How to make Clearing work for you
Most people don’t do as well by going through Clearing as they would by taking a year out and reapplying the following year. However, as soon as you realise you haven’t got a place, but you’re sure you want one this year, you shouldn’t wait for the Clearing Passport to arrive. You need to get busy.
Don’t wait for the vacancy lists to be published. Don’t wait for your Clearing Passport (see above). Don’t even wait for the end of Jeremy Kyle.
First off, hit the phone (not literally, though getting rid of any aggression might help) and see if the universities that made you offers will still take you anyway. They may still have places or they make not want the bother of filling your place through Clearing. Especially if yours was a near miss. This is why attending interviews can hold you in good stead – especially if you baked the right kind of cakes.
Failing that, start pestering universities that might have suitable vacancies. Don’t skimp on researching which ones really do offer the kind of experience you’re looking for. (In particular, read their profiles on the Push website.) After all, you’re going to have to live and work there for the next 3 years at least.
Once you’ve done your research, get on the phone or start spamming them with emails. Talk to the university department directly, if possible, although many universities have Clearing lines.
Be prepared to sell yourself. You may have to do some fast talking to convince them that even though you haven’t got quite the grades they’re looking for, you’re really a desperately lovely, intelligent and worthwhile human being they’d be stupid not to want in their department.
Bear in mind that Clearing is also there for people who have done much better than expected or anyone who has applied late. Suddenly, four As may open a lot more doors than the predicted Bs did.
UCAS says that once a university agrees to take you and you agree to go there, you should stop searching and hand over your Clearing Passport to them. This is so that vacancies don’t get filled and then become available again.
But if UCAS wants to stop the system being complete chaos, it needs a bigger rethink than that. Once you get a decent offer of a place, say you’ll take it. Say you’ll send them your Clearing Passport. Then keep phoning round. You might find something better. After a couple of days, if necessary, you can always stall them with the perennial favourite, “It must have got lost in the post”.
However, once you’ve found one that you really do want, clinch the deal by surrendering the Clearing Passport as soon as possible. It’s a done deal on both sides then. Until then, you can be double-crossed as easily as you can do the dirty yourself. And it’s worth remembering that the vacancies are constantly being filled, so it’s not worth hanging on for weeks in the hope there’s a great opportunity out there. If there was, it’s probably been filled by now.
But remember, don’t jump at the first place you are offered. You can ask them to hold it for you for, say, a couple of days and, if they’re that keen to have you, they’ll say yes. If not, you can decide whether to say you’ll take it. And then decide whether you really will.
This may all seem highly immoral and, sure, it’s not exactly cricket, but this is your future we’re talking about and something that important shouldn’t rely on a system where everyone’s happy to behave like Little Lord Fauntleroy. Because other people won’t.
As with your UCAS form, it’s important to pick a course and a university that suit you as an individual – if you don’t, you may regret it later. Remember, one in six students flunks university and the proportion is highest among those who get in through Clearing.
Don’t be afraid to take a year out. It’s easy to reapply. It may turn out that those lower grades will be sufficient to secure a place at your first choice – after all, a good poker player will stack their odds. By then, you will be a known entity and less of a risk. For more info on taking a year out, click here.
Last updated on: 11 August 2008