Southampton publishes Clearing grade requirements

[HPFA]

I think this is the first time I've seen an RG Uni publishing Clearing grade requirements before Results Day.

It's not for all courses but a lot of popular subjects nonetheless

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/clearing/course-vacancies?subject=All+Subjects&filter=&studentType=uk&availableOnly=true

Not sure what it means for those students holding offers at Southampton - does it indicate how far they can drop grades and still get in?

Yes it does indicate that. Not that there’s a contractual requirement to accept an offer holder who misses their offer but gets those grades. But it would be difficult to imagine why they wouldn’t. BBC for Economics and Psychology - eek…

Wow... midwifery and physiotherapy want high grade. Higher than neuroscience. How things have changed in the last 30 years.

Adult nursing CCC though.

Nottingham Uni has also gone for early publication of its clearing requirements:

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

If you check by department you can also see their requirements for 2026 side by side - so eg International Relations/Politics is showing AAB for 2026 and BBB for 2025.

Yes Nottingham has History BA in clearing for BBC and for 2026 AAB.

What does this mean for students in Year 12 currently who want to apply for university to start in 2026? Does it mean they have to get higher grades than the previous year?

No. It means their offer is likely to be whatever they say for 2026, but in reality they’re so desperate for students they’ll take the lower grades advertised in clearing this year.

Caveat - this is not guaranteed.

I was shocked to see both English and Psychology in the list

Yes English the same as History - BBC V AAB for 2026.

Crazy!

Liverpool joins the party;

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

Wow. Can't wait to tell my son. He's having wobbles about how well he's done in his A levels (although I'm hoping he's worrying for nothing). I can see his subject at Liverpool for BBC which is pretty low

So you're saying that someone with lower A levels is suitable for the course and if they are suitable why wasn't this the initial tariff? A levels are meant to be about showing ability not some strange currency for universities to put bums on seats.

Are universities advertising initially with high tariffs to encourage a perspective of a high standard then reducing those grades to ensure all places are filled? I think this is quite cycnical.

What is the rationale about publishing clearing this early? I understand if you have grades in hand you could apply but what purpose does it serve for those waiting - is it to give you time to see you could shop around and upgrade on the day?
It all seems to bring a great deal of instability into the system - although the way it currently works is deeply flawed anyway.

I find it unbelievable that a Maths degree at Liverpool needs only BBC (the same as Media and Communications) whereas Marketing needs BBB. Just one example (picked from the M's, so random in the case of the courses used as comparison to the maths requirement). Does make it very clear that grade requirements are all about bums on seats and not about the academic profile needed. How on earth does a uni teach the same maths to a student with a B in single maths compared to one with an A* in further maths...

Mids2019 put it better than me!

@mids2019 , the uni's have to fill the courses to be financially viable. If not enough dc have accepted the offers they sent out then they have no choice but to drop the grade requirements.

University isn't about education anymore.

It's about bums on seats and financial viability. Which is why so many young people are being suckered into the racket of being tens of thousands of debt for a devalued degree that won't end up making them better off.

Dsd is very academic so we encouraged university (a vocational degree). Ds is not, but is very hard working when it comes to sports and physical tasks so he is being encouraged more into an appretiship route.

English is no longer popular, so I’m not surprised. They need to get bums on seats.

IB results are already out

Agree to an extent. The top universities are still about education and knowledge in the main, but the lower rankings can’t be anymore.

Thats exactly what they're doing.

If you hang around university Bluesky theres a lot if bitterness among post 92s about what the lower ranks of the RG are doing here, basically poaching lower achieving students to protect their own finances while leaving the rest of the sector to go hang.

University in capitalism is competitive. Due to ever expanding numbers of students coming through and easy immigration, they lived the high life for years. Now the sharp end of capitalism is arriving - and they have to compete for resources (students).

The lower ranked universities will have to develop USPs to make themselves stand out. The higher rated ones will adjust to fill their seats from the smaller pool of candidates. It’s not going to stop, given birth rates, and those that can’t differentiate themselves enough to make it worth £50k or more of debt will fail.

Interesting that none of their engineering courses are publicised! They are their signature courses and particularly renowned for some at least so perhaps they are full - my DD’s offer a few years back was a star aa including maths and physics

As for why published now? If you already have a levels from previous years, it’s too late to apply the standard way but you can apply now in clearing, my dd did this, also those on technical courses, Scottish results and BTec’s come out earlier

I think the bitterness the post 92s (and places like Essex and Bangor) have is that schools etc are still pushing the narrative that RGs are "better" without any good basis.

If Liverpool is letting students do Maths with a B then its no longer remotely in the same league as Oxbridge or Imperial or Warwick.

My daughters old school lists RG separately in its destinations list (ie Higher Education 54% and RG 18%) and I dont suppose its the only one.