1. Take a New Beginning Perspective

Rather than feeling deflated and resigning yourself to failure, see your situation as a new beginning that requires you to modify your choices in order to head off to university. It can be challenging to accept that your plans are not going to happen the way you had envisaged, but this does not mean that your university experience needs to be diminished.

Clearing is the UCAS system for allocating free places to those students who have not achieved the grades they needed for their first choice, for those who did not get any university offers or those who want to change their course choice. It is all managed via the UCAS Track website with the process opening from the 6^th July until the 20^th of October.

2. The Initial Clearing Process

If you need to access the Clearing system, there are a few initial steps that you need to take to ensure the process works well for you. First, use the people around you to consider new courses. Teachers, careers advisors, and other educational support staff will be happy to help you and will have supported many students through this process before.

Next, check out the full range of course options on UCAS Clearing to see what is open to you. Don’t just look for the same course at different universities but look more broadly at academic schools and module details to consider what is right for you. Remember that vacancies are continually being updated so keep checking.

When you find a course, you want then take the time to contact the university and discuss your application, ask questions, and get an informal offer sorted. When this is done, you can add your choice to your UCAS Track system where the admissions team will then confirm your place. You can only add one course placement at a time so contacting universities should help you speed up the process.

3. New Clearing Plus Option

To make Clearing easier, UCAS has introduced a new system last year called Clearing Plus. This system is designed to help you find more personalised choices when it comes to searching for new courses and takes your original information and the grades you achieve and turns it into course options that suit what you are looking for.

With Clearing Plus, you will be able to see the course matches suggested for you in the Track system and can scroll through them to get some new ideas of courses that may take your fancy. When you find one that works for you, then you can select it to show your interest so that the university knows to contact you. However, we would suggest that you contact the university as a call back is never guaranteed.

4. Have a Contingency

The one thing that every student should do when working through the university application process is to always have a contingency plan in the back of your mind. This does not mean that you need to have a university planned out, but more that you should have course ideas in your head should things not go to plan.

With a contingency plan, you will feel more confident about working through the Clearing system and will have a head start on the competition because you will know what you are looking for. Planning for all eventualities will reduce your stress levels and result in you finding that new beginning in a much easier way.

Once you have completed Clearing and confirmed your new university course, all that is left is to get excited. Achieving a place at university is a huge step forward in life, and you should never let it be diminished because you had to alter your original plans! Find out more about university life and what to expect by heading over to our website today!

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