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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Clearing and Holidays

10 replies

AmazingDisgrace · 21/02/2015 23:31

If my very bright but very capable of messing up an exam DD needs to go into clearing what is the rough timetable of stuff? We have a holiday booked where we leave on the 21st August and come back on 31st.

We'll have WiFi on the last three days in Barcelona but not the previous 7 days in France. Will anything she needs to do be done by the 21st ? I'm actually only asking as she had decided not to come but now wants to. Angry

OP posts:
Original poster
AmazingDisgrace · 21/02/2015 23:56

Sorry I sounded all breathless and panicky when I read my post back. I was! She's just breezily announced she wants to come with us, we booked our flights months ago and I can't even afford to put her on those ones. If she can go it will be cheapo air at different times. Character building. Find your own way to whichever tapas bar we're in from El Prat Madam ChangeyMindey

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Bluestocking · 22/02/2015 00:09

A-level results day is Thursday 13 August. There's a really good website here explaining what happens if a student doesn't get their results and has to go into clearing.

eatyourveg · 22/02/2015 08:11

I would not be encouraging her to go on holiday. If she ends up in clearing she may want to visit the place, may need to find accommodation as most of the places in halls will have been allocated, if she's got into halls there will be tenancy agreements to sign and wherever she is, they will probably be asking her to put down a deposit, she may need to sort out something with student finance company if she ends up changing to a place in London where the loan is a different amount. Depending on her course, she may have to sort out her modules and perhaps speak to the tutors involved.

IMO the second half of August is the worst possible time for any prospective uni student to be out of the country and without any wifi it just seems a no brainer.

The character building will be sorting all of this out for herself.

if after the exams in June she really feels she's going to miss the grades, I would make sure she has a pretty good idea where she may want to go if she ends up in clearing, see if they are advertising vacancies on their website in the run up to results day and make contact with the admissions tutor before the 13th. If she wants to know if her course regularly comes up in clearing let me know as I have all the lists going back as far as 2009

Original poster
AmazingDisgrace · 22/02/2015 12:41

Thanks, good advice which I will pass on to her. She should be ok as her firm choice has given her a really nice offer (they and Newcastle sent her emails commenting on how strong her PS was) Its just a 'what if it all goes awry' thing. She won't get halls at her firm anyway but yes, that is an important point if she needs to go into clearing.

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SansaUndercover · 22/02/2015 17:01

Between the 21st and 31st August, even if she's achieved her firm place, she may have a lot of stuff to do. Each university have their own system in place WRT online enrollment, registering for student cards, email etc, which all needs to be done between results day and starting. She may also have to send back accommodation contracts and deposits within a certain time frame, even if she has just changed to her insurance.

I would suggest to her that it's not a good idea, and closer to the time she may regret being away from the internet etc.

starving · 23/02/2015 22:20

We were on holiday (out of the country) on results day last year. Unfortunate but it was the only time we could go and we thought we could cope. DDs offer was definitely achievable. In fact she did far better than she needed so knew that her place was secure. However UCAS track didn't update and she waited, and we went to the beech, and she waited, and was miserable. She contacted the school by email and they advised that if she was worried about it to contact the uni, although they really didn't think there was anything to worry about. So we phoned the uni (at silly price per minute) who confirmed her offer and told her that for some reason UCAS track hadn't updated but that they would sort it out. Within 30 minutes it was done and we had a happy dd again.

What I am saying is even if everything with results is fine sometimes things are not easy to manage from abroad. We had a lovely holiday and would I advise someone else to go on holiday at results time. Perhaps not!

Original poster
AmazingDisgrace · 24/02/2015 12:32

That sounds incredibly stressful !

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bereal7 · 24/02/2015 23:37

Ooh you've got plenty of time !

Get results on the 13th and apply through UCAS on the day or after. preferably, she would have done research before the 13th to know where she would want to go if this didn't work out.

There is often a list published of the universities that will go into clearance and for what subjects. Same should be done for adjustment - it could go either way ... unless she's firmed Cambridge of course Wink

Original poster
AmazingDisgrace · 25/02/2015 21:07

Is there a list anywhere of which universities went into clearing and what grades they took? Her latest grades are looking better now she's actually knuckling down but I'd like her to have a good, well researched plan of action just in case

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eatyourveg · 25/02/2015 22:26

I've got the lists going back as far as 2009. PM me with the course codes and institutions and I'll tell you if/when they came up. The lists won't however tell you what grades they accepted

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