How are the guides organised?

Guides are grouped into six areas that follow the journey from first shortlist to first job: choosing a university, admissions, funding, study skills, degrees and credits, and life after graduation.

Do the guides cover all countries?

General concepts apply everywhere. Country-specific pages currently focus on UK applications via UCAS. US-specific content covering the College Board and Federal Student Aid system is planned next.

Where do the facts and figures come from?

Every statistic links to its official source — bodies such as HESA, the Office for Students, the Student Loans Company and the European Commission ECTS Guide. The source and the academic year are shown on each page.

Can a guide tell me whether I will be accepted?

No. Admission decisions involve factors we do not have access to. The guides explain how admissions processes work and what institutions say they look for. For entry requirements and offer rates, check the programme page on the university's own website or on the official comparison tool.

Guides

One guide for each decision.

Six areas, from your first shortlist to your first job. Each guide gives a short answer first, then the detail, a tool and a chart.

12 areas

24 guides

Search the guides

24 of 24 guides

Choosing a university

Compare programs, rankings, location and fit without getting lost in league tables.

Future students Available

How to build a university shortlist

Turn a long list into five or six programs you can compare properly.

Guide · Tool: Shortlist tool · Chart

Read the guide

Future students Available

How many universities should I apply to?

How to spread applications between ambitious, likely and safe choices.

Guide

Read the guide

Future students Available

Do university rankings matter?

What each kind of ranking measures, what they leave out, and how to read one.

Guide

Read the guide

Future students Available

Campus, commuting or online

How each way of studying changes cost, time and daily life.

Guide · Chart

Read the guide

Admissions and applications

Deadlines, personal statements, references and entrance tests, step by step.

Future students Planned

How the application cycle works

The stages of one admissions year, from research to a confirmed place.

Guide · Tool: Deadline planner · Chart

Not yet available

Future students Planned

Writing a personal statement

What admissions readers look for and how to structure a first draft.

Guide

Not yet available

Future students Planned

Conditional and unconditional offers

What each kind of offer means and what you have to do next.

Guide · Chart

Not yet available

Future students Planned

Entrance and language tests

Which tests exist, who asks for them, and how to plan for one.

Guide

Not yet available

Funding and scholarships

Tuition, living costs, grants, loans and how to read a financial aid offer.

Parents Planned

What university really costs

Tuition is one part. The other costs that belong in the total.

Guide · Tool: Cost estimator · Chart

Not yet available

Parents Planned

Grants, scholarships and loans

The differences between money you keep and money you repay.

Guide · Chart

Not yet available

Parents Planned

How to read a funding offer

Separating grants from loans and finding the amount you still owe.

Guide · Chart

Not yet available

Current students Planned

Budgeting for a term

Planning spending across months when the money arrives in lumps.

Guide

Not yet available

Study skills

Note-taking, spaced review, exam preparation and managing a realistic timetable.

Current students Available

Spaced review

Why spaced short reviews beat one long session, and how to schedule them.

Guide · Chart

Read the guide

Current students Available

Planning your study week

Fitting classes, self-study and rest into 168 hours.

Guide · Tool: Weekly study load · Chart

Read the guide

Current students Available

Lecture notes you can use later

Taking notes that still make sense when you review.

Guide

Read the guide

Current students Available

Preparing for exams

Building a revision plan and practising under exam conditions.

Guide · Chart

Read the guide

Degrees and credits

How credits, majors, minors, transfers and grading systems work.

Current students Available

How credits work

What a credit measures, and how credit hours and ECTS compare.

Guide · Chart

Read the guide

Current students Available

How GPA is calculated

Weighting grades by credits, and why scales differ.

Guide · Tool: GPA calculator · Chart

Read the guide

Future students Available

Majors, minors and electives

How each kind of module fits a degree fit together and when you choose them.

Guide

Read the guide

Current students Available

Transferring between universities

What moves with you, what may not, and when to ask.

Guide

Read the guide

After graduation

Postgraduate study, internships, first jobs and what a degree is worth to employers.

Current students Planned

Is a master's degree worth it?

Questions to ask about cost, time and what it adds.

Guide · Chart

Not yet available

Current students Planned

Internships and first jobs

Where to look, when to start and what employers ask for.

Guide

Not yet available

Future students Planned

Reading graduate outcome data

What employment and salary figures can and cannot tell you.

Guide · Chart

Not yet available

Current students Planned

Taking a year out after your degree

Ways to use the time and how to explain it afterwards.

Guide

Not yet available

Questions about the guides

: Guides are grouped into six areas that follow the journey from first shortlist to first job: choosing a university, admissions, funding, study skills, degrees and credits, and life after graduation.
: General concepts apply everywhere. Country-specific pages currently focus on UK applications via UCAS. US-specific content covering the College Board and Federal Student Aid system is planned next.
: Every statistic links to its official source — bodies such as HESA, the Office for Students, the Student Loans Company and the European Commission ECTS Guide. The source and the academic year are shown on each page.
: No. Admission decisions involve factors we do not have access to. The guides explain how admissions processes work and what institutions say they look for. For entry requirements and offer rates, check the programme page on the university's own website or on the official comparison tool.

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