Before you apply in Clearing

It's really important to create a UCAS account if you don’t already have one. It can take up to 48 hours for UCAS to verify new accounts, so creating your account early will reduce stress on results day.

Before you apply, you should investigate universities you’re interested in that offer the subjects you would like to study. Use this information to produce a shortlist that includes:

• the UCAS course code
• the university name and contact details
• how they wish to receive your Clearing application.

You can find this information on university websites or the UCAS website. At Reading, we plan to indicate whether a course is available in Clearing from 5 July, and will update our entry requirements on 14 August.

You need to be in Clearing before you can accept any offers.

If you’re in Clearing, your UCAS account will say You are in Clearing or Clearing has started. If you’ve never applied to university or you were not offered a place, you should automatically be in Clearing.

If, however, you have been confirmed at a university, you will need to decline your place with them before you can accept any other offer. You do this via your UCAS Hub account.

You may be in the position of having all your results but still showing as Conditional at your firm choice university. This occurs when they haven’t been able to make a decision on your place. Even if you no longer want to go to that university, you can’t use the Decline my place function to release yourself into Clearing. Instead, contact UCAS, who can guide you through the process. Alternatively, you can contact that university directly and ask them to reject you.

You might want to wait until you have some offers before you do this, but remember that this is an important step or you won’t be able to accept any Clearing offers.