Alice joined her Wildlife Conservation course through Clearing, and talks to us about how the process works and her experience of finding a place at BSU.
I’m Alice, a second year Wildlife Conservation student, and I got into Bath Spa University through Clearing. Although I had applied for BSU through UCAS in 2022, after looking around, I made the mistake of not accepting my offer, and I started university elsewhere.
At the time this felt like the right decision for me but, throughout my first year, it became more and more clear that I had picked the right subject area but the wrong university. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the content of the course and the assignments, but the teaching style and the environment just wasn’t right for me.
During the summer after my first year at the other university, I was on a family holiday in Greece and people kept asking me if I was looking forward to going back to university to do my second year but, in all honesty, I was dreading it.
After speaking with my family and telling them my thoughts about dropping out, they suggested that I instead change universities, and that is what I did. So, while I was on my holiday, I got in contact with the course leader for Wildlife Conservation at BSU, explained my situation to them and asked for some advice. To my surprise I got a reply within hours.
The course leader stayed in contact with me and provided me with all the information I needed and then encouraged me to apply to the course through Clearing to start in September 2023. To start with this felt very overwhelming as I had limited time and I wasn’t sure how the Clearing process worked, but the course leader, along with the University’s Admissions team guided me through the steps.
BSU were so supportive during this process, and they always replied to emails or answered the phone almost immediately, and I am so grateful for this as I wouldn’t have been able to go through Clearing without their support.
The process of Clearing itself was a lot easier than I thought that it would be. First, I had to go into UCAS and create my application, filling out all the personal details, results, and writing my personal statement. Then, before I submitted the application, I phoned Bath Spa University’s Clearing phone line, where they were able to tell me if there was space on the Wildlife Conservation course and they gave me a verbal offer.
After this phone call, I was able to add the course to my UCAS application, but before I could submit it, I had to find someone who was happy to write a reference for me. Luckily one of the lecturers from my previous university was very understanding of my decision and she offered to write my UCAS reference.
I was then finally able to submit the UCAS application, and all I had to do was wait for a response from BSU, which to my surprise came the next day – I had been accepted into Bath Spa University through Clearing! Once I got that email, I was so excited, and I knew that I had made the right decision and, since being at BSU, I haven’t regret that decision once.
So, for any prospective students worried about not getting the grades or applying last minute like I did, I promise you that going through Clearing is worth it and that studying at Bath Spa University will be the best decision you make!