Year 13 UCAS Parents’ Information Evening

23rd June 2015

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Outline of session

• UCAS application the process

• Making a successful application

• Targets vs predicted grades

• Extra-curricular development

• Workload

• Student Finance

Student JourneyJanuary 2014 Sutton Trust Summer school (1) / Uniq Summer school (Oxford) (2)

Wednesday 19th March 2015 UCAS HE Convention Westpoint Exeter

Monday 22nd Thursday 25TH June 2015 Students receive log in details and start filling in general application

Monday 29th June 2015 Plymouth University UCAS Personal Statement

October 23rd 2015 Personal Statements completed

2 Collapsed days in September and November- Student Finance

How to apply?• On line application system – easy! • https://

www.youtube.com/user/UCASonline/videos• UCAS.tv http://

www.ucas.tv/ucas/video/DZQ2n• Number of applications - £12 for one course

and £23 for 5 choices for Personal statement• Reference

Making an application

UCAS online application system called APPLY 2016

October 15th 2015 Four choices - medicine, veterinary science, veterinary medicine, dentistry

October 15th 2015 One choice - Oxford or Cambridge (unless graduate medicine)

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate

www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply

All other courses - five choices 15th January 2015

2015 UCAS Statistics

• 526,570 applicants

• 2% increase on 2014 cycle

• 12,000 unconditional offers

• 1.8 million offers made in 2014

• 6% increase compared to 2013

• 61,300 successfully went through clearing

January 2015 there were 50,000 applications made in the 24hrs before the deadline.

How do institutions make a decision on who to give offers to?

• Predicted grades and all entry requirements satisfied• GCSE results• AS grades• Reference• Quality of application• Interview• Extra assessments BMAT / UKCAT /• Contextual data• Unconditional offers• 10,000 Scholarship offers AAB-ABB caps are off!• Personal Statement

The Personal Statement

4,000 words

Software is used to scan all personal statements.

Avoid clichés- they have been used before.

They will be rejected if they have a spelling or grammar mistake.

Bath read personal statements twice.

Must be 70-80% relevant to subject. Medicine ban words such as interested and enjoy.

Don’t list, explain your experiences and drive.

Volunteering

Targets vs predicted grades• Target calculated from prior performance

and contextualised data• Predicted grades – professional judgment

A competitive market.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/13/uk-graduate-job-market-strongest-2014

Starting salaries for graduates are expected to remain unchanged for a fifth year at a median of £29,000

Some of Britain's biggest employers including Google, British Airways, John Lewis, the police and the civil service are planning to hire a total of 18,264 graduates this year, an increase of 8.7% compared with 2012. The lowest salary offered is expected to be around £16,000, rising to £50,000 for graduates in some investment banking positions.

Graduates from UK universities hired by the European commission can expect to receive salaries of up to £41,500, while Aldi will pay trainee area managers £41,000.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8556307.stm

But graduates can expect to earn £100,000 more over their working life after tax than teenagers who get a job after A-levels, according to the government.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33204691

Four in 10 of the first students to pay higher fees do not believe their courses have been good value for money, a survey for BBC Radio 5 live suggests.

Just over half say their university course has been good value and about 8% are undecided.

The survey of 1,004 final-year students also shows 46% would do the same course again.

Universities UK said the last national student survey found 86% of students were satisfied with their course

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/aug/12/student-debt-to-rocket-2012-freshers

However the average debt is £5,681 a year (not including tuition fees)

The Steps

• Choosing a course• Applying• Student finance England online application

http://www.sfengland.slc.co.uk/media/651034/sfe_guide_financial_support_ft_1415_d.pdf

• Results• Next steps (clearing and adjustment)• Starting university / college

Year 12 into Year 13

• Examination results- Thursday 13th August

• Lessons learnt (no opportunity to resit until 2016)

• Timetable

• Change in approach

• Preparing for lessons

Extra-curricular development

• Increasing employability• Work experience / voluntary work /

part time work / supporting clubs / playing sport competitively etc

• Employers wish listhttps://www.ucas.com/advisers/guides-and-resources/illume-

feature-focus/why-work-experience-so-important-your-students

MAINTENANCE LOAN• Maintenance support is available to help with your living

costs while in higher education.

• There are two main types of support, Maintenance Loan (repayable) and Maintenance Grant (non-repayable).

• All eligible students are entitled to receive some maintenance support.

• The amount of Maintenance Loan you can get depends on where you live and study.

• Maintenance support is paid directly into your bank account each term.

Up to

£8,009

Up to

£5,740

Up to

£4,565

MAINTENANCE LOANMAXIMUM LEVELS 2016/17

If studying overseas as part of a UK course, Maintenance Loan support is still available. Up to £6,820 for 2015/16.i

Full-Year Student*

65% Non Means Tested

35% Means Tested

Maximum Loan

Parental home £2,967 £1,598 £4,565

Elsewhere £3,731 £2,009 £5,740

London £5,205 £2,804 £8,009

Overseas £4,433 £2,387 £6,820

i Additional loan may be available for any extra weeks of study if your course goes beyond 30 weeks in an academic year

*Lower rates are available to final year students

MAINTENANCE LOANMAXIMUM LEVELS 2015/16

• The Maintenance Grant doesn’t have to be repaid.

• How much grant you can get depends on your household income (100% means tested).

Full Grant:£3,387

Partial Grant:(Min £50)

Household income: Up to £25,000

Household income: Up to £42,620

MAINTENANCE GRANTSUPPORT AND MEANS TESTING

Household income is the taxable earned and unearned incomeof the parents/partner you live with most of the time. i

www.gov.uk/studentfinance

GET YOUR ESTIMATE

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