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Going through Clearing 2015 without having applied/no offers?

Hi
:fluffy:


I've just completed my A Levels and ended up getting a B in Maths, D in Physics and C in Economics overall (BBC in AS). I'm currently taking a gap year and I'm planning on retaking A2 Phys and 1 or 2 units of A2 Econ and get some work experience.

I was originally going to be applying this academic year and have been researching unis with ABB/BBB courses but I spoke to my Head of 6th Form yesterday and basically told me that people usually improve by 1 grade in retakes, and an improvement of 2+ grades is 'miraculous' and I should be looking at unis offering BCD grades at the very least, especially as I did work hard for my exams this year. On the contrary, in Yr 13 I retook an AS unit in Maths and improved by 30 UMS showing I can do better the second time round.

Anyway, she said that if I didn't want to apply to a uni offering those kinds of grades, another option could be not applying to any unis at all this year, retake the modules I want to retake, collect my updated results in July 2015 and go through Clearing then. This could be a good idea as I wouldn't have to prepare a PS, I would have a couple more months to gain some work experience in different fields and find out where my passions lie and I wouldn't have to make any snap decisions yet, especially as I have no idea what I want to pursue degree wise!

I'm wondering if anyone has done this and what their experience was? Pros/cons? Would I be better off just applying to a course I think I like now/through UCAS extra? Are there lots of/good places in Clearing at decent universities?

Sorry about the long post but any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you :-)
Take a look at this year's clearing threads to see what kind of things were in, but you need to be aware that you still have to make an application through Ucas even if it's only to enter clearing. If you are going to do this on results day itself, you will have to complete the form, add a ps and (and this is the tricky bit) get a reference attached to the form at a time when schools are busy dealing with the fallout from applications made at the normal time. By this time, many of the good things will have gone. If you are already intending to apply anyway, you might as well have three bites of the cherry for the price of one: a standard application, Extra if that fails, and Clearing if that fails again.

There were lots of good courses this year in clearing, although your options are going to be a bit limited at BCD. Your predicted grades will need to be much better to merit looking at the universities you have been looking at with ABB and they won't be credible from your starting point. Try www.whatuni.com to research some places a bit more attainable.

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