Clearing. Some people hold a mistaken belief that clearing is the end of the world. We can tell you right now, honestly, that it is not the end of the world, which, aside from what the media might have you believe, is estimated to be five billion years away when the sun runs out of fuel.

Thankfully, that’s not happening anytime soon. So leaving that issue aside for future generations, we can focus on the present moment and help you to get through clearing.

In fact you might be pleasantly surprised with the experience, like one student talking on thestudentroom.co.uk who said:

“I didn’t find it stressful in the slightest – I had a place sorted in one phone call. I’d expect going via university websites than battling the traffic on UCAS track cut out all of the stress.”

The thing is, tens of thousands of students find a course that they love through clearing. It’s a very useful service when you need it. Say if you applied after the 30th of June, or you didn’t receive any offers you wanted to accept, or you didn’t meet the conditions required for the other offers. That’s when it’s a great idea for you to use clearing.

What to Do

You’re eligible for clearing if you already applied to a course this year you still have your application open and you have paid the fee. If you only paid for a single choice, or you have not yet applied, then you may have to pay a small fee to use the service.

Here’s what to do next:

1. Follow the UCAS advice

UCAS has solid advice on its website to show you how the whole clearing thing will work out. It’s broken down in to steps so you can see what to do each step of the way. To sum it up – you should start looking around to find out what’s available, then talk directly to the universities you like the look of, and once you find and agree on a course you can add it to Track in your application.

2. Find course details for the things that fascinate you

If you haven’t got one already, then ask around for the results day edition of the Telegraph. It’s the only newspaper that prints detailed information of all the clearing positions available. And because you want to know this information, it’s important to get your mitts on a copy.

Other places to look are the news pages for the universities you are interested. Most unis will put clearing information somewhere on their website. Edinburgh Napier University, for example, has a whole page dedicated to this.

3. Use the net for useful resources

There are resources around the web you can use to stay on top of your clearing situation. Like thestudentroom whose website has a mailing service to prompt people about the clearing opportunities they want hear about. So it might be worth your time to sign up.

Remember, this is additional to your own searching. Don’t rely on this kind of additional service to do all the work for you. There are opportunities on many student websites you might miss if you put all your eggs in one basket.

When you have all the information you need the only thing left for you to do is to approach the universities you are interested in. Good luck! You’ll be fine.

Clear Up

After clearing is finished you will need to arrange student accommodation for your time at university. So if you land a place at University in Liverpool or Edinburgh, like in our example, we can help you find somewhere fantastic to stay. Just check out our fantastic locations!

And if you want to talk to us about our accommodation in other areas, send us a message at any time.