Help me to understand UCAS system.

Hi,


Please help me to understand UCAS system especially clearing/adjustment.


Let's say that an institute (for example Cambridge uni) has 30 seats available every year in their very popular course (for example BSc maths) and requirements are A*A*A. 40 students applied for it and all of them have the predictions A*A*A.*


(1) Who out of 40 srudrtns get the place? (Is it first-come, first-served)


(2) Suppose that 5 out of 30 students have put Cambridge as insurance (all 30 received offers from Cambridge), and LSE as firm, and other 10 students who failed to get place at Cambridge has received rejections from Cambridge (am I right that last 10 out of 40 will get rejection from Cambridge?) and they firmed Warwick as firm. After result day, if everyone got A*A*A then who will get remaining 5 places?


Thanks in advance.

Note: I have an unconditional offer but I am really confused that how does it work.

Not everything is based on your grades. A LOT will be based on your background, extra curriculum and personal statement.

Hi,


Please help me to understand UCAS system especially clearing/adjustment.


Let's say that an institute (for example Cambridge uni) has 30 seats available every year in their very popular course (for example BSc maths) and requirements are A*A*A. 40 students applied for it and all of them have the predictions A*A*A.*


(1) Who out of 40 srudrtns get the place? (Is it first-come, first-served)


(2) Suppose that 5 out of 30 students have put Cambridge as insurance (all 30 received offers from Cambridge), and LSE as firm, and other 10 students who failed to get place at Cambridge has received rejections from Cambridge (am I right that last 10 out of 40 will get rejection from Cambridge?) and they firmed Warwick as firm. After result day, if everyone got A*A*A then who will get remaining 5 places?


Thanks in advance.

Note: I have an unconditional offer but I am really confused that how does it work.

I know it. Let's say that all 40 students are equally competitive and clever. BTW, my post is not about admission criteria of Cambridge or any other university. I want to know that how does ucas system work especially clearing/adjustment?

If there's 40 students applying for a course that has 30 places, it's possible that they'll all get offers - the universities know roughly that x percent will pick as firm and meet the offer, y percent will pick as insurance and meet the offer and z percent will pick as firm or insurance but not meet the grades. This is information they've picked up over several years of application cycles.

For Cambridge in particular, I believe that if people don't meet the grades they might still give them a place anyway - it happened to a friend of mine - or they'll have people who are 'pooled' or something where they weren't given an offer but were deemed as almost being perfect for the spot, so it might go to them. I don't know the system inside out though, and it would only apply to Oxbridge.



Let's go with a more realistic example. 50 spaces on the course, 250 applicants. Probably 50-100 would be rejected without an interview, then the rest are invited to interview. Another 50-100 rejected post-interview, and probably something like 70 to 100 people would be given offers - because they know not everyone is going to take the offer and some are going to miss the grades.


Clearing is essentially the unis saying 'we didn't fill all our spaces for whatever reason' or 'we have spaces left if you're above the magic ABB threshold'. Anyone can apply and they may invite you to interview or whatever before deciding whether or not to give you an offer via clearing.

Adjustment is for those who exceeded the criteria of their firm offer. Eg you were told you needed BBB and you achieve AAA. You're available for adjustment (which is similar to clearing).