For students hoping to go to university after their A levels, the Ucas application process will be a huge part of the autumn term of their final year at college or sixth-form. 

Ucas is a centralised portal through which students can apply to educational institutions, and receive and compare offers.

As of 2019, there are 391 universities and colleges across the UK that Ucas works with, coordinating applications and interviews.  

In 2017, the organisation handled 2.85 million undergraduate applications from 699,850 UK, EU and international students. From those applications, 533,890 students secured a full-time place at a university or college.

What is the application process?

While there are some exceptions (students will need to check with Ucas and individual providers), the majority of traditional undergraduate applications will be made in the following way:

• Students initially explore and research the courses and establishments on offer to them using the support and information provided by the Ucas Progress service and helpful links and top tips supplied on the Ucas website. 
• Once students have shortlisted a selection of courses and universities, they can begin their application. At this point, they can enter a maximum of five choices, bearing in mind factors such as type of course, entry requirements, location and facilities available.
• In addition to choices, students must enter their personal details, educational history (including qualifications gained and those pending) and will need to submit a personal statement that outlines how and why they are a good student; one suitable for the selected course(s) and capable of meeting the demands of higher education.

The final step is for a reference (usually written by the educational establishment processing the application) to be attached and for the student to pay their application fee.

When do applications need to be made by?

Students will need to check with their schools and colleges as to whether there are internal deadlines in place for processing applications, but generally, as far as Ucas is concerned, courses in medicine, veterinary medicine/science and dentistry are required earlier (October), along with any application to Oxford or Cambridge universities. 

Applications for the majority of other courses are accepted until mid-January with a final late-applications deadline at the end of June. 

Anything after this date will go straight to clearing, whereby students are assigned to remaining spaces following results and confirmation of places from those who applied within the designated time frames.

Ucas also publishes a timeline to guide students and teachers on what should happen and when.

What is clearing?

Clearing is a system used to fill vacancies on university courses. It’s also an opportunity for students who have not accepted university places, or have not met the requirements for their conditional offers, to find a place.

All students who have not successfully enrolled on to a university course will be automatically entered into clearing by Ucas. For more information, check out Tes’ guide to clearing.