Clearing for Maths & CS or Maths & Stats or Maths & Physics

[mat150]

First time through clearing and didn't realise that most Universities don't publish the clearing lists during embargo.

Has anyone who has been browsing through courses before this embargo have any idea if Maths & Computer Science or Maths & Stats or even Maths & Physics been on in clearing? at UCL, King's College London, Bristol, Bath, Durham, York or any of the top 20 ranked universities (CUG)?

Thanks.

York is still showing their vacancies list and plenty of Maths courses on there - not yet the Clearing grades though.

It might be helpful for you to look at the recent thread shown in the link below. The courses displayed in Clearing after the embargo can often vary considerably from prior, as will grades required.

Two points to consider are:

Accommodation - for some unis you will not be guaranteed any accommodation and may not be offered any; others it may be guaranteed but perceived as less favourable (eg Bath in town centre, not on campus); others may be as good as for those who firmed prior to Results Day (eg Lancaster on campus and in collegiate system). Uni websites will have the details.

The 'cohort average' in terms of mathematical ability is likely quite wide across the universities you cited. From memory, average A level grades for last year's first year cohort for Durham were AstarAstarAstar (with FM being one of these) vs ABB for York (where FM is not mandatory / strongly preferred). So it is also about pitching at the right level to get stretch without being overwhelmed.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/further_education/5558702-clearing-choices-for-maths

Hi, OP -

Using the ‘cohort average’ principle explained by @PerpetualOptimist is a good rule of thumb. Many to most students accepted in Clearing do not meet the written Admissions Requirements, so if the cohort average is very similar to the Admissions Requirement, either few are taken through Clearing or there is little flex.

PS Of the three secondary subjects you mention, CS is by far the most competitive. Therefore at a guess it will be least available at good degree programmes in Clearing.

Statistics is becoming more popular in the age of Big Data, but I am not sure whether the relevance will be seen by students to carry over to a Joint Hons degree with Maths.

At a guess Maths and Physics will be the most readily available of the three, but that is a limited statement.

It is also worth adding that a 'straight' maths degree is likely to give the option to lean towards stats or mechanics or pure after the first year. The only difference to a 'maths and stats' at the same institution may typically be that the later years stats modules are mandatory and guaranteed for the 'maths and stats' students.

So, a potential benefit of going for 'straight maths' is that it might be more readily available in a higher tariff uni (vs the m&s or cs&m) and allow some flexing as strengths and preferences emerge. This can help as it is often quite difficult to tell maths aptitude and interests at time of course selection in the autumn of Y13.

I agree with @PerpetualOptimist again. In DH’s high tariff SoM, many students take optional modules to, in essence, specialise secondarily in each of the three subjects OP mentioned. Their degree is in Maths only but that is enough to open doors. The external modules are listed on the CV.

On this list, York is your safest bet for Maths. They were accepting BBB for Maths and BBC for Maths and Computer Science last year.

Other Russell Group/ Top 10 unis to look at would be Southampton, Nottingham, Lancaster and Loughborough.

UCL, KCL, Bristol, Durham and Bath are very unlikely to have Maths in any combination in Clearing based on last year.

Wld you look at Warwick? They have offered Maths & Physics to those who don’t make the grades for straight Maths on results day.

Your idea is a good one. But this usually means dropping just a bit from Warwick’s very high Maths offer.

I do agree with your underlying principle that M&P is likely to offer the most flex of the three degree programmes - overall, not necessarily at any given institution.

You might be interested in the Loughborough Clearing offers:

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/clearing/uk-vacancies/

CS at Warwick was in clearing but not any of the main maths courses. Birmingham had Maths in clearing too and possibly some combo was in there at Manchester if memory serves. Maths and CS is in clearing at Lancaster which is top 10 overall and top 15 for maths on CUG. I don't think the likes of UCL/Durham/KCL will have such popular courses in clearing but maybe a more niche combo with physics, data science etc there'll be possibilities.

Warwick CS had some issues with student satisfaction a little while back. Before approaching them in Clearing I would join the online forum The Student Room and ask some current students how things are going now. If the issues have been resolved this could be a great option.

Maths and CS and Lancaster is defo worth a similar investigation. Lancaster is a Top 10 now in Maths for both UG and Research. The university is struggling openly, but then so many are struggling either openly or covertly that it is hard to know what to make of this in relative terms.

B’ham is really coming on in Maths and has such a wonderful campus! I would give it strong consideration.

One might enquire about Manchester also.

My understanding from friends who work there is that the reorganisation a few years ago put a new admin layer between former Schools - such as Maths - and Faculties. Each School used to have its own Student Support Staff. Now these Schools are Departments, and the new Schools consist of several Departments, with the Faculties remaining the same. The Student Support Staff are housed centrally and service all the Departments in the School.

It has worked the same way for Academic Support Staff and has become much more burdensome. My friends hate it. So I am wondering whether the student experience is also changing? TSR can tell you.

Intrinsically this need not affect instructional quality, etc, (except that it is one more way that staff are overburdened snd have morale sapped - but then Manchester is in pretty good shape financially. Plusses and minuses)

I would give some thought to the fact that B and M are defo urban, with B a lovely campus environment and M more integrated into the city, whilst W and L are more self contained.

Lancaster have just added courses with clearing grades including mathshttps://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/clearing/courses/

To assist future readers of this thread, I did a quick check this morning (Results Day 2026) and Durham, LSE, UCL and KCL did not appear to have any maths or maths& courses in Clearing.

Bristol did fleetingly in Maths and U of Bath fleetingly in Econ with Maths and CS with Maths; in neither case did it appear grades where lowered and both expect Astar for Maths and mandatory FM (Bath) and slight offer reduction FM (Bristol).

U of York had various Maths and Maths& courses at BBB and CS & Maths at BBC.