The Student Room Group

Failed first year, now what?

Started Uni in Sept 2023, come May 2024 (end of first year) I found out I failed and have been removed.

It's now October 2024, my two options apparently are clearing for random uni's, or apply for the 2025 entry through UCAS.

Anyone been through anything similar? What uni's will accept me considering I failed at a different one?

I have AAB A-Levels and an oxbridge level personal statement, not sure if this changes anything.

Any and all advice is appreciated.
Reply 1
Original post by randomuser2934
Started Uni in Sept 2023, come May 2024 (end of first year) I found out I failed and have been removed.
It's now October 2024, my two options apparently are clearing for random uni's, or apply for the 2025 entry through UCAS.
Anyone been through anything similar? What uni's will accept me considering I failed at a different one?
I have AAB A-Levels and an oxbridge level personal statement, not sure if this changes anything.
Any and all advice is appreciated.

It's actually not rough, that's if u didn't include your failures in the personal statement. What u need to do is just to reapply next year with the achievements you have like an award or anything intriguing and you will certainly be accepted
Original post by Joe Edom
It's actually not rough, that's if u didn't include your failures in the personal statement. What u need to do is just to reapply next year with the achievements you have like an award or anything intriguing and you will certainly be accepted

I spoke to UCAS and they said I can just re use my personal statement from before. My only confusion / issues come from:
how does the references work? (she said your old school will do it on behalf of you).
where/when do i have to disclose that i failed at a prior uni?
being super realistic can i apply to unis like kcl / ucl again? or will i have to aim lower even if i have AAB and a really good statement
Reply 3
Original post by randomuser2934
I spoke to UCAS and they said I can just re use my personal statement from before. My only confusion / issues come from:
how does the references work? (she said your old school will do it on behalf of you).
where/when do i have to disclose that i failed at a prior uni?
being super realistic can i apply to unis like kcl / ucl again? or will i have to aim lower even if i have AAB and a really good statement

You can re-use your previous personal statement, but you'd probably want to tweak it to reflect your new situation. You might need to make reference to what went wrong in your previous study and how you'll address that moving forward. And if you're looking to study a different subject before, you'll need to reflect that.

Your old school might agree to do a new reference, but I suspect the universities you're applying to would expect something more recent, given that it's now a year since you left school.

You'll need to declare your university studies in the previous education section of the application.

Do you understand what it was that led you to fail last year, and are you in a position to remedy those issues? If you had health issues, are those now resolved/under control?

Tagging @Admit-One @McGinger in case they have any thoughts.
You do need to be aware that many Unis will not consider anyone who has already failed part of a degree elsewhere, so be very realistic about the possibility of 'starting again'. And you also need to think about why you failed, and what, if anything, has now changed.

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