Methodist College Belfast Parents Information Evening, 6th September 2016 Text of talk given by Mrs Stott, Head of Careers To keep up to date with the Careers Department news, events, helpful hints and deadlines please follow on Twitter: @mcb_careers 1
Slide 2 The careers programme started right at the beginning of the Lower Sixth year, when the students were warned that during the year, they would be asked to think about what they would do after Sixth Form. It is difficult at that stage, as most of them are excited about being in Sixth Form and don t worry about what they will do when they leave school. They attended the Options 23 Higher Education and Careers Convention a year ago. Whilst many impressed the exhibitors by asking intelligent questions and showing great interest, others just collected bags of prospectuses and any freebies on offer, then left as quickly as possible. This year s convention, Options 24, is being held this Thursday and Friday, the 8 & 9 September, with sessions and seminars on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. Parents are most welcome to attend and usually find the seminars valuable, as it is an opportunity to speak to university representatives directly. The students have the chance to ask lots of questions before finalising their course and university choices. They had a few days work shadowing in January, which always proves useful, either confirming a career idea or ruling it out. Some people arranged to try out other careers as well. In the spring term they had some talks by university representatives and several careers periods during the tutorial period time. We spoke briefly of the options after Sixth Form employment, training, F.E, H.E. or some combination of these. Nowadays, the cost of attending university and the very difficult economic circumstances, make it even more important that a student considers all the options before choosing what appears to be the best one. 2
The vast majority of Sixth form students leaving MCB go into HE and so our work in the latter part of the Lower Sixth year concentrates on getting the students to think about whether or not to go to university, what to there, where to go? Etc. They have been given some booklets of information like these I have here as well as a folder to keep everything together, encouraged to request many university prospectus to be delivered to your door and advised of a number of useful websites. In April at the L6th Careers Day we discussed the application process, time scales, personal statements and choosing universities and courses. We then sent them off to do lots of research on courses and universities. The member of staff taking them that day was their allocated Careers Tutor and in, most cases, still is although there is a certain amount of reshuffling going on at present. In May or June, as well as studying for and sitting exams, each student had the opportunity for an individual interview with the Careers Tutor to discuss their progress, plans/hopes for the future, whether or not to go to university, what and where they might study. Unfortunately some students did not attend their interview and so have not had that discussion. Slide 3 Since the beginning of term, most U6th students have attended another UCAS session on how to use the UCAS Apply 2017 system and how to complete the electronic application, before being sent off to begin the process. Please ask when you go home if your young person has actually registered and begun the application. When I checked the UCAS website this evening only had registered! In April the students were warned that their research should mostly be done over the summer because there would be very little time in U6th before the application would be needed. Well, the time has come! 3
They have been reminded of looming deadlines and have been given a list of forward dates, including Open Days at the local universities. It is assumed that you have given permission for your/own child to visit QUB on Thursday. Explaining all of this shows that everyone has followed a careers programme. If you would like to keep up to date with events in Careers at MCB, please follow us on Twitter - @mcb_careers. Slide 4 Aptitude Tests Aptitude tests and pre-interview tests are becoming more widespread and are seen as another indicator of ability alongside the academic profile of GCSE and AS level grades. These are most common in the fields of Law and Medicine or for those apply to Oxford and Cambridge. 1. LNAT Some university law schools require student to sit this test which is done by individual arrangement, on-line, at the driving theory test centres. The fee is 50 2. UKCAT Almost all medical schools require applicants to sit the UKCAT, also done by individual arrangement, on-line, at the driving theory test centres. The fee is 65 (1/7 31/8) or 80 (1/9 5/10) Please note these tests are aptitude tests, not tests of knowledge. The most important preparation is practice which individual students should do as the results are important. 3. BMAT Required for medicine at Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Imperial, Leeds and BSMS, Veterinary at the Royal Veterinary College and Cambridge and a few other courses. Students must register and be entered through the school. The test is taken in school on Wednesday 2 November. The fee is 45 approx. This is a very different type of test to the rest. 4
4. HAT, ELAT, TSA, PAT, MLAT etc. All for Oxford and Cambridge. Register via the school. All of this group will be taken on 2 November in school. No fee 5. HPAT (Ulster) Is only for certain courses at the UU e.g. physio, occupational therapy, dietetics etc. Taken at UU on 28 January 2017 with registration via the web-site. The fee is 109 and the most difficult thing for some students is length of time that it takes. Most of these are aptitude tests which are supposed to be fair to all as coaching is not possible. In fact, preparation is possible - practice, practice, practice using various resources available on-line and in books and past papers. You cannot resit these tests in the same application cycle so it is important to do well first time as the results do have an important part to play in the application. The tests must be done by the relevant deadlines. Slide 5 - How we operate the UCAS system here in school There is an example of a 2017 entry application in your booklet if you wish to look at it. The application is divided into sections: 1. Personal details all standard stuff, however, some of the email addresses used by our students do not really inspire visions of maturity (i.e. pink fluffy bunny ears). They should check this email address for communications from UCAS or the universities 2. The usual fee code is 02 and residential category is UK, unless the student is from overseas. Slide 6 & 7 3. Information is not passed to the universities but issued for UCAS statistics. 5
4. Special needs e.g. diabetes, dyslexia, deafness. This alerts the university so that they know whether you will require any special help it does not disadvantage you. Slide 8 5. Chosen courses, maximum of 5 but only 4 for medicine. Placed in alphabetical order by the Apply system. Students need to have courses asking for a range of entry grades e.g. a likely ABB student could choose courses from AAA to BBB. Students need to think very carefully about their choices and should not choose more than 2 from a group of universities which seem to us to be the hardest to get into. This group is not definite but includes such places as Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Warwick, UCL, Imperial, Leeds, Durham and Bristol. Students must discuss their choices with the UCAS tutor and should not include places they have no intention of going to! Every year I hear students say but I don t want to go there! when discussing their choices after they have made them! Slide 9 6. Qualifications those gained already, including GCSE grades and AS grades, must be entered, even if they are not what the student would like. Music, Young Enterprise etc. can be entered the highest level reached. A levels go in a separate exams to be taken section part of this section. It is amazing how many students do not put in the A levels they will be taking, appearing not to notice the warning that comes up on their screen, in bold! 6
7. Personal statement This is very important. It is an opportunity to show motivation, work experience and other relevant activities. Please remind students that this is an academic application and ½ - 2/3 of the statement should reflect this. The rest can be about other activities. It should not be a list of everything the student does see booklet on personal statements given out in lower sixth it should indicate that they can think about what they have learned. The statement may need a lot of work. It can be a maximum of 47 lines long including spaces. It must not be copied from anywhere as plagiarism detection software is used and it will pick up even phrases and sentences that have come through UCAS before. Slide 10 When the application has been completed to the satisfaction of the student and the UCAS tutor, we will require a final paper copy, signed by you, to be handed in to the Careers Office. When the fee has been paid ( 23 on line), the student can click on send to referee and the electronic version comes to us also. Slide 11 At this stage we start to deal with the application, completing several stages including the writing of an academic reference, before the application can be finally processed and sent off to UCAS. Slide 12 This usually takes 3 4 weeks although some will go more quickly and some will take longer, especially if we ask for an up-to-date picture of the work this year. While this is all happening, the student cannot see that progress is being made so they tend to think nothing is happening! This is not the case, we are working on it, but it does take time. Please contact me if you are concerned but always remember, the teachers 7
doing this all of this are doing it on top of their normal workload so cannot work miracles. The students have 2 months to do their bit but expect us to deal with it in 24 hours. You and the students have to give us a bit of time! The school reference is always positive in tone and accurate in academic terms, written especially for the individual student. Students applying for any subject at Oxford or Cambridge, or for Dentistry, Medicine or Veterinary courses have an early UCAS deadline (so an early school deadline) and these applications must be dealt with first. Other applications may have to wait until all of these ones have been dealt with. The deadline for these applications has been set for the end of October. Any students who have not completed will may be removed from class for extra UCAS time to complete the application. Slide 14 When the application has been sent to UCAS Students receive confirmation from UCAS and a password which allows them to track their application. We do not know this password so cannot help them if they lose it, so it should be stored securely on paper as well as on their phones. UCAS sends the application to the universities. Some respond quickly, some wait for a few months, some interview, some do not. Hopefully, the students have made appropriate course choices and will get offers it is difficult to predict how tough it will be next year! When they have heard from all universities, they get a date by which they must reply or their offers will be rejected on their behalf by UCAS. Slide 15 The student makes 2 choices, CF (Firm) and CI (Insurance) with CI grades normally lower than CF. 8
CF is the student s first choice, and so the student and the university have a contract. If the student achieves the target grades, the university has to have a place for them but also, the student cannot just have a change of mind and go elsewhere, without some difficulty. The CI comes into play if the CF grades are not met and the student is not taken by the first choice university. Now the contract applies between the CI university and the student. Of course, a student can withdraw completely at any time but can only reapply in a subsequent application cycle. A system called UCAS extra, begins if the student is rejected by, or rejects all the courses chosen initially. One more choice at a time can be entered until a suitable course is found. Very important to keep all letters etc. together, in the UCAS folder and to keep in touch with the UCAS tutor in case of any problems that need attention. Slide 16 The provisional date for the issue of results next year is Thursday 17 th August and the students should be here at that time, not away on holiday, in case there is negotiation needed at that stage. A student who exceeds the conditions of his or her CF offer can enter a scheme called Adjustment, which allows him or her to search for a course requiring higher grades, without losing the CF place. However there is little movement through this scheme. Note: Medicine does not appear in clearing. We ask everyone to confirm their destination that day or as soon as possible as they can afterwards we will have to track them down if necessary! As we believe that early applications can elicit rapid and favourable responses, we encourage the students to the applications in quickly, hence the setting of school deadlines. We are always anxious to avoid some poor soul getting into a state about missing the deadline, but this never seems to worry most of our U6th especially those who hand the application in on 15 January, the official closing date. We will be working to get them away as quickly as possible. 9
Slide 17 CAO After the UCAS applications have been dealt with, we can turn our attention to the CAO system for applications to Dublin, Cork etc. This is a completely separate system which pupils can use alongside UCAS, so having applications in both systems at the same time. There is no personal statement, no reference, 10 choices in order of preference and only grades matter. Very few interviews take place. After studying the relevant university information, students complete the application online and pay the fee. We do not have any access to these applications so cannot see or check them. It is vital that students respond to any letters etc. as mistakes can be rectified only up to a certain date. Slide 18 The points awarded for A levels has changed, with higher points for the first 3 A levels and an extra 25 points been added if A level Mathematics presenting with a grade E or higher. The HPAT- Ireland aptitude test must also be taken by Medicine applicants, in Dublin, on a specific date which is Saturday 25 February 2017. The cost is 120. It would be wise to attend one of the CAO talks at Options later this week for best advice and the information in the CAO handbook, whether on paper or on-line, should be read carefully. There will be a presentation in school in January about the CAO system. It is not possible to negotiate with CAO when results have been published and, since they never make mistakes, nothing can be rectified! There will be an opportunity to find out about apply to universities in Europe and in America at Options. 10
Conclusion We do our best to advise and work with the students, and the majority of them are successful in their applications. There is no doubt that there is more pressure on university places than there used to be and every year we see some students who do not get the desired offers or who have done very well, but have just missed their target grades and lose out on university place. Within NI the universities are increasing their grades and they are reducing their numbers as well. No one knows what it will be like next year, so your young people need to make sensible choices and then work hard to get the necessary grades. We do what we can, but rely on you to help, support and prod them onward throughout the application processes and the academic year. Slide 19 We cannot do it for them and I do not think we should. It is their application, their career, their future and they must take responsibility for it. 11