Results day and Clearing: advice for teachers

With thousands of students securing their place through Clearing every year, it’s becoming a much more common route into university. In this guide, we go through what you need to know to support your students after they submit their applications and beyond.

What is Clearing?

Put simply, Clearing is an opportunity for students to find a course and university that’s right for them after they receive their results, regardless of whether they already have a confirmed place or not. 

Although students can’t apply until they get their results, Clearing 2024 is open from 5 July until 21 October, so there’s plenty of time for them to make their enquiries and applications. The places on offer are unfilled vacancies rather than ‘extra seats’, and students who apply for university through Clearing will not be treated any differently in class than those who were accepted the first time round. Be aware though, that there may be less availability when it comes to things like accommodation.
 

Who is Clearing for?

Students without any offers

You might have students whose applications are rejected, who don’t receive any offers, or who decline their offers. They have the option of applying for a place at university through Extra between 28 February and 4 July where they can contact individual universities to secure an offer. After this deadline, they can use Clearing to find a suitable place. Some students might want to wait for their results or for Clearing rather than applying through Extra. Either is fine—there's no right or wrong way for students to do this.

Students who do not achieve their predicted grades

Whatever the reason, this is not the end of the road for students! Some universities will still accept these students if they've been marked as their firm or insurance choices. If they don’t, students will automatically be entered into Clearing so they can start looking for unfilled vacancies. UCAS will actually match students with courses and universities based on their results, their initial choices, what the universities are looking for, and what previous students in their position have gone on to study. Check out our guide ‘Results day and Clearing: lower results than expected?’ for more information.

Students who achieve higher results than they expected

Students in this position can choose to decline their firm university offer and look for a new course or university. If they are thinking of doing this, they must research their new course and university carefully first, just as they would have done with their initial choices (more on this in ‘How can you help students prepare?’ below).

These students can use the ‘Decline my place’ button on the UCAS platform to remain in control of their application. This means they can release themselves into Clearing and take up another offer if they'd like to. They should only decline their place after they've spoken to the university they want to attend to make sure they can get on the course; once they decline their place, they can't get it back! Check out our guide ‘Results day and Clearing: higher results than expected?’ for more information. 

Students who change their mind

Your mind-changers can also pick a new course through Clearing if they want to! Remind them that they can only accept one Clearing offer though and once they reject their firm choice, they won't be able take up the same place again without going through the Clearing process, and even then, it’s not guaranteed.

Students who haven’t applied yet

If your students missed the initial UCAS deadline, or have only just decided they want to apply, they can use Clearing in the same way as other students. Check out our guide ‘Results Day and Clearing: applying to uni for the first time this cycle?’ for more information.
 

How can you help students prepare?

All students should make a list of alternative courses, universities, and cities just in case. Clearing can be quite overwhelming and having this list will stop them from being tempted too far away from their original choices or making a snap decision that they won't be happy with!

After students submit their applications, they can use Unifrog’s UK university shortlisting tool to create a list of possible alternatives. From 5 July, Unifrog’s Clearing tool is live and students will be able to see which universities have unfilled places to help them create a more realistic list. They’ll be able to search and filter just like they can on the UK Universities tool, and if you have daily summary emails switched on, you'll see what they've been favouriting. Remember that in Clearing, vacancies change quickly so students should always contact the university directly to check for the most up to date information.

You should also make sure students are aware of the Clearing process and how it works. Whether or not they think they might use Clearing, all your students should know about these opportunities just in case. You can send students our guide ‘Results day and Clearing: what is Clearing and how does it work?’ using the ‘share’ button.
 

How can you support students on results day?

Students who do not achieve their predicted grades

These students can sometimes feel like they’ve let themselves and their families down, so be supportive and reassure them that this isn’t the end! Remind them to be open-minded and suggest alternative courses that might be suitable for them, including joint-honours courses. You might want to have a computer room open on results day with some teachers to hand who can help students navigate the Clearing process. Unifrog’s Clearing tool will help students with this, so make sure the teachers who are helping out on the day know how to use it.

You might also want a classroom open for students who are struggling with their results and need some space, or want a quiet place to chat with you or whoever they’ve brought with them.

If your school releases their results by post or your results day isn’t in person, see if you can have a couple of office phone numbers in use for the day for students to call to get advice from teachers, or give students the opportunity to contact you via email or one of the school’s social media channels.

Students who achieve higher results than they expected

In the high of doing so well, some students can get caught up in the excitement of going to a more prestigious or higher-ranked university than the one they'd selected as their firm choice. Going to a higher-ranked university doesn’t necessarily mean they'll receive a better education, or that it'll meet their needs. Help manage their expectations by talking through the Clearing process with them and whoever they’ve brought with them. If there's a course they deliberately avoided applying for because of high entry requirements, suggest that they start by looking at that course first. There’s lots of advice in our guide ‘Results day and Clearing: higher results than expected?’ - signpost students to the guide to support them in making the right choice for them.
 

How can you involve parents or carers?

Lots of students will rely heavily on their families for support and guidance when it comes to changing a course or picking a new one. In the same way that you teach students about Clearing, make sure parents are familiar with their children’s options on and before results day. Parents can help their children explore alternative courses using the list they made, and by exploring Unifrog with them. 

In some families, the pressure to go to university means underachieving on results day hits that much harder. Remind parents that not everything rests on their children’s results and that it’s ok for them to apply via Clearing, to take a year out to work or retake exams, to apply for an apprenticeship, or not go to university at all. Encourage them to help their child research alternatives so they can learn more about the universities or training opportunities they’re interested in.

Giving parents lots of information about alternatives to university early on in the UCAS application process will help prevent them from panicking if their child doesn’t receive any offers, or doesn’t quite meet their grades. Having a teacher on hand to support parents on results day—especially a teacher who regularly works with parents—will also help manage parents’ expectations and will help students feel like they have someone in their corner if things start to get a little heated.