The Student Room Group

Adjustments

One of my teachers today was talking about if you do really well in your A-Levels then you can call better unis than you’ve applied to and go there instead. I was just wondering how accurate this is if at all and the logistics of it?
They're likely referring to UCAS Clearing, a formal process which takes place with the majority of places in clearing being made available on A-level results day.

You can read more about clearing on the UCAS website however a couple of key pieces of information:

a) there's no guarantee any given course will be available in clearing, and just because it was in clearing previously doesn't mean it will be again
b) not all courses will be available in clearing - some just don't end up going into clearing (e.g. most dental courses utilise waiting lists rather than clearing), and more popular courses (e.g. economics, law, CS, some fields of engineering, medicine, etc) are less liekly to be in clearing and if they are in clearing, are likely to have fewer places available
c) while increasing numbers of unis are entering clearing, with UCL participating in the main clearing process for the first time last year, some universities do not participate it and are unlikely to do so in future including Oxbridge, Durham, Imperial and LSE
d) clearing is first come first served; it's a mad scramble to get a verbal offer by phone so you can add it on UCAS. It's very possible for more popular/competitive courses and unis that all the places might go while you're on hold trying to get through to someone, even if you start calling at the start of the day
e) you can't enter clearing if you're holding any offers and will need to reject all held offers to self-release into clearing if you want to participate in clearing; if your offer has already been changed to an unconditional offer on results day because you met the conditions, as I understand you need to contact the uni to tell them to release you from the offer to then participate in clearing I think?

Bear in mind clearing was not designed for students to "trade up" to "better" universities - it was designed for people who ended up with no offers to have a second opportunity to secure an offer once they had results in hand, and for universities to fill spaces from people who missed their offers. While it's become increasingly popular with more unis and places in clearing and more students taking part, that principle of how and why it was created in the first place does constrain how effective it is as a tool to "trade up", because it can be a big gamble and there's no guarantee there will be a course available.

Generally you should aim to apply to unis you would want to go to in the first place. Unless you get substantially different grades in your final results where even if you weren't able to get a place in clearing it may still be worthwhile taking a gap year to apply to other courses, it's a real risk and you need to be prepared for the possibility of the dust settling and either ending up a similar uni (which you then have to scramble to sort accommodation out for) or even in certain circumstances potentially ending up with no place at the end of the day.
Btw, "Adjustment" has not existed since 2021 - it was yet another daft idea cooked up by David Cameron to solve a problem that didn't actually exist, and was rightly dumped by UCAS because so few students saw the point in it.

As above - if you want to switch courses, you can try Clearing but competitive courses are by definition unlikely to need to take part in Clearing, and its always a better/safer/calmer option to simply take a gap year and reapply to 5 more carefully considered new choices for 2026 entry than try and cobble something together in a frantic last-minute scramble in August.
Original post by artful_lounger
Generally you should aim to apply to unis you would want to go to in the first place.


THIS

Maximise your chances by applying for the courses/universities you really want before the January deadline. Even if they're a risky choice you have 5 choices (plus Extra plus Clearing) so you can take risks without ending up without anywhere to go
THIS

Maximise your chances by applying for the courses/universities you really want before the January deadline. Even if they're a risky choice you have 5 choices (plus Extra plus Clearing) so you can take risks without ending up without anywhere to go

PRSOM! :biggrin:

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