Is there a list of courses that went into clearing on previous years.

[lostinlego]

Just wondering if there is anywhere you can find out if a course went into clearing in the last few years and what grades they accepted?

Hi OP, honestly I don't know, tho I doubt it.

Bear in mind that clearing in 2021 was very limited bc of TAGs (lots of unis had none) and even in 2022 there was probably less that ususl or at any rate some variation.

Can you say what courses or unis this relates to? People may be able to give you an idea.

Broadly speaking it's the less popular courses, less popular unis or a combo that is in clearing.

So sports science at Loughborough - probably not. But Eng lit there - quite likely.

Economics at Leeds - nope. MFL there - yeps maybe.

@lostinlego I remember trying to find this last year and there's very little information available. The best thing I found was to make FOI (freedom of information) requests to the universities interested in, via www.whatdotheyknow.com asking them what courses they had in Clearing for a specific year.

If you search that site, you'll find a lot of similar previous requests for 2021, 22, 23 entry.

One thing to bear in mind with Clearing - a number of universities advertised Clearing vacancies before/on results day, but it turned out the places were only available for international students - Durham and Bristol being key examples

Years ago all the universities going in to clearing and for which subjects used to be published in the press - don't know if that is still the case but if so you might be able to find it on a newspaper archive site?

It's Biology at York, Birmingham, and Leicester. Trying to decide which one to put as an insurance offer and thought if they regularly went into clearing there might be a greater chance of being accepted if grades slip.

@lostinlego - the following may be of use for Birmingham and York

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/clearing_2021_and_2022_2030#incoming-2345912

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/clearing_courses_availability_20_26#incoming-2343915

I dont know about Biology but my ds applied for CS last year and I researched clearing in the days before results day in case he needed it. He did need clearing as it turned out and even for a competitive course like CS Leicester had places with reduced grades Birmingham wasn't for CS but was for physics. York I think was as well.

Ah OK well then I guess you could try an FOI request. Remember that just bc a course is in clearing, doesn't mean the offer is suddenly loads lower.

DD went through clearing and I recall ringing York (Eng lit) and they were after 3 x A. So not exactly a bargain basement.

I actually doubt whether any of those three would have a big cut for their offer in clearing tho no doubt someone will come along and tell me their DC got in for biology at Brum with CCC.

DS2 held AAB as a second choice for biology at Leeds (thankfully didn't need clearing) but that was a weird year anyway (2021) so even if I had checked clearing it would not be representative.

TBH I would advise choosing the one your DC likes second best as their insurance.

Does York guarantee accommodation for insurance applicants? If not, I think I'd be bit wary of putting York as insurance, as I don't think it's the easiest (or cheapest!) place to find student accommodation.

This year there were quite a few courses that went into clearing for universities that never usually go into clearing

2023 I mean

The second you get those results you need to get straight on the phone to the Unis directly to ask for a clearing place then they will confirm and add you on as an offer

I presume that means that's when the list itself comes out

There isn't a list as such. And don't base any decisions on last summer's activities, as it was an extraordinary year

I screenshotted all the clearing places and grades on the individual uni websites for DDs subject on results day last year. Not Biology I’m afraid.

Whilst of course it varies from year to year it also gives a good idea of which subjects at which unis potentially aren’t so oversubscribed.

Was it ? I thought last year was a return to normality after the 2 COVID year intakes ?

Am I mistaken?

I think lots of unis hadn’t caught up with how they made their offers in the winter, so there were less A*/As achieved, less holding offers where unis could be lenient etc.

A lot of students didn’t get their predicted grades/meet their offers last year. More than in the previous few years.

Very mistaken

The grade distribution went back to normal but sadly the schools seem to have ignored the clear message on this and massively over predicted so lots of pupils misssed their offers. This in turn meant that universities who don't normally go into clearing did so and many accepted students who had missed their grades who wouldn't do so normally.

And this year there could be a possibility that the schools react by being overly harsh with their predicted grades so the universities could potentially have the opposite problem in August. All universities over offer expecting a proportion of students not to make their grades. So courses potentially could be over subscribed this year.

Yeh tbf @lostinlego the last normal year really was 2019 - when dd was in clearing so I can tell you all about clearing offers for Eng lit. #nothelpful

Mid-February UCAS Extra starts. Basically it's an early Clearing, and you can search courses that are still available. It doesn't answer your question about the probability of unis dropping their required grades but you can see what's out there course-wise.

I understand the logic underlying your question but, as PP flag, there are other issues - like availability/location/expense of any first year accommodation (which can vary wildly and for which there is more discernible info). This could be a potentially more important 'tie-breaker' if that is what DC are looking for to help decide.

Obviously there are other potentially crucial factors like course structure, general uni and city vib etc but I assuming your DC has already factored those aspects in prior to selecting their 'five'.

A point to ponder is the gap between their likely performance and the insurance offers (typically AAB is this case?) may mean that the concern about needing leniency is potentially unfounded. For example, if they are realistically projected to hit Astar, A, A, then they can potentially drop two grades and still achieve their insurance offer.

If there is concern one grade might hit C (eg maths) then the focus should be on really working on that one between now and the summer. Ultimately they need to see themselves enjoying their time at their insurance choice, if it came to that.

As others have done, my DC did track clearing activity in their chosen subject areas one or more years prior to their application year but it has been a topsy-turvy couple of years and clearing activity did not always 'repeat'. Better to be 'clearing ready' - in terms of mindset and prior research - if missing grades is a realistic concern.