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Hi, I’m Afia, I’m currently doing my masters in international journalism at City, University of London. My undergrad where I went through Clearing was for history at the University of Kent.

On results day I didn’t exactly get the grades I needed to go to my first choice uni, but my grades weren’t bad at all and still good enough to go to uni so I needed to readjust things and go through Clearing to see what my options were and it was a really positive experience and I’m glad I did that.

At the start I definitely doubted whether my university would be nice, I did not have a clue where I was going to end up and I was really worried about my accommodation, I was really keen on moving out and I thought if I’m going through Clearing aren’t I just going to get the leftovers? And that really worried me, but this was all resolved and I easily just slotted in with everyone else once my place was confirmed and I ended up with a really nice accommodation.

My highlight as a student who went through Clearing is the fact that the whole process was just smooth and seamless. I thought it was gonna be stressful and I thought I was gonna just be worried and just really panicked about the whole thing, you know? The day was already so negative at the start, where I didn’t get the grades I wanted and I thought everything was all over, but I got on that phone and everything was really, really easy and seamless and it felt like I took control back over the situation and I was able to talk things out and get the perfect place for me in the end.

For me the only challenge was kind of having to rejig and start from scratch especially because I changed subjects completely, I originally wanted to go and do economics at Loughborough and I ended up doing history at Kent which is completely different fields and I kind of had to think ok so if I do history, what’s gonna be the path now? That was my only challenge and essentially I got through it, as you always do get through things, so it was still positive.

For those who didn’t get the grades they wanted and have to apply through Clearing I would definitely say stay positive and two, stay open minded. There is a reason why you’re now having to go through a different path. Everything happens for a reason and it’s not always a bad reason, it can be a good thing. For me going to Kent was probably the best thing that ever happened to me and there was a reason why I wasn’t meant to go to Loughborough. So stay positive and don’t narrow yourself and think gosh now that’s happened I can’t do X, Y and Z. You’re still going to be able to do it, you’ll have an amazing time wherever you go and you don’t know if there’s a reason why you’re going to go to that new uni and maybe even change subjects because you’re about to get that massive job and do something amazing with it so just stay positive and open minded, it’s going to be fine.

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