{"id":40164,"date":"2017-08-16T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T18:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=40164"},"modified":"2017-08-16T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T18:58:09","slug":"uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\/","title":{"rendered":"UK: Going through university clearing? Then make sure you do these four things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/girl_results_day_clearing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"295\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/girl_results_day_clearing.jpg 680w, https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/girl_results_day_clearing-250x108.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Every year, in August, thousands of students in the UK receive their A-level results and discover whether or not they have got the marks needed to take up a place at their chosen university.<\/p>\n<p>If they fail to make the grade \u2013 or exceed them \u2013 students telephone university clearing centres, to try and find a more suitable course. Twenty years ago, getting a place through \u201cclearing\u201d was seen as something of a failure. Now it is not. Not only are grades often higher in clearing than the original prospectus listing, but students can \u201cadjust\u201d their offer to secure a better place.<\/p>\n<p>For the students making these calls, it can often be a nerve wracking time, filled with unknowns and uncertain outcomes. So to try and find out what makes these calls a success, we transcribed and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ulster.ac.uk\/ipra\/conference-details\/plenary-speakers\">analysed 300 calls<\/a> at a clearing contact centre last summer. We looked at how people spoke on these calls, as well as what they said. We were able to identify common patterns in the way the calls unfolded and what made a difference to the final outcome.<\/p>\n<p>So to try and make things a little easier if you are going through clearing, we\u2019ve put together some <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LizStokoe?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">tips based on our analysis<\/a>.<br \/>\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G4UZDdHp4F0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Do your research<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Clearing may seem like a mad dash to the finish, but while there is an element of time pressure in trying to get on a course at a university of your choice, it\u2019s still worth taking time to research which universities or courses to apply for.<\/p>\n<p>It was revealed in our research that university websites are updated more rapidly than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucas.com\/\">UCAS\u2019s<\/a>, so prepare for your call by checking the grade requirements and spaces beforehand.<\/p>\n<p>If you have your heart set on a particular university, make a list of all the available courses you would be willing to study at that institution. Flexibility will help you, but make sure it\u2019s a course you actually want to do as it\u2019s a big commitment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Know who\u2019s who<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also worth having a look at who the key members of staff are in your relevant department or subject area. Our research showed that when students\u2019 grades did not meet the requirements, they sometimes asked to be transferred to the relevant department \u2013 but for these students, just asking to be transferred did not always work.<\/p>\n<p>We found that having the name of the programme director or admissions tutor for the course was more likely to result in a transfer. So make sure you look these up ahead of phoning, and have these names to hand throughout the call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Have all your information ready<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you phone a clearing centre, make sure you are in a quiet place where you can concentrate. Have your laptop, tablet or computer in front of you, and pen and paper by your side to scribble down any last minute notes. Make sure you have all your grades clearly written out so you can refer back to them at a moment\u2019s glance.<\/p>\n<p>As well as doing this, make sure you have any other relevant information to hand from the offset. This could include details of extenuating circumstances surrounding your A-level performance \u2013 as this might change what universities will offer.<\/p>\n<p>Our research showed that call takers at clearing lines don\u2019t know about these circumstances, and don\u2019t ask about them either. So if you don\u2019t mention them, the call will close without you maximising your chances of an offer. And remember that unless you have nominated them on your UCAS form, your parents cannot call on your behalf.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Don\u2019t waste time<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In our research, we saw a number of instances where students made repeat calls \u2013 presumably to try and speak to a different call taker \u2013 to see if they could get a place that way. But our analysis showed that repeat calling simply wasted everyone\u2019s time \u2013 slowing down call takers and other callers. In the calls we analysed, there wasn\u2019t one case where repeat calling produced an offer when the original call did not.<\/p>\n<p>The take home lesson here is to understand that you only get one chance to call a university clearing helpline \u2013 so make sure it counts. It\u2019s also worth knowing that many university clearing lines are open well into the evening, and even the week following results day so don\u2019t feel disheartened if you can\u2019t get through when you first call \u2013 lines are likely to be busy. Be patient but persistent and you\u2019ll get through eventually.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Author Bios:<\/strong> Elizabeth Stokoe is a Professor of Social Interaction at Loughborough University and Elliott Hoey is a Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at the Max Planck Institute<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year, in August, thousands of students in the UK receive their A-level results and discover whether or not they have got the marks needed to take up a place at their chosen university. If they fail to make the grade \u2013 or exceed them \u2013 students telephone university clearing centres, to try and find [&hellip;]\n&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\/\" class=\"more\">learn more&rarr;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":40158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[92291],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-40164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-clearing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UK: Going through university clearing? Then make sure you do these four things - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK: Going through university clearing? Then make sure you do these four things - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year, in August, thousands of students in the UK receive their A-level results and discover whether or not they have got the marks needed to take up a place at their chosen university. If they fail to make the grade \u2013 or exceed them \u2013 students telephone university clearing centres, to try and find [&hellip;]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-16T18:58:09+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/girl_results_day_clearing.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"295\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/uk-going-university-clearing-make-sure-four-things\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"UK: Going through university clearing? 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