Section:GDN BE PaGe:36 Edition Date:170221 Edition:01 Zone:
36
Sent at 20/2/2017 16:53
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education
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The Guardian | Tuesday 21 February 2017
Special report
A second chance to find your dream course Some applicants change their minds; others are dusting themselves down after rejections. Ucas Extra can help both Kim Thomas Rebecca Bates was torn about what she wanted to study at university. Worried that her preferred subject, law, was too competitive, she applied for another course she found attractive: midwifery. She received no offers, however – something she puts down to “the absence of passion and enthusiasm in my personal statement”. Luckily, it wasn’t too late, and she was able to apply through the Ucas Extra process to study law at Coventry University. An offer came through very quickly, and Bates is now in the final year of her law degree at Coventry. The Ucas Extra process, which this year runs from 25 February to 4 July, enables applicants who have either received no offers, or who no longer want to accept any of the offers they have, to apply to a different university – or even a different course at the same university. First-year Swansea University student Adam Cottam, for example, was initially rejected for the zoology sandwich course he applied for, but was accepted for another zoology course during Extra. Last year, 7,500 students were accepted through the process – 1.4% of the total. Using Ucas Extra is straightforward, and costs nothing. When you log into Ucas Track, you will be able to see a list of the courses available – and these days, says Ian McGarry, undergraduate admissions manager at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the “vast majority of courses” will have vacancies. To apply, simply click on the “Add an Extra choice” option. There are restrictions, however: before applying, you must turn down any offers you are holding, and you can only apply for one course at a time. If
you are turned down, you can move on to apply for another course. Applicants for medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses who have only filled in four choices are not eligible to use Ucas Extra, whereas those who have filled in a fifth non-medical option are. Ucas requires universities to respond to an Extra application within 21 days, although many are quicker to reply. “The numbers are much smaller and we’ve passed the huge peak of applications,” says Simon Jones, deputy director, recruitment and admissions office at Coventry University, “so it’s much easier to deal with them on an individual basis.” An offer made through Extra, he adds, is much more likely to translate into a firm choice. Extra is sometimes seen as a chance for applicants holding no offers to have another bite at the cherry before clearing. But since the cap limiting student numbers was removed, fewer students are left with no offers, says Jones, and the majority of applications come from people who have changed their minds about what they want to study. McGarry says that while MMU does see applications during Extra from
I was so scared that I’d declined all my other offers – but I’m very happy now
people who have had straight rejections from the more competitive courses, such as medicine and dentistry, it also has applications from overseas students who missed the original Ucas process and those who have had a change of heart. Second-year geography student Emily Slann falls into the “change of heart” camp. Having received offers from four universities, she decided she would prefer to study closer to home. A week before the Extra process closed, she turned down all four offers and applied to her local university, Nottingham Trent. She knew it was a risk – “I was so scared that I’d declined all my other offers” – but was also certain that she didn’t want to study away from home. Luckily, she was offered a place within a week and is “very happy” with the decision.
Turning down all your offers is not a step to be taken lightly, so make sure you do your research first. Before applying, Slann phoned the module leader of the course she was interested in – a good way both of learning whether the course fits your requirements and letting the department know that your application is coming. Sue Gemmill, assistant director for admissions and applicant services at Royal Holloway, University of London, adds that students who are applying for a completely different course from their original choices should send in a new personal statement directly to the university. It’s also a good idea to put your application in early, giving you the chance to apply somewhere else if that first Extra choice turns you down. If you
Manchester Metropolitan University (above) has places available via Extra on the ‘vast majority of courses’ Alamy haven’t heard from your university of choice within 21 days, then you will be free to replace it with another choice – but you can’t open a second application until the first is closed. For anyone who missed the boat with Ucas applications, or is now wavering about their choices, Ucas Extra provides an opportunity for a fresh start. “There’s no harm in calling up universities and finding out what’s available – it might be that you decline a place you’ve already been offered, to move to somewhere you prefer,” says Jones: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”