com/ucascard.
July 2012  Students complete and return a Student Reference Request Form to the UCAS
Co-ordinator (forms available from the Kennicott Office or attached).
 If student is applying for Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Science courses and all
courses at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge) and courses at UK Conservatoires
(CUKAS), the Student Reference Request form must be returned by 6 July 2012 at the latest.
 If applying for the above courses with a 15 October deadline, advise Tutor of this.
 Student to make subject teachers aware of their intentions to go to university.
 Student researches into courses and universities - www.ucas.com/students/
choosingcourses.
 Draft Personal Statement – use feedback from HE Evening, seek advice from Tutors or visit
www.ucas.com/students/applying/howtoapply/personalstatement.
August 2012  Register and commence UCAS application on-line, visit www.ucas.com/students/apply.
 Further draft Personal Statement.
YR13 Autumn Term
September 2012  Students applying for all other courses with a 15 January 2013 deadline, to return, if they haven’t
already done so, the completed Student Reference Request Form to the UCAS Co-ordinator by Friday,
14 September 2012 at the latest.
 Complete UCAS Application on-line.
 Print and submit hard copy of UCAS Application to include draft Personal Statement to Form Tutor by
Monday, 17 September 2012.
 Liaise with Form Tutor, and if changes have been made to application, amend UCAS application on-line
by Friday, 28 September 2012. Once completed, select PAY and SEND to enable the UCAS Co-
ordinator to process application further.
 If the student’s course requirement is to undertake an Admission Test, student to advise both the
UCAS Coordinator and Examinations Officer.

23. October 2012 –  UCAS applications are processed further by UCAS Co-ordinators to meet the necessary deadlines of 15
January 2013 October 2012 and 14 January 2013.
 Tutor reports are added to the application.
 Final check by Tutor. (At this stage, amendments may still be made. Students to check status on-line
regularly. The requested changes to be made as soon as student has been advised to. Once
completed, student to select PAY and SEND to return the application to the UCAS Administrator).
 Final version of UCAS application is approved by the Senior Management team (Students to continue
checking status on-line in case further improvements need to be made to the application. Once
completed, student to select PAY and SEND to return the application to the UCAS Administrator).
 Application is sent to UCAS.
From October 2012  Track your progress via ‘Apply’.
YR13 Spring Term
March – April 2013  When student has received decisions from all the institutions to which they have applied,
student can accept one firm conditional offer and one as the insurance choice.
Spring – July 2013  If students receives rejections from all five chosen universities, student will be given an
opportunity to apply for a further university via UCAS Extra. UCAS will you let students
know if they are eligible when writing to student with final decision letter.
August 2013  If student’s grades do not meet the offer made, student may wish to enter Clearing. Clearing
commences in late August and details are forwarded automatically to candidates in the
Summer.
Important notes:
• Whilst the official UCAS deadline is 15 January 2013, early applications are perceived to have an advantage.
• Attend Open Days, Taster Courses and/or Career Conferences throughout this process, the earlier the better.
• Oxford and Cambridge: Students can apply to only one course at either the University of Oxford or the
University of Cambridge. You cannot apply to both universities.
• If an admission test needs to be taken, you need to make sure you advise the relevant staff and plan for this.
This is the responsibility of the student.

24. Student Finance
Chris Walker

25. What Happens Next?
Jon Starkie

26. Opportunity
for
Questions
Jon Starkie

27. Close
Jon Starkie