No offer for a course now in Clearing?

[Tarjet]

I’ve been looking at clearing places for DS (just in case his results aren’t what he hopes) and I found a course he applied for - Comp Sci at Durham is now in clearing. He met the entry requirements on predicted grades but didn’t get an offer. Does this mean his PS wasn’t good enough and he wouldnt get a clearing place if he tried for it? Or would there be another reason? Obviously no interviews were done for Durham so it’s hard to know

I assumed clearing was for courses that were not filled by suitable applicants (ie with the predicted grades required) but TSR was full of rejected Durham CS applicants (inc my son!) so I’m very confused!

Some universities have a clearing form. It was the same last year when I checked. If a phone number appears on results day which is preferable by the universities to use?

My daughter actually takes her A levels next year but I like following these threads to (sort of) be prepared for next year.

Anyway, I'm confused about clearing this year, DD is interested in a course at Lancaster, normal grades needed are AAB but on the Lancaster website it's (along with many many other courses, arts and STEM) in clearing for BBC. How can that be? DD assumed that Lancaster would be her aspirational/just about realistic choice but BBC would be well below her predictions.

What has likely happened, are the A level results well below forecasts this year or was Lancaster too optimistic in the quality of student it thought it could attract? Confusingly that Beta past entrance grade thingy says that most students in the last five years got on the course with AAA.

Out of interest, which courses/ subjects are becoming more/ less popular ( in general)?

Hi, @Sweetpeasaremadeforbees -

Per my earlier post, it is hard to know from the outside. Most RG+ universities (inc Lancaster) were hit by a decline in Overseas applications/Firms this year, however.

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by this!

For instance, Royal Holloway is offering courses at CCC which were originally offered at ABB. But of course students who were expecting to get CCC probably didn't apply in the first place. I would also imagine that those students who don't make their ABB offers probably haven't missed by that much so wouldn't they have enough students to fill their course anyway.

I'm guessing that those grade requirements are effectively just a minimum and the uni will actually just take the best qualified of the candidates who apply. So if RH gets enough BBC students who want to go there the CCC requirement will be irrelevant. That's just a guess though.

A quick question for anyone in the know.. do universities decide on grades or use points? Say offer was A B B and the student got A A C/D would they generally be accepted?

@LaPalmaLlama MFL and English. Plus arts subjects. A level MFLs are not as popular and employment is seen as a barrier with the others. These grads have to compete with so many others for the same jobs.

Per my earlier post, it is hard to know from the outside. Most RG+ universities (inc Lancaster) were hit by a decline in Overseas applications/Firms this year, however.

So it could be that only overseas students would get in with BBC?
I wish that Unis would be honest about this so that UK students knew where they stood.

Do you know whether the employment barrier for MFL is real or just perceived? I'm curious as I have an MFL degree and have always found employers love it at interviews and it seems to give me an advantage, even when the company actually has no use for the language! I graduated in the 90s but changed job again this year and it was still a major talking point at interview and I felt it was an advantage still. Interviewers I've had always think it means you're clever and adaptable. So for me, I've never found it a barrier to employment in the private or public sector. Obviously experiences vary.

It depends whether Clearing is open to everyone, or just Overseas students.

I don’t like the double standard at all, but OTOH universities are in desperate financial straits. However I agree there is no excuse for the lack of transparency - rather, the only excuse is that to make the double standard visible would cause an uproar without solving anything.

A degree that would be of interest to my son was AAB entry requirements at a RG university, however is now BBC in clearing, with an additional grade lowered if qualifying for a contextual offer. A real slide in entry requirements obviously. Next year's general contextual offer has also been loosened allowing more students to qualify for it.
I think cost of living pressures and rental costs are making students and parents who may be partly supporting them really double think if the cost is worth it. Unfortunately, ex polys and v. niche courses will further nosedive in student numbers as students don't perceive them as of value.

@Alwayshockey I meant employment barriers with the other two. English used to be very popular but not so much now. MFL is declining because Brits find learning a MFL hard! My DD has a MFL degree but converted to law. That’s been great for her. We know other lawyers with MFL degrees. Totally agree with your summary but MFL departments are contracting and the Brits aren’t known for MFL skills. My DD used it as a platform for her career but doesn’t use it.

Arts and English and some humanities degrees are seen as luxuries by some and DC look to business and management and law. Government pushes stem and that’s where shortages are so better earnings potential if you can do it. However dd didn’t want to and preferred MFL but many courses are a much lower tariff than law at the same uni.

Gotta say, I wish some of the people who treat the Russell Group like a sacred cow could see some of the courses on offer.

Southampton is offering English, Linguistics, History and Philosophy at BCC and yes, that is for UK students. No doubt there'll be a good few students tomorrow heading off to the ex-polys with higher grades than that.

I think I had read somewhere where a poster was saying that a requirement to become RG is to have a medical school but I don't know if it's true.

Absolutely
I Know someone who got into got two A’s and Two B’s and went to an ex poly last year.
My godson got into Sheffield University two years ago with one B and two C’s
It really is a myth that all students with lower grades go to ex polys

There are universities which are non Russell which have medical schools

I find the whole "Russell Group or nothing" shtick deeply annoying - as in "employers won't look at anything except Russell Group".

Obviously the RG does include unis where you get a premium for attending - Oxbridge, Durham, Bristol etc . But until I looked it up I didn't even know that Southampton was in the RG or that it was supposed to be miles better than say, Sussex. And outside of a very small group of snobby law firms and the like, I'd be confident that whole swathes of employers don't know that either.

The other thing in the mix is predicted grades seem to get less and less accurate. So a University sets the entry tariff at AAA. Applications look good, they think they’ve made about the right number of offers. Then results come in. Perhaps nationally only 60% of students have achieved their predicted grades. Universities are counting on that income (either as cashflow - universities make a loss on home students - or profit) and need to hit their predicted numbers even though grades are all down. So they take “near miss” students down to a point where they make their target. If they can’t get that, they’ll go into clearing.

Also , there are universities that are not classed as Russell group such as Bath, St Andrews , which people assume are .
Students require higher grades than those attending so called Russell groups

Russell group was traditionally about research wasn't it? I remember someone coming from Lancaster Uni to talk to DD's college and they said that their Uni had deliberately chosen not to be part of the RG because they found it too restrictive.

Loads of non-RG unis have medical schools - DD's current 2nd favourite Keele has a med and a vet school.

I wonder if required grades for a lot of unis will drop for next years intake. I guess it all depends on the overseas students situation this year?

I was also shocked to find out about St Andrews, Lancaster, Southampton and other universities not being RG so it means nothing!

Btw, I've been to Southampton although about 20 years ago and it was brilliant! Sunny, coastal and such a friendly atmosphere on the buses connecting different campuses! First time in my life I encountered such friendly bus drivers which the passengers always returned! Brilliant halls too. If we could have afforded it we would have encouraged DS to apply there instead of staying at home. As it is he hasn't managed to find a job here all summer and keeps looking every day and I don't know how he would manage to find one elsewhere when he doesn't know the place yet.

Southampton is a member of the Russel Group

I have never heard RG mentioned outside Mumsnet!!

Oops, thanks. I can't edit my previous message anymore and I don't want to spread misinformation!

I have never heard RG mentioned outside Mumsnet!!

Sixth forms in schools and colleges tend to be very proud of how many of their students go on to RG (IME)!