Articles
Something new every week!
Search all articles
Preparing for A-level results day: Clearing and Confirmation
A-level results come out on Thursday 14th August.
This is a super-important date, because it’s the date when many students will find out whether they’ve been accepted to university, and it’s the date when Clearing opens, and all those last minute opportunities come in to play.
It is a day of high stress for many students, parents and teachers, and there are an insane array of possible outcomes for students in different scenarios.
Top 10 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.
UCAS Extra and Clearing: A failsafe for the unexpected
Sometimes, the UCAS system might seem a bit clunky and a bit restrictive, and for many students it seems a bit complicated. But in the main, it seems to work for most people, with some 384,000 students ending up at their firm or insurance choices last year.
Yet each year, there are a whole bunch of students who the main process doesn’t quite work properly for. That’s where UCAS Extra and Clearing come in; to provide you with a failsafe for when the unexpected happens.
You might not plan on using either of these, but trust me, it's well worth spending the next five minutes reading all about them, so that you have that failsafe ready, should you need it!
Having a last minute change of heart? How to change your course after results day
A-level results come out on Thursday, and alongside the results, UCAS Clearing will get into full swing. Clearing, as you’ll doubtless be aware, is the process by which applicants without a university place can quickly secure a place on one of the many courses still available.
You might be surprised, however, to know that Clearing is not just for those who didn’t make their grades. Last year around 20,000 students made the decision to go into Clearing themselves, declining their firm choice place and finding a new course. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. If this is you, read on to find out how to do this, and some of the risks and pitfalls you might want to consider.