[lottielouise]

Hi,

In a mild panic about results day! I've applied for Law, need AAA, ABB for my insurance but I don't want to go there, so if I don't get AAA then I'm going to withdraw from my insurance and go into clearing for a place for Politics instead.

Just want to ask, do I DEFINATELY NEED another personal statement, to send to Unis if I go through clearing for a Politics place?

Also, if I do need another PS, am I okay to just modify the one I have, keeping large chunks of it the same? Or will this trigger as plagerism, even thought it's my own?

Just panicking, and would really appreciate definate answers just so I can be sure!

Thank you in advance!

x

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Hi,

In a mild panic about results day! I've applied for Law, need AAA, ABB for my insurance but I don't want to go there, so if I don't get AAA then I'm going to withdraw from my insurance and go into clearing for a place for Politics instead.

Just want to ask, do I DEFINATELY NEED another personal statement, to send to Unis if I go through clearing for a Politics place?

Also, if I do need another PS, am I okay to just modify the one I have, keeping large chunks of it the same? Or will this trigger as plagerism, even thought it's my own?

Just panicking, and would really appreciate definate answers just so I can be sure!

Thank you in advance!

x

From what I remember when I couldn't get Economics, I went for a Engineering type course.

Barely got asked anything apart from my grades and a-level subjects.

Some may ask you questions about your choice for them if your just meet their grades, they would never ask for a personal statement that would be silly, think about it, you got to send it to them and they got to read it, when clearing is about them trying to fill their remaining places with adequate students as quickly as they can.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
From what I remember when I couldn't get Economics, I went for a Engineering type course.

Barely got asked anything apart from my grades and a-level subjects.

Some may ask you questions about your choice for them if your just meet their grades, they would never ask for a personal statement that would be silly, think about it, you got to send it to them and they got to read it, when clearing is about them trying to fill their remaining places with adequate students as quickly as they can.

Yeah, thats true. So you think just leave the personal statement as it is and then think about answering questions like why them?

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Yeah, thats true. So you think just leave the personal statement as it is and then think about answering questions like why them?

Yeah, because it essentially is this, you ring them up, you have a chat with people about what your looking for , if they have it, they'll ask about your grades than if you meet those entry requirements, they put you through to the relevant department and they'll have a small chat with you at most.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
Yeah, because it essentially is this, you ring them up, you have a chat with people about what your looking for , if they have it, they'll ask about your grades than if you meet those entry requirements, they put you through to the relevant department and they'll have a small chat with you at most.

Okay, thank you for your advice, that has been a great help

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Yeah, thats true. So you think just leave the personal statement as it is and then think about answering questions like why them?

It's worth writing one or at least bullet pointing one so you're not stumbling over your words, but you likely won't need an alternative in Clearing.

[Norton1]

(Original post by lottielouise)
In a mild panic about results day! I've applied for Law, need AAA, ABB for my insurance but I don't want to go there, so if I don't get AAA then I'm going to withdraw from my insurance and go into clearing for a place for Politics instead.

Just want to ask, do I DEFINATELY NEED another personal statement, to send to Unis if I go through clearing for a Politics place?

It is worth considering that the better universities for politics may not go into clearing. If you want to pursue a legal career then the better your university the smoother it is likely to be.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Norton1)
It is worth considering that the better universities for politics may not go into clearing. If you want to pursue a legal career then the better your university the smoother it is likely to be.

Yes I know that that is the case, which is why I'm not going to my insurance, and using whatever grades I get, which may not be AAA, for a politics degree instead, so that I'm hopefully still going to a good uni and getting a respectable degree.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by TheSownRose)
It's worth writing one or at least bullet pointing one so you're not stumbling over your words, but you likely won't need an alternative in Clearing.

Yeah I was thinking I might just do that, outline why I'd want to do politics. I do really enjoy politics so it isnt like it would be a disappointing outcome Just fingers crossed that I wont even need to worry about this come the day!

[Norton1]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Yes I know that that is the case, which is why I'm not going to my insurance, and using whatever grades I get, which may not be AAA, for a politics degree instead, so that I'm hopefully still going to a good uni and getting a respectable degree.

My point is that the best politics degrees are not all that likely to be in clearing.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Norton1)
My point is that the best politics degrees are not all that likely to be in clearing.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Norton1]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Thanks for the vote of confidence.

It's a shame you've taken a statement of fact as an attempt to bring you down. My point is simply that you might be better to have a gap year and apply to a better university for politics than attempt to get in through clearing.

Your choice.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Norton1)
It's a shame you've taken a statement of fact as an attempt to bring you down. My point is simply that you might be better to have a gap year and apply to a better university for politics than attempt to get in through clearing.

Your choice.

But, with grades that will leave me out of my first choice, and then taking the decision to have a gap year and apply for a politics degree, whats the liklihood of them taking me anyway?

I'm just tetchy. Didn't mean to get irratated. Just so frustrating trying to make back up plans when there are so many variables that you can't count on.

[Norton1]

(Original post by lottielouise)
But, with grades that will leave me out of my first choice, and then taking the decision to have a gap year and apply for a politics degree, whats the liklihood of them taking me anyway?

I'm just tetchy. Didn't mean to get irratated. Just so frustrating trying to make back up plans when there are so many variables that you can't count on.

What do you mean when you talk about 'them' taking you? If you mean law firms as long as you've done something reasonable in that time then why would they care? If you mean universities then, as far as I'm aware, there is pretty much no chance they would discriminate on this basis. As far as I'm aware they don't even know what you've applied for before and it is absolutely standard to take a gap year.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Norton1)
What do you mean when you talk about 'them' taking you? If you mean law firms as long as you've done something reasonable in that time then why would they care? If you mean universities then, as far as I'm aware, there is pretty much no chance they would discriminate on this basis. As far as I'm aware they don't even know what you've applied for before and it is absolutely standard to take a gap year.

I actually meant in relation to the results that would mean I missed my firm.

[Norton1]

(Original post by lottielouise)
I actually meant in relation to the results that would mean I missed my firm.

Well, politics at York is AAB for example. It's a question of how you get on. But if you are a student who has been predicted AAA - or has attained an offer from a university for that - it's likely that you will get into a better course through waiting and applying next year than going through clearing.

[Becca-Sarah]

(Original post by lottielouise)
Thanks for the vote of confidence.

The change in uni funding this year means that if you miss your offer but enter clearing with AAB (including General Studies) you're in the uncapped funding pot, which means unis can take you without being fined for exceeding their class limit as they would have done in previous years. This means we're anticipating better unis than usual being in Clearing, so you may have a fair shot at a number of decent unis. If you get ABB, it may be worth taking a gap year, as the threshold for the uncapped pot next year will be ABB so you'd be a more attractive prospect as an ABB applicant next year than this year.

In the run up to results day, have a think about where you would like to study politics if you do end up in Clearing, so that you have a short list to consider on the day and can have a more focused strategy of ringing those unis you want first instead of not starting to pick until you see the list.

Remember that it can take a while to be released from your Insurance place on the day and you cannot enter a Clearing choice until you've been released (though this is now less of an issue now that Clearing choices cannot be entered until late afternoon/evening regardless) so if you definitely do not intend to take up that offer then it may be easier to speak to them now so that if you miss AAA you go straight into Clearing.

Regarding the personal statement, Clearing is largely done over the phone. Just have a clear idea in your head of why you want to do politics at the uni you're talking to, and have your results slip with you when you call.

[lottielouise]

(Original post by Becca-Sarah)
The change in uni funding this year means that if you miss your offer but enter clearing with AAB (including General Studies) you're in the uncapped funding pot, which means unis can take you without being fined for exceeding their class limit as they would have done in previous years. This means we're anticipating better unis than usual being in Clearing, so you may have a fair shot at a number of decent unis. If you get ABB, it may be worth taking a gap year, as the threshold for the uncapped pot next year will be ABB so you'd be a more attractive prospect as an ABB applicant next year than this year.

In the run up to results day, have a think about where you would like to study politics if you do end up in Clearing, so that you have a short list to consider on the day and can have a more focused strategy of ringing those unis you want first instead of not starting to pick until you see the list.

Remember that it can take a while to be released from your Insurance place on the day and you cannot enter a Clearing choice until you've been released (though this is now less of an issue now that Clearing choices cannot be entered until late afternoon/evening regardless) so if you definitely do not intend to take up that offer then it may be easier to speak to them now so that if you miss AAA you go straight into Clearing.

Regarding the personal statement, Clearing is largely done over the phone. Just have a clear idea in your head of why you want to do politics at the uni you're talking to, and have your results slip with you when you call.

Okay, thank you very much for that. That's great. Hopefully, having been predicted AAA, with A*AA being quite possible, if it goes wrong it shouldn't go as wrong as ABB. But that is fantastic. And if I do get ABB on results day, I shall consider taking a gap year.

I've already made a list of a few unis i'd like to go to for politics, with what they ask for and where they are in the league table, so that will soon be sorted.

And I know that I definately do not want to go to my insurance, so I will ring them tomorrow and withdraw. Do I just ring and say that I'd like to withdraw my application? And this won't affect my firm in any way will it? I've just got this nightmare of me ringing my insurance to withdraw from there and ending up being withdrawn from firm as well!

Thank you so much for your help x