APR Applicant Voice

1. APR Evidence APR Applicant Voice Review of quantitative analysis

2. Module 13 - Applicant voice quantitative methodology • Three audiences received an incentivised survey designed to find out what applicants think of the current UCAS processes and services. *Based on age group and gender proportions of the entire UCAS database for 2011 entry

3. Apply is too complex • Apply is too complex – almost half of respondents say it’s complex to some level. • Reasons; Information is difficult to enter (37%), Not enough support from outside UCAS (31%) & Haven’t found information from UCAS easy to understand (29%) • Track is the most simple – but still 19% of applicants find it complex to some degree

4. Free text responses about the application process are mixed and highlight the complexities outlined “[The system is]Simple to use and understand. The whole system would be better however with a later deadline for art subjects, as there is little time to prepare a portfolio for an interview.” “Some questions felt easy whereas in truth it was easy to put wrong information down.” “Considering that 60% of applicants to university are mature students, the application process was biased towards those applying straight from school.” “The UCAS website including data entry could be more easy to use and input data. Also your track service should not need instructions on how to be used, but should be simple and intuitive. however overall a pretty well developed site.” “Confusing layout when filling in information. Luckily my college double checked everything but I had to go over it about three times because I hadn't understood the layout or question. Useful reminders about deadlines though.”

5. Almost half of applicants admit they’ve made applications they’re not interested in • By far the most popular option among applicants is to maintain the 5 choices they have currently. • However, unsurprisingly those who have needed to use Extra are in favour of having more options up front. • Having fewer options is unpopular across the board regardless of the number of applications applicant made themselves. • 83% of those who said they made applications to places they were not really interested in did so “to have some course choices as a backup in case I was unsuccessful to my favourites”. • 18.5% made the unnecessary choices because their school told them to.

6. Applicants want to be able to make 5 or more choices to Medicine “I don’t feel it is fair that as a medical applicant I was restricted to 4 applications to medicine. After all if I hadn’t got in this year I was going to reapply and so having a 5th 'non medical' choice was pointless!” “Medics should have 5 medicine choices plus a non-medicine choice.” “only 5 choices is ridiculous there should be unlimited you can apply to or at least a few more. Especially students applying to medicine which I did and there is extreme competition! 5 choices does not give students enough choice” “For courses that are highly competitive i.e. medicine, dentistry, vets etc, there should be more than 5, never mind 4!!!” “Medicine applicants should be entitled to five choices too!” “Particularly for medicine I definitely think the limit of 4 should be lifted, and for other subjects I think that a better breadth of choices would be advantageous,. For example the CAO in the ROI have numerous choices (I think 10)”

7. When asked about number of choices, the need for multiple personal statements emerged... “Perhaps more specifically, it would be good if you could alter your personal statement for different courses. I would have liked to apply to a broader range of courses, but was limited in that I had to write a 'one-size fits all' personal statement” “I think that you should be able to give different personal statements depending on which subject you are taking, so that if you are applying for more than one subject you can give different personal statements” “I think a higher number of choices would be great in future, but there should also be an option to attach more than one personal statement to the form if applying to various courses.” “More [choices] might make things more complicated, but also would give school leavers more choice - especially as often at the time of application they're still unsure as to what they want to do. I also think they should be able to tailor each personal statement to the course and university they are applying to (if they want).”

8. Research indicates there is a significant lack of understanding about the insurance choice • 36% say they have an Insurance choice with higher or the same entry requirements as their Firm choice. • There is a correlation between polar group and making incorrect use of the Insurance choice – with the less privileged groups showing the greatest misunderstanding of it’s purpose. EU and other overseas applicants are also more likely to make the same mistake (41% vs. 36% of UK applicants). • One of the main reasons for this use of the insurance choice is because applicants have received offers of the same entry requirements from all their choices (31%). • This could be a symptom of unwise applications and not applying to a wide enough spread of institutions. • There is a need to provide applicants with better advice around how to spread their applications in the first place as well as how to use the insurance choice.

9. Verbatim feedback shows just how much applicants have misunderstood the concept of the insurance choice “I was considering [the insurance choice] while replying to the universities and finally, I decided to choose a university with higher requirements as an insurance choice because insurance for me suggests "just in case" whereas the first choice, as for me, is more certain and I want to make sure that I will get to a university even if something goes wrong.” “Even though my first choice has lower requirements, it is the one what I really want to go, but I've used the other one for insurance as I do really like it too.” “I preferred the University with the lower entry requirement so chose that as my firm choice. I did not have any other offers lower than my firm choice, so had to choose one with a grade higher.” “I still am not sure which course I would like to do. I saw having the insurance choice basically as having a second choice in case I change my mind about my firm choice.” “If my exam results are better than expected then this [insurance choice with higher requirements] would become my first preference option”

10. Applicants are happy with the timings and deadlines involved in the UCAS process... • ... but they are most likely to be dissatisfied with the time it takes to receive offers from universities • Free text responses indicate these applicants are very unhappy at the perceived excessive reply times, sometimes leading to disadvantage e.g. not being eligible for Extra until all offers are in. They want: • Shorter deadlines for HEIs to make decisions • Better feedback about why they’ve been rejected • HEI decision deadlines to be linked to Student Finance deadlines

11. Applicants need time to attend Open days... ... But some research and visit universities after submitting their application. • 51% of applicants say they visit at least one Open day before submitting their application • Within this figure 10% of applicants visit all the universities they’re interested in “University Open Days need to be much earlier in the academic year. Most of the days were after the application was sent in, so my decision was based on course criteria rather than the location.” “I am an international student from Asia. Therefore it is very costly to make a trip down to all 5 universities. Therefore online forums, student reviews and getting in touch with student representatives from the university itself plays a major factor on helping one firm an offer.” “It is hard to know sometimes which universities to choose and many people don't got to the open days until after they have applied and then don't like the universities they have chosen to apply for.” “I only decided to apply to university late in the year so didn't get a chance to visit universities before my application. I wish I had got the chance to because visiting post application open days was really helpful!”

12. Whilst 41% of the current students surveyed said their results exceeded the conditions of their offer, only 1.6% registered to use Adjustment • Reasons cited for not registering to try to find a new course though Adjustment included: • Being happy with their original choice (61%) • Not having enough time to find a new course through adjustment (15.8%) • No places being available on the courses they were interested in (15.8%) • 26% of those surveyed said they’d never heard of Adjustment and 57% skipped the question potentially implying the same thing.