I know I've got into uni before finding out my results

Yeah cheers for the replies. I thought it was a bit too good to be true and a bit too easy to find out. I still don't see a huge flaw in my logic so I could be true, but it isn't worth second guessing stuff at this stage. Either way we'll find out in a few days time!

My firm choice university released a list of courses that have gone into clearing and my course is among them. I was thinking this means there are spaces left on the course. By the process of elimination, could this mean that I know they've accepted my place even before finding out my results? I really hope this is true!

You could have got into uni, but you knew that anyway :P

The flaw in your logic is that some courses would rather find applicants via clearing than accept students who missed out by 2 or 3 grades.

Equally, even if the course has lots of spaces, the uni may chose not to accept students who they think will fail to cope.

Hmm maybe that's what's happening then. If that's the case and they reject those who miss by 2/3 grades, I've just got to hope that's not me! And equally so with your last point. Fingers crossed for Thursday!

In short - no.

If an institution envisages going into clearing then they will usually have a cut off point for grades from students that have them as CF or CI. This can vary a lot between courses, Some courses may not accept anyone at all who has missed their offer whereas another course might accept people before results day who missed their offer by one grade, but then reject everyone else. They will then say that they're in clearing as it's likely that they can get "better" people than the ones that they rejected as these people will have missed a higher offer elsewhere. If the uni is being very naughty they will hang on to a pool of candidates to see what happens in clearing - if clearing doesn't go well then they'll confirm the places of these students on Friday or Saturday and if clearing goes well then they'll reject these students.

For example - you are a uni who typically offers places at ABB-BBB for your course. You have some students who have missed their offer and have gained somewhere in the region of BCC/CCC or lower. Do you take these students and risk failing to attract some "higher quality" candidates next year as your "typical entry grades" on UCAS will be lower, and therefore these students might think they're too good for you.... or do you take a punt in clearing? Afterall, there will be a lot of people who had AAA/AAB offers but ended up with ABB/BBB. Likewise you can also go in for adjustment and attract candidates who have exceeded their predictions and gained your ABB typical offer. If you can get some of those students then that will certainly make your course look better/more prestigious as you don't want to get a reputation for letting everyone in.

You're basically in the same position you always were- you need to get the grades to get in. They just might be a tiny bit more lenient than they would be otherwise.

Good luck.

My firm choice university released a list of courses that have gone into clearing and my course is among them. I was thinking this means there are spaces left on the course. By the process of elimination, could this mean that I know they've accepted my place even before finding out my results? I really hope this is true!

My firm choice university released a list of courses that have gone into clearing and my course is among them. I was thinking this means there are spaces left on the course. By the process of elimination, could this mean that I know they've accepted my place even before finding out my results? I really hope this is true!

blah

Out of interest, what course have you applied for?

I've applied for geography. If you've been stalking my profile it says there haha

Oh right haha, I've applied for languages and I've seen them in clearing lists at a lot of unis.. I wonder if that's due to low demand or people missing their offers, I'm scared haha