Clearing explained

Did you know, each year, over 50,000 students find a place through Clearing? So don’t worry if you’re one of their number – the odds are you’ll love your course and university experience.

There are a number of reasons why you might ‘go into Clearing’. For college leavers, it might be that results’ day didn’t bring the grades needed. You may have changed your mind about the subject you want to study. Or you could have only just decided that you’d like to go to uni. Whatever led you there, you can find the perfect course through Clearing.

Find out what it’s like to go through Clearing

Clearing is when universities make their remaining course vacancies available to students already in the UCAS system. The main reasons for entering Clearing are:

You didn’t meet your offer entry requirements
You’re applying after the deadline (usually in late June)
You didn’t receive any offers or you didn’t want to accept the offers you got

Clearing usually runs from early July to early October in the year of university entry. If you only decide you’d like to go to university after the June deadline, you will have to register quickly with UCAS

There are thousands of course places available through Clearing so there certainly is choice. But it can depend on the subject you want to study, particularly if it is a popular choice, and if there are other restrictions on accepting a course – for instance, location.

Clearing may mean considering a wider or different subject choice. Try to get into a flexible mindset before you start looking on Clearing so you go into the process open to options.

If you have already applied through UCAS, it will happen automatically when you don’t meet your entry requirements: your status in your UCAS Hub will change to Clearing mode.

If you’ve met entry requirements but changed your mind about your firm choice, you’ll need to manually change your status in your Hub by declining the offer.

If you would like to go to uni but haven’t applied before, you still can: just register with UCAS and make an application. This can happen on results’ day following better-than-expected exam results, perhaps, or if you are a mature student who has just decided to enrol.

If you go on your UCAS Hub and find your status hasn’t changed to ‘Clearing’, call your offer universities. It may be the unis are still considering offering you a place despite your results not meeting entry requirements.

Search through the courses on the UCAS system to find those that match your spec – you don’t have to keep to the same subject you had originally. If you can’t find a course immediately, you should keep checking in as universities are constantly posting new vacancies.
Make a note of the Clearing phone numbers for each university you are interested in. You can contact the University of Bedfordshire on +44 (0)300 3300 073
Call the universities’ Clearing lines to find out if they can offer a place. You will need your UCAS Clearing number (look on your UCAS Hub welcome page) and some personal ID. Any informal offers given over the phone will be followed by a confirming email from the university.
Take time to do a bit of research about the university, especially if this uni is completely new to you. Use their website to check out their fees, scholarships and bursaries, accommodation and facilities. Look out for an Open Day or campus tour (in person if possible, online if not) – most universities run tours regularly in the weeks following results’ day. At Beds, we usually run daily campus tours in August.
Once you decide to accept a course, get permission from the university admissions team to add the course as your Clearing choice on UCAS. The uni will give you a deadline for doing this.
Add your Clearing choice to your UCAS Hub: note that, in doing this, you are accepting the university’s offer. The university will then confirm your place. If it doesn’t, you can add a new choice in its place.

If you have already applied for Student Finance, you should let them know of the change as soon as possible. Log into your Student Finance account and go to Your Account> Change Your Application> University/College Course. If you haven’t applied, you really need to get moving on it!

If you have signed a contract for accommodation at your original offer university, you should contact them to make them aware that you won’t be taking up a place and cancel the booking.

Then get moving on booking accommodation at your new university! Ask the admissions team how to book or look on the university website. At Bedfordshire, we keep back accommodation space especially for students who enrol in Clearing so you don't have to worry about finding on-campus accommodation

You will also swiftly start to receive emails from your new university and faculty on how to register for the course and other useful information, ready for your start in September. University websites will usually also have starter information – check out Beds’ Welcome