Yes, that photo is of me before my graduation, but I decided as it’s now pretty much four years to the day that I applied for university and decided to go back that I would share my experiences and what you can expect if you decide to apply to university via clearing and how it really doesn’t matter once the course starts. I posted earlier this year about what my plans were when I finished university and although I have my dream job one day a week, I also work in a bureau de change as a cashier and I really enjoy it.
As you can guess I was very late in applying for my course which meant that clearing was the only option for me. My path was slightly different as I applied directly to my university and then they put me through clearing themselves. It was also over ten years since I’d left school so I had no idea what my exam board number was, my SAAS login details or any of the other things that you need to know. Thankfully the admissions team at the university were amazing and found out everything they needed to know after I gave them details like my date of birth, the school I attended and the usual info a school leaver would have. I managed to make it even more complicated by applying with my married name but all the files had my maiden name. I like to be difficult when it comes to official stuff so this is no different, to be honest, but thank god for departments that deal with this on a regular basis. From what I could gather my case was one of the easy ones to deal with.
Attending university via clearing isn’t a bad thing as for people like me it can often be a last minute decision to attend university but is a method for them establishing whether we have the necessary (previous) qualifications for the desired course and it’s a metric they use to ensure that they don’t go over the numbers they can have on any one course. The are other reasons for students needing to go through clearing which I’ve popped below and honestly the first time I went to university (that’s a conversation for another day) any of these could have happened to me too.
- Didn’t get the grades needed by their firm or insurance university choices
- Didn’t receive any offers (or none they wanted to accept)
- Have changed their mind about their chosen university
- Apply for a course after 30 June (the closing date for applications through UCAS)
If you’re thinking about university for this year which means that you would be attending via clearing the University of Hull (01482 462234) has some fab info on their site all about the clearing process (for students and parents) as well as this TV ad which is pretty damn awesome and makes me wish I was going back to uni this year.
Have you applied to university via clearing or are you considering it?
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored but all views and opinions are my own.
