URGENT CLEARING QU...

[54isanopendoor]

Can anyone tell me about Scottish CLEARING please?
Ds has his HNC results. He can apply in the morning when clearing opens.
He's interested in 2 Universities. He has been told by both to apply direct
(he's had no UCAS involvement so far, so not on their list, no number etc)
Just told to 'call the Uni in the morning & see if course available'.
Can he call / hold 2 places, at least for one day, or is that not allowed?

(I have also asked this on the exams thread but am posting here in case too)

He needs to register with UCAS and get a clearing number. I guess he could do this after he has called to discuss vacancies but might be useful to do in advance ( unis might ask for it). I think ultimately you can only add one clearing choice to your application at a time but you could have discussed several different courses at different unis.

I presume his preferred courses weren't available in Clearing up to now (clearing opened in July). Is he hoping more courses come into clearing today?
I helped an English colleague search for clearing vacancies for her son a few years back. He did the calling but we did the searching for him. Vacancies kept changing. Not sure if there will be so many vacancies in Scotland for Scottish students.

There is a time limit on how long you have to consider (can't remember how long but remember pulling course module info for my colleague to help son decide)

Good luck.

@SandyIrvin THANK YOU !!!

He was at College with no careers advisor & we are struggling a bit ...

His 1st choice said courses embargoed last week & can only call them today.
His 2nd choice said call by yesterday. Bit of a nightmare.
Both said: 'call direct, we will sort UCAS for you'?

But does he still need a UCAS account first ??
(perhaps they assume we have one though we have said we do not)

I suspect he can do the UCAS registration after he has the verbal offer. He should call about courses asap as its first come first served and he won't have long to decide.

Thanks again @SandyIrvin

Ah. He managed the call, has had a preliminary offer.
Had a panic attack uploading his results so hasn't returned the form yet.
Hoping it will be okay for him but I must say I'm worried.
If he doesn't go ahead this year will they not offer him next year either.

the other place he was interested in he could commute from home.
might feel less overwhelming.
would we have to cancel the one preliminary offer before we called the 2nd place or could he 'hold' the 2 for an hour or so, do you know?

Good that he managed the call. Do you think the panic attack means that he doesn't really want this course this year and would prefer to wait and take his time.

If he hasn't entered the first course in UCAS then he can definitely contact the other course. Tell him not to mention the first course to the 2nd or to say he contacted them earlier but prefers their course if they ask him outright if he is looking at other unis in clearing.

How did your DS get on with the commutable choice. Did they have spaces?

Commuting to uni common in my area. My two oldest did this. Worked well from them as they kept up local jobs ( and saved me a fortune).

My sons school told me to contact Uni direct as he’d not applied for anything. Did much better than expected! I filled up form on RGU website as school said not to go through UCAS, they’ve come back this morning saying to go ahead and apply with a course id number

Hi @SandyIrvin He hasn't contacted 2nd Uni yet. Head in sand :(
tbf, it would be a 2 hr commute by public transport each way, so very tiring too.
He seems to be leaning towards the further away one. But asking for a gap year.
I don't know if you can defer a Clearing place though so he'd have to reapply via UCAS in September? (he has the HNC A grade Uni requires so hopefully they'd just say Yes, but he's worried they'll think he's hopeless so would say no next yr?)

I did start a separate thread about my concerns whether he is ready for either in 4 weeks & the general consensus (albeit of strangers but an honest one) is No.

Hi @SandyIrvin sorry to bother you again...
He's been frozen all week.
Called the 2nd (commutable) Uni this week & they DO have places.
Advised apply online (upload certs etc) & 48 hr confirmation time.

Meantime his Uni1 emailed him to say: 'need to upload your certs by 2pm re phone offer we gave you on Monday' (reasonably enough!) so, he did that.
They have emailed back that they will check the certs (inc some English GCSE's) & then, if all check out ok, will contact UCAS direct & arrange place. He's now panicking that means he can't also upload his certs to see if Uni2 will have him.

I'm not trying to game the system & he's not either but can he do this?
It's only when the offer of a place feels 'real' to him that he can seem to work out if he wants it, it seems. Frustrating (but part of his Autism I think)

Sorry missed the tag. If he's uploading to unis own portal then no problem having more than one uni on the go. Last year you could only add one clearing option to UCAS account at a time. I suspect same this time.

One of my DC did a 40 minute commute by public transport which he was always moaning about (20 minutes by car but parking nigh very expensive/nigh impossible). I wouldn't do a 2 hour commute even with low contact hours.