A trip to the UCAS conference in Manchester – exploring post-18 options

Category: A-Level, Media Team, News, Sixth-Form, Students write, Universities

15 Mar 2022

On Tuesday 1st March, the Y12 students of AGGS began to traverse to central Manchester to partake in a valuable opportunity to attend the annual UCAS conference held in the Manchester Convention Centre. As many of our students began to congregate outside the centre, we were swarmed by many other keen students who also wanted to enquire into life after sixth form and A-Levels.

After the gates opened and students from around the country began to flood in, various stalls were bombarded by the influx of students. From Oxbridge to dance conservatoires, there was a stall for every aspiring student who wished to gain a clearer insight into their future careers and education options.

The convention allowed our inquisitive students to wander freely at their leisure and to converse with many of the student ambassadors or outreach members of staff available. Grade requirements and acceptance rates to course modules and night life, students were able to develop their understanding of the numerous options available to them after their studies and were able to scan their virtual passes to be emailed more information from options they enjoyed or could pick up a prospectus to browse at home. A range of talks were also hosted throughout the day covering dynamic topics such as Medicine, Nursing and Oxbridge.

The trip to Manchester was one of the plethora of activities that were offered to Year 12 students during the UCAS and careers fortnight. Other interesting and engaging arrangements included careers talks from a variety of professional fields, form time activities discussing references and applications, as well as a Y13 drop-in session for the Y12s to ask any burning questions they had about university applications.

Attending the UCAS convention was a genuinely valuable experience that demonstrates the sheer diversity of options that were available to us if we were willing to work hard towards our applications over the next year. Talking to current students was also particularly useful, as it offered a unique perspective of the University or apprenticeship that was difficult to achieve from online virtual tours or prospectuses.

As a current Y12 student, I personally believe that the abundance of career’s activities has been extremely useful and have motivated other students and I to get a head start on the application process and get thinking about what we would like to do beyond our A-Levels. It is important to acknowledge and explore a range of potential options and doing research is the key to success.

A big thank you to Mr Davenport and Ms Gillibrand for arranging the trip and for the diligent delivery of careers information to current sixth form students throughout the year.