A level results - be prepared!

First of all congratulations to all students who achieved the grades they needed for their university places!

However your son or daughter may not have quite achieved the grades they needed for their first choice and maybe even for their insurance choice.

If this is the case there are various options and if the school has tutors ready to help make use of them. If not (or as well) suggest the following to your son or daughter:

• It might be worth phoning the admissions tutors to see if they will still accept him or her with lower grades. The results slip will give a breakdown of marks so you will be able to see if he or she has just missed out on a B that is crucial to their offer. You have nothing to lose from this and possibly a place to gain!
• If the grades are lower than both offers, and she have been unable to persuade either institution to accept her, she can go through the clearing system. The sooner you start this the better. All places which are yet to be filled are available to see online and she should work through these with a tutor or a parent.
• If his grades are significantly lower than those predicted, he may decide in consultation with you and his teachers that one or some of your papers should be remarked. There is a limited time-frame for this and it does not always work in the student's favour. However I know one student who had a D regraded to an A and her first choice then accepted her!
• She may, however, decide to retake parts of the examinations to try to improve her grades. This will involve sorting out tutoring and reapplying to university for the following year.

Clearing

• During Clearing in 2006, 500,000 web searches were counted on first day of clearing – 44,000 of which were in first half an hour!
• The most popular courses searched for in clearing were: psychology, economics, English and medicine.
• More than 30,000 students gain a university place through Clearing every year the sooner you apply the more chance you have of gaining a place you would like.
• You will also see courses which still have places available published in newspapers. UCAS has awarded The Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers the rights to publish UCAS Clearing Listings for the following three years.

If your son or daughter has just received his or her AS results and is considering  applying to university, they should be thinking about writing their personal statement and deciding which universities they wish to view.

You will find more information on the application process in  Anne Coates' book: Applyng to University The Essential Guide . To order a copy from Amazon. click the link below:

Applying to University: The Essential Guide