Claire Phipps offers some guidance

Tuesday May 20, 2003
The Guardian

Right, so you've decided you want to go to university. Or at least, if you've read this far, the word "university" is squatting somewhere in your brain, waiting for you to make up your mind. The road to that first day on campus is paved with decision-making moments: is university for you? Which course? What institution? What grades? What hobbies to admit to in your Ucas personal statement? Which offers to accept? Which rejections to sob over? Which posters to put up in your room in halls?

It's a confident applicant indeed who has no trouble wading through the morass of choices that lie ahead. (And let me point those who are at this very moment gleefully looking forward to the challenge in the direction of the degree in decision science at Umist.)

The key thing to remember is that universities need you. Without students, campuses would resound only to the sounds of bored dons skidding up and down lecture room aisles, and librarians blowing the dust off unused tomes. So, you, the applicant, are something of a prize.

Don't get too carried away, though. It's important to be realistic about what you want and what you can get. Your teachers will be able to tell you what they think you are capable of achieving, grade-wise, in your A-levels or Highers. Your AS results will also be a guide. Have an idea of what grades you should end up with, and suddenly those hundred-odd universities have been narrowed down considerably.

But unless you have an overwhelming desire to study at a particular university - and if you want to live at home while you take your degree, that choice is pretty much made for you - the next thing to do is to pick your subject.

Don't feel you have to apply for exactly the same degree at each institution; not all courses are identical, so feel free to plump for the ones that really grab you, whatever the course title. But if you're veering wildly from biology to English to hypnotherapy as you fill in your Ucas form, perhaps it's a sign that you need to take a little more time to decide what you really want to do. Many universities will allow you to combine two, or sometimes more, subjects in one degree, so if you can't bear to choose between German and history, you might not have to.

Your A-level/Higher choices will, of course, dictate to some extent what you can apply for at university. If you've spent two years eye-deep in English literature, history and politics, now is probably not the time to decide you want a career in dentistry. Unless you're prepared to go back and get your lab coat on for a whole new set of A-levels, think again.

But don't assume you'll have to stick with one of the subjects you're already study ing. Most students don't have a brush with the law (of any kind) until they start at undergraduate level. Broad courses such as American studies can employ all those skills you learnt in humanities subjects at school. And for some of the more obscure languages - Russian, Arabic, Chinese, say - admissions tutors won't necessarily insist on prior knowledge, although you'll usually need good grades in other languages, such as French or German.

Some applicants, of course, will have known since birth that they were destined to become a doctor, or a vet, or a philosopher. That makes the Ucas form a whole lot easier. For those whose futures aren't written in the stars, don't feel the choice you make now will necessarily or irrevocably de termine the career you end up with at the end of your course. Not all law undergrads become lawyers; not all mathematicians stay mathemati cians; not all history students graduate to leather elbow patches.

The key, in all honesty, is to pick a subject that you can see yourself being interested in for the three or four years of the course. After all, it will be you who'll be slogging down to the library to bagsy the 34 books on your sociology reading list before the rest of your seminar group gets out of bed; or spending hours in the lab with only boiling tubes for company while the sun blazes outside. If you've chosen English because you couldn't think of anything else, or accountancy because it was first in the list alphabetically, it seems unlikely you'll really get the best from your university days.

And the same goes for picking a place to study. Everyone you speak to will have their own ideas on the best place to go - close to home, or as far from the parents as possible; bustling city or rural calm; ancient seat of knowledge or 21st-century, hi-tech institution. And people who have absolutely no idea what universities are like now, in 2003, with all the ups and downs of recent years, will be only too keen to pontificate on why X is better than Y, and why all the best people go to Z.

Nod politely and ignore them (unless they've already read this guide cover to cover, of course). The best way to pick the place where you're going to spend three or four years of your precious youth is to go and see them.

All the universities have open days for prospective applicants. Go there and see what they have to offer: where it is, what the student rooms are like (be sceptical - they'll only show you the clean ones), what computer facilities they have, how far it is to the nearest non-student civilisation. Get a feel for it and ask yourself if this is the place you could call home, rather than the place from which you'll be calling your parents and wishing you were back at home.

Meet the lecturers and really find out how the course works. Is the library well stocked (remember those keen sociology students)? Is teaching done in seminars of 20 students, or tutorials of two, and which would suit you? Don't be afraid to ask questions - much better that you find out now that you can't take an option in bovine reproduction than when you turn up all eager-beaver on day one of your first term.

It's time, too, to consider more practical (ie boring) concerns. Rent levels and the price of a tin of baked beans might register low on your list of priorities right now, but once you become a student it will become your duty to complain about all things money-related to anyone who'll listen (and you'll need lots of practice before trying it on parents or bank managers).

In an ideal world, the cost of living wouldn't influence your choice of where you study. But if three years of scraping by in London is going to affect the attention you pay to your studies more than the same time spent living frugally but not desperately in Liverpool, it's a factor worth pondering, at least until your brain bursts from the thought of all the minus signs that'll appear on your bank balance for the next couple of millennia.

Then, if all goes to plan once the Ucas form is submitted, the only decision left to make will be picking which offer to accept. And those posters for your wall, of course.

University checklist

Have you chosen your course?

You may want to carry on with a school subject, or move on to something different, or combine two or more. You don't have to pick the same course for each university. Read around, explore, think. The Ucas website (http://www.ucas.ac.uk)/ lists more than 52,000 courses to jog your thoughts.

How can you tell what is the best course for you?

Ucas applicants can choose up to six different institutions the first time they apply. Read the Guardian University Guide and take a look at the university prospectuses (they may be at your school, college, or library, or write to admissions officers for them). Make sure the version you've got is the latest, or check out the institutions on the web.

And which university?

Most student unions produce alternative prospectuses, too; again, make sure the copy in your sweaty paw is the newest edition.

Have you chosen your university?

Factors to consider: the course, the admissions criteria (will you get in with your predicted grades?), the type of place (quiet campus or noisy city?), how far you'll have to travel from your home area. For some people, the place will be much more important than the course, say; for others, their choices will be a fairly even mix of the two.

Have you applied?

You must complete a Ucas application form between September 1, 2003 and January 15, 2004, either on paper or through the Ucas website. For courses at Oxford and Cambridge, and for all courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, you must apply by October 15, 2003. In almost all cases, you cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge. A few art and design courses throughout the UK have a later deadline.

Have you been interviewed?

Oxford and Cambridge interview almost all their candidates, generally in December and early January, and many other universities interview for some courses, generally later on. But hundreds of thousands of offers are given without interview.

Have you been accepted?

From late 2003 onwards - mostly in the new year - Ucas will tell you which universities or colleges have offered you places, with or without conditions. When all your chosen ones have decided whether to offer you a place, you will be sent a statement of decisions letter and a reply slip. You can accept one offer firmly, and an insurance, just in case you don't get the required grades for your first choice.

Ucas has recently changed the rules so that if you are declined by all your choices, you can apply for other courses one at a time even before clearing (the post-A-level dash for the remaining courses for those students who didn't get an offer or who fell too far below the expected grades). This Ucas Extra begins in April 2004.

Have you got the grades you need?

Some of you will already have the right grades, but most will be awaiting the results of summer exams before confirming your choices in August. If you fulfil the conditions of your firm acceptance, you are automatically given a place. Some may get places at their first choice even if they fail to fulfil the conditions, for instance by being a grade or two short.

If your first choice declines you, but you make the grades required by your insurance choice, you are automatically given a place there. If you fail to make your grades, or have not applied in time, thousands of courses will be available through clearing, at all but a handful of UK universities.

If you have applied before and have not been accepted anywhere, you will automatically be sent a clearing entry form and instruction leaflet. Details of courses available will appear daily on the Guardian website and elsewhere in the weeks after A-level and Scottish higher results are published.

Have you packed your bags?

If you are not taking a year out, you should be all set to go in September or October 2004. Don't forget your toothbrush . . .