What is UCAS and how to use it

We describe how to apply to a university in the UK using the Universities and College Admissions Service, and describe what key UCAS terms mean

If you are planning to apply to a university in the UK, you may have already read about UCAS. If not, or if you could do with some more information, we have put this guide together to help you understand how UCAS is central to most university applications in the UK.

What is UCAS

The Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS) is an organisation that provides a centralised application service to students who wish to apply to university in the UK. 

The vast majority of universities in the UK subscribe to this service to process applications from students to fill places on their courses.

This means that whether you are a student who lives in the UK, or you are from overseas, if you want to apply to a university based in the UK, it is very likely that you will use UCAS to make your university application.

Whilst UCAS essentially has a monopoly in the UK for all university applications, it is not a government service, it is actually an independent charity, formed in 1993 by the merger of two existing UK university application systems.

UCAS also operates its commercial arm UCAS Media, which provides targeted advertising to students. The proceeds from UCAS Media are fed back into the UCAS charitable organisation, helping to keep application services costs down both for students and for universities.

Why use UCAS to apply for a UK university degree

The application process is one of the most important steps in finding a place at a UK university, without being accepted onto a course, you cannot study at university.

Using a centralised application service such as UCAS makes the university application process much simpler for you.

Using the UCAS Undergraduate application you may pick up to 5 courses using one single application form. These courses may be all from the same university, 1 course each from 5 different universities, and every combination in-between.

This allows you to put all your focus on completing one application form to the best of your ability, rather than navigating through multiple application processes.

The UCAS system also provides you with consistent deadlines to meet, predictable responses to expect from universities, all lots of assistance and help throughout the process.

Are there alternative options to using UCAS for your application

The vast majority of UK university undergraduate applications have to be made through UCAS. If for some reason you would like to apply without using UCAS, there are some universities that permit direct undergraduate applications, such as:

• The University of Brighton, who allow you to apply directly if they are your only choice
• University of East London, who allow you to apply for some of their courses without using UCAS
• Cardiff University, which has a small number of undergraduate courses that require direct application
• The University of St Andrews

Other scenarios where you may need to apply directly include:

• If you intend to apply for a part-time course
• If you are applying for an international foundation course to help you gain entry into the first year of an undergraduate degree
• If you are applying a postgraduate course, whereby in many cases you can apply directly to your chosen university

How do you apply to university using UCAS

The UCAS application system is online based and is straightforward to complete. You don’t have to complete it in one go, you can work through the steps in your own time, but be careful to complete the application in good time.

The process includes several simple steps, which is well documented on the UCAS website:

• Register to the service and add your details. If you are an international student, you will need to supply details of your UK residence status. You will also need to provide information for things like your funding and your personal circumstances.
• Provide your educational history. This includes your high school education and onwards. If you are awaiting grades, you will be able to provide information about them here also.
• Provide information about your employment history. You will be able to provide information about up to 5 of paid jobs that you have, either full-time or part-time.
• Choose your pick of up to 5 courses. This step is key to making sure you end up studying the right  course for you. These may be from any university, and you don’t have to choose a preference order.
• Prepare your personal statement, which is your chance to describe, in your own words, your background and why you want to study your chosen course at your chosen university.
• Review and submit your application
• Your final steps now are to get a written reference from someone who can vouch for you academically and pay your application fee to UCAS. As of 2025, this will be £28.50.

Common questions and tips about your UCAS application

You may have a few questions when completing your UCAS application, so we have put together answers to some of the most common questions below.

What is a UCAS buzzword

During your application, you will be asked if you want to supply a UCAS ‘buzzword’. A UCAS buzzword is a unique identifier that can be given to your school, college, education agent etc.

You can supply this buzzword during your application, which will allow your school/college/agent to help manage your application.

This is useful in many ways. For example, if you link your school and application, your teacher will be able to look over your application for you.

What do UCAS course codes mean

If you are browsing courses offered by different UK universities, you may notice that they are often given a UCAS code. For example, you might find a BSc Nutrition course with the UCAS code B400.

UCAS codes are 4-character codes assigned to a course by its university to describe the subject contents using the JACS 3.0 format from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The 4-character code consists of a letter and three numbers. Each letter and first number in a JACS code signifies a specific discipline for a subject.

For example for the code H600, ‘H’ signifies engineering disciplines and the number ‘6’ symbolises the electronic engineering sub-field.

You may find it useful to learn the UCAS code associated with the type of courses you would like to study during your course search to help you find related courses at other institutions, but it is not essential.

A brief overview of the top level subjects as described by a JACS code includes:

• A### – Medicine and Dentistry
• B### – Subjects Allied to Medicine
• C### – Biological Sciences
• D### – Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects
• F### – Physical Sciences
• G### – Mathematical Sciences
• H### – Engineering
• I### – Computer Sciences
• J### – Technologies
• K### – Architecture, Building and Planning
• L### – Social Studies
• M### – Law
• N### – Business and Administrative Studies
• P### – Mass Communication & Documentation
• Q### – Linguistics, Classics and Related Subjects
• R### – European Languages, Literature and Related Subjects
• T### – Eastern, Asiatic, African, American and Australasian Languages, Literature and Related Subjects
• V### – Historical and Philosophical Studies
• W### – Creative Arts and Design
• X### – Education

What are UCAS Tariff points

UCAS Tariff points, generally referred to as simply UCAS points, are used to convert the qualifications that you have earned into a numerical value as a simple way of working out whether you meet entry requirements for a course.

UCAS points are only applicable for UK qualifications, so they are not relevant if you are an international student who has not studied in a UK education system prior to applying to a UK university.

For students who have studied UK qualifications such as A Levels, BTEC and T Levels, you can find out how many UCAS points your qualifications are worth using the UCAS Tariff calculator.

Many UK universities will use UCAS points as a guide to their course entry requirements, making it straightforward to work out whether you meet the entry criteria if you know what your qualifications are worth.

For example, you might see that a course has a UCAS points requirement of 112. If your UCAS points meet or exceed this number, you know you meet the entry requirements for that course.

A tariff point spreadsheet can be downloaded from UCAS (file download), to give you an idea of what you predicted grades will be worth in UCAS points. We have given some common examples in the table below.

UCAS Tariff points 2025

Are UCAS Tariff points the same as ECTS credits

While UCAS Tariff points are a system devised by UCAS for measuring and comparing post-16 education qualifications (Level 3) in the UK, the ECTS credits system is typically used to measure the workload of a student at higher education levels, so the two systems are not interchangeable.

How to write your UCAS personal statement

The personal statement in the UCAS application is your chance to put into words who you are, what your educational background is, what your interests are and why it is important to you to study the course that you have chosen.

You can also talk about your relevant employment history and extracurricular activities to support your statement. Also mention your future goals, and how studying this course will help you to achieve these.

Our tip for completing this section of the application is that it is important to remember that your personal statement should correspond to the courses that you have chosen to apply to. 

Therefore your course picks (remember you may pick up to 5) should be similar as possible, as it is much easier to make a case to your future tutors that you are passionate about studying a particular subject area than a broad spread of areas.

It is important to note that from 2026, the personal statement will change from the current format, which is one long piece of text, to text answering three separate prompts.

This change is being bought in to make it more transparent for students to pinpoint the topics their personal statement should address.

In conclusion

• Whether you are based in the UK or moving to the UK from another country, if you want to study an undergraduate degree at a UK university, in most cases UCAS is the platform that you will make your university application through.
• The UCAS application process is based online and does not need to be completed all at once, and you can link your application with your school, college, agent or tutor using a unique buzzword.
• Completing your application is a straightforward process, but care must be taken to ensure that you pick the correct courses and write a convincing personal statement.
• Submitting your application incurs a small fee, but this covers the expenses of applying to up to 5 universities using one application form.