Clearing but no accommodation.

[Cantonet]

How does it work?
Are accommodation places likely to come up later?
This is for Bath uni where ds originally wanted to go.

Have you found a clearing course with a space? Last year my dd missed her Bath offer by 1 grade and I was on the Bath website early to see if there were any other courses available and those showing were only a handful related to engineering.

I'm on Whatuni.com.
It's saying they are places available for psychology at Bath. You can also type in various grade permutations to see if they would be likely to offer a place.
I'm not entirely sure this site is reliable as the Bath uni web-site just says places will be available from the 15th.

I know nothing about this.
However presumably people who firmed but then miss their grades give up accommodation to those who got places via insurance or clearing?
Do people pick accommodation in advance for insurance offers? If so that would be more freed up too?

@Cantonet , you need to be on the uni website. It was psychology for my dd, she got Astar, A, B and was rejected. If you look on the UCAS website for what grades people achieve for psychology at Bath they all have 3 x A minimum.

She went to Warwick instead and it's all been great.

There’s a lot in Clearing this year since applications are down in general

@user68712226 , UCAS say applications are down 0.3% on 2023.

I spent ages on high tariff uni clearing pages last August on results day and Bath and Bristol had virtually no courses in clearing.

Yes, I've heard that @User.
I'm not sure whether whatuni.com is giving out the correct advice. If it is then a lot of students failed to make their predicted grades this year.
@tennis that sounds very harsh for your dd. I'm glad it's all worked out so well for her in the end. Ds has a Loughborough & a Sheffield offer but really wanted to go to Bath. Due to ill health he missed out on a term of his A levels so only caught up after Xmas when he was predicted 3A's. But that was too late for a Bath offer. So if Bath is available in clearing it would be wonderful.

My son went through clearing last year. I'm not sure how accurate What Uni will be at this stage. We found the accurate list of what is in clearing available the evening before results day, on the Uni websites. It will also say then whether or not they offer accommodation to clearing candidates.

There were huge accommodation issues with Bath I think last year and some students lived miles away in Bristol.

The only 100% reliable source of information will be individual university websites.

All universities are tooled up for Clearing via phone and electronically. We employ masses of extra staff and redeploy current staff for Clearing.

Phone is best but not the parent. Must be the actual applicant!

Have you actually spoken to Bath about this? Bath do no release accommodation offers until after results day so how do you know there is no accommodation left?

As stated earlier @Nancy I got this info. from what uni.com. Yes, I am aware of what the Bath uni website states. This is why I'm questioning this.

This is also my 4th & youngest to go to uni so it's not my first rodeo. But the only contact I've ever had with clearing was with my eldest several years ago when her A levels were marked wrongly & she failed to get into vet school. She's now a fully paid up member of the Vet. Profession so it was a long time ago!

Hiya OP, I don’t think you can get an offer through clearing if you’ve been rejected from that same course in this UCAS cycle. Did your DS apply to Bath already?

Sorry if I am being a bit dense but if the website shows that there are clearing spaces on DDs no 1 choice Uni and course does that mena that she stands a good chance of getting in if she misses the grade they have requested by 1?

Yes if they are asking for lower grades in clearing. Not necessarily if they are sticking with the same grade requirements

If he gets higher grades then he was predicted and can't get the uni he wants through clearing, would he consider taking a year out and going next year rather than taking his second choice?

DD3 got a uni offer in clearing, and only got an accommodation offer due to additional needs. Not Bath, but a city known for tricky student accommodation.

The issue with Bath Uni isn't the accommodation (which can be tricky too) but the fact historically it has very few courses in clearing. Popular courses at popular universities don't go into clearing, instead the uni's reject candidates who don't meet the offered grades.

In that case you'd be better to speak to admissions as nobody here can tell you what the situation is. Years gone by it's been tight even for firm students but this year is different. Dd is going into her 3rd year at Bath and she was allocated her first choice but then she firmed it. Ds went through clearing for a different uni when it opened a few weeks ago (grades in hand as on a gap year) this uni is very oversubscribed and last year was a nightmare in clearing - he's been given first choice accommodation. This is very different it would seem.

Accommodation - depends largely on the process your university follows. Some don't assign accommodation until after results day, so getting your place through Clearing doesn't disadvantage you too much. This was the case with Sussex a couple of years ago - DD2 got one of her choices. UEA does similar.

However, others allow students to firm their accommodation much earlier, so I suspect you'd be at the bottom of the pile if you got a place through Clearing. Likewise if it's a city known for oversubscribed accommodation (e.g. Bristol or Nottingham.....or Bath!)

As i suspected the Psychology places left in Bath Uni. are only available for international students. They've just released their clearing vacancies.

Look at Lancaster for clearing. It’s a top ten university and guarantees accommodation on campus in the first year.