Top ten tips for results day and Clearing
For some of you, who have taken IB or BTEC, you’ll already have your results.
But for most students planning to go to university this year, your results day is just around the corner. For students from Scotland, you’ll get your results next Tuesday (6th August), and for A-level students, you’ll get yours the following Thursday (15th August).
This makes NOW an exceptionally good time to start preparing for the day, and having a plan in place in case things don’t go quite as expected.
You see, for most of you, you are going to get good enough grades to get into your firm choice. You may not get exactly the grades you were asked for, but for many of you the university will accept you anyway. For some of you, you won’t make it into your firm choice, but because you have a good insurance choice, you’ll get in there instead.
But for some of you (normally around 10,000 students or so), your exam results won’t go as you hoped, and you’ll find yourself without a place. It’s not a great situation to find yourself in, but neither is it the end of the world, and with a little planning and calm action, you can almost certainly find yourself an amazing course to continue your studies.
Here are my top tips for results day and Clearing:
1. BEFORE results day, draw up a shortlist of fall-back options
Take an hour or two now to consider a Plan B. What would you do if your results don’t turn out the way you hope?
You might decide that you’d want to study the same course, but would consider a different university with lower entry grades. In this case, would you like to study in the same city? Or would you prefer to find a similar university, but in a different place?
You might decide that you would consider a similar, but not identical course. For example, very often you can get into a combined course, such as Law with History, more easily than the straight Law degree.
You might decide that you’d like to go to the same university, but study something different; so what courses might they have with lower entry grades that you could consider?
So, check out these options, look at the entry grades for the alternative courses on UCAS search, and draw up a list of options that you would consider. Do this well before results day arrives; yhis way you will be far ahead of the game when results day comes and you will be much better prepared if things go wrong.
2. Make use of the historical entry grades data
This is a new set of data that shows you what grades students had, who got into the course in the past. Each course page on UCAS has a section in the entrance requirements titled “Entry grades data (beta)”, and it gives you the lowest grades that students got in with in recent years.
While the data is not a definitive prediction of what will happen this year, it may well reassure you that you are going to be just fine, or it may suggest you need a fall-back.
So, check out the historical entry grades for your firm choice, your insurance choice, and for all those courses that you have put in your shortlist of fall-back options.
For more information see: UCAS historical entry grades data.
3. On results day, don’t assume anything…
Whether you meet your offer conditions or not, don’t assume anything. Don’t panic and assume you haven’t got your place just because you were a grade or two short. Instead, check UCAS Track.
Universities get notified of your grades a few days in advance, so most universities will have all their decisions available on UCAS Track on the morning your results come out.
If your place has not been updated on UCAS Track, call your Firm choice university. They may have a separate phone number for offer holders, as distinct from Clearing applicants. This will normally be on their website, so use the right number in order to get straight through to the right people.
You can also do the same thing with your Insurance choice if they haven’t confirmed your place either.
4. And if you don’t get into your firm or insurance offer, don’t panic
That shortlist of fall-back options you drew up a week or two ago will now come into its own.
You can check though the list, and hit the university websites. They’ll show you if there are still vacancies and what the grade requirements are right now. Exclude those that are no longer available or have grades that are too high.
Then, put the remaining options into your order of preference, and start to get everything together that you need to call each university.
5. Check out your "Clearing Matches" on UCAS Clearing Plus
If you are struggling to find options that fit what you are looking for, you could try the UCAS Clearing matches service.
They use an algorithm to find the top 50 options that they think you might be interested in, based on your previous choices, and your final results. You can have a look at the list, and if any of the courses are of interest to you you can hit “interested”. This note of interest will be sent to the university who can then call you.
Note that universities will typically have some staff dedicated to making calls for the Clearing matches students, but there is no knowing how long it will take for them to call you. If you are really interested, you should call them.
6. Go to university websites for the most up-to-date information
You might decide it’s easiest simply to use the UCAS course search for your initial searches.
But be aware that throughout the Clearing period, there is an inevitable delay in vacancies being updated by universities on UCAS. However, they can update their own web pages instantly. They may change their entry grades several times, depending on the number of places available and the demand they are getting.
So always check the university websites for the most up to date and accurate information.
7. When making a call to a university have a prep sheet ready
You are likely to be a bit stressed, so make life as easy as you can by writing down everything you might need to know on one sheet of paper to refer to when you make the call. This should include:
Your Clearing number and UCAS ID
Your A-level subjects and grades (or equivalent qualifications)
Your GCSE subjects and grades (or equivalent)
Any relevant English language qualifications
Now, some universities will make offers directly from their Clearing hotline; if they have vacancies and you have qualifications to match, they will offer you a place.
Some, however, will put you through to a department where there may be academic staff who will talk to you. They MAY just be hoping for a chance to convince you to take their course, but there may also be an opportunity for you to convince them that you are a great candidate, so…
Also have a sheet of info prepared so that you can answer any questions that they might have for you, such as:
Why do you want to do the course?
What relevant study, work, or super-curricular experience have you done?
8. Keep a clear eye on deadlines, but don't be rushed into the wrong decision
Very often when offering a Clearing place over the phone, a university will give you a tight deadline by which to respond. Normally they’ll ask you to complete the Clearing application on UCAS by a certain time the next day. Sometimes it will be sooner.
For you, there is a fine balance to be struck. It’s true that there will be some highly competitive courses that will fill up quickly, and you need to move fast to secure a place. But equally there are other courses that simply won’t fill up, and realistically there will be places available right up until the course actually starts.
Perhaps more importantly than the timeline of the courses filling up, is the fact that you really don’t want to rush into making a mistake. You don’t want to be hurried into a bad decision just because of the timelines set by a university.
So if you are given a tight reply deadline, make sure you know exactly what that deadline is, so that you don’t miss it by mistake. But equally, don’t rush into a bad decision. You can always ask the university for more time if you think you need it.
9. Consider whether it is worth appealing your grades
If you think that the grade you were given does not reflect your performance in the exam, you can potentially ask for an appeal. This will be done through your school or exam centre.
Reviews, remarks and appeals processes vary by exam board, but essentially you need to be aware that your grade could go up, stay the same, or could go down.
You and your school therefore need a good level of confidence that the outcome will be in your favour before submitting an appeal.
For further information, see Appealing your Grades.
10. Think about whether a year out might work for you
If things don’t go quite as you expect, it will be massively tempting just to take whatever is available to you, so you can head off to university along with all your friends and schoolmates.
It’s perfectly natural to want to continue your life on the exact trajectory that you were expecting, going straight from school to university.
But there is another way. It’s also perfectly OK to take a break from study, to collect your thoughts, to spend a bit of time working out what you really want to do, and to apply again next year.
You might be able to take the opportunity to do some kind of organised gap year activity. You might work in a supermarket, and have some time away from study. You might travel the world and visit places that you’ve never had the opportunity to go to before.
Most likely you’ll do a combination of these. But while you are at it, you’ll mature a bit and develop a clearer picture of what you want to do next.
I’ve met hundreds of people who have taken a year out between school and university, and I haven’t met a single one who regretted it.
A final thought…
I’ve focused most of this article on those of you who’s results don’t go as expected. There will be others amongst you who simply want to use Clearing as an opportunity to change your mind and apply for something else.
If this is you, have a look at:
