The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, also known as UCAS, is the connecting system designed to be the middle man between a student and university. If you wish to apply to almost any university or college in the UK, it needs to be done using a UCAS application form.
UCAS was founded in 1961 when universities in the UK decided they wanted a system to organise all applications to their undergraduate or postgraduate courses, agreeing on a standardised application form, with a limited number of course choices available to students.
What do UCAS do?
Students are only able to complete one application form per UCAS cycle, during which they can select up to five universities to apply to. In addition to selecting where and what a student wishes to study, a personal statement is also required for universities to get of an overview of you as a potential enrolee at their institution.
UCAS Deadlines
There are a variety of different UCAS application deadlines to meet depending on the type of course and study level you wish to pursue. For example, the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry applicants must apply by October 15th each year, but for the majority of courses for EU students, the 15th January is when all applications must be submitted.
International students from outside the EU can still submit their application up to the June 30th.
UCAS Facts and Figures
- Students can only apply online via the UCAS portal
- UCAS is a a non-governmental and not-for-profit company
- In 2017, UCAS undergraduate admissions handled almost three million applications from 700,000 UK, EU and international students
- In 2017, over 530,000 students secured a full-time place at over 390 UK institutions
Study in the UK
As an official UCAS centre, SI-UK will provide you with free, independent advice on how to submit a high quality UCAS application. We can review and edit your personal statement, add a reference to UCAS and fully track it from start to finish. Learn more by visiting us for a free consultation today.
