Six students chasing every one place through clearing
The most intense scramble for university courses ever seen was under way today with 180,000 candidates chasing an estimated 30,000 spare places.
APT recommends that as well as pursuing your chances through Clearing you also consider taking a year out to build up full or part-time paid employment and/or voluntary work in an area that would strengthen a future UCAS application to a university for your particular course. You can also consider pursuring your studies part-time e.g. through the Open University or try registering for your course as a part-time student at your chosen university. The fees are considerably lower and your application for full-time will be strengthened if you want to change to a full-time status later. You might also consider applying to a private college or university. These insitutions are not restricted in terms of Government caps on the numbers of students a public university can enrol and many private colleges offer degrees with the same standing as public universities e.g. in Ireland, Dublin Business School offers a BA in psychology approved by the Psychology Society for Ireland [PSI], which is recognised by the BPS. The entry requirements are less too in terms of the A levels or Leaving cert grades you need to qualify for the course; you get more teaching from practising teachers rather than research lecturers [the norm in universities] and the private fees add up to less than UK university tution fees. DBS is but one of a number of such insititutions - so shop around.
Another year of record A-level results saw more than a quarter of all university applicants without a confirmed place on a degree course. The intense competition means about 150,000 will be left without a place at all.
One in 12 entrants was awarded the new elite A* grade as the pass rate rose for the 28th year in a row.
Admissions service Ucas said an unprecedented 661,000 candidates applied for university this year. More than 379,000 candidates have had their university courses confirmed but 180,600 were left to fight for the remaining places in clearing. Last year nearly 48,000 students found courses through clearing but the number is expected to be far lower this summer.
One pupil achieved three A* grades and three As but has not been offered a place anywhere. Benedict Scheffer, 18, applied to Oxford, the LSE, University College London, Warwick and Bristol. “It's great I've got the grades,” he said. “But it feels a little unfair that I don't have a university place.”
Benedict, whose family lives in Germany and who is a boarder at Brighton College, said: “I'm not going through clearing this year because there are so few places, so I will reapply next year with my grades.”
Students were being advised not to be so ambitious and to consider re-applying to less competitive universities next year. An unprecedented 661,000 candidates applied for university places this year.
Ucas chief executive Mary Curnock Cook said 2010 was proving “perhaps the most competitive year for admissions” in the last 10 years. More candidates than ever had got the grades they needed, meaning fewer places were available through the clearing system for those who just missed out.
A Ucas spokesman said: “Competition will be harder than it has been for the last few years because of the record increase in applications. We're advising people if they can't find a place through clearing that there are alternative options like gap years, part-time study or apprenticeships.”
APT recommends that as well as pursuing your chances through Clearing you also consider taking a year out to build up full or part-time paid employment and/or voluntary work in an area that would strengthen a future UCAS application to a university for your particular course. You can also consider pursuring your studies part-time e.g. through the Open University or try registering for your course as a part-time student at your chosen university. The fees are considerably lower and your application for full-time will be strengthened if you want to change to a full-time status later. You might also consider applying to a private college or university. These insitutions are not restricted in terms of Government caps on the numbers of students a public university can enrol and many private colleges offer degrees with the same standing as public universities e.g. in Ireland, Dublin Business School offers a BA in psychology approved by the Psychology Society for Ireland [PSI], which is recognised by the BPS. The entry requirements are less too in terms of the A levels or Leaving cert grades you need to qualify for the course; you get more teaching from practising teachers rather than research lecturers [the norm in universities] and the private fees add up to less than UK university tution fees. DBS is but one of a number of such insititutions - so shop around.
Another year of record A-level results saw more than a quarter of all university applicants without a confirmed place on a degree course. The intense competition means about 150,000 will be left without a place at all.
One in 12 entrants was awarded the new elite A* grade as the pass rate rose for the 28th year in a row.
Admissions service Ucas said an unprecedented 661,000 candidates applied for university this year. More than 379,000 candidates have had their university courses confirmed but 180,600 were left to fight for the remaining places in clearing. Last year nearly 48,000 students found courses through clearing but the number is expected to be far lower this summer.
One pupil achieved three A* grades and three As but has not been offered a place anywhere. Benedict Scheffer, 18, applied to Oxford, the LSE, University College London, Warwick and Bristol. “It's great I've got the grades,” he said. “But it feels a little unfair that I don't have a university place.”
Benedict, whose family lives in Germany and who is a boarder at Brighton College, said: “I'm not going through clearing this year because there are so few places, so I will reapply next year with my grades.”
Students were being advised not to be so ambitious and to consider re-applying to less competitive universities next year. An unprecedented 661,000 candidates applied for university places this year.
Ucas chief executive Mary Curnock Cook said 2010 was proving “perhaps the most competitive year for admissions” in the last 10 years. More candidates than ever had got the grades they needed, meaning fewer places were available through the clearing system for those who just missed out.
A Ucas spokesman said: “Competition will be harder than it has been for the last few years because of the record increase in applications. We're advising people if they can't find a place through clearing that there are alternative options like gap years, part-time study or apprenticeships.”
