Since I was young, one dream has remained stagnant at the top of my bucket list: studying abroad.
I grew up with simultaneous comments of encouragement and disgust towards leaving my country, but my aspiration never became tentative. My only worry, which developed as my senior year approached, was how easy it would be to apply to a foreign school.
When it was time to apply for colleges, I hesitated for the first time about this dream; how was I supposed to apply abroad?
What absolved my apprehension was none other than The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), the United Kingdom’s equivalent to CommonApp.
UCAS is easily accessible to foreign students and makes the application process faster and more efficient for UK schools. I applied to five universities at once using the service—and for a low price. When I submitted my application, it only cost around $32, or around $6.40 per school.
UCAS breaks down each section of their application with comprehensible instructions. When these instructions didn’t answer all of my questions, I found multiple options to contact a staff member who would assist me.
This was incredibly helpful, as the education portion of the application requires inputting qualifications, something American schools don’t have.
I opted for communicating through their Instagram and spoke directly to an advisor, who answered within 24 hours. I ended up inputting my SAT score and AP test scores, which I would have not known to do without their prompt and detailed help.
Another feature of UCAS that can be appreciated is the in-depth guides that they provide for each type of application (undergraduate, postgraduate, and apprenticeship). These guides explain concepts unique to the UK and also serve as an additional instructional resource for struggling applicants.
There is also a student chat available through the UCAS site. This allows applicants to communicate with active students and discuss personal concerns and positives about certain schools.
Additionally, there are many discovery pages that help a prospective student find their perfect match. UCAS lists available housing, employment, individual city information, and more; these are all important considerations when studying abroad, and details about them were at my fingertips within this single service.
After submitting my application, UCAS has remained easy to navigate. Any rejections or admissions are automatically grouped on my homepage. Updates are sent to my email, so I won’t miss any new information regarding my applications.
UCAS has proved to be the most helpful resource when faced with navigating the challenges that come with applying abroad. The site provides an intense amount of valuable information about studying abroad, and the staff is eager to assist and help with problems.
It is obvious that UCAS is a service dedicated to the success of its users, and knowing that I utilized it to apply abroad provides me with significant confidence that my application was the best it could have been.
Bucket list item #1? About to be checked off.
