Late bloomer - Clearing with a 6.8 TMUA A*A*A - Maths or Economics

My son has massively improved academically in the last year, it's like his brain switched on when he turned 17, he did ok at school 88776665 but wasn't top set material so didn't do further maths, was more interested in sports than anything else, his 1st year at 6th form he pottered along under the radar, then in his end of 1st year mocks he smashed it A*AB, autumn mocks again he smashed again, his tutors were all very shocked and he was predicted A*AA on his UCAS but since then he's been getting A*A*A on every practice paper and is very confident of getting this in his actual exams and then he gets a 6.8 on his TMUA with hardy any prep!!
This sudden jump in grades is making me feel like he's aimed too low with Uni choices. If he gets A*A*A plus his TMUA 6.8, he also got an A in his EPQ. what are his chances of getting into a decent Uni through clearing, I've read that lots of top Unis do clearing but is it just the unpopular courses, are Maths and Economics available?
Also do any Unis value a high TMUA score more highly than others?
Thanks

My son has massively improved academically in the last year, it's like his brain switched on when he turned 17, he did ok at school 88776665 but wasn't top set material so didn't do further maths, was more interested in sports than anything else, his 1st year at 6th form he pottered along under the radar, then in his end of 1st year mocks he smashed it A*AB, autumn mocks again he smashed again, his tutors were all very shocked and he was predicted A*AA on his UCAS but since then he's been getting A*A*A on every practice paper and is very confident of getting this in his actual exams and then he gets a 6.8 on his TMUA with hardy any prep!!
This sudden jump in grades is making me feel like he's aimed too low with Uni choices. If he gets A*A*A plus his TMUA 6.8, he also got an A in his EPQ. what are his chances of getting into a decent Uni through clearing, I've read that lots of top Unis do clearing but is it just the unpopular courses, are Maths and Economics available?
Also do any Unis value a high TMUA score more highly than others?
Thanks

My son has massively improved academically in the last year, it's like his brain switched on when he turned 17, he did ok at school 88776665 but wasn't top set material so didn't do further maths, was more interested in sports than anything else, his 1st year at 6th form he pottered along under the radar, then in his end of 1st year mocks he smashed it A*AB, autumn mocks again he smashed again, his tutors were all very shocked and he was predicted A*AA on his UCAS but since then he's been getting A*A*A on every practice paper and is very confident of getting this in his actual exams and then he gets a 6.8 on his TMUA with hardy any prep!!

This sudden jump in grades is making me feel like he's aimed too low with Uni choices. If he gets A*A*A plus his TMUA 6.8, he also got an A in his EPQ. what are his chances of getting into a decent Uni through clearing, I've read that lots of top Unis do clearing but is it just the unpopular courses, are Maths and Economics available?

Also do any Unis value a high TMUA score more highly than others?

Thanks

Unis don't hold places for clearing, and the more competitive the course and the uni the less likely they will have spaces to fill on results day. Unis get A level results the Friday before results day. If they have any spaces to fill once they have accepted all the students who have met their conditions, then they will likely look at near-miss students who firmed or insured them before entering clearing. Oxbridge, Imperial and LSE don't enter clearing. UCL rarely enters clearing and if it does, it is for uncompetitive courses. Warwick states on its website "Maths does not usually have any places available through clearing". What uni is your son hoping for?

Durham had clearing places for maths two years ago, not sure about last year. This doesn't mean they will necessarily have any this year but if you phone admissions at the unis he would be interested in they will be able to confirm whether they had clearing places or not which will give you an idea of what might be available this year.

They won't know if they have clearing places until A level results week.

He's firmed Economics at Loughborough and has Surrey as insurance, both very good Unis that he'd be very happy to go to but we just feel he should have aimed slightly higher, his 6th form college didn't help, they had a very negative outlook, advising him that students from his college simply didn't get into the top Unis and saying he should aim lower or risk clearing! He ignored them to a certain extent and got offers within a week of applying at Loughborough, Lancaster and Surrey. The top top Unis Oxbridge, LSE, UCL were always going to be out of reach but we really didn't expect him to do so well in his tmua, I think with hindsight Warwick, Kings, Bath and Durham were all possible if he'd of gone for it.