How to view the Clearing experience positively video transcript

4 August 2020

Gareth sits on a chair in front of a dark background. Gareth has a beard and long dark hair. He wears a black bandana on his head.

[Gareth Hughes - Researcher and Psychotherapist]

So, I mean first of all you have certainty now. You had uncertainty before and actually our brain doesn't deal very well with uncertainty. We're not very good, we're not primed to deal with ambiguity. So the fact that you now know exactly what grade you've got actually makes you able to plan. It gives you an opportunity to reflect on actually what did you really enjoy, what went really well, why might it be that the grades didn't go well. And actually you can learn from this process.

There are lots of students who we see every year who will say "I didn't get the grades I wanted, I had to go through Clearing, but actually I'm really glad because I ended up on a course that I would have enjoyed much more." It gives you a chance to stop and think about what you really want, what you're good at, what you enjoy, what you are passionate about, and what kind of career - don't get too narrow in thinking about exactly what job you want - but what kind of career might you want to do. Is it working with people, working on your own, that kind of thing. And actually, by using that certainty as a platform, you can then plan much more productively and much more accurately about what you want next.

So, absolutely, the fact you've ended up in Clearing doesn't have to be a negative thing at all.

How to view the Clearing experience positively video

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