August 11, 2017, by Liz Cass
Why I chose Nottingham: Gabriel
As part of our round up of good news and as thousands of teenagers prepare to get their A-level results we’ve asked five current students to share their experiences of life at Nottingham. In the third of these blogs Gabriel Owusu shares his experience of results day and offers his advice to applicants.
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 had firmed and insured two d
ifferent universities to do Chemical Engineering at both universities. In the period after exams I had more time on my hands to do in depth research of many different degrees and the types of careers available to me after the degree.
In my research I used different websites like; The Student Room (TSR), Which university?, The Complete University Guide. I also asked for advice on my degree choice from my parents, older siblings, teachers and my sixth form careers advisor. From all my research and my desire to get a job in finance/consultancy after university I decided that Economics was a better degree 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 by using university and the UCAS website.
I saw that the best university that came into clearing for economics was the University of Nottingham. I then went on the university website and found the phone numbers I needed to call on results day. Because I already had a firm and insurance choice I had to get the phone numbers of both universities so that 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. I then called my firm university to release me into clearing. This process took around 20 minutes. Now I was in clearing with no university to my name.
After receiving confirmation that I was in clearing, I called Nottingham and after giving them my UCAS details and grades they gave me an offer for Economics. This process took around 25 minutes and I received email confirmation of my offer after 30 minutes. All in all, I thought the process was very quick considering universities get loads of calls on results day.
Advice I would give
From my experience, if you change your mind about the degree or the university that you want to do/go to then you should keep these points in mind:
- Make sure you thoroughly research the degrees or universities you are thinking of changing to to see if it is the right choice for you well before results day.
- Use various sources of information to get a well-rounded view of the degree or university e.g. University websites, current students at the university, alumni, parents, teachers and even lecturers. Use all your connections.
- When you decide on the university or degree that you want to change to look for the likelihood of it being in clearing and if it is not very likely then maybe look for a similar alternative.
- When you know that the degree or the university might be available in clearing then find the contact details you need for clearing and make sure you save them on your phone.
- Above all be prepared for any scenario on results day so that no matter what you get you have a plan to follow.
- Finally, stay calm on results day and if you have prepared well, all you need to do is follow your plan for the scenario that arises.
Clearing course listings for EU and UK students will be released on the evening of Wednesday 16 August. Our Clearing hotline will open at 8am onThursday 17 August. Places are still available for qualified international students (outside the EU) on many of our undergraduate courses starting in September 2017. Visit our Clearing pages.
No comments yet, fill out a comment to be the first
Leave a Reply