The Student Room Group

Applying through clearing as a mature student

Some background: I'm 21 and finished my A-levels back in 2016 (AAA in Chemistry, Physics, and Maths). After taking a gap year, I got accepted into Warwick University to study Computer Science. I ended up dropping out right towards the end of my first year, in April 2018, due to depression. I spent the next 6 months doing effectively nothing; leaving a pretty large gap in my CV. I then did some volunteering for a few weeks and went on to get an office job which I've been working ever since.

I am now interested in going back to university to study Psychology - this time at a university more local to me. I am interested in the Unis of Loughborough, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. With my circumstances, having finished sixth form over three years ago, will it still be possible for me to find a place through clearing on a course as popular as psychology?

Any advice is much appreciated.
You can check which courses at which unis are in clearing through the ucas search tool but you can look around on the internet too like here on tsr or there's an app I think called clearing which lists the unis and courses in clearing

I think Leicester psychology might be in clearing rn not sure tho
(edited 4 years ago)
It's certainly possible (Brimingham might be less likely, just because they tend to fill up places with unconditional-if-firm offers early), although some more recent study might be preferred by some universities (nothing you can do about that now, but if you're unsuccessful you could look at some options in that realm e.g. Access to HE courses or OU module(s)). I would suggest you have a look to see what if any vacancies are currently (https://www.ucas.com/clearing-launch?stage=start) to start with.

However there may well be more appearing on/after A-level results day due to people missing their offers. So don't take the above as the be all and end all of what is in clearing this year. Additionally, often universities will post the most up-to date clearing vacancies on their own webpages, which will update before UCAS does. So look at the individual universities' clearing pages as well (although these usually start showing up a little later in the year towards/after results day).

Bear in mind you will need to pay the full UCAS fee before you can enter clearing, and you will need a verbal confirmation from the university before putting them down as a choice. If you are planning to apply through clearing this year it might be worth starting the application now, paying and filling in the relevant details, and then waiting until results day.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by gaia88
Some background: I'm 21 and finished my A-levels back in 2016 (AAA in Chemistry, Physics, and Maths). After taking a gap year, I got accepted into Warwick University to study Computer Science. I ended up dropping out right towards the end of my first year, in April 2018, due to depression. I spent the next 6 months doing effectively nothing; leaving a pretty large gap in my CV. I then did some volunteering for a few weeks and went on to get an office job which I've been working ever since.

I am now interested in going back to university to study Psychology - this time at a university more local to me. I am interested in the Unis of Loughborough, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. With my circumstances, having finished sixth form over three years ago, will it still be possible for me to find a place through clearing on a course as popular as psychology?

Any advice is much appreciated.


Of course it will and your AAA grades mean that you will still be regarded as a strong applicant, despite the fact that your academic journey has not been a smooth one to date. The main thing is to submit a UCAS application as soon as possible, if you haven't done one already. There will be lots of vacancies at great unis like Nottingham and Loughborough in Clearing this year, in Psychology as much as anything else but the sooner you get going the better.
Original post by gaia88
Some background: I'm 21 and finished my A-levels back in 2016 (AAA in Chemistry, Physics, and Maths). After taking a gap year, I got accepted into Warwick University to study Computer Science. I ended up dropping out right towards the end of my first year, in April 2018, due to depression. I spent the next 6 months doing effectively nothing; leaving a pretty large gap in my CV. I then did some volunteering for a few weeks and went on to get an office job which I've been working ever since.

I am now interested in going back to university to study Psychology - this time at a university more local to me. I am interested in the Unis of Loughborough, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. With my circumstances, having finished sixth form over three years ago, will it still be possible for me to find a place through clearing on a course as popular as psychology?

Any advice is much appreciated.


A lot of students in your sort of position go through clearing every year- it's really common, and you have the advantage of being able to apply now, whilst other students are waiting on their results.

I've just done a quick search here, and it looks like there are lots of courses available:
https://digital.ucas.com/search/results?SearchText=psychology&SubjectText=&ProviderText=&AutoSuggestType=&SearchType=&SortOrder=ProviderAtoZ&PreviouslyAppliedFilters=V_0_eng__&AcademicYearId=2019&ClearingOptOut=False&vacancy-rb=rbb&filters=Vacancy_eng&filters=Destination_Undergraduate&UcasTariffPointsMin=120&UcasTariffPointsMax=139&ProviderText=&SubjectText=&DistanceFromPostcode=25mi&RegionDistancePostcode=&CurrentView=Provider&__RequestVerificationToken=bvSOTD8YJB_uLIYhOQVUdmYShqQhNa4pQzl95gt_gEfRXMNGAR7pg27O8woyWOfA3HPV9OrVbp52kPGWrEsuqKorNpes5hnaAENzag7Wbws1

If you can hold your nerve, more courses will be available on results day, so if there's a course you like that you can't see, it might be worth contacting unis directly to see what they expect to come up on results day this year.
Hi gaia88 :biggrin:

I was in a similar situation to yourself. I took a year out after my A Levels. I then started studying a course at university then after completing first year I decided I was not sure if university was the right option for me. After much consideration, I made the choice to take a gap year. I then decided to return to university with a change of course to study an undergraduate degree Business Management and Marketing.

It is still possible for you to make an application through Clearing. For the majority of universities they will assess Clearing applications based on your UCAS points as well as other requirements. I would recommend that you contact the universities you are interested in and find out if their Clearing is now open as some universities such as Liverpool Hope University, have already opened for Clearing.

If you have any further questions just send me a PM!

I hope this helps!

Amy :smile:

Original post by gaia88
Some background: I'm 21 and finished my A-levels back in 2016 (AAA in Chemistry, Physics, and Maths). After taking a gap year, I got accepted into Warwick University to study Computer Science. I ended up dropping out right towards the end of my first year, in April 2018, due to depression. I spent the next 6 months doing effectively nothing; leaving a pretty large gap in my CV. I then did some volunteering for a few weeks and went on to get an office job which I've been working ever since.

I am now interested in going back to university to study Psychology - this time at a university more local to me. I am interested in the Unis of Loughborough, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester. With my circumstances, having finished sixth form over three years ago, will it still be possible for me to find a place through clearing on a course as popular as psychology?

Any advice is much appreciated.

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