Being an international student, applying for universities can be overwhelming. The Clearing experience was much better than I expected, and one that I’m glad I went through.

I went through Clearing three years ago, when I was at a different university studying a different degree, which was LLB Law. I didn’t enjoy the course and my previous university, so after long conversations with the relevant people, I decided to change university and degree. At that time it was too late to apply in the usual way, so I had to go through Clearing. I didn’t know much about the procedure, but through looking at UCAS, and the universities I wanted to go to, it became a lot clearer and easier.

From what I remember, once I had decided on my UCAS options the process was very quick. I was contacted by Bournemouth University to discuss my reason for the application and why I was changing universities and my degree. The exchange of emails happened quickly and helped me a lot, then within two weeks of applying I got an interview from the programme coordinator, which took place through Skype. After the interview, the process was quick and I received an acceptance within a few days.

The process was easy, and not as stressful as I thought it would be. The programme coordinator helped me collect the documents I needed, and directed me to the relevant people that I needed to speak to for the application to run through smoothly. After sending off my documents, the response was quick and I was notified of my acceptance within a week. The whole process took about a month, and after studying for three years at Bournemouth University, I can say it’s one of the best decisions I have made.

By Douglas Tham

Douglas is a current student from the USA and has just completed his final year of BA (Hons) Politics and Media.

You can find out more about Clearing on our website.