Applying to university abroad: a timeline from Grade 9 to Grade 12
How to track UCAS, the Common App, European universities and the YKS on one calendar. We walk through the four years and what to do in each.
University applications are made in Grade 12, but they are not prepared in Grade 12. The strongest parts of an application, the subjects a student chose, an activity sustained over years and a piece of writing in their own voice, build up over four years. Here I share, year by year, the timeline we follow with every student. Dates change by country and by year; we check the exact deadlines on the official pages of each application system every year.
Grade 9: getting to know each other
In the first term we open an application file with every student. It is not a list of target universities; it is the student's interests, the subjects they enjoy and find hard, and what they do outside school. The real work this year is exploration: joining a club, researching a summer programme, getting a close look at a profession.
Grades start to matter this year too: in many countries, universities look at the whole high school record, from Grade 9 onwards.
Grade 10: the subject map
In the second term, subjects for Grades 11 and 12 are chosen. This choice is directly linked to university prerequisites: a student who wants to study medicine in the UK usually needs chemistry and another science at a higher level; engineering expects higher-level maths and physics. With IB Diploma students we decide their HL subjects; with students on the MEB path, their YKS field.
We also recommend a first attempt at an English proficiency test (IELTS or TOEFL) this year; some universities accept the IB Diploma as proof of English, but not all.
Grade 11: the list and first drafts
This is the year of the list. Together with the student we narrow down countries and universities: each country's system, fees and scholarships differ. In the UK applications go through UCAS, in the US mostly through the Common App; in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Italy each university may have its own system.
Over the summer the first draft of the personal statement begins. In UCAS a single personal statement goes to all choices; the Common App has one shared essay plus each university's supplementary questions. Some US universities keep the SAT or ACT optional, others have made it required again; we check this for every university on the list.
Grade 12: the application calendar
October: the UCAS deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and for medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses is usually mid-October. Some of these require an admissions test (such as the UCAT).
November: in the US, early application deadlines (Early Decision / Early Action) are mostly at the start of November.
January: the UCAS "equal consideration" deadline for most other courses is at the end of January; most US regular decision deadlines fall in early January.
February – April: many European universities close applications in these months.
May – June: IB exams are held in May and results released in July; the YKS takes place in June. Conditional offers are confirmed by IB results.
Keeping Türkiye open
Many of our students apply both abroad and to universities in Türkiye. October to January, the busiest period for overseas applications, is also critical for YKS preparation. We track both calendars on one sheet and build the student's weekly study plan around them. Some universities abroad also run exchange and double-degree programmes with Turkish universities; we add these options to the list in Grade 11.
A last word
A good application tells who the student is. Naming what they have built up over four years is much easier than trying to produce something new in the autumn of Grade 12.
