July 4, 2018, by Guest Blogger
Alternatives, advice and… an A*? – Gabriel’s story
For me, thoughts of going into Clearing began after exams.
I began to assess my degree choice and whether it was suited to what I wanted to do after university – I’d firmed and insured two different institutions, doing chemical engineering at both. In the period after exams, I had more time on my hands to do some in-depth research about many different degrees, as well as the types of careers available after them.
In my research, I used websites like The Student Room, Which? University and The Complete University Guide. I also asked for advice from my parents, older siblings, teachers and my sixth form careers advisor. My parents in particular were really keen for me to stick with engineering…
But, from all my research and my desire to get a job in finance/consultancy after uni, I decided that economics was a better choice for me.
Now knowing that I wanted to change my degree choice on results day, I began looking at the different universities that went into Clearing each year, using their websites and UCAS itself, and finding that Nottingham was the best for economics.
I then went on the UoN website and found the phone number I needed to call on the day itself. Because I already had a firm and insurance choice, I had to get the phone numbers of both universities so I could ask them to release me into Clearing if I met their requirements.
I was quite confident that I did well in my exams, so I wasn’t too afraid of what I was going to get on results day. I manged to get A*AA, which I was thrilled about. These results meant that I got into my firm choice, but I called them and asked them release me into Clearing, which took around 20 minutes.
Now I was in Clearing, with no university to my name!
After receiving confirmation, I called Nottingham and, after giving them my UCAS details and grades, they gave me an offer for economics straightaway. This only took around 25 minutes and I’d received email confirmation of my offer after 30. All in all, I thought the process was very quick considering universities get loads of calls on results day.
Gabriel is such a nice guy, I enjoyed his story