Duaa is in her first year of studying BSc Clinical Sciences here at The University of Bradford, she tells us about her Clearing experience.
Duaa Abdulal, BSc (Hons) Clinical Sciences
Plan C
There are all sorts of ridiculous myths surrounding the Clearing process and as someone who went through it all, I can now confirm that most of them are untrue.
Applying to universities through Clearing could have been a long and exhausting process, especially since I had not originally gone through the conventional UCAS process. However, the people I spoke to throughout the process were incredibly supportive and helped me deal with that results day anxiety that the majority of us feel.
“Doomsday” aka Results Day
I had originally planned on taking a gap year after completing my A-Levels and that seemed like a great idea at the time because I could focus on my studies whilst all my friends were stressing over personal statements and interviews etc.
Unfortunately, on results day, I did not do as well as I hoped I would in one of my subjects. It would be false news for me to claim that I did not mope around for a good couple of hours until my mum told me to snap out of it and check out Clearing.
So, after several hours of ringing different universities and reading course descriptions, I finally came across the Clinical Sciences course at the University of Bradford. Before results day, I had never even heard of the University of Bradford and then suddenly I had found a course which sounded perfect for me.
The interview
You do not need to be interviewed for most university courses, but the course I applied to through clearing required me to be interviewed before I could receive an offer. “I could do it now” were the words that I could not stop from leaving my mouth when I was asked when I would be able to complete the phone interview. Under normal circumstances, I would advise others to avoid doing that and to maybe take some time to prepare before any interviews, but then again, my spontaneous decision did work out in my favour.
Within an hour or so of contacting the University of Bradford, I had managed to secure my place on the foundation year of the Clinical Sciences course.
The interview itself seemed like the “easy” part of the Clearing process because I was then asked to provide my personal statement and references; the only minor problem was that I did not have either of those ready. Did I mention that results day was a bit draining in every sense of the word? Everyone I had spoken to at the university was extremely helpful and they even replied to all the emails I had bombarded them with, so I did not struggle too much to sort my application out.
Everything happens for a reason
The truth is that everybody’s Clearing experience is slightly different and it sounds tacky but there is no right or wrong way to go through it. By the end of results day, I was really happy with the fact that I had gotten onto a decent course, but it was also a bittersweet moment since things had not gone the way that I thought they would. It has now been nearly two years since I went through the Clearing process and I have no regrets whatsoever.
I know many people who went through Clearing for all sorts of reasons and the majority of them are really pleased with the decisions they made. Clearing is not just a one-day event that people go through just because they might have not received their offers or whatnot, Clearing is a really valuable time in which you can make significant changes to your future plans. It can seem a bit overwhelming at the time, but willingly or unwillingly going through Clearing is really not the end of the world.
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