More frequently asked questions about clearing answered
With clearing now in full swing, many of you are busily searching for places at university for the next academic year. As with other clearing sessions from the past few years, there’ve been–and still are– some great courses available, as a result of which students’ angst at missing their grades has quickly been turned into the elation of getting a place on a fantastic course at a top-rate university.
As many of you have discovered, however, the clearing process does throw up some questions about how to navigate your way through it and what to do once you’ve accepted a place. So, whether you’re currently eye deep in university websites and prospectuses, or whether you’re just about to embark on the clearing journey, we thought we’d answer some more of your questions about how clearing works and how you can make the most of it?
How quickly should I respond to an offer I have been made through clearing?
The exact answer to this question depends on the university you’re applying to–most universities will be able to give you some guidance if you call them–but the shortest and best answer is “not that long at all.” With some places giving you as little as twenty-four hours once the offer has been made, you need to make sure you don’t leave them hanging on, otherwise they’ll withdraw it. This is why (as we talked about on last week’s blog) it’s so important to do your homework on the place and the course before you put your application in through clearing!
Can I go through clearing if I have an offer that I got the grades for but would now rather do a course I’ve found in the clearing listings instead?
The answer to this one is “yes,” though the mechanics of how you do it have become a little more confused in recent years following the introduction of UCAS Adjustment, the initiative that was set up for students in this situation. The advantage of using the Adjustment system is that you won’t lose your place from your original offer, whereas with clearing you have to be released by your firm offer first. The downside of Adjustment is that there’s no formal list of courses that are covered by it; you just have to contact the university about the course you’re interested in. They may well let you apply for a course that’s listed as available through clearing, but you’ll need to check with them directly.
Can I visit the university I’m interesting in applying to through clearing?
Not only can you do this, but we’d heartily recommend it. Many universities put on open days throughout the clearing period. And even if it turns out you’ve missed the ones held at the university you’ve got your eye on there’s nothing to stop you turning up and having a look around the campus–you won’t get a guided tour of your department if you do this, but you’ll at least get an idea for the feel of the place.
What do I need to do once I’ve accepted an offer?
Aside from having a little celebration, the most important practical step is to pay close attention to the information your university sends you about what you need to do. Probably the most pressing priority will be arranging your accommodation; your university will send you some advice on what they’ve got available and when to apply. The department you’ll be studying in may also send you a pre-course reading list to get stuck into.
Posted in university
Tagged clearing, ucas, university applications
Clearing: Three reasons to get your act together
If you got your A Level exam results yesterday, and they weren’t quite what you were expecting, or alternatively if you went into the summer without any offers, as you’ll no doubt be fully aware now is the time to use clearing to get a place at university for the coming academic year.
Although some people see clearing as something of a frenzied final attempt to find a place at university, as we’ve discussed before there’s no need to be panicked into signing up for a course through clearing without first taking the time to make sure it’s right for you. Nevertheless, the fact that it’s a good idea not to be rushed when using clearing isn’t an excuse to beat around the bush and put off your search for a place through clearing. It’s all a question of more speed, less haste, as one of your older and wiser relatives might say.
If you are planning on using clearing but have so far not made any moves towards finding a place, here are our top three reasons why you should get your act together.
1) The best courses and universities fill up first
The idea that clearing is some sort of jumble sale of second-rate courses has been thoroughly discredited in recent years. This year many–probably even the majority–of the UK’s premier-league universities have places available through clearing. But this isn’t a secret; it’s something that all your clearing rivals know full well. So to stand a chance of getting a place at the top table, though, you’ll need to act fast.
2) Acting swiftly gives you more thinking time
The clearing process isn’t just about seeing a course and firmly committing to it. Through clearing you have the chance to speak to the people who run the course, and get more information from them about it. And you’ll probably also be weighing up various options alongside one another. The faster you start contacting course providers, the more time you’ll have to think things over and do your research into the different courses’ you’re looking at.
3) The faster you arrange a place the more time you’ll have to sort out things like accommodation
Accepting an offer through clearing certainly isn’t the final hurdle to jump over before you can head off to university. One of the most crucial things that you need to arrange is accommodation, not just because you’ll need a roof over your head but also because it can have a big effect on your first-year social life. And with places at university accommodation always in high demand, the faster you get your place arranged the more chance you’ll have of getting into the hall, house or flat block that appeals most to you.
Posted in university
Tagged university applciations, clearing, ucas
Your questions about clearing answered
While your school or college will have probably given you plenty of guidance about the first stages of the UCAS application process, such as using the UCAS site and writing your personal statement, it could well be that you’ve been given much less guidance about clearing. This is probably unsurprising if you take into account the fact that clearing is not the primary way that people get places at university, but rather the final step that matches course places with students who for whatever reason did not have an offer that they had accepted by June.
The information vacuum about clearing means that many people who will be going into clearing at the end of this week will have plenty of questions about the process. So today we thought we’d take the time to answer some of the most common questions about clearing.
Can I apply for a different course to the one I chose originally with clearing?
Yes, there’s nothing at all stopping you from doing this. The only thing you’ll need to bear in mind is that if the course choice you’re now going for is substantially different from your original ones–which will have meant that your personal statement was tailored for a subject that you’re no longer applying for–you may need to explain your change of heart to the admissions officers. This isn’t as difficult as it may first sound: it’s largely a question of being able to explain why you are interested in the subject that you have now chosen.
Can I apply for courses I was rejected from before?
In principle this should be okay, and there’s nothing stopping you from doing this. However, it is worth checking with the university that you want to apply to that they accept people through clearing for a course they’ve already applied for and been rejected from.
Can I apply for more than one course at a time with clearing?
Sort of. In practice, much of the applying through clearing involves getting in contact with admissions officers and teaching staff from the course that you want to apply for. As this is a direct process between you and the university, you can get in touch with as many different universities during the clearing period as you want. It’ll be at this stage that most universities will make your mind up about you.
The reason we have answered this question ‘sort of’ rather than an outright ‘yes’ is because you can’t formally apply for more than one course through the UCAS clearing system at a time. But since this stage of the process is the one that you’ll only really do once you’ve got an idea from the university that they’re interested in you, this isn’t such a big issue; it just means that if you have been in touch with two or more universities at around the same time you can’t then go on to put your application in through the UCAS system all at the same time; it’ll be more a question of making your decision on which one you want to go to most before you make your formally put in your clearing choice online.
Posted in university
Tagged clearing, university applications
Four key things you’ll need for clearing
Posted in university
Tagged clearing, ucas, university applications
Money Savvy Students
Students as a whole are not known for being flush with cash – apart from the day the student loan comes through, so it’s a good idea to get savvy about money. And fast.
You might think that banks are out to help you with student accounts and free overdrafts but beware – an overdraft is NOT, we’ll say that again, NOT free money. There will come a time to pay it back and the less you dipped into it, the easier that will be. It’s not much fun trying to clamber out of a £4500 overdraft in a short space of time so try to avoid that situation and only extend your overdraft if you really need to.
It is crucial to budget your money if you want to eat actual food rather than exist on a constant diet of Sainsbury’s basics baked beans and toast. Remember that at the beginning of a term you will spend more as books and first trips to supermarkets can be expensive. At the very least, divide your student loan by the number of weeks you have to make it last – don’t forget the holidays! Then stay within your allotted money for the week. When on a night out do not make the mistake of taking your debit card, but if you must bring the plastic with you, we recommend taking money out at a cashpoint as cash is easier for you to keep track of.
Going to university is a steep, but enjoyable, learning curve. The majority of first year students aren’t highly skilled cooks but cooking for yourself is the easiest way to bring your costs down. If you’re going into catered halls then your meals are sorted, but if not invest in a good cookbook for students. Learn the basics before you go and before you know it you’ll be wining your new friends over with your superior spaghetti Bolognese.
It’s tempting to turn up on the first day with your car, but the majority of students don’t need them and they turn into a serious drain on your finances. Insurance and vehicle tax, not to mention petrol costs all add up to a tidy sum that could be better spent. If you book in advance and get a student railcard, then a train journey comes in at a reasonable price. And remember that you chose to go to university where you did and you should spend time enjoying it, not travelling to and fro.
Don’t be afraid to spend money, but do watch what you’re spending and limit yourself to what you can afford. You can always pick up a Saturday job to give yourself a bit of extra money or better yet, to put away for a rainy day.
Posted in university
Clearing and Summer Applications
August is upon us and next week those results will be in your hands. Are you prepared for that brown envelope? Every year thousands of students get the grades that their first choice universities asked for, but thousands miss out. It’s a dreadful moment of shock for those that haven’t quite made the grade but it doesn’t mean the end. If you’ve already applied to university through UCAS, then clearing is designed to help you achieve a confirmed place at university.
Universities want every place on every course to be filled. On results day they know how many spaces they have left to fill and students who weren’t successful, either because their results didn’t go to plan or because they applied late, can use clearing to find themselves a place.
It’s a stressful time, but it’s worth keeping your head and doing some research otherwise you could end up unhappy in a course or city that you don’t enjoy and packing it all in before your first year is up.
First, you need to check which courses still have places available – check the UCAS website. It might be that you need to think of options that are different to your original choice, for example potential medics might want to consider biomedical sciences. Some language courses have higher offers than others; could you see yourself learning Russian rather than German?
It’s also important to look at the university that’s offering the course and you may need to be flexible in your choice of location. Is there really any difference between being 1 and 2 hours away from home? Book in advance and fares are cheap; add in a young person’s railcard and you might even be tempted to go first class!
Now that you’ve found a course you’d like to apply to, it’s worth taking the time to draw up a list of the reasons why you want to study the subject and to go over the key points of your personal statement. This is because the next step is to ring up the university and convince them that you deserve the place. It’s tempting to leave this up to your parents but don’t – universities can only offer a place to you, the prospective student, and they’re not going to be impressed if you delegate this important task. You can find the number you need to call from the list here.
It might take a while, but equally it could take 10 minutes to get an informal offer. Universities normally give you some time to consider so use it wisely and go for a visit to check it out. Then, if you decide to accept the offer, all you need to do is update your UCAS. Before you know it, September will be here and your new life as an undergrad beckons.
Good luck – just don’t give up and don’t panic!
Posted in university
Student technology, part two: worthwhile optionals and extravagances
A couple of posts ago we started to look at essential student technology. With the inside track of what life is really like at uni, we were hopefully able to convince you to invest in a modest laptop and printer rather than throw yourself before the mercy of the computer room gods when you have an essay due and need to get using a word processor.
The laptop and the printer are in our view absolute essentials. But we also promised you a couple of pieces of technology for students that could be classed as worthwhile optionals, as well as flag some bits of kit that we regard simply as extravagances.
Worthwhile optionals: Tablet and/or smartphone
With technology becoming increasingly integrated into teaching and the resources you access for your course on a day-to-day basis, student technology is used for far more these days than typing up essays at the end of a semester. There are ebooks and ejournals, virtual learning environments, lecture notes published online, and a whole lot more besides.
You may well find that all these things are best accessed using a tablet rather than a laptop. This is partly a practical thing. If you don’t want to take notes by hand, for example (and we’d always recommend you do them electronically to make it easier to organise, consult and back them up), then you might find that a tablet with a bluetooth keyboard will have far more in the way of battery life than even the most top-end laptop. And there’s a limit to how many pages of a pdf you can read while sitting in front of a computer before your eyes start to go funny and your back starts to ache.
Tablets and smartphones also have a couple of nifty extra tools up their sleeves for those who really know how to put their student technology to use. For example, most will have a sound recording feature, meaning you’ll be able to record the audio from your lectures and seminars. And the built in camera makes up for a much more cost-effective and efficient alternative to using a photocopier when you need to get copies of book chapters when for your essays.
Extravagances: Xbox/PlayStation and big TV
You might think that we’re advising against buying these things because we’re big ol’ nerds who want you to be stuck in the library all day and night. But that’s not our objection. Aside from the fact that these things will set you back a pretty penny, people who take these things to uni often ultimately find that as far as student technology goes they’re more of a curse than a blessing.
There are two reasons for this. Firstly, they encourage you to stay firmly inside your videogames-playing comfort zone, rather than getting out there and enjoying the vibrancy of student life, whether that’s in the form of hitting the town, joining a society or learning something new. And while you’ll be able to play video games to your heart’s content for the rest of your life, you won’t have many more chances to be a student.
Secondly, if you do take a big TV and video-games system to uni, you’ll find that your room will continually be full of people. And while you’ll think this is great for a couple of weeks, eventually there’ll come a time when you need to spend an evening or two getting work done, only to find that you can’t get a moment’s peace due to people bugging you for a quick game of FIFA or to watch a DVD.
Posted in university
Tagged student technology