APR Evidence
APR Applicant Voice
Review of quantitative analysis
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.
Current applicants
• Sent to randomly
selected 100k
• 6,520 responses to
date
• Representative
sample of 3,500 for
analysis purposes*
Current re-appliers
• Sent to all 69k reappliers in the 2011
cycle
• 3,499 responses to
date
• Representative
sample of 1,800 for
analysis purposes*
Current students
• Distributed by 18 HEIs
on our behalf
• HEI contacts supplied
by APR team
• 2,282 responses to
date received from 13
HEIs
* Based on age group and gender proportions of the entire UCAS database for 2011 entry
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
Thinking about the entire UCAS process, how straightforward do you find all the
necessary steps?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Apply
Track
Extra
Extremely simple
Clearing
Simple
Adjustment
A little complex
Adjustment
Clearing
Extra
Track
Apply
8.0%
9.8%
11.80%
28.46%
12.95%
Extremely complex
Simple
30.6%
39.5%
55.35%
45.15%
41.79%
Not applicable
A little complex
16.4%
28.2%
21.96%
12.81%
33.14%
Complex
7.3%
16.0%
7.84%
4.27%
9.43%
Extremely complex
2.9%
6.5%
3.05%
1.65%
2.05%
7.65%
0.64%
Extremely simple
Not applicable
Complex
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.”
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.
% of applicants who made choices they weren't
interested in overlayed with their preference for future
number of choices
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Made choices they
were not interested in
Want more choices in
the future
Think 5 choices is just
right
1
2
3
4
5
More
than 5
No. of choices made in application
Think fewer than 5
would be sufficient
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)”
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).”
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.
My insurance choice has the same or higher entry
requirements than my firm choice (by Polar group and domicile)
44%
42%
40%
38%
36%
34%
32%
30%
42.33% 42.40%
41.06% 41.48%
36.21%
34.22% 34.32%
31.66%
1
2
3
4
Polar group 1=Least privileged, 5=Most privileged
5
UK
EU
Other
Overseas
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”
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
What do you think about the timings and deadlines involved in the UCAS process?
Time between applying and going to
unversity
8.19%
Time to make decisions about which
offers to accept or decline
Time taken to recieve offers from the
university
80.67%
16.64%
79.12%
5.65%
Time for research ahead of the deadline
59.18%
24.51%
0%
11.14%
20%
4.24%
40%
Right
amount of
time
35.17%
73.85%
60%
1.63%
80%
Not
enough
time
Too much
time
100%
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
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!”
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.
Did you register to use the UCAS processes known as
Adjustment, whereby you were entitled to find an alternative
course?
45%
40%
70%
41.76%
35%
60%
50%
57.19%
40%
30%
25%
25.46%
20%
30%
20%
Did your final exam results exceed the conditions of your
offer for your firm choice?
10%
20.07%
15%
26.07%
10%
15.12%
1.62%
No
Yes
12.71%
5%
0%
0%
I've never heard of
Adjustment
(blank)
Don't know
No
Yes
(blank)