Links to Clearing Vacancies (with grades)

[HPFA]

Some links to popular universities who've now published their clearing grades. I've tried to ensure these are all lists for UK students but not all the unis specify so possible that some are international students only.

If anyone's DCs are worrying tonight it might reassure them that there seem to be a lot of decent courses around. Suspect a lot of these might get snapped up quickly though!

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/clearing/courses/

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/clearing/courses/#

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/clearing/course-vacancies

https://le.ac.uk/clearing [Leicester]

https://www.leeds.ac.uk/clearing/courses?l=uk&q=history

https://clearing.sheffield.ac.uk/

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/applying/clearing/home/

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studywithus/ugstudy/clearing/clearing-courses.html

My second (vocational) degree was through an ex-poly normally heavily reliant on clearing. I was talking to one of the course lecturers an hour or so ago about something else and they're actually "pretty full this year" already without going heavily into clearing (I'd commented that I was surprised she wasn't manning the clearing lines today)

That's good news.

Also while I was assuming a lot of students might want to "trade up" it could be they'd prefer to stick with the place that wanted them in the first place!

This is the one that has let us down and not been offered places. Going through clearing now. So sad.

If you go through clearing and get offers- when do you have to accept by?

Will there be some places that people don't take up so chance that you can get on the original course??

There may be a deadline on the offer email. Also a lot of unis guarantee accommodation for clearing candidates but give a deadline for the guarantee. My ds last year had to apply for accommodation by the end of Monday after results day. There were a few stages to go through before he was able to do this.

If you’ve got kids in yr12 take screenshots of what’s in Clearing in the early stages - useful for following year.

I found the large number of Nottingham courses available at CCC when the standard offer was AAB pretty off-putting. I know they have to fill…but if you’re the AAB candidate or possibly better than this, you’d like to think most course mates will be of a similar standard.

The disparity between standard or typical offers on websites that yr12 students see for the following year, and what many places actually take is hugely misleading and messes up the education ‘market’.

Lots who hold places at ‘lesser’ unis could easily reject them and get into a RG through Clearing. But I bet most stick with their firmed and confirmed choice.

Seems Clearing grows every year and is becoming a post-grades application process - but one that has to be madly completed in a few hours. It’s all pretty crazy really.

DS’s results for Physics last year was why he ended up with his Insurance choice. But we all agree it was actually the right university for him, suits him much more than his Firm choice would have done

A lot of the time though, the candidates will be of a similar standard and get lower results than predicted for many different reasons - DD was predicted AAB based on work in class and class tests but unfortunately really struggles with exams, even her teachers have admitted that if it was based on assessments other than exams she would be achieved much better results. Others miss exams through illness and have to take average marks as a result which can bring down their final grade through no fault of their own......

@tryingsomethingnew @pgtips2 Physics is what did for DD (thankfully made her insurance but v sad about missing first choice), the exams were all stinkers and grade boundaries higher than last year too, if it had been based on last year DD would have been a grade up and made her first choice. I hope your DC's get somewhere they're happy with

Can't believe that International Relations at Kings and History at UCL are also in Clearing.

UCL has lots of language courses in Clearing.

I just noticed it was a similar thing with chemistry at Warwick as well.

Typical offer was AAA but in clearing now it's either ABC or BBB

Now being covered on the BBC news.

A man from Coventry Uni saying it has made things a bit difficult for them as so many unis dropping grades and also that 82% of students getting their first choice is "unprecedented".

Anyone know the reason why there are less international students applying this year?

International students who are doing postgrad qualifications can't bring dependents as far as I know to address high net migration.

If (through clearing) we choose say Geog at a university he liked, is there a way that at a later date, he could apply to get back on to his original first choice ie Economics? Do people drop out or is it common to change? A friend told us this is possible but I'm not sure

If grade requirements have dropped so massively for clearing this year from say AAB to CCC as some have, then why did people lose their spot when they didn't achieve their grades? Surely people usually miss their grades by only 1 or 2 grades

The low grade requirements at UON is a bit weird. DC1 is currently studying there. They say that many of the students on their course who came via clearing last year have really struggled and lots have had to do resits.

@PolaroidPrincess DD accepted an offer from Aberystwyth in early Clearing three weeks ago and, I must admit, seeing some of these offers going around it's entered my head that she might have done better waiting. BUT - she probably did the right thing, better to be somewhere where most of the students have similar grades than feeling like the poor relation at somewhere she just scraped in.

@hucklemuckle I don't understand this either. Although someone on a different thread said her DD had got BBC when her offer was AAA and the uni accepted her.

Surely postgraduate students not coming g wouldn't affect undergrad places though?
Out if interest what grades are Kings asking for history and International relations? My DS wants to do politics snd IR but he's 2 years off! I wonder if it eill be the same then.

BUT - she probably did the right thing, better to be somewhere where most of the students have similar grades than feeling like the poor relation at somewhere she just scraped in.

I think she's done the right thing too. Everyone I know who has studied there talks fondly of their time at that Uni.

The uni looks great, and the course has a good reputation too.

When she was at school they ended up putting her in lower sets than her marks suggested because she was happier being at the top rather than the bottom.

Wow. Some of thes eunis never normally go to clearing. Incredible to see durham and warwick in clearing. Southampton didnt last year for my DS. Nottigham as well. Really strange.

It’s buyers market for most courses.

They want to give the impression of being highly selective and elite….but they need to fill their places to get the money in. It’s all demand and supply at the end of the day.

There are very few courses in very few places that can easily fill all their places with people who firm them at the standard grade offer and who actually achieve those grades. Even good RG unis are all fighting each other for the applicants. Everyone applies to 5 but can only go to 1. Even very good unis will have lots who don’t firm them but firm elsewhere. Some courses are far less popular than you might think. Some unis have expanded so much that they need to take lower qualified candidates to fill. Online Clearing allows lots of trading up and more shifting around post-results than before. It’s a gunfight for 48 hours after results, which gradually subsides in the coming days. Unis would rather take someone from a biggish pool with lower grades on results day Clearing (or the candidate that firmed them and so definitley wants to come and is more likely o actually turn up, but missed their offer quite substantially) than risk getting to the middle of the week next week and holding out for higher grades and never filling the places. When RG unis are putting out large numbers of courses at CCC you realise the sector is probably just too big in a number of courses.

Some RG unis are very dependent upon overseas, often Chinese students, and are having to pivot to look for more domestic students en masse it would seem to reduce financial exposure. Nigeria is experiencing a crisis in its economy which is likely affecting applications from there.
Anecdotally, other routes into employment such as apprenticeships and T Levels aren't faring that well either. Drop out levels on T Level courses are high and apprenticeship courses seem difficult to get on. University is still worth it I think.

If you check the Liverpool University website then you can apply through clearing for International Relations with a BBC.

But if you click the button for 2025/26 then you'll be told you need AAB.

I guess this might change before 2025 applications open? But what is the point of demanding AAB thus putting off students who think they're going to get BBB only to end up chasing students who've got BBC?

Can't speak for all but in DD's case she didn't get into her first choice because of science grades. Offer was ABB and DD got BCC in Geography, Physics and Chemistry but the B was in Geography. If it had been in either Physics or Chemistry they would have taken her (even though Geography is considered a science for the purposes of applications!). She was happy with her second choice last night but gutted yesterday morning - especially as previously mentioned, last year's grade boundaries in Physics would have got her in......