How does UCAS Clearing work? Step by step

If results day didn't go the way you'd hoped, Clearing is how you find a university place fast. Per UCAS, tens of thousands of students get onto a degree this way every August, and the process is more mechanical than it feels. Five steps, in order, and the day stops feeling like chaos.

This guide walks through the exact sequence: searching the Clearing course list, ringing universities, getting a verbal offer, adding a Clearing choice in UCAS Hub, and seeing the university confirm it. Plus the questions to ask on the call so you don't end up locked into a course you regret.

UCAS runs a live search tool listing every course with Clearing vacancies. It updates as places fill, so a course there at 9am might be gone by 11. Filter by subject, region and entry requirements.

Before ringing anyone, build a shortlist of three to five courses you'd actually want. Don't apply for things you don't want to study. A Clearing place is the same degree as a main-cycle place, but it's still three or four years of your life.

Most universities also publish their own Clearing pages with a direct phone number for each subject area, which gets you to an admissions tutor faster than the central switchboard.

This is the bit that makes everyone nervous and shouldn't. The admissions team are expecting hundreds of calls. They want to fill the place. They're checking whether you're suitable and whether you want to be there.

Before you dial, have a single sheet of paper with:

• Your UCAS personal ID (10 digits, in your UCAS Hub)
• Your actual A-Level grades from this morning
• The course code and exact title
• Three or four sentences on why you want to study this subject
• A pen, because you'll be writing things down

When you get through, give your name, personal ID and the course you're calling about. They'll pull up your application. The conversation usually takes two to five minutes. The tutor either says yes on the spot, says no, or says they'll get back to you within a few hours.

If the tutor says yes, that's a verbal offer. It isn't binding yet, on either side. They've reserved a provisional place, and you have a window to formally accept.

Before you hang up, write down:

• Exact course title and UCAS course code
• Any entry conditions attached
• How long you've got to decide
• Whether accommodation is still available, and its deadline
• Who to email with follow-up questions

The decision window varies. UCAS guidance is that most universities give you 24 to 48 hours, though some popular courses ask for same-day confirmation. Always ask, never assume.

Per UCAS, the "Add Clearing choice" button in UCAS Hub goes live at 1pm on A-Level results day. Until then you can't formally accept a Clearing offer even if you've got one verbally.

When you're ready, log in, go to your application and click "Add Clearing choice". Enter the university code, course code and campus code if there's more than one. Double-check these against what the tutor told you. A typo here means you accept a different course.

You can only hold one Clearing choice at a time, and adding it is committing. If you've got two verbal offers and you're still weighing them up, don't add either yet. Once it's in, swapping is possible but messy.

After you add the Clearing choice, the university sees it in their UCAS feed and confirms back through the system. Usually within a few hours, sometimes minutes, and almost always by end of the next working day.

Until confirmation lands, your Hub shows the choice as pending. Once confirmed, your status changes to "Place confirmed" and you'll get an email. That's the moment you've actually got a place. Then it's accommodation, student finance updates and enrolment.

If 24 hours go by without confirmation, ring the admissions office. Usually it's a backlog, occasionally a code was wrong. A quick call sorts it.

Three things tend to go sideways. First, you add the wrong course code. UCAS support can usually fix this if you ring them straight away, but the safe move is reading both codes back to the tutor before you click confirm.

Second, the verbal offer doesn't convert. Rare but it happens, usually because two students were offered the same place. If your Hub doesn't show confirmation within 24 hours, ring the university. Don't email and wait.

Third, you change your mind after adding the choice. The original university has to release you, which takes a phone call and sometimes a written request. Doable but stressful, which is why not rushing step 4 matters.