Fulwood Academy Sixth Form

Guide to A Level Results Day 2015

Thursday 13 th August

University Applicants

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 for University Applicants

The booklet is designed to provide you with useful information about the different scenarios you may encounter on results day. Please read this through carefully so you are aware of what to do on the day.

Useful Advice If you are working, it is always a good idea to take the day off on A Level Results Day - this year it will be on Thursday 13th August 2015. Before you leave home to collect your A level results from your school or college, we recommend you take a few things with you:

.Pen/pencil .Notepad .Mobile phone .Calculator (in case you need to add up your module marks) .AS results .UCAS letter (with your UCAS number and other important information, such as your conditional offer grades) .Contact details for both your firm and insurance offers .Copy of your personal statement

.ALL UCAS FORMS SHOULD BE PRINTED OFF BEFORE THE END OF TERM AS THE UCAS SITE CLOSES DOWN FOR A PERIOD IN LATE JULY/EARLY AUGUST.

If you are concerned that you may have to go through ‘Clearing’, it is a good idea to pick up a copy of the Telegraph newspaper, as this is the only paper that publishes the full list of Clearing places available. You may find it easier to browse available courses in the newspaper rather than searching for them on the UCAS website.

I have met my firm offer:

Congratulations! Now you can phone your family and friends and tell everyone the great news. However, do not call up the university to confirm your offer unless they told you to do this in advance – leave the line free for someone who has not met their offer and is worrying.

Follow these steps instead:

1. Log into UCAS Track. It should say UF (Unconditional Firm), however if your status on UCAS Track is not updated yet, do not panic – it can sometimes take a while. If it has not been updated by the end of Monday, ring the university and check.

2. UCAS will put your AS12 letter in the post the day after UCAS Track has updated your status. This letter confirms your place at the university and your course choice. This

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 means you are now definitely going to university (unless you decide university is not the right step for you anymore).

3. As soon as you receive your AS12 letter, read it through carefully and check whether there is a slip at the bottom that you have to fill out and send back to the university. Some universities ask you to do this, some do not. Make sure you keep the letter in a safe place as you will need it again.

4. One thing you will need to do in the near future for your student loan is to update Student Finance England on your choice of course, www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk. Wait for your AS12 letter to arrive before doing this.

I have missed my firm offer: Hopefully you are not too disappointed by this news – it is still possible your university will accept you.

1. The first thing to do is check your status on UCAS Track – if it says you have been accepted, then that is good news. Alternatively it may say UI (Unconditional Insurance), which means you have been accepted on your insurance choice.

1. However, if you do not have any offers, then you will see ‘Add Clearing Choice’ on Track. When you do go through Clearing, you will see a clearing number on both the welcome and choices pages in Track, the university will ask for this number when you contact them. See ‘See top 10 tips for clearing at the end of this booklet for further details.

2. If UCAS Track still shows your offer as conditional, phone the university and check whether you have been accepted. If you cannot find a special Clearing number for the university, just ring their admissions office.

3. Some institutions may not allow you to put a case forward to bargain with them and will have already rejected you. If UCAS Track shows you have not been successful, then there is not much else you can do. However, do be prepared for the event of selling yourself to your chosen university by pointing out your good AS grades and informing them of any mitigating circumstances.

4. If your firm choice does not accept you with lower grades, try not to dwell on it too much – it is disappointing and upsetting but there are still other options. Speak to a member of staff at school for further advice and guidance.

I have met my insurance offer:

1. This is a similar situation to meeting your firm offer – you do not really need to do anything at the moment, just wait until your AS12 letter arrives through the post.

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 2. Again, UCAS Track may take a while to update your status – you can phone the university to check your confirmation if this takes longer than 4 days.

3. One thing you will need to do in the near future for your student loan is to update Student Finance England on your choice of course, www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk. Wait for your AS12 letter to arrive before doing this.

I have missed my firm and insurance offer but the university has accepted me onto another course:

1. If this is the case, you will see 'UCC' on your UCAS Track page (this means 'Unconditional Changed Course'), along with the new course code. You will have a period of 5 days to decide whether to accept this change of course.

2. You will receive an AS12C letter from UCAS that will explain your options to you, although you can still accept or decline the offer on UCAS Track before you receive the AS12C letter.

3. If you choose to decline the offer of an alternative course, you will either go to your insurance offer (if applicable and they have accepted you) or go into Clearing. 4 Guide to A Level Results Day 2014

I have missed my insurance offer:

1. Check your status on UCAS Track to see if you have been accepted with lower grades – if not, then ring up the university and ask for their decision. If they still accept you, that is good news. If not, you will enter Clearing. Information on entering Clearing is given in the section ‘I have missed my firm offer’.

My results are higher than those needed by my firm offer:

What is ‘Adjustment’?

1. If your results are higher than those required for your firm offer, you are entitled to look around for a university that carries higher entry requirements. This is called 'Adjustment' and is an optional process. If you wish to consider this path, you will need to register for Adjustment through UCAS Track.

2. You will be given 5 days from the date your conditional offer is changed to an unconditional offer in which to find an alternative place. This time includes weekends, although cannot be extended beyond 31st August 2015.

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 3. While you are in the Adjustment process, your original firm choice will be held for you, so do not worry if you do not find anything suitable within the 5 day time frame.

I need to go through Clearing/talking on the phone to Universities/Colleges:

2. It is important that you make the call to universities yourself, so do not leave it to your parents or friends. The admissions tutors will want to ask you some questions that only you can answer, such as what you have to offer, whether you are motivated, if you show potential to succeed and are committed to the course.

3. Remember that UCAS personal statement you spent all that time perfecting? Get it out again as a reminder of how good you are and all the things you wanted to say about yourself in relation to the course. Be positive and enthusiastic. See top 10 tips for clearing at the end of this booklet.

I have decided university is not the right step for me:

1. If you have an offer, you will need to contact the university and tell them you no longer wish to attend. To do this, simply fill out the appropriate section of your AS12 letter slip and send it back to them. This means you will be withdrawn from UCAS entirely and will not be able to go through Clearing and therefore will not be able to attend university at all in this application cycle. This only applies if you have missed both your firm and insurance offers. In this case, you will be automatically entered into Clearing (if this is what you want).

2. However, if you do not want to go anymore, you do not have to do anything at all. As long as you do not apply to any institutions through Clearing, you will not go anywhere. You can also withdraw from UCAS completely, either by contacting them by phone or using the Withdraw button on the UCAS Track system.

TOP 10 TIPS FOR CLEARING

1. Order The Telegraph newspaper on results day/Get the Clearing App!

Clearing listings are published in The Telegraph newspaper. Order a copy to be delivered to your door on the morning of results day so that you have a paper copy of vacancies ready and waiting for you. The listings here will not be completely up to date, but provide a useful starting point to view all of the clearing places at a glance and for you to highlight courses that you might be interested in. This year The Telegraph also offers a Clearing app for iPhone/iPad and Android. The vacancies listed on the app are updated every hour by UCAS.

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 Prior to making any calls, you will need to check the UCAS website for an updated list of vacancies in Clearing. Universities also start to publish Clearing lists on their own website from early August, so be on your toes from then on.

2. Do your research and be prepared!

 Results day is an immensely stressful time, especially if things don't go to plan. The more you can do to prepare and think about your options in advance the better off you will be on the day. Research universities and courses that you might be interested in if you don't get the results you expect. No-one knows what vacancies will be in Clearing before results day, but if you have a good idea of what you would be interested in then you'll be in a strong position if they appear in the Clearing listings.

 It's often easier to work out what you definitely don't want rather than think about what you do want. Spending time evaluating your opinions of aspects like location, cost, course content and university "feel" will mean that you can be much more focused and level headed if you do end up using Clearing. Think back to when you originally made your 5 choices and make a list - which universities/courses didn't you like? If you really didn't want to go to a campus university or a university really far from home when you originally applied then it's highly unlikely that you will want to do that now. Taking a year out to reapply will be much better than settling for something that you were never happy to do originally.

 When thinking about your options for clearing, don't just think about the course, check what the accommodation policies are for Clearing applicants and think carefully about where you're flexible and where you aren't. You can use The Student Room to speak to university official representatives and other students who are already at university to find out more information about the university or course. Re- read your personal statement so you are familiar with what you said and can talk about any experiences or extra-curricular activities you discussed there.

3. Find a quiet place to phone universities

Make sure that you call from a place where you feel safe and relaxed with easy access to phone and the internet. If it's not too far, it may be a good idea to go home to make any phone calls, where there is more peace and quiet and you have everything to hand. Clearing places do go quickly, but you have time to compose and prepare yourself. You will give a much better impression to universities and colleges if you are relaxed and calm when speaking over the phone. Have a drink to hand if you're nervous, in case you lose your voice on the phone. At home you may also have access to a land line which (with the bill payer's permission) may be cheaper to use. You might also want to use a land line to make calls, but give your mobile number as contact details if a university wants to ring you back. This way, the line won't be engaged if they choose to call you back!

4. Have your details to hand

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 Have the following information to hand during your call to universities:

 The phone number for the university and your own contact details

 Your Clearing number from UCAS Track

 Your A-level, AS-level, GCSE and equivalent results, including module marks

 Personal statement from your UCAS application

 Your log-in details for Track

 Your notes on the course/university and any planned responses to questions

 Any questions you want to ask the university

 The name and details of anyone you have spoken to in a previous call (if you've called the university before)

5. Make the call yourself

Treat it like a job application; they are unlikely to be impressed if one of your parents or a teacher has to make the call instead of you. Not only that, but the university will be unable to talk to your parents because they are not allowed to discuss your application with others. Articulate yourself well and make sure you demonstrate an enthusiasm for your course and institution. If you get upset or flustered then take a deep breath and start again. It's important that you stay positive and sell yourself, rather than focusing on the negatives and where you didn't do well.

6. Make notes during the call

Have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes as you go. Amidst all the anxiety about projecting yourself well, you may forget what the person is actually telling you. If you're making a lot of phone calls it's easy to get confused or misremember something important. Keeping job titles, dates and times noted as well as a summary of what you said and what they said is also a good idea. This will make it easier to get back in direct contact should you need to.

7. Have some constructive questions to ask them

Clearing interviews are not just a chance for tutors to see if you are right for their university, but also for you to work out if they are the right choice for you. Do your research and try to avoid asking daft questions that are easily answered on their website, but equally if you do have niggling questions make sure you ask them. This is a big decision for you and you want to decide with possession of all of the facts. Check what entitlement to accommodation and bursaries you have as a Clearing applicant, as this can vary from university to university. You might also want to ask about open days and opportunities to visit the university so that you

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 can have a look around. Asking questions makes you look keen, inquisitive and motivated – all good qualities that tutors look for.

8. Ask for email confirmation

If the university decides to give you a verbal offer, ask them to confirm their offer and how long it stands for in an email. This will ensure that there is no room for misinterpretation, and if there are any problems later with your Clearing choice not being accepted by the university then you have written evidence to support your claims, which will make your position much stronger.

9. Be persistent and flexible

If at first you don't succeed... keep trying. Even if you have an offer already you can still continue to call universities to receive more offers and then decide which of these you wish to add as your Clearing choice on UCAS Track. The situation can change quickly and even if a university wasn't interested in you initially, if places still exist a few days later there is no harm in trying again. If you find yourself on a reserve list, maintain contact with the university to demonstrate your continued interest.

You are more likely to be successful in finding a place in Clearing if you are flexible and consider similar courses to the one you originally applied for. A lot of courses have similar content and you might be interested in Joint Honours courses such as English and History. Check the course content carefully to see if it interests you and what options you have to change to a single honours course later.

10. Add a Clearing Choice within the allotted time

You can only enter a Clearing choice on Track after 5pm on results day. In addition, most universities will give you a time period (typically 12-48 hours) for which their offer is valid. If you enter a clearing choice after this period has passed then the university may reject you. It is very important that you only enter a Clearing choice on Track if you have spoken to the university or college and they have provisionally offered you a place on the course. If you enter a Clearing choice without discussing it with the university or college, they may take a while to reject you and this can significantly delay the progress of your application, wasting valuable time as other clearing places are taken up.

You can only add one Clearing choice at a time, so only add a choice if you are sure you want to accept the verbal offer that you have been given by the university. You cannot add a Clearing choice until at least 5pm on results day so there is plenty of time for you to make sure that you are happy with your choice and comfortable with studying at your chosen university for three or four years. Go back to your prepared notes of where you are flexible and where you are not prepared to compromise. If you are not totally sure then maybe you are better off taking a gap year and re-applying, rather than starting a course which you are not fully committed to and then dropping out having accumulated thousands of pounds of debt. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Tsrs_top_10_tips_for_clearing

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015 Good luck and don’t panic-we will be there to support you on the day!

Fulwood Academy Guide to A Level Results Day 2015