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What happens when you share a mental health condition in the UCAS application? A case study from the University of Warwick

Thu 1 September 2022 - 14:32

By Amanda Bishop in UCAS advice

There is often a misconception that by declaring a disability or mental health condition, challenge or disorder, an application to a university may be looked at differently or unfavourably, but it is important to note that this is not the case.

When an application to the University of Warwick is received, it is looked at purely based on the academic elements, such as predicted and achieved grades, personal statements and teacher references, and also anything extra sent in, such as our Warwick AWARDS form. Any disability or mental health condition, challenge or disorder declared through UCAS does not impact on our academic assessment of the application form. At offer stage, the Disability Team makes contact with...

One year on, a feeling of hope

Thu 22 April 2021 - 08:30

By Rebecca Hopwood in UCAS advice

There is a feeling of hope in the air.

As COVID retreats, spring blooms. As the days get longer, the world begins to reopen. And as the mornings get brighter, students return to campus.

Whilst we will all be extremely glad to see the end of social distancing and masks, once it is safe, the lasting impact of COVID cannot be overstated. It has been transformational, not least of all for the new students who have had en

tirely different university experiences than the ones they were expecting. A full third of their learning so far has been encapsulated by stay-at-home orders, remote learning, and very limited social engagement with their peers.

Our Student Lifestyle Report, now in its tenth year, is designed to determine how behaviours in students have changed over the past 12 months, to inform strategy for the next 12.

Suffice to say, this was our most challenging rendition yet. But here’s what we discovered:

Students want more...

The long road back to normality

Wed 21 April 2021 - 17:22

By George Gallot in UCAS advice

It’s been a long year of appreciating the smaller, rather than the finer, things in life.

Long dog walks with the family are the closest most of us have come to travel, banana bread the height of culinary prowess. And whilst being deprived of the normal opportunities for leisure and enjoyment has been a struggle for all, far greater has been the impact on these global industries as a whole.

For those venues lucky enough to have outdoor space, the race is now on for an April recovery, when current policy allows them to reopen. Pubs, bars, and restaurants are in full preparation mode for what should be the start of a much brighter spring than last, but takeaway providers might not be so positive.

How, when, and where students eat

Of the select few businesses to benefit from stay-at-home orders, takeaway providers sit at the heart. Able to indulge our need for restaurant food, our lack of motivation to cook after working at the kitchen...

Lessons learned from April's UCAS Media Insight Newsletter

Fri 16 April 2021 - 14:21

By UCAS in UCAS advice

If knowledge is power, then insight is the key to the kingdom. 

There is great potential in the petabytes of data and statistics generated within the higher education sector, but interpreting them in a way which serves the end user is where the magic happens. Universities may look for different insight to employers, who might in turn seek different answers to brands and retailers. 

We have launched a UCAS Media Insight Newsletter designed to put some context around student behaviours. Each month, we’ll issue a snapshot roundup of the previous month and compare it to recent and annual trends. The aim is to equip providers and agencies with the insight, the keys, to more effectively communicate with their student market, the kingdom. You can sign up here. 

Here are the top three lessons from March 2021: 

TARGETING PRE-APPLICANTS: DON’T...

Lessons learned from April's UCAS Media Insight Newsletter

Fri 16 April 2021 - 12:16

By UCAS in UCAS advice

If knowledge is power, then insight is the key to the kingdom. 

 

There is great potential in the petabytes of data and statistics generated within the higher education sector, but interpreting them in a way which serves the end user is where the magic happens. Universities may look for different insight to employers, who might in turn seek different answers to brands and retailers. 

 

We have launched a UCAS Media Insight Newsletter designed to put some context around student behaviours. Each month, we’ll issue a snapshot roundup of the previous month and compare it to recent and annual trends. The aim is to equip providers and agencies with the insight, the keys, to more effectively communicate with their student...

A long year of entertainment and information overload

Thu 8 April 2021 - 07:37

By Nicola McClymont in UCAS advice

On January 2 2020, Netflix’s share price was hovering at £237.

Just 377 days later, it peaked at £421.

That 77% increase, and record high, is one part of the entertainment industry’s total transformation, brought about by monumental and global changes in consumer behaviour. The COVID-19 pandemic has, at one point or another, confined most of the world to home and, stripped of our ability to pursue hobbies and interests, we have turned almost exclusively to our TVs for virtual comfort.

Or social media, for virtual companionship.

Podcasts,...

Working together we can provide the guiding light of information and advice that leaves no student in the dark

Thu 25 March 2021 - 10:44

By By Clare Marchant, Chief Executive, UCAS in UCAS advice

Access to careers information and guidance on pathways to higher education should never be reserved for those ‘in the know.’

It is UCAS’ ambition to be the ’go to’ place for post-secondary education, independent, trusted information and advice, levelling the playing field for all those that are interested in staying in education or training after school or college at the age of 18. The choices students are faced with are vast, so personalised support to help them navigate is vital to enable every student to have equal opportunity to make the right choices for them.

But if we place ourselves in the shoes of students, the landscape is uneven and difficult to charter.

Our new report ‘Where next?’, published today (25 March), reveals that two in five students say that had they been provided with better information and advice they would have made better decisions in school. One in five students told us that they felt that a door had been closed to them,...

12 months of social distancing, a year of distant social.

Wed 24 March 2021 - 12:18

By Courteney Sheppard in UCAS advice

Generation iPhone, Millennials, Gen Z, Covid-cohort – all names synonymous with the ‘younger’ generation who are intrinsically embedded in the culture of social media.

When Apple released their first iPhone in 2007, it was a true revolution in every sense of the word. It changed the way that society consumed information, but even in its innovation none of us envisioned how powerful the smartphone would become, and chances are we are still in the infancy of this technology.

With all of this connectivity comes myriad opportunities to digitally connect with others, and many of us can raise a guilty hand and admit we do this too...

Tech changes, for the tech generation, in the year of tech.

Wed 10 March 2021 - 18:29

By Rebecca Hopwood in UCAS advice

 

[Screen time weekly report available.]

You averaged 4 hours, 36 minutes of screen time per day last week.

Up 21% from last week. 

This was the message greeting me on almost every Monday of 2020. It was up and down, but mainly up, as I turned to my smartphone and tablet more and more as the year went on. I dread to think what it would say if it was tracking my laptop and television too.

I’m at the upper end of Millennials by most accounts, and in that sense I’m a digital native. My childhood was tech-free, but my teenage years were permeated by the explosion of the internet. Crucially, I can remember what life was like before. The current crop of undergraduates cannot. They’re Gen Z, plugged in from birth, and ambidextrous with every form of tech. 2020 would have been a strange year for them then, when big changes in the tech world were...

Interpreting student behaviour in a global pandemic

Tue 2 March 2021 - 09:57

By UCAS in UCAS advice

Dr Katie Bell, UCAS

More change to come as students remain passionate about changing our future.


I have worked in education for more than a decade, and before that another decade in the world of corporate global marketing. They share many of the same requirements: a firm finger on the pulse, and a keen understanding of the way that consumer behaviours develop. It doesn’t take a psychologist or an economist to diagnose the big dynamic shifts of the market, but understanding them at a micro level (not just Gen Z, but students within Gen Z, for example) requires a deeper social study.

And that is,...

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