Hello there, new blog!
As customary when making new friends, one must introduce oneself thoroughly. If not already obvious, my name is Tiffany and I'm an 18 year old Malaysian student studying in a local private college, hoping to ultimately further my education in UK to read Law. I'm currently in the midst of my AS examinations and have my fingers, toes, and shoelaces crossed for the best. Rather than rush my application, I decided to apply early in September and all there's left to do is sit for my LNAT and wait patiently (or as patiently as I can) for the results.
To some, UCAS applications are a breeze. They go by each virtual page as quickly as one would take to flip through a book, knowing exactly what they need to fill and where they need to fill it. Others, find themselves a little more frazzled, saving rather than marking every section as complete, and having questions to ask for every section. While applying through UCAS, I found myself as lost as I was certain, filling in certain sections without a hitch, while frantically scouring the Internet or paying multiple visits to the nice woman at my college's Placement Centre for other parts. Eventually, I completed my form, made the necessary payments, and finally sent it in! To those who find themselves in the latter category I mentioned, UCAS is a lot more straightforward than it seems but here are a few useful tips to completing your applications.
1. Research and decide.
Some take very long to fill up their UCAS form for the sole reason that they keep changing their mind. Once I decided my course, I found it useful to list out prospective universities beforehand and do a through search on each one. The Internet is chock-filled with helpful student review sites which will ease your decision-making process. As an international student applying to read Law, for me, it was important to know which universities required the LNAT as well as the minimum IELTS score I was required to have. This research should ideally be done early so once you come around to filling in your choices, you won't feel so uncertain and completing the form will be quicker.
2. Check with the website!
Although many of us (myself included) find it much easier to write our personal statements on word programmes such as Microsoft Word, the UCAS website submits our personal statements with different alignments. In a nutshell, what may be 47 lines in Microsoft Word could be 54 lines on UCAS. Rather than panic (much like how I did) when you realize your 4000 characters personal statement is 5 lines over the limit, constantly keep pasting your statement on the website to keep the line count in check.
3. Check, check, check!
Once you're done filling in everything, get them all checked! Ask your parents or even peers to cross check your form to ensure that you haven't left anything out. You could even meet up in groups to help each other out! - At the end of the day, with the plethora of helpful UCAS guides online, support from teachers and friends, as well as your own determination, filling up a UCAS form isn't as daunting as it seems at the beginning. At least, that's how I felt.
I'll be back once my AS examinations are over, but till then, feel free to snoop around my personal website to get to know me better! Throughout the year, I'll be detailing my struggles and triumphs regarding my university placements so undoubtedly, we'd get better acquainted that way as well!
So hey, leave a comment, follow, and here's to the start of a beautiful new friendship!
