Key changes for 2024 undergraduate applications

We’re changing the reference for 2024 undergraduate entry to help advisers focus their references on the areas universities and colleges want to know more about.

• Universities and colleges have told us that it’s becoming challenging to meaningfully compare applicants’ academic references as the content varies from referee to referee. 
• Advisers report increasing pressure to invest more and more time in compiling the references with an expectation that this will increase applicants’ chances of success.

What are we doing? 

To help advisers focus their references on the areas universities and colleges want to know more about, we’re replacing the free text approach with three structured sections.  

These sections will start from the 2024 entry cycle, which opens in May for all undergraduate applications:  

Key benefits

• Advisers have built-in clarity and confidence they are providing information that is useful.
• Advisers have more time and resources to allocate to students on the discovery phase of their application journey.
• Universities and colleges can easily find information to make selection decisions and target support.

As with personal statements and entry requirements, some universities or colleges may be looking for specific information for specific courses; applicants and advisers are always advised to consider general guidance alongside any local information provided by universities and colleges. 

Application fee

For the 2024 cycle we’ll be simplifying our application fee to support student choice. This decision will enable all applicants to take advantage of the additional services available, including UCAS Extra, Clearing, and Clearing Plus.

This one-off application fee will mean all UCAS Undergraduate applicants can add five choices to their application, and utilise these additional services should they need to, opening up choice in a competitive admissions landscape.

The single application fee will no longer be available so the fee for all 2024 undergraduate applications will be £27.50.

(The 2025 application fee will be £28.50.) 

Changes to the gender question 

In the 2024 cycle, we’ll be introducing two additional responses:

• I use another term
• I prefer not to say

Example:

We’ll continue to work with students, advisers, and universities and colleges to explore how we can improve the options available for future cycles. 

Student access to grades tool

The historic entry grades tool is currently an adviser portal feature that shares course-level information, on the grades students held when entering higher education. 

Students have told us this information would help them make informed decisions about their future when narrowing down their application choices. 

So later this year the entry grades tool will be available on ucas.com, to give students visibility over a range of grade profiles accepted for entry, to courses over a five-year period (where data is available). Testing shows the reports encourage students to find options they previously thought were unavailable to them.