The UCAS application deadline is closing in fast – 15th January 2019 at 6pm – and you still haven’t submitted yours? Don’t panic, here are our last minute tips on how to get it sorted this weekend without it looking like you left it to the last minute!
1. Prioritise your application
Even though you might have some great invitations , make your application your priority. Tell yourself you cannot accept those invitations until you have finished it. If you do this, then you will certainly enjoy yourself more when you do go out and it won’t be hanging over you, but it also means you will be allocating all the time you need to get the job done, instead of trying to squeeze it in to a short time frame.
2. What is stopping you?
Have you been procrastinating because you’re still unsure where to apply or what course you want to study, or even if you want to go at all? Try and identify the reasons you have delayed putting in your application and address them. Just because you do apply, doesn’t mean you are committed. Ride the process and see if you feel any surer when you get your offers, or even once your results are in. You can always secure a place and defer until you have got that travel bug out of your system or maybe had a year’s work experience to convince yourself you are applying for the right course.
3. Personal Statement
If the personal statement isn’t finished, or maybe not even started yet, just start writing, whatever comes in to your head. It is much easier to change something that’s already written and improve it than it is to write the perfect statement on your first attempt. Most personal statements are revised, revised again and then revised again, so if you’re stuck, just write something and then change what you’ve written.
4. Get it checked and then check it again
Ask other people to go over your application and check it. Ask for feedback and check for grammatical or spelling errors – these are easy reasons for admissions tutors to dismiss your application when they have so many to choose from. If you have read it and re-read it yourself several times you are less likely to spot mistakes than someone who is reading it for the first time.
5. Don’t panic
If you really can’t get everything done in time, it doesn’t mean you’ve messed up your chances of getting in to Uni this year. UCAS will still process your application but universities are not obliged to consider them. However by applying, this means you will still have the chance to go through UCAS Extra and of course Clearing later on in the year.
