How to survive a results-day surprise
A-LEVEL RESULTS day is always emotional. For some, excellent grades secure their place at university. For others, unexpected results cause disappointment and a change of plans. However, there is room for negotiation with universities.
Generally, students who meet their offers from university go to their conditional firm choice (first-choice university). They can, however, choose to get on to a different course through Clearing.
If they exceed their offer, they can opt to try to get on a course requiring higher grades, using UCAS’s Adjustment service, within five days of their first-choice university accepting them. However, this option is a bit misleading, as a course requiring higher grades may not necessarily be a good fit for the student, or make them more employable than their original choice.
For example, a typical offer to study chemistry at the University of Manchester is ABB, whereas an offer to study psychology is AAB. If a student meets and exceeds the offer of ABB for chemistry, it does not mean that they should drop the idea of studying chemistry and aim for a psychology course.
The grades needed do not necessarily reflect the prestige or utility of a course. Indeed, the grades required for different subjects change every year, so you cannot be sure that “trading up” in one year, will still be viewed a trade-up in future years. Also, there may not be spaces on a different course.
The watchwords when considering Adjustment are “advice and availability”. Do not change course unless if you have talked it through with a careers professional or teacher. Remember you have already spent a lot of time researching your chosen degree and university.
If you do definitely want to change to another degree, y o u mu s t speak to the uni- v e r s i t y d e p a r t me n t s directly to see if they have spaces.
There is no published list for Adjustment in the way that there is for Clearing, so you have to do a lot of the leg-work yourself.
You need to tell the university that you are looking for a space through Adjustment and be able to explain why you would like to change to their course and attend their university — this all needs to be well thoughtout in advance. You must also think extremely carefully before accepting an alternative place verbally, as once this has been done, the new university will add you to their cohort through the UCAS system and your original first choice will be lost.
Cl e a r i ng is much more straightforward. UCAS and the Telegraph publish lists of universities with spaces on their programmes, from results day onwards. Again, the universities need to be telephoned directly for you to ask them about the possibility of joining a course. They will ask you lots of questions about your grades, your motivation for study and they will tell you verbally if they will accept you on to the course.
You can shop around, look at various potential courses and receive many verbal offers. Once you are sure which one you would like to accept, you have to add the course and university to your UCAS application. It is important that you do not do this unless a verbal offer has been made to you.
You are able to add only one course at a time through Clearing, so discuss your choice with a teacher or careers professional.
It may be difficult to secure accommodation for courses selected through Clearing and Adjustment and, in some cases, you may decide to take a gap year rather than rush the decision-making process. Natalie Lancer is the founder of MyUniApplication.com. She can guide you with all aspects of your university application and give you expert guidance on personal statements and interview technique. For more information, call 07747 612 513 info@myuniapplication.com