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UCAS Points
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My son has been told that you gain extra UCAS points if you hold a full driving licence. Is this true, and if so why? I would have thought that Universitys wouldn't particularly encourage their students to bring cars onto campus etc.
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(2-part post):
Universities work with both 'official' and 'unofficial' points scores.
Each candidate is initially allocated a certain number of UCAS points according to the 'official', unified system. This definitely doesn't award any points for passing a driving test:
http://www.ucas.com/candq/tariff/index.html
Some universities (or individual departments within universities) then add on 'unofficial' points to take into account a candidate's positive attributes which aren't reflected by examination results. (e.g. a candidate for a place on a course in Dramatic Arts might have points added because of their involvement with their local amateur theatre company. Other candidates might have points added because of their gap year experiences). This is a perfectly fair and sensible way of filtering the thousands of applications which universities have to look at but, because it's not unified, different universities (or different departments) will award more, or fewer points, than others.
It's possible that some institutions might award points to candidates who hold a driving licence but this would definitely be part of the 'unofficial' system rather than being sanctioned by UCAS.
Universities work with both 'official' and 'unofficial' points scores.
Each candidate is initially allocated a certain number of UCAS points according to the 'official', unified system. This definitely doesn't award any points for passing a driving test:
http://www.ucas.com/candq/tariff/index.html
Some universities (or individual departments within universities) then add on 'unofficial' points to take into account a candidate's positive attributes which aren't reflected by examination results. (e.g. a candidate for a place on a course in Dramatic Arts might have points added because of their involvement with their local amateur theatre company. Other candidates might have points added because of their gap year experiences). This is a perfectly fair and sensible way of filtering the thousands of applications which universities have to look at but, because it's not unified, different universities (or different departments) will award more, or fewer points, than others.
It's possible that some institutions might award points to candidates who hold a driving licence but this would definitely be part of the 'unofficial' system rather than being sanctioned by UCAS.
Why would universities want their students to hold a driving licence? It's possible that some might see this as 'evidence of study' but, in reality it's probably got more to do with practical considerations. Some courses, e.g. teacher-training, involve students training off-campus. Universities often have great difficulty in finding suitable training placements for their students. (e.g. it might be necessary to place student teachers in schools 20 or 30 miles away from the campus, where there are poor transport links). The university then knows that they'll require a certain proportion of students to have their own transport, so they weight the applications slightly in favour of candidates who hold a driving licence.
To summarise: As far as the official system is concerned, Shaun is correct. (It's a load of tosh). For the vast majority of candidates, to the vast majority of universities, it's also probable that 'unofficial' points aren't awarded because candidates hold driving licences. It's just possible, however, that some university departments might add a few points to the 'unofficial' score, where they believe that there are justifiable reasons for doing so.
Chris
To summarise: As far as the official system is concerned, Shaun is correct. (It's a load of tosh). For the vast majority of candidates, to the vast majority of universities, it's also probable that 'unofficial' points aren't awarded because candidates hold driving licences. It's just possible, however, that some university departments might add a few points to the 'unofficial' score, where they believe that there are justifiable reasons for doing so.
Chris
Shaun & Gef may well be right. However, the 'unofficial' points system certainly exists. (As I've stated, it offers a perfectly valid way of filtering many thousands of applications).
My answer was only seeking to illustrate possible reasons why a university department MIGHT award extra points to someone who has passed a driving test. There may well be ONE particular university department, in just ONE university, which has a valid reason for giving preference to candidates with a driving licence. They might then allocate 'unofficial' UCAS points to appropriate candidates. If this information becomes public, it is easy to see how an 'urban myth' could be created, falsely suggesting that ALL universities award extra UCAS points for passing a driving test.
Chris
My answer was only seeking to illustrate possible reasons why a university department MIGHT award extra points to someone who has passed a driving test. There may well be ONE particular university department, in just ONE university, which has a valid reason for giving preference to candidates with a driving licence. They might then allocate 'unofficial' UCAS points to appropriate candidates. If this information becomes public, it is easy to see how an 'urban myth' could be created, falsely suggesting that ALL universities award extra UCAS points for passing a driving test.
Chris
The unofficial point system does exist and students are awarded points by the universities (not ucas) for things such as Gold award duke of edinborough, ABRSM music exam certificates, Grand Prior awards etc. It just helps them to whittle down the students they think will achieve well.
However, the driving test thing sounds like an urban myth which has been started by 17 year olds! however, it is not outside of the realms of possibility that it is also used in this system, but I can't imagine for one nanosecond that it would apply as a general rule.
However, the driving test thing sounds like an urban myth which has been started by 17 year olds! however, it is not outside of the realms of possibility that it is also used in this system, but I can't imagine for one nanosecond that it would apply as a general rule.
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