Clearing Help

[lisacj147]

Hi - please could anyone offer advice. My daughter applied to a range of Uni’s with 2 in London and 3 much further afield (we are in Surrey). She has received conditional offers for the 3 further afield but declined for London on the basis of her GCSE results (no 6 in Maths). She has now decided she ONLY wants London and having researched further there are several courses she could take that interest her where she is likely to get the grades and no requirement for the 6 in Maths (she got a 5). Is our only option to decline the 3 offers and take a risk to go through clearing to hopefully get a London place (UAL for Fashion & Marketing or Fashion & Business) Thank you for your help in advance.

First thing I would do in her shoes is research whether or not the other courses had any clearing places in previous years.

I'd also be counselling her on the fact that once she graduates she'll be really restricting her employment options if she's not keen on leaving London/Home Counties territory. Going to Uni elsewhere in the country will give her 2 areas with which she is familiar when job hunting starts after graduation.

I think you are talking about UCAS Extra, rather than Clearing?

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/types-offer/extra-choices

Extra is 'live' at the moment and ends on July 5th.

I thought Extra was for people with no offers. She has 3 offers. UAL still might reject her in clearing. Marketing is maths driven. So is Business. She’s not well qualified for these courses with a 5 at gcse maths. I would take what she’s got. Won’t stop her working in London will it? UAL isn’t that wonderful either!

Thank you, We do need to have more discussions about future options. Thanks for the link to UCAS extra we will look at this too.

Thanks Tizer. She is studying business at present and has predicted A, with B in both Sociology & Art / Textiles, so whilst Maths isn’t her strongest subject she actually does well well with functional maths. She is creative, hence the Fashion choice but enjoys Business, hence the joint degree choice. whilst I agree elements of marketing are highly analytical, this isn’t the case across all disciplines. Certainly as a Recruiter specific to marketing, I know many successful marketing managers who would not state maths as being their strength.
I agree she would do well to experience Uni life in another part of the country, I also just wanted to check what our options are & if we accept an offer does it then mean we are committed to this choice if she gets the required grades. I will check as suggested if the courses offered places in clearing, in previous years. Thanks again

if we accept an offer does it then mean we are committed to this choice if she gets the required grades.

Well, she does enter into a contract with the universities whose offers she accepts as her firm and insurance choices, yes. However, if, on results day, she decides that she really doesn't want to go to the university which is now showing as 'Unconditional Firm' on UCAS Track, there will be an option at that point to release herself into Clearing instead.

@TizerorFizz, if you follow the link to the details on using Extra, you will find the following information about the process:

Who can use Extra?

If you included five choices on your application, have received decisions from all five, and weren’t accepted, or if you declined the offers you received, you will be able to use Extra.

The UCAS site really is a mine of information, not just an application form.

I meant about using it now. She has offers so it’s too early.,

@TizerorFizz

I meant about using it now. She has offers so it’s too early.,

If she declines the offers she has, she will be eligible for Extra. Very very risky strategy though.

Well yes. That’s why I didn’t think that was an option worth looking at.

I know fashion degrees look great in London and it is the centre of the fashion world. However other courses are good. They don’t limit her career. If she can get a job that is. Fashion is who you know not what you know. DD went to UAL and it’s very patchy regarding teaching and careers afterwards. She’s now retraining for something else.

Thank you Tizer for the insight, yes I suspected the same. I think we are starting to re-think things a little.
Thanks everyone for your advice.

You don’t have to reject offers now to go into clearing. She should accept them and then reject them on results day but ONLY if the courses she wants are definitely offering spaces in clearing and she meets the grade requirements.

@Cloudsarebright
The issue seems to be that she doesn’t so you are gambling they will accept the lower Maths GCSE grade.

@ Tizer -no there are similar courses she is interested in without the need for the 6 in Maths so we wouldn’t try for the ones already applied for and rejected. and I’m hopeful if she gets A / B / B as predicted she will be accepted onto a similar course, especially if it is Business based. Thanks again