Dear Colleagues,
We appreciate this is a very busy time for all of you in helping prepare applicants for 2012 entry and we would like to give you some tips on how to manage this process more effectively and be able to guide and advise your students in the best way possible.
This includes:
An overview of how our UG admissions works and ways in which you can assist and advise your applicants during this process
Use of the AGENT PORTAL - this was designed specifically for you to cut out the need to email country managers about an application and allow you directly and in real-time to check on the progress of your applicants. Please use it! It saves everyone time and provides the best service to you and your students. A reminder of how it works is below to refresh everyone's memories and advise new members of staff.
It is the best way to check basic details and progress of an application.
Use of the Bath APPLICATION TRACKER - please encourage active use of this by your students. Again it is designed to streamline communication between the student and the University. All updates on their application and information alerts are emailed to the students' personal email and contact email and directs them to check the tracker.
If you need to upload additional documents or results to an exisiting UG or PGT application please do so via the applicant tracker. Do not email them to us or the Admissions teams.
Advice on Application fees and deposits- Please remember that there are application fees/deposits for certain programmes and an application will be held up if these are not paid and no decision will be made. Please follow the instructions by programme on how these should be paid and do not send them directly to International Office country manager. Remember also to put applicants name on any transfers so it can be traced. Full details on programmes and payments appear through the link below.
We hope this information will help the application process to Bath for both yourself, the student and us here at Bath.
Kind Regards,
Zoe,Jo,Graham, Andy and Virginia.
Update University of Bath Undergraduate Admissions February 2012^
This year The University of Bath has received 20,000 applications into our new Centralised Undergraduate Admissions which are being processed by only 10 members of staff.
Here is an overview of how decisions are being made on key programmes to help you understand the process better and advise any worried students/parents that we value each application and have specific mechanisms in place to deal with them.
To help us manage this process please do not keep asking your country manager about applicant progress and cc.ing admissions about every applicant. This only creates unnecessary delays in proceedings and prevents the very decisions that we all would like for the student being made most efffectively and in a timely manner. The best way to follow up on an application is through the BATH APPLICANT TRACKER. This tool was created to help students closely monitor their application from start to finish, and provide a single channel of communication where they can upload documents.
These programmes are now closed to new overseas applications for 2012
- BSc Accounting and Finance
- Pharmacy
- Psychology
- Architecture
Programmes operating a ‘gathered field’ - this refers to those which consider their decisions on sets of applications together on certain dates, rather than on an individual basis as they come in.
Architecture
Operates a ‘semi-gathered field’:
1st filter takes out the really outstanding overseas applicants who offer excellence and breadth of subjects (across science/arts) and makes offers. This has been completed.
2nd filter will look at those who are only offering science subjects and consider their situation: if the school only offers sciences (i.e curriculum is limited) they will be considered. However, will look carefully at PS which should demonstrate a) ‘awareness’ of the need for breadth and b) action taken to remedy the ‘deficit’ (e.g attendance at arts classes/summer school/internships)
Those offering sciences plus Economics will not get an offer unless again they too can demonstrate a) awareness and b) have taken appropriate action-need to offer ‘over and above’
Maths essential; Art and Design highly regarded but not essential; will take those with humanities at A level (History/Geog); portfolio not considered (no point sending); IELTS 7.0
BBA
- Essentially also operates a ‘semi –gathered field’ as those who clearly offer excellence and breadth are offered first and then there is a second stage, which commenced mid February.
Accounting and Finance
- Full gathered field for overseas with no offers until all 15 January received
UCAS
Basically, any applicant who enters data in section 5A on UCAS form ‘qualifications already achieved/obtained’ is being asked to submit proof to Bath of this first before an offer can be made. This is logical as the offer made will take into account previous qualifications achieved (e.g if one A level is already listed as ‘achieved’ then we would make a ‘reduced’ offer on the other two so we need to be sure the applicant already has this qualification.)
However, many overseas applicants list English qualifications in this section and thus get ‘caught’ in the ‘trap’ of being asked for proof before going further with the application and offer.
ACTION
2012 Potential applicant
Advise them not to put language results in the 5A section and /or not to put anything in 5A unless they have the docs to hand to upload via Bath application tracker.
2012 Applicants in system
Advise to upload documents to prove 5A qualifications as quickly as possible (via Bath application tracker) and also that this will make it faster at confirmation time. Also advise to use application tracker and check emails regularly as 2-3 chasing emails have been sent.
2013 - Going forward
We are likely to move to standard offers so that essentially will ignore anything in 5A and we will simply be able to make the standard offer immediately. We should be able to advise you further by our June Open Day 2012.
Turnaround times
Our centralised UG Admissions team are working hard to get all decisions made by 31 March for all those received by 15 Jan. This is only a UCAS recommendation and not a guarantee, but we are doing our best.
Agents Portal^
Your existing user name and password for the representatives’ portal at: www.bath.ac.uk/samis/ is the best tool for checking on your specific applications to Bath for 2011/12.
If you have forgotten this, please contact Graham on g.w.waton@bath.ac.uk. Please make sure that all counsellors and relevant staff know that they should use the portal for initial queries on the progress and status of an application.
The portal enables you as our representatives to see summary data of the application status of all of your students that have applied to the University of Bath. This should replace the need to email individual country managers regarding the status of an application.
The Agents’ Portal links directly to SAMIS, our admissions database. As well as giving you real-time information on the status of all of your applicants it will allow you to see a copy of any offer letter and the clearance checklist for individual candidates, so you can see which conditions have been met or remain outstanding, and whether the visa CAS has been issued in the case of students holding an unconditional offer.
Please ensure that postgraduate applicants use the drop-down menu in the on-line application to verify that they have used your services, as the portal relies upon this to link the student to you.
In the case of undergraduate students applying through UCAS or postgraduate students who omitted to tell us at the time of application that they have used your services we can add this information retrospectively upon receiving an email (international-office@bath.ac.uk) from the student concerned verifying that they wish to have you as their representative and have used your services. This email should follow the format you have agreed with the country manager and have put into practice in previous application cycles. As always, please ensure that the student’s application number is stated clearly in any correspondence!
The Agents’ Portal is a ‘view only’ facility, so the onus will remain upon the students to access their personal details through Application Tracker to do things such as upload further documents or accept an offer of admission.
Application fees and Deposits^
Students are required to pay an application fee of £50 for All Masters programmes in the School of Managment apart from Innovation and Technology Management and Advanced Managment Practice. The student can pay by cheque, bank draft or online. If they wish to pay online there is a link on the 'how to apply' page for the relevant programme within the School which takes you directly to the payment page eg. An example for the MSc Management is at: http://store.bath.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?modid=1&prodid=593&deptid=19&compid=1&prodvarid=0&catid=27
Deposits
If the student is offered a place, they will need to accept via the Application Tracker System and pay a £250 course deposit to secure their place on the programme. Download the credit card payment form .Further details on how to pay the deposit will be provided in the offer letter.
Applications will not be considered without the payment of the application fee. Please don’t forget to pay the £50.00 application fee. Not paying the application fee will result in a delay in the application being processed.
Respond
