Making a decision over which uni you’ll go to in five minutes is less than ideal, but sometimes it has to be done. If you need to make a quick decision during clearing, here’s our guide on what to look for.

University rankings

So you’ve found the ideal course for you during clearing and now it’s time to take a look at the university and see if it’s what you’re looking for. If you don’t know where to start, logically, looking at the university ranking is a good first step to take into deciding how well established an institution is. The rankings give you an idea of how the university scores in relation to teaching, research and employability expectations after graduation. Read more information on using university rankings if you’ve got time!

Living costs

It’s a well known fact that you can expect living costs to increase in certain regions of the country. Rent can be higher in places like London, as can food prices, travel and the cost of a beverage down your local. Other cities are much cheaper to live in, so take a look at student accommodation costs, flatshare costs and travel fares home. If you are looking to spend much less on living costs, a university closer to home may be the cheapest option available as you could continue to live at home and commute.

Facilities and staff

Universities aim to employ the best, most appropriate staff they can, while ensuring the facilities at the university are of a high standard. Some universities have more specialist equipment than others and some have members of staff that have been in their field of expertise longer than staff at other institutions. These may be two factors that could affect your decision on whether to study at an institution or not. It doesn’t take long to visit an institution’s website and have a gander at their prospectus, course staff and facilities on offer. Many universities include this information on their website as standard to draw students in.  Universities also supply information in bite size chunks on their websites to inform students during clearing about the university and clearing process; allowing you to read through it quickly.

Online tours

You may want to take a look at the university in question in more detail, and you may not have time to visit one of their clearing open days. If this sounds like you, it may be of interest to know that many universities have visual online tours available on their websites. These tend to be in the form of short five minute videos showing you the accommodation, the facilities and the students union at the institution. If you want to get a feel for a university then this may be of benefit to you.

Distance from home

You may not want to move away from home as mentioned before, or you may want to move but still be close to home to get back on a more regular basis. If so, then take a look at routes home on trains and coaches before making the decision. If you live the Midlands then a university in the Midlands may be the best option if you want to get home quickly and cheaply. It is important to consider how far away from home you will be during your studies, especially when applying during clearing as you don’t want to be stranded half way across the country on a whim.

So there you have it. A personalised university tour in less than five minutes. Not ideal, but better than pulling the trigger without doing any research!

The education grading system is a strange thing really, you go through the education system working with the same old system of As, Bs and Cs and when you finally get to the pinnacle of your education, everything changes to 2:1s and 2:2s. We’ve knocked up a quick guide on the subject that we think might help your understanding a little.

History

The university grading system, like a lot of stuff at university (throwing hats, scrolls, getting your first 3-day hangover) is mostly down to tradition. At first the degree system was simply based upon the comparison with your classmates – the class was grouped into the top 25%, the middle 50%, and the bottom 25%. The system developed since it was first introduced in the 16th century into what we know it as today – an arbitrary way of defining percentage grades, more or less exactly the same as the A, B and C system. But that’s why we use numbers instead of letters. You can tick off ‘learn something’ from your list of things to do today, now.

The Grading System

Now, the system is separated into percentage grade groups from examination results. This isn’t all encompassing, however: sometimes a university or department will intervene with the results and award a student with a higher or lower degree classification as they see fit. Most of the time, though, the table underneath more or less sums up what’s meant by each grade.

The ‘equivalent’ bit to this doesn’t quite compare to your A-Levels or GCSEs – any degree is a very good thing to get, and although it’d be better to achieve a higher grade, even just a normal pass in a degree programme is not something to be sneered at – degrees are hard, that’s why they’re so well-valued!

The ‘Honours’ Part

This is a little more complicated and varies with each university. Generally, though, honours degrees are awarded to all students who get above 45% and don’t have to resit any of their examinations. This means that to be awarded an honours, a student must always get above 40% in every single exam that contributes at all towards their final grade. Though this is dependent on the university, it’s generally quite a good guideline.

Other universities may require that you complete a large body of work known as a dissertation alongside your exams to earn your honours degree.

To completely understand your university’s honours system, it’s best to talk to one of  your lecturers or your examinations officer.

The Stranger Stuff

Particularly well-regarded universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge and York, have more complicated systems – Oxford students could be awarded a 4th level degree right up until the 1970s, and a handful of UK universities still award double-starred firsts and other, weirder awards. Most of the time, though, there’s no need to worry about those – if you’re lucky enough to get one, someone will probably tell you.