I didn’t get the grades I need for university - what do I do now?

First of all, do not worry! There are other routes that can be taken to land you in the same place.

Talk to your school/college and then your preferred university to see if you can apply through clearing. Decide if you are willing to continue studying or explore other options.

What is clearing?

Clearing is a method universities use to fill up any left spaces they have available.

To apply to clearing, call universities as soon as possible with your identification, clearing ID your achieved grades and the name of the course you want to apply to. From there, you have to make a compelling case as to why the university should accept you. To increase your chances of successfully going through clearing, you might want to head to the universities website before you call up and research the university.

For courses such as Medicine or Dentistry, you may want to ask the university if they have spaces on their foundation year programmes due to last minute dropouts or people who did not get accepted.

Other options

If you want to continue studying you can resit your exams and speak to your institution about doing so with them.

If you decide that you don’t want to retake a year you can explore other options such as degree apprenticeships or taking a gap year to gain some experience.

Gap year

Gaining this experience will allow you to fully comprehend what your chosen career path entails and it will also boost your personal statement for when you reapply.

Universities are more interested in what you do during your gap year rather than the reason you took it.

Check out our latest advice on how to make the most out of your work experience here.

Degree apprenticeships

Getting a degree apprenticeship can be as competitive as applying to university. However, the experiences differ massively.

In degree apprenticeships, you learn on-the-job whilst getting paid whereas at university you pay to get taught and can only start receiving a salary once you graduate.

At the end of the apprenticeship, you will have similar qualifications as your friends who have taken the university route.

For advice on degree apprenticeships for your course, please visit our alternative pathways page.

Authors: Liyana H & Ivan S