Clearing and pooling |
If it looks like you'll be doing the Clearing scramble, make sure you don't end up with egg on your face.
What Clearing IS
What Clearing is officially: A system, managed by UCAS, in which candidates who do not achieve the conditions of their offer(s) are matched with institutions that have unfilled places on their courses.
What Clearing really is: Lots of students without university places phoning and emailing lots of universities with places but without students with everybody trying to find the best match and trading off whether what they’ve got is better than what’s still out there. Meanwhile, UCAS stands in the middle waving bits of paper.
It’s a bit like speed-dating with a blind matchmaker. Or going to the January sales to look through the stuff no one else wanted in the hope of finding a bargain. It could happen, but you might also end up with a purple lycra top and shoes that don't fit.
The Clearing system intends to cure two headaches hung-over from the applications party. Headache one is the candidate without a place at university. Headache two is the university with too many places and not enough students. The idea is that these two aching barnets are somehow mutually soothable. Clearing is supposed to be Anadin.
If a candidate fails to get the grades to get into their chosen university, then they can choose a place left unfilled at another institution by getting in touch with the university directly and trying to persuade them that they’re the perfect shape to fill the vacancy.
Meanwhile, the universities need to fill as many vacancies as possible and, depending on how desperate they are, they might try to pick and choose the best applicants.
Up until now UCAS have provided a certificate (called a ‘Clearing Passport’) and the candidate sent this to their chosen university as a sign that they’re taking themselves off the market. However, as of 2009 this will all be done electronically.
UCAS insists the system is well organised, efficient and run by friendly people. Push regards it as more of a free-for-all, with all the good manners and orderliness of a bunch of people with diarrhoea queuing for the only loo. The highest flunk rates are among students who secure a place through Clearing, which speaks volumes.
What Clearing really is: Lots of students without university places phoning and emailing lots of universities with places but without students with everybody trying to find the best match and trading off whether what they’ve got is better than what’s still out there. Meanwhile, UCAS stands in the middle waving bits of paper.
It’s a bit like speed-dating with a blind matchmaker. Or going to the January sales to look through the stuff no one else wanted in the hope of finding a bargain. It could happen, but you might also end up with a purple lycra top and shoes that don't fit.
The Clearing system intends to cure two headaches hung-over from the applications party. Headache one is the candidate without a place at university. Headache two is the university with too many places and not enough students. The idea is that these two aching barnets are somehow mutually soothable. Clearing is supposed to be Anadin.
If a candidate fails to get the grades to get into their chosen university, then they can choose a place left unfilled at another institution by getting in touch with the university directly and trying to persuade them that they’re the perfect shape to fill the vacancy.
Meanwhile, the universities need to fill as many vacancies as possible and, depending on how desperate they are, they might try to pick and choose the best applicants.
Up until now UCAS have provided a certificate (called a ‘Clearing Passport’) and the candidate sent this to their chosen university as a sign that they’re taking themselves off the market. However, as of 2009 this will all be done electronically.
UCAS insists the system is well organised, efficient and run by friendly people. Push regards it as more of a free-for-all, with all the good manners and orderliness of a bunch of people with diarrhoea queuing for the only loo. The highest flunk rates are among students who secure a place through Clearing, which speaks volumes.
Who can get a place through clearing?
- Anyone who hasn’t got any offers from universities or colleges (or haven’t got the grades for the ones they’ve got).
- Anyone who had offers, but they weren’t confirmed when the exam results came out.
- Anyone who’s turned down all their offers or changed details like course choice or when they want to start.
- Anyone who applied too late for universities to consider them before Clearing or whose application wasn’t received on time.
- And, frankly, anyone who wants to try getting a place. Officially, you’re not eligible for clearing if you don’t meet the criteria above, but, in fact, there’s nothing to stop you. After all, UCAS is kind of redundant in the whole process anyway. The universities are desperate to fill their vacancies, because the more students they can pack in, the more cash they get. If you can find one that’s willing to take you on your grades, the fact that you’re not registered with UCAS and don’t have a Clearing Passport is not going to be a deal-breaker
How clearing works - officially
Clearing isn’t the only option. Consider taking a year out and reapplying. The plus side of this is a chance to get some work and life experience – and chances are your first choice might take you next year on the grades you do have.
However, if it’s important to get a place this year, the minute you think you might need to go through Clearing, it’s time to get active.
A list of what places are left where appears on Ceefax, in The Independent and on the UCAS website. The Guardian also has an unofficial list.
Before getting in touch, check out everything you can about any universities that have got any interesting-looking vacancies. There may be a good reason why they haven’t been able to fill their courses. Get advice from anyone and everyone.
Pretty soon, UCAS will send you a bit of paper called a Clearing Passport. Once filled in and returned to UCAS, this form will let them know you’ve got a place through Clearing. However, it’s not an application form. Nor will it allow you to leave the country.
Check they haven’t arsed up your details and scribble down the Clearing Number (CN), as well as your original UCAS application number.
Start pestering the people at the courses you want in the universities you like, either on the phone or by email. Have those numbers (CN and UCAS number) to hand. They’ll ask for them.
Supposedly, candidates should meet the minimum requirements for their chosen course – or can at least claim that they don’t apply to them.
If you’re away on holiday when the results are published, you’re going to be late to the party – and this is the kind of party that gets dull once the twiglets are gone.
Don’t jump at the first place you’re offered. When an offer is made, make sure you write down who made it. Then send the Clearing Passport by registered post or drop it in personally. (Take a look at How to make Clearing work for you for more tips on handing over the Clearing Passport).
Even during Clearing, some courses still expect you to come for an interview, but not many. If you do go, take the Clearing Passport (and some home-baked cakes for the interviewer – be sure to avoid slipping anything subversive into the recipe).
However, if it’s important to get a place this year, the minute you think you might need to go through Clearing, it’s time to get active.
A list of what places are left where appears on Ceefax, in The Independent and on the UCAS website. The Guardian also has an unofficial list.
Before getting in touch, check out everything you can about any universities that have got any interesting-looking vacancies. There may be a good reason why they haven’t been able to fill their courses. Get advice from anyone and everyone.
Pretty soon, UCAS will send you a bit of paper called a Clearing Passport. Once filled in and returned to UCAS, this form will let them know you’ve got a place through Clearing. However, it’s not an application form. Nor will it allow you to leave the country.
Check they haven’t arsed up your details and scribble down the Clearing Number (CN), as well as your original UCAS application number.
Start pestering the people at the courses you want in the universities you like, either on the phone or by email. Have those numbers (CN and UCAS number) to hand. They’ll ask for them.
Supposedly, candidates should meet the minimum requirements for their chosen course – or can at least claim that they don’t apply to them.
If you’re away on holiday when the results are published, you’re going to be late to the party – and this is the kind of party that gets dull once the twiglets are gone.
Don’t jump at the first place you’re offered. When an offer is made, make sure you write down who made it. Then send the Clearing Passport by registered post or drop it in personally. (Take a look at How to make Clearing work for you for more tips on handing over the Clearing Passport).
Even during Clearing, some courses still expect you to come for an interview, but not many. If you do go, take the Clearing Passport (and some home-baked cakes for the interviewer – be sure to avoid slipping anything subversive into the recipe).
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.
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.
clearing for nurses
Any places for nursing that have not been filled will be passed to UCAS. They will then send a clearing registration card to all unplaced applicants. The list is published in August and includes vacancies for the autumn and spring courses. Like the regular Clearing process don't dawdle, delay or dilly-dally, hit the the phone as soon as you get your results.
It is candidates’ own responsibility to approach schools with vacancies and places will not be given without an interview.
It is candidates’ own responsibility to approach schools with vacancies and places will not be given without an interview.
adjust yourself
Come results day you may open that big brown envelope, peer inside and find your grades are a little better than expected. If so, well done you. However by being such a smarty pants you may have added an extra shot of stress to what was already a pretty confuddled cocktail.
Here's the thing, in 2009/10 UCAS introduced the process of ‘adjustment’. This means if you've exceeded your predicted grades you can contact another uni (one with higher entry requirements) and try to get yourself in there, all while still keeping hold of your original firm choice.
Now if you go sniffing around other unis you may find they sniff back and want to take things further – strictly in an application sense, obviously. Of course they may just turn their nose up. Well not quite, but they have to want you to, they may be dazzled by your shiny new grades but if they've not got space for you unfortunately that's it. Stop the phone calls, stop the e-mails, stop the letters, you're heading for a restraining order.
So is adjustment any good? Well, on the one hand you could say it's a just reward for your hard work – the chance to go to a...eurghh... 'better' university. But give it some serious thought. Have you visited this uni? Is the course really that much better than the one you're giving up? Are you assuming that the higher the entry requirements the greater the uni experience?
It's a change that's narked a lot of unis who feel their applicants will now be poached by the big boys. It's also potentially putting more students into the clearing system, a system that already resembles someone cramming elephants into a Mini. And as fun as that would be to watch, it's not so much fun if you're the one stuck in the drivers seat.
Here's the thing, in 2009/10 UCAS introduced the process of ‘adjustment’. This means if you've exceeded your predicted grades you can contact another uni (one with higher entry requirements) and try to get yourself in there, all while still keeping hold of your original firm choice.
Now if you go sniffing around other unis you may find they sniff back and want to take things further – strictly in an application sense, obviously. Of course they may just turn their nose up. Well not quite, but they have to want you to, they may be dazzled by your shiny new grades but if they've not got space for you unfortunately that's it. Stop the phone calls, stop the e-mails, stop the letters, you're heading for a restraining order.
So is adjustment any good? Well, on the one hand you could say it's a just reward for your hard work – the chance to go to a...eurghh... 'better' university. But give it some serious thought. Have you visited this uni? Is the course really that much better than the one you're giving up? Are you assuming that the higher the entry requirements the greater the uni experience?
It's a change that's narked a lot of unis who feel their applicants will now be poached by the big boys. It's also potentially putting more students into the clearing system, a system that already resembles someone cramming elephants into a Mini. And as fun as that would be to watch, it's not so much fun if you're the one stuck in the drivers seat.
pooling
If the college that interviews you decides that you don't quite cut their mustard, but are still a pretty enticing prospect, they'll have you Pooled. This is a sort of miniature Clearing system, whereby other colleges that don't have enough applicants can cherry-pick the best of the floaters and drag them along for yet more interviews. The chances of getting a place from Pooling are slim, but, hey, hope springs eternal.
Clearing: FUQs (Frequently Unasked Questions)
Is Clearing the last chance to go to university?
Not at all. And it shouldn’t be treated as such. Unless you find the right course at the right institution, why not take a year out and reapply for the courses and places you do like?
Once I’ve accepted an offer of a place through Clearing, can I change my mind?
Only if you haven’t parted with that wondrous Clearing Passport. That’s why you shouldn’t send copies to institutions until you are completely sure you have found what you want. Although even if you have, you could probably come up with some excuse why you can’t take up the place, but in that case, if you take another somewhere else in the same year, you may find someone official finds out and it’s just about possible to imagine them trying to mess with your funding.
Is there an official overview of the Clearing process anywhere?
Yes. For the official view on the process, take a look at the UCAS website.
Is there a guide to filling in the Clearing Passport?
Not as such but you might find some help here.
Okay, but what do these abbreviations mean? (i.e. on the exam results)
W = Winter exam
A = GCE A level
AS = GCE AS level
VA = Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education
VAS = Vocational Certificate of Education: Three Unit Award
VDA = VCE Double Award
AH = Advanced Highers
H = Highers
INT2 = Intermediate level 2
I = Irish Leaving Certificate (Higher)
And what is Clearing again?
It’s a system whereby a candidate without a place at university can be matched with a university without enough students to fill its vacancies.
Clearing is a pimp.
Not at all. And it shouldn’t be treated as such. Unless you find the right course at the right institution, why not take a year out and reapply for the courses and places you do like?
Once I’ve accepted an offer of a place through Clearing, can I change my mind?
Only if you haven’t parted with that wondrous Clearing Passport. That’s why you shouldn’t send copies to institutions until you are completely sure you have found what you want. Although even if you have, you could probably come up with some excuse why you can’t take up the place, but in that case, if you take another somewhere else in the same year, you may find someone official finds out and it’s just about possible to imagine them trying to mess with your funding.
Is there an official overview of the Clearing process anywhere?
Yes. For the official view on the process, take a look at the UCAS website.
Is there a guide to filling in the Clearing Passport?
Not as such but you might find some help here.
Okay, but what do these abbreviations mean? (i.e. on the exam results)
W = Winter exam
A = GCE A level
AS = GCE AS level
VA = Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education
VAS = Vocational Certificate of Education: Three Unit Award
VDA = VCE Double Award
AH = Advanced Highers
H = Highers
INT2 = Intermediate level 2
I = Irish Leaving Certificate (Higher)
And what is Clearing again?
It’s a system whereby a candidate without a place at university can be matched with a university without enough students to fill its vacancies.
Clearing is a pimp.
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