Applying on the UK problem

[Sane.Student]

Hi there!

I am an Uruguayan student who is willing to finish his diploma so to apply for unis on the UK. My major concern is the fact that i will be finishing my exams next year, on November. I really want to know if this will be some kind of trouble. As far as i know, courses on the north start on September-October period, while our periods start March-April. I'm really lost on this issue, and i was told to start investigating right now, have not done any research yet though i thought asking you guys in a first instance was better.

Cheers! ^^

[under-cover]

I believe (not 100% sure though) that if you do your exams in November, you have to apply for university for the following year in September/October. I don't think you can apply to start in 2014 if you don't do you exams until November, you have to apply for 2015. Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong

[Arrowhead]

Hi there!

I am an Uruguayan student who is willing to finish his diploma so to apply for unis on the UK. My major concern is the fact that i will be finishing my exams next year, on November. I really want to know if this will be some kind of trouble. As far as i know, courses on the north start on September-October period, while our periods start March-April. I'm really lost on this issue, and i was told to start investigating right now, have not done any research yet though i thought asking you guys in a first instance was better.

Cheers! ^^

You cannot sit your IB exams in November and expect to start uni in the UK two months before that. So people who do November exams generally get about a year off as they wait for the new cycle of applications in the following year.

[Sane.Student]

So then, should i follow these steps?

1st- Study a lot, get good grades.

2nd- Apply with predictions

3rd- Do my exam

4th- Start local uni. (Just to do something, i don't want to have 6 months off, you know, my mom would kick my a** out of the house)

5th- Travel to the uni that accepted me and enjoy the dream

Edited November 10, 2013 by Sane.Student

[Sandwich]

So then, should i follow these steps?

1st- Study a lot, get good grades.

2nd- Apply with predictions

3rd- Do my exam

4th- Start local uni. (Just to do something, i don't want to have 6 months free of work, you know, my mom would kick my a** out of the house)

5th- Travel to the uni that accepted me and enjoy the dream

You can if you want. Although instead of start local Uni if I were you I'd get a job and save up some money! Having some extra cash will be great for when you start your degree A short stint at some random local University won't necessarily add anything, if they'll even accept you for such a brief period of time.

[Sane.Student]

Cash will be something to be worried about. Thanks guys!!

[under-cover]

Cash will be something to be worried about. Thanks guys!!

Yes, work for for the year and then you will be ready for university! Or you could spend half the year working and then travelling! that would be amazing!

[flinquinnster]

Hey - I'm a November 2013 student (results coming out soon!) and I'm also interested in applying to UK universities. What I'm doing/did is applied via UCAS during September 2013 using my predicted grades for entry into UK unis for September/October 2014. So, I too used predicted grades on application and instead of having to wait until July to see whether my IB results have fulfilled conditional offers, I only have to wait until January.

So, despite what I initially thought about being a November candidate, predicted grades based on non-IB trial examinations matter a lot in UK applications and also US. As far as I know, you really shouldn't be doing November 2015 exams and be hoping to apply for entry for 2015. However, having said that, I have heard cases of students from Australia being accepted overseas despite being only in year 11 during application and then leaving before finishing their final high school qualifying exams - which is a bit risky if something happens so that you end up not finishing your uni degree.

In terms of what to do in the insanely long gap between finishing IB exams (end of November) and potentially starting UK unis, I'm not entirely sure as well. I've spent the last month finishing off US applications and doing miscellaneous things, but that's because I'm not sure I'm actually going to head off overseas so I am assuming that I will be starting up at a local uni at this point in time. If I do get a UK/overseas offer I want to accept, I probably won't bother to start at local universities. As mentioned above, it's too short to be really useful, and it might in fact even look worse to have only a few months down at a university before pulling out, according to one of my teachers. And yes, working is a good idea to make some cash, though as an international student, it's probably impossible to fund the fees/living costs/travel expenses out of your own work! Although non-EU undergraduate funding is not exactly great, I believe that there are some funds available for support, upon providing evidence of need.

Hope that helped You seem very prepared, as you are pondering UK applications in early 2014 when you are a November 2015 candidate. I only started thinking about UK applications about two months before my IB exams, so good on you for trying to get prepared early!