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Original poster

Can anyone tell me the mechanics of Clearing

13 replies

MumblesParty · 04/08/2023 20:10

Apologies if this has been done before.

I understand what clearing is. I can see on the UCAS website which universities currently have clearing spaces. But I'm confused about what happens on results day.

Say for example DS doesn't get the grades for his 1st or 2nd choices, what does he actually need to do?

Is there a way of inputting his grades into the UCAS site, that then shows which universities would take him?

Or does he have to contact each university one by one, to ask if they'll accept him?

Can anyone help?

thanks

OP posts:
Bunnyannesummers · 04/08/2023 22:44

He looks on UCAS clearing for courses he’s interested in and which are in line with his achieved grades.

He then contacts each uni he’s interested in to see if they can make him an offer. He might need to call, use a live chat or fill in an online form to do this.

He considers his offers and then adds the one he wants to UCAS.

stilldumdedumming · 04/08/2023 22:52

Uni's are doing clearing webinars with tips and there must be some videos etc on UCAS. There's also a very good thread today on this on the HE board. My ds is as prepared as he can be. He has researched what courses are available and how he's going to approach them. He has a database! Fingers crossed he won't need it

clary · 05/08/2023 00:49

Couple of threads on this already OP but yes, he calls any unis that may be of interest and be offering places at his grades. At the end of the day he can be holding several offers, but will need to decide IIRC by the end of the following day.

MarchingFrogs · 05/08/2023 15:57

Is there a way of inputting his grades into the UCAS site, that then shows which universities would take him?

If he finds himself in Clearing on results day, there will be a message on UCAS to say this, and also an option to see a list of potential matches based on his original application and achieved grades

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing/your-clearing-matches

Your Clearing matches

Available alongside Clearing, this tool is designed to help you find your perfect course.

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/clearing-and-results-day/what-clearing/your-clearing-matches

Original poster
MumblesParty · 05/08/2023 18:57

Someone has asked on another thread - but I’m still not sure of the answer - how you know which universities will accept the grades you have? I can see that there are UCAS points displayed under each university, but is there a way of filtering the unis displayed, based on the grades you’ve got? It would be a pain to have to scroll through pages of places wanting 130 UCAS points if you only have 110.

OP posts:
clary · 05/08/2023 19:11

MumblesParty · 05/08/2023 18:57

Someone has asked on another thread - but I’m still not sure of the answer - how you know which universities will accept the grades you have? I can see that there are UCAS points displayed under each university, but is there a way of filtering the unis displayed, based on the grades you’ve got? It would be a pain to have to scroll through pages of places wanting 130 UCAS points if you only have 110.

My intel is four years old but DD and I came up with a list of possible unis - she wanted to stay a certain distance from home which narrowed it down, and presumably your DC has some similar criteria - campus/city, big city/smaller town, location in country - as well as course obvs. So then we went through uni websites - some were better than others! some inc where she went in the end had courses available and grades required on their home page 👏and made a list of those we could consider, then rang them.

You can do this ahead of time tho.

clary · 05/08/2023 19:13

I mean you can make the list ahed of time! not ring the unis.

For reference - she was looking at Eng lit and gained BCC (instead of ABB required by RG unis) - and wanted to stay not too far from the Midlands - so she ended up with offers from Lincoln, Birmingham City, Leeds Beckett, Leicester. You have to scale your ideas down from what was planned (Brum, Warwick, York, Leeds in DD's case) if you do a lot less well.

Xarrie · 05/08/2023 19:33

Are you on Wiwikau? They have university people on there answering things about clearing and how it works. Someone asked this on there yesterday and was very useful. We've pre registered at DD's favourite two.

MarchingFrogs · 05/08/2023 21:01

On the UCAS search facility, you can filter by tariff points - so your DS could look at which 'near miss' universities (tariff points maximum set to 8 / 16 below his required grade equivalent, e.g. AAB / ABB instead of AAA) are in Clearing, 'a bit worse than that' (24 / 32 below?) and 'sort of a disaster'?

Ellmau · 10/08/2023 10:08

First of all check with the original choices to see if they will still take him.

MarchingFrogs · 10/08/2023 18:01

Ellmau · 10/08/2023 10:08

First of all check with the original choices to see if they will still take him.

The universities get A level results by the coming weekend, so the firm (and if necessary, the insurance ) will have had several days to decide whether or not to take near misses. However, it is worth the applicant contacting them if they are a very near miss and are having the relevant paper(s) reviewed.

Teriyakieverything · 11/08/2023 13:08

Am I correct to assume the universities see the marks as well the subject grades to know how much of a near miss a subject is.

Do the DCs get to know their marks as well as grades on results day?

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