Is it OK to apply for two different subjects through UCAS?
It's that time of year when loads of students are finalising their UCAS choices, and a question consistently asked of advisers is “Can I apply for two different subjects?”
Well, as with most things about applying to university, the answer is “it depends…”
But what exactly does it depend on?
Let’s start by making two things clear:
1. Universities can’t see your other applications
When you apply through UCAS, the universities you apply to cannot tell which other universities or courses you have applied to. If you apply for two subjects at one university, they will obviously know, but if you apply for two subjects at different universities, they won’t know.
But…
2. UCAS is not helpful for those applying for two different subjects
If you want to apply to two different subjects, be in no doubt, the UCAS process is not your friend.
In the UCAS form, you get five choices, but only one Personal Statement. And that Personal Statement is there for you to show what you have done to demonstrate your potential to study the subjects you are applying for.
So, if you focus your statement on demonstrating your potential for one subject, it will probably not be very good at showing your potential for another subjects.
And yet, lots of people do manage to make successful applications for two different subjects.
So, what are the different circumstances where you might want to do this? When is it OK, and how do you make it work?
Let’s look at different possible scenarios.
You are applying for a high demand subject, and you need a fall-back
This is very common. Lots of students will apply to a highly competitive subject like medicine, physiotherapy, teaching etc. where there is a very real chance you might get no offers, because of interviews and other selection processes.
In this case is it absolutely fine to have a fall-back choice in a different (but closely related) subject.
BUT you must be careful to choose a subject and a university which is NOT highly competitive.
There is no point in having something like Physics at Imperial College as your fall-back to Medicine, as they will be looking closely for highly talented and motivated students for Physics.
Your Personal Statement focused on medicine simply won’t work,
However, something like Biomedical Sciences at Leicester would be a perfect fall-back. The admissions staff there will be more than happy with a strong applicant whose Personal Statement is focused on Medicine.
In addition, some courses who frequently receive applications in these circumstances will allow you to send a new Personal Statement directly to them.
So, if this is you, once you have chosen your fall-back subject, check that it isn’t a highly competitive course in its own right (see this article), check their website to see if they say they will accept a second Personal Statement, and if there is no mention of it, write to their Admissions Office to check if they’d be happy for you to send one.
One of the courses you are applying to is highly unusual, and you need a range of other options
Some of you will be applying for a subject that is unusual and perhaps only available at a handful of universities (for example PPE or Cambridge’s HSPS).
In such cases, it's fine to go ahead and have some different subjects on your form, provided that these subjects have plenty of overlap in the content, as you’re going to need to find the clear common ground to talk about in your Personal Statement.
E.g. Perhaps you are applying for three PPE courses, plus two in Politics and Economics. That’s fine; just focus your statement on Politics and Economics.
You want to apply for a variety of slightly different degree courses in similar areas
The same is true if you find a range of similar single and/or combined degree courses that interest you.
Say you’ve found a degree in Mechatronics at one university, but want to include Electrical and Electronic Engineering at another.
That is no problem at all, and actually makes perfect sense as the only difference is the way the universities have structured their courses and named their degrees. For you, just focus your statement on the areas that your choices have in common.
You are only interested in competitive universities, so you want a second, less popular subject as a fall-back
Now, in this scenario, you’ve decided you only want to apply to a limited number of universities (perhaps you only want to attend a Russell Group university) and the course you most want to study is popular, say Economics or Law.
If you don’t get into that subject, you are thinking that then rather than attend a lower ranked university, you’d prefer to study a less popular subject, but still at a highly competitive university.
This is where it gets tricky, because in order to write a Personal Statement that remotely works for the second subject, you’ll have to compromise your application for your first choices.
My advice in such cases is basically don’t do it. If you really are motivated to study Law, Economics (or whatever other popular subject you are considering), surely you are better studying it at a less competitive university than studying something completely different at the “right” university?
You can’t make up your mind
Finally, at this stage in the year, many of you will be undecided and may be trying to keep your options open. I fully understand this. As I entered my final year, I was still deciding whether to go down the route of studying something involving engineering/design or a more traditional subject like Law/Politics/Economics.
Applying to several different courses feels like a good way to postpone the decision.
However, the downside is that you really will have to compromise your application, meaning there is every chance you could end up with no options at all.
It is far better to take the time you need to work out what is your top subject choice. You will need to make that choice before you start your course anyway, so I would argue that it’s better to delay your application (even take a gap year if necessary) and make it a really good application, rather than to rush to apply to several subjects and end up with none.
But what about you?
I’d love to hear from you if you have other scenarios where you might want to apply for more than one subject through UCAS, where you think it might make sense but you are not sure whether it’s a good idea!
Let me know at: jonathan@betterunichoices.com
