Clearing: Frequently asked questions

Every year thousands of students find their ideal undergraduate course through Clearing. Clearing matches students who are looking for a different course or university to their original choice, or who are applying for the very first time after 30 June, to courses that universities still have places on.

Find out more about how Clearing works

Clearing is open and if you already have your results and know the course you'd like to study you can apply now. 

Apply now for Clearing

The majority of people apply through Clearing once they receive their exam results on A level / T level results day (17 August 2023).

In the meantime, you can find lots of Clearing information on our website:

• Browse Clearing courses
• How to apply through Clearing
• How to prepare for Clearing

All students in the UK looking to start an undergraduate course in September 2023 can apply through Clearing. Clearing is also open to international students. With just a couple of exceptions, Clearing isn't used for postgraduate courses. It's also not available if you want to transfer to us from another university straight into the second or third year of a course (see below for how to do this).

You can apply through Clearing if:

• You don't meet the conditions of your offer for your firm (first) or insurance (second) choice courses
• Your exam results are better than you expected and you want to change your course/university
• You don't hold any offers
• You're applying for the first time after 30 June 2023
• You've accepted an offer but changed your mind about the course you want to do

You need to make sure you meet the course entry requirements to receive an offer.

Read more about how to apply through Clearing

Yes you can and we welcome applications from international students. You just need to make sure that you have time to get your visa, funding, and English language certification sorted out before the beginning of term.

Read our International Clearing Guide

• If you’re in the UK our Clearing hotline is 023 9284 8090
• If you’re calling from outside the UK the Clearing hotline is +44 (0)23 9284 8090

You can call the hotline number to speak to a member of our advice team as detailed below:  

• Monday to Thursday: 9am - 5pm
• Fridays: 9am - 4pm 
• Thursday 17 August (A level/T level results day): 8am - 8pm
• Friday 18 August: 8am - 7pm
• Saturday 19 August: 10am - 3pm
• Sunday 20 August: the phone line is closed. You can still submit an application through our online form, which will be picked up by our admissions team on Monday.

When you call us you'll need to have:

• Your qualifications and grades, including your GCSE grades
• Your UCAS personal ID (if you've already applied through UCAS this year)
• Your address, phone number and email address
• A list of questions you want to ask us
• An explanation of why you want to do the course and why you are right for it, particularly if you are changing your planned subject of study

Get more tips in our how to apply through Clearing guide.

Usually you don't have to provide a portfolio or attend an interview to get a place in Clearing.

If your course does require it, our admissions officers will tell you when you speak to them.

The entry requirements for courses can change in Clearing but if you want an idea of what grades we usually accept, take a look at our undergraduate course pages.

Even if you don't quite meet the entry requirements, we'd still encourage you to apply as you could still get a place.

You can apply through Clearing as soon as you have your exam results.

The busiest day for Clearing is A level/T level results day on Thursday 17 August 2023 and the most popular courses will fill up quickly.

When Clearing closes depends on when all the course vacancies are filled. The final possible day for a Clearing application is 18 October 2023, but we may close Clearing before this.

We'd love you to come and visit us. We're holding two special Clearing visit days, on Saturday 19 and Monday 21 August, 10am-2pm.

• Learn more about what to expect on our Clearing visit days
• Book a place at a Clearing visit day

We do consider transfers for many of our courses to start at the beginning of the academic year. However, you can't do this through Clearing so please don't fill-in our Clearing form.

Whether you join us in the second or third year depends on how well the units you've achieved so far match the units on our course. To be considered for a transfer you'll need to apply online via www.ucas.com.

For more information on this process, you can call us on 023 9284 8090 or email us at admissions@port.ac.uk.

Use our course search to find a course that you're interested in. If that course has Clearing places available you'll see information about how to apply on the course page.

In most cases postgraduate Master's courses are not available in Clearing as Clearing is focussed on undergraduate courses. If you're interested in studying with us on a Master's course this September there's still time to apply to us directly, using the application form you'll find on each postgraduate course page.

In just a few instances you can apply for some postgraduate courses in Clearing, for example MSc Social Work and our MEng courses. If a course is available in Clearing it will say on the course page.

If the course that you want to do doesn't have Clearing places available give us a call. We may be able to add you to a reserve list and we can talk to you about other, similar courses that might have spaces. Call us on 023 9284 8090.

You can hold as many offers as you like in Clearing, but you can only enter one offer in the UCAS Clearing Hub at a time.  When you've had a confirmed offer from a university and you're sure which offer you want to accept you can enter the details in your UCAS Clearing hub. If you're not applying through UCAS then all the paperwork will be handled directly with the university you choose.

For information about our entry requirements visit our guide 

If you’re an international student with non-UK qualifications you can find our entry requirement equivalencies by looking up your country

Before you do anything you should talk to the other universities you're interested in and ensure that you have a Clearing offer from a university that you'd like to accept.

When you're sure you're ready to decline your existing offer in UCAS you need to log in to your UCAS Hub and click 'decline my place' next to the offer. This will release you into Clearing and you'll then be able to add your Clearing choice.

If you contact us via our phone line or through live chat we can normally give you an immediate decision. If you use our online form we'll get back to you within 1 working day. Your verbal offer will be followed up by an email.

You can learn more about getting and accepting an offer in our how Clearing works guide

After we make you an offer we'll send you a confirmation email. This email will let you know what you need to do next and it will tell you what you need to provide us. In some instances we may ask you to send us copies of certificates or you may need to send us a portfolio. 

If you've previously applied through UCAS you'll need to use your UCAS Hub to accept our offer by adding us as your Clearing choice. 

If you're having issues, please contact us on +44 (0)23 9284 8090 or admissions@port.ac.uk

Once we send your offer email you'll have 24 hours to decide whether to accept it.

It is sometimes possible to defer your place to next year. Speak to us about this when you call us as not all courses accept deferred entry.

You can find more information about deferring your university place here

You need to talk to us about your options and get an offer of a place from us directly. You can contact us through our Clearing hotline - 023 9284 8090 or through live chat.

Once you have your offer, how you complete your application depends on your circumstances.

• If you've already applied through UCAS this year then you need to manage your application through your UCAS Hub
• If you haven't made an application through UCAS this year then your application will be handled directly by our admissions team

If you have any questions about this process don't worry, our friendly phone team will be able to help you.

You can release yourself into Clearing by logging in to your UCAS Hub. Click 'decline my place' next to the course you want to be released from.

You'll then get an email saying you're back in Clearing. If you think you've made a mistake, you should email admissions@port.ac.uk

Make sure you've got a verbal offer for another course or uni before releasing into Clearing – you don't want to be left without a place.

If we've offered you a Clearing place and you previously made your university applications through UCAS, login to your UCAS Hub and select the option 'Add a Clearing choice' under the 'Next Steps' section.

If you're having issues accepting your offer in UCAS, please contact the UCAS customer service team on 0371 468 0 468 (from the UK) or +44 (0)330 3330 230 if outside the UK.

Yes, you'll be offered a guaranteed room in halls if you accept your offer within 48 hours of receiving it. 

If you don't want to live in halls, or you miss out on availability – don't worry. We guarantee that you'll have affordable accommodation close to the University and that we will help you find this. You can pick your home from a huge variety of student accommodation, at a range of prices and no matter where you live you'll be supported 24/7 by our student residents support team.

Learn more in our Clearing accommodation guide

Once you have firmly accepted your place to study here, our student housing team will email you an invite to apply for accommodation. You'll receive this within 24 hours of accepting your place.

Learn more in our Clearing accommodation guide

No, it's not too late and you should make your application for student finance as soon as possible. You don't have to wait for your results. You can make your application now and just amend it when you know where you're going to be.

If you've already made a student finance application and you change your university or living arrangements through Clearing you'll need to update your application

Find out more in our student finance for Clearing guide