The Complete Guide to University Clearing

CONTENTS:

Why Are You In Clearing?
What You Need To Know About Clearing
What Is Clearing?
Student's Clearing Stories
How Clearing Works
Researching Unis and Courses
Calling Universities During Clearing
Securing a Place

Hello!

Welcome to our complete guide to University Clearing! If you’re reading this, we’re guessing you fall into one of the following three categories:

1) You’re super organised and you’re trying to cover yourself, just in case your results don’t go as planned

2) Results day is only a few weeks/days/hours away and you’re starting to worry about what will happen if you don’t meet your offer

3) It’s already results day, you’ve missed out on your grades, and half of you is in a dazed panic while the other half of you is wondering where it all went wrong

No matter why you’re here, though, don’t worry – this guide has everything you need (and if you’re in category number three, try not to panic – either you’ll find a course through Clearing and go to uni this year, or you’ll take a year out and go to uni next year; either way things will work themselves out).

Anyway, longwinded introductions aside – what actually is Clearing, and how can you use it to find a place at university this year?

Well, first up, here’s a quick summary of the basics...

What You Need To Know About Clearing

Clearing Facts

1) If you don’t get the grades for either your first choice or your insurance choice on Results Day, you’re eligible for UCAS Clearing

2) Clearing gives you another chance to find a place on a uni course starting that same year

3) It allows universities to fill up all their spare places before the start of the academic year (and don’t forget, it’s in their interest to fill places – each student is worth £9K a year to them)

4) Clearing moves quickly – places at top unis will go fast, so you can’t hang around too long...

5) ... but if you haven’t found a place by the end of results day, all is not lost (Clearing actually continues into September)

6) You need to do your own research (you can use Whatuni, UCAS, and the universities’ websites to find out about available courses)

7) Most of the action takes place over the phone (while you can’t add a Clearing course on UCAS Track until the afternoon of Results Day, it’s crucial to remember that you can secure a place with a uni over the phone before this)

So, What Exactly is Clearing?

It’s a way for you to find a place at university if you haven’t made your grades. Technically Clearing begins in July and continues on until September, but in reality the main action takes place on A-level Results Day (and the days immediately following).

You’re eligible for Clearing if you fall into any of the following four categories:

1) You’re applying to uni after the 30 June

If you apply to uni after the 30 June, you’ll automatically be entered into Clearing. You’ll still have to submit all the usual things – a personal statement, references, etc. – but you won’t be able to pick the five universities allowed when applying through the regular means (instead you’ll get your Clearing number when UCAS has processed your application, and if you already have exam results you can start ringing up unis straight away; if not, you can start contacting unis as soon as you get your grades on results day).

2) You applied before 30 June, but you’re not holding any offers

If you didn’t get any offers from your initial five applications you’ll automatically be entered into Clearing after 30 June. The process is similar here to the one above – wait until you get your results, then get on the phone to unis and convince them they need to give you a place!

3) You’ve changed your mind about your first and insurance choices

If you’ve suddenly had a change of heart about the unis you’ve put for your first and insurance choices, it is possible to phone them up and ask them to release you so you can enter Clearing. Your best bet is to do this before Results Day (as it may take them a while to process you request). Alternatively, if you think you might actually get better grades than predicted, you could always hang on and enter Adjustment after your firm choice has been accepted.

4) You don’t meet your offers on Results Day

This is probably the most common category, and the one that will be the main focus of this guide (see, we’ve highlighted it in red and everything). We’ll go into a detailed breakdown of exactly how it works further down, but – in a nutshell – you’ll automatically be entered into Clearing if you don’t meet either your firm or your insurance offers on Results Day (but don’t forget, not getting your exact predicted grades DOESN’T necessarily mean the university will say no; if you’re only a grade or two short they might still let you in, so make sure you check UCAS as early as possible on Results day to see the status of your offers, and – if UCAS isn't telling you anything – MAKE SURE YOU RING YOUR UNIVERSITY UP TO CHECK WITH THEM).

Still confused? We asked University of Hull's Director of Student Recruitment, Deborah Green, to share her top clearing tips with Whatuni.

Case Study: Thoughts from a Year 13 Preparing for Results Day

As of September, Emma-Louise is hoping to study Law at the University of Westminster. She explains how she’s feeling in the build-up to Results Day, and what she’ll do if she doesn’t make her grades...

“Since my offer for the course is ABB and I already hold an A* which they accept (and a B in General Studies that they don't) I was left to complete exams in Business Studies and English Literature this year. I feel confident that I will receive the B that I need in Business Studies, but I’m still slightly sceptical about getting a B in English Literature (despite being predicted this and surpassing my predicted grade last year). Therefore I am currently a mixture of anxious and excited about results day, but overall somewhat confident.

Previously I have researched which universities offer Law courses through both clearing and adjustment. From my research, and from a UCAS offer which I received and rejected from the University of Liverpool to study Law, I decided that if I were to miss my offer for my firm choice I would try to go through clearing and attend Liverpool instead. This is because it offers me the chance to completely fail a subject and still attend the university as their offer included General Studies at Grade B which I already hold, and they also take the A* which I have already received – meaning I only need one B from my two remaining subjects.

I am very determined to go to university this year, hence I have thought about a clearing option. Although if I was to receive Cs in A2 Business Studies and English Literature this year, then the likelihood is that I would retake Year 12 and also complete retakes in AS Sociology, but this time alongside A2 Sociology and weeks of work experience – purely to strengthen my UCAS application and personal statement next year.

As I mentioned previously, if I miss my firm choice I will ring the University of Liverpool to see if they're in clearing for Law and mention my previously declined offer. Aside from this, I will be looking at the list published by The Student Room on the day, to see if any others I have visited on open days take my fancy (possibly Northumbria). However, if neither of these and none of the other Russell Group unis are in clearing then I will definitely choose to retake my Year 13, since I am aware that many universities would still offer me a place next year, even after doing so.”

Kelly's Clearing Story

After missing her first choice university by one grade, Kelly entered clearing as she didn’t want to go to her insurance choice. But after help from her school, parents and universities, she headed off to Leeds Trinity.

Tayo's Clearing Story

In this video, Tayo from Hull University explains his clearing journey and offers advice to anyone going through the same thing.

How Clearing Actually Works

University Clearing Flowchart

Now let’s look at those stages in a bit more detail...

Researching Unis and Courses

Although leftover places do get snapped up quickly on Results Day, it’s still crucial to do some research before you start contacting unis; the last thing you want to do is blindly pick the first course you come across without really knowing anything about it, then end up committing yourself to something you’re not going to enjoy.

Ideally you’ll have researched some back-up unis and courses in the build-up to Results Day, but don’t worry if you haven’t – you can still do a concentrated hour or two of research in the morning, then draw up a shortlist of unis to contact by midday (which should give you plenty of time to secure an offer).

Researching Clearing Courses

1) Use a combination of Whatuni, UCAS and university websites for your research – you can find courses that are in Clearing on a few different websites (the UCAS website will have the most up-to-date information), and then you can use other websites like ours (and individual uni websites) to find out more about courses and unis you like the sound of.

2) Remember what you liked about your top choices – what was it that attracted you to the two unis you put for your first and insurance choices? Did you like their location? Did you pick them for their place in the rankings, or the reputation of their course? Did you like the feel of the campus? Whatever the factors were, keep them at the front of your mind when you’re looking for a Clearing course.

3) Read student reviews – a great way of finding out more about a uni you’re interested in is by getting the lowdown from past and current students. We have thousands of student reviews on Whatuni, where students have written about their experiences and rated their uni across a range of different categories. Once you’ve got a shortlist of unis you’re thinking of contacting, reading through some reviews is a great way of further narrowing down the list.

4) Look into some (slightly) different courses – hear us out with this one; if you’ve got your heart set on studying something like English literature, you probably won’t want to swap to something like Film Studies – but what about a combination of the two? Obviously it wouldn’t have to be Film Studies, either (there are plenty of other subjects that compliment English), but it is worth remembering that many unis offer these combined/joint honours courses, some of which might still have places that need filling. Like most degrees, combined courses will also offer you the chance to specialise as you progress into your second and third year (so if you decide your second subject isn’t really for you, you should be able to tailor your course to place a more specific focus on your core subject).

Calling Universities During Clearing

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Once you’ve drawn up your shortlist, it’s time to start hammering that phone. During Clearing, all universities will have a special hotline with extra staff waiting to take calls from students who are on the hunt for places.

To give you an idea of how this process works we spoke to Hilary Steel, who works for the University of Leeds and will be managing their Clearing call centre in August...

Who will students be speaking to when they call on Results Day?

When calling the clearing call centre, the student will initially be speaking to one of our current students who will be trained to deal with their queries. They may then be transferred to a staff member in the school or faculty of the course that they’re interested in – this could either be a support staff member or an academic.

What kind of questions will students be asked over the phone?

Firstly they will be asked what course they are interested in. If there are vacancies on that course, they will be asked what grades, and in what subject, they achieved in their qualifications. If they hold grades that meet the requirements of the course they will be transferred to the school/faculty. If they don’t have the required grades, or if the course they’re interested in doesn’t have any vacancies, they may be asked if they’d be interested in a course in a similar field that may have lower entry requirements/has vacancies.

What should students have prepared before they make the call?

They will need their qualification grades, UCAS number (if they’ve already made an application through the UCAS system), a pen and paper to take down any important information, a list of questions that they want to ask, and their telephone number/email address in case the centre/school/faculty need to call back.

What are the common mistakes students make when calling about Clearing?

Sometimes they may get their results wrong, or the wrong way round as they’re in a rush.

We often find that students are in too much of a panic or rush to find a place to really understand what is being said over the phone. We recommend that the student writes down any important information that they are being given so that once the call is over, they can review anything that has been said, and make sure that they write down which university it is that they’ve spoken to as they might be calling multiple institutions and it’s easy to forget which university said what.

As a student can’t refer themselves until 5pm, we recommend that the student spends that time reading more about the course to make sure they’re making the right choice and not just “panic buying” because they want to go to university this year. If you’re not sure about a course, or you really want to do the course you initially applied for, there’s always to option to re-sit your exams and try again for next year. The last thing we want is for a student to start on a course that they either know nothing about, or are going to hate. We don’t want to set students up to fail, or to have a miserable time, so take time to really consider your options before you commit to a course.

We also find that students call without looking at our vacancies list first. This is very important as it could prevent disappointment before even calling. Our vacancies page will list every course that has spaces and details of the entry requirements. If a course isn’t listed, there are no spaces.

What advice would you give to students who are calling with the hope of securing a place at Leeds?

Really consider the course and your options, and don’t panic! If you haven’t met the conditions of the offer you were initially made, it’s not the end of the world. Look on UCAS for vacancies in the subject area you’re interested in, or look at the university vacancies pages if you’re interested in a particular institution. Be informed before you call us so that we can better advise you and direct you to the right people if your grades meet our requirements.

Securing a Place

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Okay, so you’ve done your research, you’ve called up a few unis, and you’ve managed to get some verbal offers. Now the only thing left to do is pick your final choice and make it official through UCAS. You won’t be able to add a course on UCAS until the afternoon of Results Day, so you can spend the time before that doing some final research and comparing unis to whittle down your shortlist.

If you want to get the ‘unofficial’ angle on some of your top choice unis, have a browse through our student review section to see what past and current students have to say. On the other hand, if you’re more interested in the official stats then you can also compare unis directly against each other; just enter your chosen subject into the search box, find the specific courses you’re interested in and check the relevant ‘Add to comparison’ boxes to see how they square up.

When you’re finally settled on a course, all you need to do is visit the UCAS website and add a Clearing course on Track. Make sure you’ve been given a verbal offer by the uni over the phone before you add them (and if they’ve given you an expiry time/date for the verbal offer, make sure you add it on UCAS in time)!

Once you’ve added the course on UCAS the uni will have to accept it to make it official (and this may take a little while); you’ll receive an email confirmation when it’s been accepted, Track will update to say ‘Clearing Accepted’, and you should get a letter through in the post – then it’s all official!

All that’s left after that is to start preparing for Freshers’ Week...

Next...

- Freshers’ Week Checklist: What to Take to University

- 12 Things You NEED To Do Before Going To Uni

- How to Find the Right Student Accommodation