Clearing 2023 - getting prepared short idiots guide to Clearing

[Ginola2345]

Long back story but DD will require a massive improvement in her results to be offered either her firm or insurance choice.

I have taken results the day off work to celebrate, relax or help with clearing. I don’t want to panic DD but if she misses out on both her firm and insurance I know she could would go into Clearing but I don’t know much about it.

Basically, in short what do we need to do first in 5 easy steps and what info do I/we need to have to hand to be ready to move quickly incase we need to? What I need is a short easy to understand ‘idiots guide to Clearing’ or 5 point brief instructions in bullet point form.

I have just googled and seen lots of links taking me back and forward I saw something about UCAS Extra and how do I find Clearing Helpline Numbers is it the normal admissions numbers or are these numbers different etc.

Quick question for those in the know. DS insurance choice (was really his first choice so would be very happy to go there) is in clearing for his course at the moment - and all variants. Does that mean they are more likely to still accept him as Insurance if he drops a grade(s) or am I clutching at straws?

His offer was ABB. if he gets, say, ABC or BBB, does the fact that the course and all variants are currently showing as in Clearing mean they would be more likely to take him? Given that they will presumably will up with some BBB/BBC in clearing. If they decline him, can he then apply through clearing to one of the variants (different UCAS code)?

Can I also say a big FU to Bristol Uni who have apparently already published that they are not offering any Clearing Places to UK students, only international. It astounds me that a UK university can get away with that.

I don't get this really - what's wrong with Bristol having met their target for UK students but not for internationals? It may well be because they are sympathetic to students missing their offers this year with the shift to the 2019 grade distribution. They may feel there's no point in rejecting people who want to go to Bristol but just missed their grades, in favour of people who didn't like them enough to firm or insure. Particularly if they might lower the required grades in clearing anyway.

Well they should publish their quotas and targets then as it looks tone deaf and discriminatory, which they obviously realised as they have subsequently reworded it.

@SmartHome - you should submit a FoI request to Bristol about quotas if it annoys you so much.

You can probably do one for Durham, Edinburgh and all the other universities in the top 30 rankings who may not have any UK clearing vacancies come Wednesday evening

I still don't really understand what you think they're "getting away with" @SmartHome, by filling their UK places with people who firmed or insured them.

So if it's just random chance that they happen to have filled their allocated home student spaces with firms and insurances surely it should sometimes happen the other way ? Do the international spaces sometimes fill up so that clearing places are not available to be applied to by international students? Has anyone ever seen that happen? If it's all so transparent and above board and not about bringing in extra money from international students, why isn't it described in the published course data? This course has a quota of 30% international 70% home or whatever. Why does it vary? Why are there courses at one of the London unis that are 85% international students?

Certain unis will always face accusations of discrimination and money grabbing (especially if they word things like Bristol did this year) unless they are much more upfront and transparent about how many international students they need per home student to balance the books. And are you really telling me they then turn down any extra that pop up? I find that hard to believe.

As I said, it's tone death and I'm surprised they (thought) that it was acceptable to phrase it the way they did.

@SmartHome - the following statement on Durham's website should please you - highly unusual for them:

When A Level results are published on Thursday 17 August, we expect to be able to offer places through Clearing to approximately 150 well-qualified home students, as well as to approximately 70 similarly qualified international students

Pity they don't say which courses

So if it's just random chance that they happen to have filled their allocated home student spaces with firms and insurances

I honestly don't know the ins and outs of Bristol's policy on home and overseas targets. But I wouldn't be that surprised if a really popular and well-respected university, which attracts more applications than it has places available, had no clearing places. Other comparable universities are often in the same position, as a PP mentioned.

I imagine that Bristol like many others are trying to recruit from overseas to subsidise their UK students and keep their courses running. That doesn't mean that there are necessarily fewer spots for home students. And as far as I can see there's nothing wrong with filling your places with people who have firmed or insured 🤷‍♀️

Yes, the whole point is to try and fill your spaces with people who have firmed or insured. The top ranked unis will never go into clearing at all, or for a very few niche courses only. Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, they're clearly desirable and/or well run admsisions. You're missing my point which is I think it looked inflammatory and suspect (to the unknowledgeable eye as, as you say, we don't know what policies and quotas are in place, because we're not told) to be the only British university specifically calling out that they were expecting to have clearing space for international students and not home students. Quite possibly all above board and just random chance but do you think 18 year olds see that?

I have no skin in the game btw with Bristol, it's not somewhere my uni age child is interested in, I just think it looked really shit, and I'd have thought the same about wherever it was that did it last time as well.

So it looks like you're ok with them filling their UK places with DC who firmed and insured them, so you don't mind that they aren't in clearing for UK students?

So this is about them not having attracted enough applications / firms / insures from overseas? Would you like them not to keep trying to fill their international places through clearing? (Which may have financial knock-on effects for the UK students also?)

Or maybe that's ok but you don't want them to say that's what they're doing?

Bristol is not the only uni only offering clearing places to overseas students at the moment - didn't someone say Liverpool? And Edinburgh only have clearing places for Scottish and international students, no English. I'm sure there are / will be more. Universities can't run the courses our DC want without the income from international students.

Revealed: Foreign students offered more clearing places

FYI headline in Times today- both the Times and the FT have also done articles on the huge increase in international intake, all down to funding.

Leeds and Glasgow mentioned among others. seems Leeds has 13 courses for UK students and 181 for international

dD's backup is Leeds but luckily one of the 13 in clearing! I wonder like the poster above if that means she might be able to drop a grade? Ugh so stressful!

@Roundstone I just read that article, which was next to one about how students will be returning to Uni to more strikes, both general teaching and ongoing marking and assessment. At some point the golden goose of international students must question the value for money they are getting from U.K. unis if they are not taught and their work is not marked, and in some cases they can't graduate and move on. Then the sector will be screwed.

@Roundstone @Bigfatsquirrel another very poor article from The Times IMO - the 2nd/3rd one this week trying to prejudice their readers against international students - most of whom, judging from the article comments, don't need any encouragement in their xenophobia

Agree with you- was interested in the economics of it all. Suspect there is another thread on that!

When it comes to Scotland it isn’t UK vs international, it is Scottish vs rest UK vs international. Many will have clearing places for English students but not Scottish students. This is because whilst fees are paid in Scotland the number of places are capped and because universities are only allowed to charge/only receive £1820 Pa for Scottish students they don’t ask to take more as they couldn’t afford it. They also have targets for wider access which meant last year Edinburgh didn’t take any non-widening access Scottish students on 9 courses, including law. There is no option to pay fees.

So despite having to pay fees in England, I know quite a lot of Scottish friends whose kids have applied to England. And due to the difference in course length even with fees it is relatively cost neutral if you start earning a year earlier.

Do points cone into it all? So, if my dd got the same number of points but different grades, would she still get in? So instead of BBB, she got A, B,C?

It will completely depend on the course.

Some will be happy with points but others may insist on a specific grade in a specific subject. So they might be okay with you dropping a grade on one subject but not another ..... if that makes sense?

For example, if your offer states a BBB with a B in Chemistry they might take you with BBC providing one of the Bs was in Chem.

If he's got no offers showing on track, then let the school know ASAP- they will a) likely let him skip the queue if there is one and b) be able to offer support around reviews of papers etc (I can't remember what they call this anymore, but anything really unexpected should be checked imo).

Unis can't offer him a place without knowing his grades.

The system is set up such that international students effectively subsidise home students. They must know they are full for home students, but could take on a few more paying full fees.

It's allowed because otherwise the government would have to give UK unis a LOT more funding.

If you target unis sensibly, you'll get offers within the first 24 hours. All the desirable courses will likely be full by the end of the week.

I mean, Bristol is a highly popular uni- it's not normal for them to have lots of courses in clearing. It also does likely mean they are prioritising those who have already firmed them, which is arguably a good thing for your DD.

They can't just offer a place to everyone?

Yes, probably more likely to take him but we can't really know, it's really just guesswork.

Usually, unis will consider "near misses" for other similar courses- but if they are in clearing for those courses and not his, then it may be worth a phone call to ask. Not all unis drop grades in clearing though- they may be looking to pick up ABB students who missed their AAA offers, for example.

I think it's worth a try calling for different, related courses as they may not have considered him for those- but also worth looking at other options.

Hopefully he'll be fine and won't need to worry.

Is her offer expressed as grades or points?

CLEARING HELP

Hi,

My daughter is getting her A Level results tomorrow and she is planning on going through clearing if she gets grades higher than those required for her firm University.

Please can someone explain the process of clearing. How exactly it works. What she needs to do on the day. She’s a bit unsure, anyone who’s children have gone through clearing before (advice much appreciated).

Many thanks.

Regards,
Kemi