Do universities lower their grade requirements in clearing?

ysgwrn

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If a course is available in clearing then presumably the uni will be keen to fill the spare places. Do they ever accept students through clearing with lower grades than those who went through the normal admissions process?

In which case, how do you know how far off the normal requirements you could afford to be for them to consider you or is it a case of ringing all of them just to see what they'd take?

trying to work out a plan if exams go pear shaped

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Intriguing Alias

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(Original post by ysgwrn)
If a course is available in clearing then presumably the uni will be keen to fill the spare places. Do they ever accept students through clearing with lower grades than those who went through the normal admissions process?

In which case, how do you know how far off the normal requirements you could afford to be for them to consider you or is it a case of ringing all of them just to see what they'd take?

trying to work out a plan if exams go pear shaped

Usually there will be a fair few universities offering below their grade requirements as far as I understand. My brother got into a BBC course with CDE, but this was UCAS 2009 Entry so I don't 100% know if the same still happens.

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Aspiringlawstudent

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Depends on the university.

My old A-level Law teacher somehow got into Sheffield in clearing with ABC. That was a few years back, mind. Early-to-mid 2000s.

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TheKieranC

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I'm not sure but my Economics teacher told me that they always let in students with lesser grades, even when they're not in clearing, i just hope its true and portsmouth let me in with like CCE/CCD

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TheSownRose

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(Original post by ysgwrn)
If a course is available in clearing then presumably the uni will be keen to fill the spare places. Do they ever accept students through clearing with lower grades than those who went through the normal admissions process?

In which case, how do you know how far off the normal requirements you could afford to be for them to consider you or is it a case of ringing all of them just to see what they'd take?

trying to work out a plan if exams go pear shaped

Sometimes they do, yes. Also, because you're actually talking to an admissions tutor, you're able to argue your case more and (if you're good at talking!) possibly persuade them a bit. However, don't think of Clearing as some sort of university sale; they still want candidates they think will be able to do the course. I've seen people hoping a BBB university will let them in with something like CCD. BBC, quite possibly, BCC, maybe. But dropping down four grades, very unlikely.

For a general strategy, I'd say if you were a grade off, you've got a decent shot. If you're two grades off and it's a place you're very keen on or one of the grades off was a very near miss (because you will have the opportunity to point this out when you phone up), it's worth a try. I wouldn't really bother going much below that.

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ysgwrn

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Firm choice is BBB/ABC insurance BBC/ABD Getting BCC or ABD would mean going into clearing. Not sure many places worth £9K would go that low with any offer.

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oxymoronic

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(Original post by Aspiringlawstudent)
Depends on the university.

My old A-level Law teacher somehow got into Sheffield in clearing with ABC. That was a few years back, mind. Early-to-mid 2000s.

Well yes, that was a different era when university offers were much lower generally and there was a lot less competition for places. When I applied to university in 2005 I had BBB offers from UCL, Edinburgh, Manchester, St Andrews and Glasgow (2 of these also accepting general studies as one of my grades) with my highest offer from Lancaster being ABB. These universities now offer AAA for the same course as standard. Lancaster had high offers yes, but they were regularly letting in people with Es and Ds at A level onto these courses in clearing - this was quite openly stated at the post application offer day I attended. We were told that regardless of what we achieved in our results and regardless of whether we had firmed/insured Lancaster that there would be a place for us on results day if we called their clearing team. Five years ago the only universities demanding AAA were Oxford and Cambridge; for some courses the typical Cambridge offer was AAB. In short - what happened even a few years ago can not be used as representative for what happens now in terms of the general cycle and also in clearing. A lot of universities do not drop their entry requirements at any point, including clearing.

ABC in the early to mid 2000s would have got you into most law courses in the country.

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tufc

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(Original post by ysgwrn)
Firm choice is BBB/ABC insurance BBC/ABD Getting BCC or ABD would mean going into clearing. Not sure many places worth £9K would go that low with any offer.

Did they make you a points offer? Because a university won't necessarily accept 'grade equity' (i.e. ABC=BBB; ABD=BBC; A*AB=AAA). If they've made you a grade offer, not a points offer, then they won't necessarily accept you with equitable grades.

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ysgwrn

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Its points 300 for firm 280 for insurance

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Darkarium

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From my experience of clearing last year, no. Unis tend to give out more conditional offers than students they can take, if say they have 100 places, 150 conditional offers given out and only 90 make their offer what they then tend to do is shop around and try and fill those 10 spots with people who do meet the standard offer through clearing. If they then can't fill the places they'll accept people that missed their offer. My insurance choice did this to me last year, they held me for 2 days after results day 'making a decision' - what they were really doing is waiting to find someone better in clearing. They then declined me after clearing was pretty much over.

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Flyteryder

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(Original post by Darkarium)
My insurance choice did this to me last year, they held me for 2 days after results day 'making a decision' - what they were really doing is waiting to find someone better in clearing. They then declined me after clearing was pretty much over.

You're saying that if I don't meet my firm but meet my insurance offer I'm not guaranteed to get my insurance? :eek:

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TheSownRose

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(Original post by Darkarium)
From my experience of clearing last year, no. Unis tend to give out more conditional offers than students they can take, if say they have 100 places, 150 conditional offers given out and only 90 make their offer what they then tend to do is shop around and try and fill those 10 spots with people who do meet the standard offer through clearing. If they then can't fill the places they'll accept people that missed their offer. My insurance choice did this to me last year, they held me for 2 days after results day 'making a decision' - what they were really doing is waiting to find someone better in clearing. They then declined me after clearing was pretty much over.

Did you meet your insurance offer, or did you miss it but they were considering you and therefore didn't reject you immediately?

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Blazara

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(Original post by Flyteryder)
You're saying that if I don't meet my firm but meet my insurance offer I'm not guaranteed to get my insurance? :eek:

No - if you make the offer they are obliged to accept you.

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TheSownRose

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(Original post by Blazara)
No - if you make the offer they are obliged to accept you.

This is correct, but some universities try to trick people into thinking their place isn't guaranteed so they can either reduce their numbers enough or get someone better; I'm wondering if that happened to Darkarium, or if he missed the offer.

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Flyteryder

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(Original post by TheSownRose)
This is correct, but some universities try to trick people into thinking their place isn't guaranteed so they can either reduce their numbers enough or get someone better; I'm wondering if that happened to Darkarium, or if he missed the offer.

So if I don't meet my firm but meet my insurance, my insurance might make me beg them for my place? Could they try to trick me into declining their offer by saying they've found somebody better in clearing?

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Darkarium

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(Original post by Flyteryder)
You're saying that if I don't meet my firm but meet my insurance offer I'm not guaranteed to get my insurance? :eek:

(Original post by TheSownRose)
Did you meet your insurance offer, or did you miss it but they were considering you and therefore didn't reject you immediately?

I missed the offer, I met the grades but got a B in the subject they asked for an A in (by 2 UMS). No amount of discussion with them worked, they just said were 'still considering' and wouldn't release me until a decision was made. I missed clearing because of it. This was last year, aka the rush to get in before fee rise, I would say this year uni's are more likely to have lower offers in clearing as clearing won't be so busy. I definitely think my offers this year have been a lot more generous than last years were already.

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TheSownRose

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(Original post by Flyteryder)
So if I don't meet my firm but meet my insurance, my insurance might make me beg them for my place? Could they try to trick me into declining their offer by saying they've found somebody better in clearing?

Only if you allow them to trick you.

It's completely against the rules of UCAS - if you miss your firm but get your insurance, they have to accept you, they are unable to refuse you the place. You don't have to persuade them to accept you over someone else they've found in Clearing. If they start trying to convince you you do, just say (politely but firmly) that you know they have to accept you; if they persist, contact UCAS. They are also not allowed to turn you away because the course is full.

It's not common, but people should be aware that some universities have been known to try it, and in some cases have succeeded - we tend to get a couple on here every year who got caught out by not knowing their place was guaranteed.

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(Original post by hyenas.ma)
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elliott1993

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I keep having problems getting past the person in the call centre. I got BBD in Geography, Russian and Maths. My original offers were BBB and i was rejected by both my choices. I know that if i can get past the call centre person i'll be able to argue my case with someone higher up, but the only option i see at the moment is to initially lie about my grades just to be put through to the admissions tutors. Any advice?????

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