Looking for helpful tips on Early Clearing applications.

[HPFA]

DD looking to apply tp University through Clearing - she did her A-Levels two years ago and got BCC (RS, History and Sociology).

She would like to do a language (preferably French but possibly Spanish) and another subject from the Modern History/Politics/International Relations range. She chose German as her GCSE language and didn't want to continue that one to A-Level (hence she doesn't have a Language A-Level) but she has been learning French as a hobby and really enjoying it. She also has an EU passport.

So my questions:

1.How much attention should be given to rankings? We've looked at some 			possibilities on both CUG and the Guardian and the same institution/courses seem to have very different rankings depending on the list.

2.How ambitious should she be in applications? She has 104 points - is it realistic to apply to places who want 112 or even 120? Can she be given a "holding answer" until results day or do unis only say "yes" or "no" at this stage?

3 Some unis offer a choice of making a phone application or an online one - any thoughts on which might be best? My thought is - phone gives you more of an opportunity to sell yourself but might also be a bit more stressful.

Many thanks for reading and any other tips will be gratefully received!

Following - we're in a similar position but I think I can answer some of them..

1. Ratings - all subjective. Take note but with a pinch of salt.

1. Might be worth a try, it's very hard to know. IB results have come out and I've heard they're lower than expected this year, but whether there will be any movement on grades until A Level day (or at all) depends on the Uni I guess and how many spaces they have to fill.

1. we too expected it to be a fast process, but DC contacted a Uni by their contact form on Thursday afternoon, they responded by email about half an hour later, and asked her to reply with a copy of her certificates. She did and got an auto reply saying the mail box was not monitored! The next morning the website had changed and there was a phone number, so she rang, and was told to complete the web form again! So I suspect it's still early days for the Unis and they're still getting their acts together!

@RoseyPoseyPies

Thank you very much for your reply, glad to know we're not the only ones doing this!

My feeling is that if an online form doesn't ask for much in the way of a massive personal statement she might as well put in an application even if it seems a bit of a long shot.

If it’s purely a points offer and she’s a few short then not many people know lots of qualifications count including lifeguard and some first aid. It’s not just music and ballet.

https://www.rlss.org.uk/news/new-ucas-points-for-rlss-uks-nplq-to-help-address-critical-lifeguard-shortages

With regard to the points then it is worth a try. DS just secured a place at UWE with 10 less UCAS points than the course advertised. He heard within a few days and his accommodation confirmed a few days after that - he is one happy boy!

Thank you, that's just what I'd like to hear and that's fantastic your son is settled.

There's actually a whole long back story about DD and her dithering over University which I didn't want to bore everyone with but she has found some courses she seems enthused about and at least one of those she seems to already meet the requirement so fingers crossed.

Of course just when I thought things were going smoothly I find out she never bothered collecting her A-Level certificates from school which could cause some real (and expensive) problems!

Thank you, I'll look into that.

She did get a "best student" prize for one of her A Level subjects (which is relevant to the course she's applying for) at the end of GCSE year so I've suggested she mentions that in the "other info" box.

I’m sure she will be able to get on a uni course but I think she would need a language A level or equivalent to study a language on a joint honours course at university. There may be other courses that are not languages but give you the chance to learn a language alongside the main degree subject and they might not need an existing language qualification.

Thanks @biarritz

The courses she's applied for don't state a Languages A-Level but of course it's possible she may be looked on less favourably than someone who has one. She has put in for a couple of courses without a language, just in case

She's received one offer so far, from Hull - for Politics and International Relations.

She won't get offers for straight languages with no language at level 3 (or equivalent fluency level). She needs to look specifically for joint degrees with Ab Initio languages.

Update: She got an offer from Aberystwyth to do International Relations and French and seems very happy with it! There's one other course she's interested in but great to have that one in the bag.

The school are not able to trace her certificates at the moment (due to the exams officer having gone off on his holidays) but they have provided her with a signed official letter listing her results so I'm hoping the university will be happy with that. I would think it's actually easier to fake a photo of a certificate than to bribe a named school official to provide fake results (if we were going to do that I'd have paid them to make it three A stars!!) so I can't see any logical reason why they wouldn't find this acceptable.

If she has grades in hand why would she need to go through clearing ?

If she's filled out her UCAS form then she can call universities directly already and if they say yes they firm her place on UCAS

Aberystwyth is a lovely university

She'll have a lovely time studying there

To answer your first question, it's a long story of dithering and I think relates to her disappointment at not getting the grades to go to Sheffield, which was her Firm offer when she applied in the sixth form. It tool a long time to accept that unless she wanted to slog through an access course, her grades weren't going to get her into the equivalent of Sheffield.

She seems really excited at the offer from Aberystwyth. It is remote but she's a always been happy with her own company so I don't think this will bother her too much.

Funnily enough, in both CUG and the Guardian Aber is higher ranked than Sheffield for modern languages and only a few places behind in International Relations. Obviously Sheffield is more prestigious overall. I probably think Aber is better known than it really is because I work in a field where it was always thought to be the best place to go!

Yes it's a bit remote but in turn the students become closer to each other so that's always a good thing

She can do a lot worse than Aber plus it's great she's excited about it

I was surprised her grades were good enough for it, to be honest. It's not top of the pile obviously but I definitely think of it as "solid".

I'm a bit amused by some of the threads that throw out "oh, but employers will only look at Russell Group." when anyone even mentions their DCs preferring a non RG uni. I work in local government and our recruiters wouldn't have a clue that say, Southampton or Liverpool were supposed to be vastly superior to Reading or Essex.

@HPFA well done to your dd. Aberystwyth is a decent university and it sounds a great course. Hope she has a good time there.

Thank you.

The modules look really interesting - and so varied that you can very much put your own degree together.

I've suggested she works pretty hard on French between now and the start date - while the course is meant to start from scratch I'm thinking a lot of the students might have done GCSE and the pace could be quite fast.