Cafe Uni

When you apply for university, they may offer you a conditional offer to be a student there.

As previously mentioned on this blog, this means that they are offering you a place to be a student at their university, on the course you applied for, provided that you fulfil certain conditions.

These will be related to your grades so, for example, they might ask that you get three B grades at A level. It is then up to you to accept this conditional offer.

But what happens if you accept it, and then your grades aren’t as good as were expected and you don’t meet the conditions of the offer? Can you still do your chosen course at the university?

Applying for university courses through clearing

If you don’t get your conditional grades for university, then you still might be able to go and be a student there.

The process called ‘clearing’ is a way that you can apply for similar courses at different universities or a different course at the university of your choice.

The first thing that you need to do is to get on to the phone to the Admissions Officer at your chosen university. Your tutor should be able to help you with this.

You might find, when speaking to the Admissions Officer, that they will accept you on the course anyway. Tell them about what skills you will bring to the university to try and help the decision.

If not, then they may offer you an alternative, but similar course. For example, if you applied for English and Media Studies, they may offer you Media Studies and Drama. Don’t immediately discount any of their offers as you might end up enjoying the new course more.

In the following days, a list of ‘clearing’ places should appear in national newspapers, so keep an eye out, and check out this guide.