For students and parents · Year 12, from spring
How to choose a university and a course
Choose the course first and the university second, because you will spend three or four years on the subject and the same subject is taught very differently from one place to another. Then narrow the list by entry requirements you can realistically meet, how the course is taught and assessed, and where you would be happy living, and use open days to check what the prospectus says. A UCAS application has up to five choices.
Why start with the course rather than the university?
Two courses with the same name can have little in common. One economics degree may be mostly mathematics and statistics and another mostly history and policy; one English degree may let you choose almost every module and another may set most of the first two years. So read the module lists for the first and later years, see which parts are compulsory and which are options, and check how each year is assessed, by exams, coursework or a dissertation.
League tables are one input, and they measure things such as entry grades, spending and graduate outcomes rather than how much you would enjoy the course. A place that ranks slightly lower but teaches the parts of the subject you care about is usually a better choice than the reverse.
What do the entry requirements mean?
Most courses at the more selective universities ask for grades in named subjects, for example AAB including mathematics, and some ask for an admissions test or an interview as well. Other courses state a number of UCAS Tariff points instead, which the UCAS points calculator adds up for A levels, AS levels and the Extended Project.
Some universities make lower offers to applicants from particular schools, areas or circumstances, usually called contextual offers. Each university sets its own rules for these, so the place to check is the admissions pages of the university itself.
It is sensible to spread the five choices across a range of entry requirements, so that at least one or two are courses you would expect to get into on your predicted grades. You can usually apply to only one of Oxford or Cambridge in the same year, and no more than four of the five choices can be medicine, dentistry or veterinary courses.
How much does where you live matter?
More than people expect. A campus university, where teaching, housing and most of the social life are on one site, feels very different from a city university spread across a town, and the cost of rent varies a great deal around the country. The Maintenance Loan in England depends on where you study and on household income, so the student finance guide is worth reading alongside this one.
Distance from home is a personal question. Some students want to be able to get home easily at weekends and some want a fresh start; neither is wrong, and it is better decided early than discovered in the first term.
How do you check what the prospectus says?
Go to open days where you can, in person or online, and ask the people who teach the course how many hours of teaching a week the first year has, how big the classes are, and how the course is assessed. Current students are usually the most honest source on what a week is really like. The open days guide has a list of questions worth taking with you.
Where to check
Checked against these on . The rules change from year to year, so the pages above are the ones to trust if anything here disagrees with them.
Common questions
How many universities can you apply to?
Up to five choices on one UCAS application. No more than four of them can be in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or veterinary science, and you can usually apply to only one of Oxford or Cambridge in the same year.
Should I choose a university by its league table position?
Use league tables as one thing among several. They measure entry grades, spending and graduate outcomes, not how well a course matches what you want to study, so the module list and the way the course is taught usually matter more.
What is a contextual offer?
A lower offer some universities make to applicants from particular schools, areas or circumstances. Each university decides its own rules, so check its admissions pages rather than assuming one applies.
Do all universities use UCAS points?
No. Many courses, particularly at the more selective universities, ask for grades in named subjects instead. Points matter only where a course states them.
When should my child start choosing?
Most students start looking seriously in the spring of Year 12, go to open days in the summer, and settle their five choices before the autumn of Year 13, when applications are sent.