Jay had a conditional offer to study medicine at university last year. But when they didn’t get the grades they needed on results day, they had to think again. “I remember feeling devastated,” they say, adding that the feeling only alleviated when they found there were places to study chemistry at York available through Clearing. “Before I even considered medicine, I had wanted to do chemistry and York had always been my dream university. I called and the lady I spoke to was incredibly empathetic. She congratulated me on my results, paused to make sure I was OK, and made me feel like I was making the right decision. I went from feeling that I hadn’t achieved enough to feeling wanted.”
Clearing is a way for students to secure a place at the end of the application cycle, but increasingly it’s not just those who miss their grades that take this option. A third of applicants have either changed their mind about their chosen course or university, or achieved better grades than expected. This shift suggests that Clearing is increasingly being seen as a strategic move for students, rather than a last-minute scramble.
