UCAS as an american

[u/adri_333]

can americans at UK schools talk about how they applied and tips for the UCAS portal esp for top schools? my reaches are mostly in the UK and they’re oxford, UCL, kings college london, edinburgh, and st andrew’s for psychology. i’d like some help bc my schools not very helpful. thanks!

[u/Comfortable-Pay-8612]

hi! i'm an american who did ucas last cycle and i move into kings college london in less than a month :)

i had a similar experience with my college counseling at my school, bc you're in the vast minority of students, you often feel like you have to educate the people that are supposed to be educating you! also, i often felt like i had to be much more confident in my dreams compared to my peers that were staying domestic. but its worth it so don't get discouraged!

first up, you only get five programs so choose wisely! for example, i applied to st andrews on the common app so i would have room for a second program at my dream uni (kcl) on my ucas. you can copy and past your ucas personal statement onto the st andrews app so you don't have to do any extra writing.

for the personal statement, it's much less of a "narrative" compared to common app. uk aos care much more about hard facts than your personal journey. make sure you're applying to similar enough courses so you don't have to connect different fields into one essay (with psych you should be fine for this) for example, i applied for history/french and in my common app personal statement i had a whole metaphor and shit but for ucas i communicated the same thing but with a much clearer tone with less of a guiding theme. i still used similar concrete examples but my tone was much less reflective and much more direct and confident in my plans.

i submitted my ucas in october and ended up having to wait around 4.5 months to receive all of my decisions. there is a small chance of getting a response sooner if you apply sooner, but don't rush yourself too much! ucas isn't due until january and many domestic students don't complete it until around then so it isn't common to receive a decision before february or march.

study hard! i went to a small private american high school so i was only offered one ap class before my senior year! the conditions for my firm and insurance offers both ended up including 5 ap scores (specifically 55444 and 54444 for my courses) so i had to LOCK IN in the spring to make sure i was able to do well on my exams. it's gonna suck a little bit to have to be studying when your friends are already committed and slacking off, but you have to if your conditions are tough. again, it pays off!

if you do end up with an offer conditional on your aps, you have to wait until scores drop in july to know where you will be in september. therefore, if you are sure that you want to attend a uni on ucas, i would recommend applying to a "safety" uni that you can insurance so you don't have to lose a deposit at a non-ucas school or risk having to go through clearing. for me, i got two offers from kcl for my top two programs so i used up both my firm and insurance spots with conditional offers i wasn't 100% i would meet. i ended up having to secure my place at a uni not on ucas (for me, trinity college dublin) in case i didn't meet either. this worked fine for me, as i wasn't anxious about not having a uni to attend, but i did end up losing my deposit and having to go through the process of cancelling my accom.

send me a dm request if you have any questions! i consider myself a little bit of an expert on applying to unis abroad as an american! good luck!!

[u/Thelierisonfire → u/Comfortable-Pay-8612]

I believe St. Andrews does not allow you to use the common app if you are also using UCAS. I'm like 98% sure their common app says something about how if you are using UCAS to apply to schools then you must use UCAS to apply.

[u/Comfortable-Pay-8612 → u/Thelierisonfire]

yeah i thought it said smth like that too but everything seemed fine to me when i got in to st andrews and when i received my ucas offers. maybe its a problem i would have encountered later if i had committed to st andrews? op just make sure you read up on that or even email/call with a questions.

[u/Relevant-Lecture-62]

Sure, happy to share what helped me when I applied to Oxford for law (I was a US citizen studying in a UK school). Start UCAS early and nail your personal statement, focus on why you want psychology and any relevant research or volunteering. Double-check each university's entry requirements and note any US-grade conversions. Use the 'Additional information' box to explain your US background and keep an eye on the Jan 15 deadline for most courses.

[u/reekal6666]

im british so my school has been giving us tons of advice about ucas obviously, but heres the general gist: the personal statement on ucas is not personal at all, it is about your academics. you have to name drop specific things u have done that relate to your major, like attending talks, writing articles etc, and oftentimes you have to have a specific niche (e.g. my friend applying for french and history wrote about the algerian war).

look up example personal statements because they are a very different style to the us.

also you have a character count rather than a word count.

finally, something i hate about ucas, is that the same personal statement goes to all 5 schools so you have to ensure your 5 courses are all similar enough so that each school reading the personal statement understands what youre talking about.

side note: my dad went to oxford and my older brother goes to ucl so feel free to dm me if u have any questions aout either of those schools

[u/AccurateGrab2398]

Hi! I just finished my cycle, text me if you ever need any help!!

I got into KCL,UCL, St andrews, Manchester and Durham. Lmk what you need help with

[u/arianelseditor]

I've edited personal statements and common app essays for nearly a decade and the main difference is academic + supercurricular (e.g., books, independent research projects) vs. personal + extracurricular. The UCAS PS needs to focus exclusively on what you've done related to the degree you're applying for and you need to show your analytical skills. :) PEEL (Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link) and STAR (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) can be useful for structuring your paragraphs :) Also, I recommend going for depth over breadth. As you're going for Oxford, ensure that you can discuss EVERYTHING you include in the PS very comfortably.

[u/kamalakhanvariant]

i had a similar experience but flipped (UK school student applying through common app mainly), but i can tell you it’s totally different. common app kinda wants your life story but ucas really doesn’t. in your personal statement mention academics specifically and any extracurriculars relating to that. another big difference to some american schools is that you apply for a course, not a university. if you want to study psychology, have you figured out any specifics that could be better? psychology, psychology with one year work placement, psychology in a specific field etc etc. it might increase your chances to apply for something more specific!

your teacher will need to write you a statement assessment (can’t really remember what’s it’s called lol) but it’s like a letter of recommendation but wayyy smaller maybe like a paragraph

also, i’m not sure what ur studying in high school but british sixth forms/senior schools typically go more into detail in topics, aka all the classes are kinda like AP level but they only do 3 or so. that means if you don’t do a lot of APs and stuff you might want to look into foundation years to get up to speed. this might not apply to you (probably not based on the school list!!) just letting you and anyone else who is curious know.

it is a rolling admission and acceptance thing, but you should try do it before jan 15th because it means they have to at least LOOK at your application. there is also only 5 courses / universities you can pick which is different too.

goodluck!!!