Clearing from year to year

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Is there any point in looking at clearing this year to try to see what sorts of things might be available next year? Or is it more likely that a course in clearing this year won't be next year, because they will have corrected for a lack of applicants?

If you look at clearing now on WhatUni you'll see some of the courses already have the UCAS points required and some just have a code.

The ones which already have the UCAS points I'd say were likely to be available in Clearing again next year since they're clearly confident about having plenty of spaces!

DD has been through clearing this year (she did A-Levels two years ago). I was pleasantly surprised by what was available to her with a BCC as, to be honest, I'd feared she might be scraping the bottom of the barrel!! She accepted an offer from Aberystwyth to do French and IR, the university is mid-ranked and both the French and IR are quite high in the subject rankings.

That's interesting, thanks. Really glad it worked out for your dd!

I was surprised about the number of courses on clearing at some very popular universities. I wonder how likely that it will be the same next year or the year after next?
Bath, Durham and Exeter e.g.

It can give an indication but isn’t a guarantee and shouldn’t be relied on as recruitment plans can be fluid!

Interesting. Just looked at Whatuni for physics and most of DS’ (year 12) top choices are in clearing this year. What does that mean in practice, does anyone know?
Are they in clearing now because they already know A-level results? Will they be more likely to make offers to people with the right PG next year? Will they be more lenient if grades slip?

Check these are open to UK students. In the past some have been for internationals only.

I only had a fleeting look, would it normally say if only open to non-UK students?

I did read somewhere that there has been a significant drop in both home and international students applying to uni this year...

They do seem to be in clearing now for UK students. I’m guessing this means either applicants have missed their grades (presume this is known already?), or that fewer want to study physics there than there are places available. Or both. Plus uni applications generally lower. Am I missing another factor?

What knock on effects might this mean for next year?

@HPFA I hope your DD enjoys her time at Aber. DS is going into yr2 in politics and IR, he had a great first year.

As for clearing, just remember that this is the last year of adjusting for covid grades so everything might look a bit out of kilter again. The grades need to be back down at pre-covid levels and so will seem a bit low in comparison to two and three years ago. The offers made should reflect this shift.

Thanks, that makes sense.

Ah, it’s in part the drop in international students, apparently.. www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/aug/10/more-uk-students-set-to-get-into-first-choice-university-than-in-previous-years

Thanks @QueenofLouisiana , I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

She'd been thinking seriously about doing Philosopy/Ethics and French at Bangor as RE was her best subject at school but the IR modules at Aberystwyth just looked too interesting to resist!

According to UCAS applications are only down 0.3%. So not terribly significant.

Lots in dc’s school have applied (grammar school pretty much required they apply) but have no intention of going this time or at all. Will be interesting to see stats afterwards. So whilst applications aren’t massively down I think actual take up of places will be.

@Investinmyself that is very interesting. What are their cohort planning to do? It’s so useful to hear about others’ experiences.

If there are lots of clearing places on good courses, the university might decide to drop their offers by a grade or 2 or the following year. Or they might not, impossible to predict.

That's interesting. What are they planning to do instead if they're not planning to actually go? Go into work or try to apply with results in hand next year (which would make it worse for next year's cohort if a significant increase in these compared with other years)?

Lots having a gap year to work/travel. Many only on minimum loan so need to earn a buffer before go off to uni.
Those with apprenticeships have ucas uni offer as a back up but won’t take up place if they get grades for apprenticeship.
Lots trying for apprenticeships. There’s a big employer nearby offering degree apprenticeships, if they don’t succeed yr 13 they retry.
School was very medicine/vet/dentistry focused so lots retry if don’t get offers want yr 13.
My dc is unusual in her friend group in that she’s going to uni straight from school.

Universities got the results on Saturday 10 Aug and need to make decisions by Wednesday evening. Any clearing places at the moment are “best guesses” by the university and will not be firmed up until Wednesday evening. Clearing places disappear without warning, so you really have to be quick on Thursday and have a plan A, B and C depending on what results are achieved. Hope for the best, but also plan for the worst. Be aware that getting a clearing offer is only binding for the university, but you do have a deadline to respond (which I think is normally until the following Monday, but check this on the offer conditions). So it is OK to bag multiple clearing offers and then take time to decide which one you actually want. Most universities offer a mini open day event on the Saturday for clearing applicants.

@Changes17 it means that they have not hit targets in the first instance for UK students. They may have never recruited enough or the students may not have hit their required grades. They may still take UK students who just missed and had an offer when they get their results but it varies. They get zero funding from the Government for overseas students. They pay a lot more and never take a place from a UK student.

I used to deal with admissions or the poisoned chalice as it was known, nothing like crushing a young persons dreams to make you feel awful. I looked up my old dept and it’s advertising clearing at a RG University, how times change.

Good luck to all, it’s not the end of the world just remember that. My DS decided he didn’t want to go to University. As he had parents who had 60 years of working in HE between them it was a massive shock. He did a manual job for 2 years which he loved and then applied for a degree apprenticeship. He is thankfully now in year 2 of his apprenticeship in what is definitely a very good career choice for him and thriving. Plus it hasn’t cost a penny and no debt.

Thanks for the insight, @PensionMention!