The DofE Award is a respected qualification among students and universities alike. It can definitely boost an application and is something universities will want to look further into, particularly in interviews. However, there is a difference between something being of interest to universities, and being worth UCAS points, like your A-Level grades. Is the DofE Award actually worth UCAS points?
Although the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a valid qualification, it is not worth any UCAS points as part of your application. This does not necessarily mean that including your DofE Award as part of your application isn’t useful; it demonstrates some valuable skills that many universities will want to inquire about. However, it is not actually officially worth any UCAS points.
In this article, I’ll be taking you through everything you need to know about the DofE Award and your UCAS application.
Does DofE give UCAS points?
Firstly, it’s important to understand what UCAS points are and why they matter for your UCAS application. I won’t be covering that in this article, so check out this Think Student article if you need information on what UCAS points are.
Contrary to popular belief, the Duke of Edinburgh Award is actually not worth any UCAS points.
Although the Duke of Edinburgh Award is an accepted and validated qualification, you cannot use it to gain extra UCAS points as part of your application. If you’d like more information on what the DofE Award actually is, check out this Think Student article.
However, just because the Duke of Edinburgh Award doesn’t earn you any UCAS points, it doesn’t mean that it’s useless or not helpful to include in your application. I’ll be talking about that later in this article, so keep reading for more!
UCAS points can be quite difficult to get and are usually only handed out for official qualifications such as A-Levels or a Level 3 Diploma.
This Think Student article has everything you need to know on how many UCAS points you need for university.
How does DofE help with UCAS applications?
As I mentioned earlier in the article, not being worth any UCAS points doesn’t mean the Duke of Edinburgh Award is useless.
The activities you have to complete as part of earning your DofE Award – whether this is Bronze, Silver, or Gold – will demonstrate that you have important life skills.
For example, earning a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award develops valuable skills such as teamwork and communication, problem-solving, and resilience in the face of challenge.
All these skills are skills that universities will consider desirable in applicants, so including it in your personal statement will yield benefits!
Similarly, you can expand upon what you did to earn your DofE Award in application interviews, which gives you a chance to show off the important skills and knowledge you’ve retained from your experience. Being able to talk about your experience is as important as completing it!
If you need help on how to include your DofE Award as part of your UCAS application, check out this article on the DofE website.
Do universities care about DofE?
Yes, universities do care about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
As it is optional, choosing to complete it not only shows initiative but the desire to challenge yourself; prospective universities will definitely be interested in this!
Having a DofE Award in your Personal Statement will give you an advantage over other applicants, as you’ll have an extra qualification that shows off valuable skills.
On the other hand, if you are not particularly interested in completing DofE, and would only be doing it for your UCAS application, I wouldn’t particularly recommend it.
DofE is a lot of effort, and the ends may not necessarily justify the means if you are only completing the Award for application benefits.
If you’d like another student’s opinion, check out this Think Student article on the pros and cons of the DofE Award.