Hi everyone. This is going to be a long one.
So, I'm currently an international student (for UK unis) and I'm in my final year of iAL. Throughout Year 12, my grades WERE alright (maybe the first 1 and a half month) and then it started plunging like crazy. You may wonder why. Well the reason was because I was an idiot for not putting enough effort into iAL, thinking that it would be similar to iGCSE. And what's worse is that despite my first series of externals in Year 12 came back really bad, I STILL HADN'T PICK UP THE MESSAGE, and continued wasting time, not focusing in class (with my old friend group) and just letting my parents down.
During the summer, I've seen my AS results and I was genuinely scared because AS is technically 50% of the whole course and my grades are SO BAD. Therefore, I decided to break off from my old friend group, and started a journey of "come back". It is working now and I feel confident for my next externals series (Jan). Then here comes the real problem.
I am applying through UCAS, and UCAS uses PREDICTED GRADES to do applications. In my school, teachers predict our grades strictly based on past data. And as you may have read above, my HORRIBLE PAST, is horrible. I am trying to do an Aerospace Engineering degree at a above average uni (such as Manchester, Southampton and so on).
But due to these grades, I might only get offers from "below average" unis. I do hear people say that if I go through Clearing with my final grade, I might end up in a better place. The thing is that Clearing starts at early July (right? idk correct me if I'm wrong) and iAL final results only comes out during mid August. Clearing is first come first serve basis (right? x2) and if my grades only comes out a month and a half after clearing starts, won't I be a little bit too late?
Let's say my final grades are good enough for me to enter Uni A through Clearing. Uni A only have 2 spots left for the course. 2 person took the spot before iAL results come back (for me). What do I do?
I know some of you might say: "Oh consider foundation course then." My parents does not have the resources for me to go to foundation and the only "back up" I have is an International Year One program (which are only offered in a few unis).
So yeah please help me
Thank you so much for your time reading!!