Not too late to apply to university or college

It’s not too late for your son or daughter to apply to university or college this year. Just remember the UCAS deadline – 30 June 2012.

If your son or daughter is considering a university or college application in 2012, now is the time to act. The UCAS deadline - 30 June - is only days away. 

The ‘on time’ deadline for guaranteed consideration passed on 15 January, but UCAS will still send applications to institutions if they are submitted by 30 June.

That means applicants could still be successful if places are available on their chosen courses. Courses with places are shown on the UCAS website - www.ucas.com

Applications received after 30 June will go into Clearing, so anyone still thinking about going to a specific higher education institution should keep this key date in mind.

Last year over 100,000 people applied after the January deadline.

Ucas.com has detailed guidance to help applicants. We advise working through our six steps to applying to university or college. Just click on www.ucas.com/students/wheretostart/sixsteps.

Andrea Robertson, director of Customer Operations at UCAS said: “Although UCAS urges people to apply by the ‘equal consideration’ deadline in January, it’s still not too late make a choice.

“It might be that an applicant simply didn’t consider going to university earlier in the year, and then found it was an attractive option after further research.

“Every year places remain available on a range of courses, so if the application is strong there’s a good chance of being successful.

"Choosing a course is a life-changing decision so discussing the options with parents, teachers and careers advisers will help to achieve the right outcome.

“Just remember that any application we receive after 30 June will only be forwarded to universities as part of the Clearing process.”