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?

The universities get the grades this Friday, not the day before, they need several days to process them all.

Those Times stats suggest that the PP who said that unis are expanding courses to make the finances work is correct... but how does the accommodation etc keep up in that case?

Plenty of private hall providers building new halls all over!

@Waspie You don’t know what grades those universities will take in the end though. They just aren’t advertising they will negotiate.

I find it really annoying that Durham makes some students wait for 7 or 8 months before giving them an offer.

And then they put the course in clearing.

Their admissions team really need to up their game!

@NeedingCoffeethats how I read it too.

Agree @TizerorFizz. there’s a piece on bbc news website this morning which suggests this too https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy85edr2xlpo

I don’t really understand it though as they are in clearing but the grades they are asking for haven’t changed so what’s the point being in clearing? Am I missing something?

It means they are scouting for students who achieve or beat their target grades and decide to try and “trade up” on Results Day. I know a couple of students last year and the year before who did exactly that.

There used to be a different system running in parallel with clearing for if you had achieved better grade and wanted to 'trade-up' (can't remember what it was called though).

This was scrapped a few years ago and merged into Clearing so that's possibly why unchanged grades are in there.

It's for those who have their grades already. After a certain date Clearing is the way you apply to university - my daughter did it this way.

I did suggest if she liked a uni where she didn't quite have the grades she applied anyway but she was too nervous of being rejected to do this.

If grades haven’t changed, they are speculatively hoping to pick up candidates who do better than expected.

Once unis have the exam results (from tomorrow) what’s available in Clearing will start changing as they make decisions about who they will accept and reject. After a couple of days, insurance unis will be able to see who has been rejected by firms and who they need to take as insurance…and any near misses they will take as insurance. And after that, the number of places they can out into Clearing will be clearer.

So the Clearing picture isn’t complete yet. It usually becomes properly available on the eve before A level results or that morning.

As has been said, you can’t tell if there’s 1 place available or lots. So it’s vital to get actual results from school or college as close to 8am as possible (UCAS DOESNT show actual results, just uni decisions) and you need the actual results to have phone conversations with unis from 8am. Uni courses with few places will have all gone by 8.30/9 so it’s really important not to linger in bed and only go for results later morning.

Ideally, go to school or college as staff will be available with grade boundaries etc and if anyone need a priority review of marking, the forms can be submitted then and there. If not done then, some places won’t have staff available until the following week.

The key is to be on it and available from 8am.

Just come to this and it’s really interesting. We have been looking with dd in y12 and have been advised that there’s more movement in grades than you’d expect, particularly if it’s your firm offer. Spoke to someone from admissions at Manchester this week though and they didn’t expect that many popular courses would have many spaces - we are looking at economics and she said unless there were particularly surprising results she didn’t expect the BSc to go to clearing. Liverpool however are now looking at a much lower grade offer.

Apparently there is a trend for more students to apply in August after results rather than go through the predicted grades system.

I don’t think lower offers are anything new, with the exception of Oxbridge universities have always had to fill all their courses. It’s just more transparent now with the internet.

Honestly, if you're a student with predictions around BBC/BCC who wants to do a fairly standard course - History, English, Politics etc we're probably close to the stage where there's less and less point in making a normal application (assuming that rankings/etc are of prime importance for you). Just be prepared to work hard doing your research in the period leading up to Results Day and have a list of unis ready to go.

Even unis as high up the pecking order as Lancaster are now offering guaranteed accommodation.

I don’t think dc like the brinkmanship of clearing though. My DDs wanted certainty - well offers! Clearing is still dodgy for some university accommodation.

My ds seems to love the brinkmanship of clearing, having rejected all his perfectly respectable offers 😂

@crazycrofter Why didn’t he apply to where he wanted to go then? Quite an odd strategy!

@TizerorFizz he applied to places where he met their entry criteria and got offers. However, once UCAS' stats updated to include offers made in clearing last year, we realised that some higher up unis might well be available in clearing, which he didn't think to apply to due to not getting the required grades. To be honest, I don't think he'd have got offers from them if he'd applied in the normal round.

He's rejected his offers so that he's in clearing and can get straight on the phones at 8. It looks like all the places he got offers from are available in clearing though, so if he doesn't get anything 'better' he can revert to one of them - a couple have already emailed to say if he changes his mind, ring them on results day!

Some people like to see actual market conditions instead of making their final decisions on the marketing, and why not? Different appetites for risk and reward.

I thought it might be helpful to share my DD's experience through Priority Clearing. DD is coming to the end of her gap year. Last year she firmed Leeds and insured York for deferred entry (i.e. to start Sept 26). Sadly she missed her offer grades for Leeds. Her course at Leeds was in clearing for a Sept 25 start at the grades that she had achieved, but she was rejected for a deferred start. So she accepted a place at York. Fast forward to last month and, on the Leeds website, the course that she originally wanted was available through Priority Clearing with a range of grades referenced that seemed to include hers. She just had to fill out a form and provide her UCAS ID so the department admissions team could check her A level results from last year. They then made her an offer via an email. She had to decline her unconditional place at York and submit a new UCAS application in for this year in order to add the Leeds course. So she is now going to Leeds to do the course that was her original preference! Leeds guarantee uni-arranged accommodation for students coming through Clearing. We realise she is in the second wave, so probably less likely to get her preferred halls - but it sounds pretty hit and miss even for those who firmed Leeds earlier this year and applied for accommodation then.

Sorry - realised I got my years mixed up! Original application was for deferred entry in Sept 25.

Ucas marketing officer just been on Radio 5. More young people than ever hold offers from universities. So you could say young people aren’t giving up on degrees. UCAS didn’t deny lowered grades but said it was because universities would be flexible to accommodate near misses. The radio host asked if it was to get money in to replace lost international students! On the money there probably!

Thanks, very helpful. Congrats to your DC to getting into the Uni she wanted in the end! Is priority clearance for those who are on a gap year? And what about if you have firmed/accepted and notice you’ve done better than expected? It sounds like you can still go through clearing on result day but that the issue would be accommodation and that would potentially be a nightmare at some universities

Thanks! I think that Priority Clearing is a way for students to apply for courses before the main clearing period and can be used both by those that have their results in hand but also those who are awaiting results - so not just those on a gap year, but obviously those who have grades in hand get a confirmed place straight away. At Leeds, the Priority Clearing application window has now closed and the deadline to accept offers was midday today. I don't know if it's the same for other unis. The situation you describe @Fabfabfab is the 'normal' clearing route - i.e. how it works when you miss the grades you need for your firm / insurance or want to take advantage of better than expected results or unis lowering their requirements to get bums on seats. How it impacts accommodation really depends on the uni as far as I can see. I know of several unis (including Leeds) which guarantee accommodation for those coming through clearing, but as you say others definitely do not, so you would potentially be on your own with organising. But I guess my main message is that a knock-back at one stage doesn't have to mean you don't end up on that course at that uni. Good luck to everyone waiting for results!

You must update us when the process is over!

I admire his sang froid, which will serve him well!

A slow move towards Post Qualification Admissions may be underway