Clearing is now closed for 2024. Take a look at our undergraduate courses for 2025 entry.
UCAS Clearing glossary
To help you get your head around the UCAS Clearing process in Scotland, and what it all means, we’ve put together a handy glossary of terms so you’re ready to discuss your options when you get your results.
Choice – A choice is a course you apply for. If you’ve applied through UCAS, you may have made multiple choices. When you get your results, you can view our Clearing vacancies - courses with available places - and make your choice through UCAS Clearing.
Clearing – UCAS Clearing is the process you can go through if you didn’t get a place on a course of your choice – whether because you didn’t receive any offers, declined your offers, or didn’t get the grades you needed. Find out more about how clearing works.
Clearing number / ID - If you’ve applied through UCAS and you’re eligible for Clearing, your Clearing number or ID will be on your UCAS Hub welcome page. It is different to your UCAS personal ID.
Clearing Plus is a personalised UCAS service that will match unplaced undergraduate applicants to relevant courses with vacancies.
Conditional offer – An offer of a place on a course subject to certain conditions – usually linked to your results.
Confirmation – If you meet the terms of a conditional offer – for example, you get the required results - you will be offered a place on the course.
Course – View our Clearing courses to find vacancies across different subjects and levels. These will vary depending on which country you are applying from.
Course Code - the UCAS course code is the number in the UCAS system attributed to each course.
Deferral – If you would like to start your course in the following academic year, you can choose to defer an offer.
Extra – Extra is another chance for you to gain a place at university or college. If you used all five of your choices on your original application and you’re not holding an offer, you’ll be able to add another choice using Extra between 28 February and 4 July.
Entry requirements – Each course has criteria - from specific subjects and grades to admissions tests and interviews - that you need to meet to be considered for a place.
Firm choice – An offer you accept as your first choice within your UCAS application.
Hub – UCAS Hub allows you to track your application. During Clearing, if you receive an offer and are applying through UCAS, you will need to add the course to your Hub so it can be processed.
Informal offer – Through UCAS Clearing, you may receive an informal offer. Once you add this as your clearing choice in UCAS Hub and it has been processed, it will be confirmed.
Insurance choice – An offer you accept as your second choice within your UCAS application – in case you don’t meet the conditions of your firm offer.
Point of entry – This is the year of the course you start at. Your point of entry may not always be the first year, depending on your qualifications and the requirements of the course.
UCAS – The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in the UK, through which most students apply to undergraduate courses.
UCAS number / personal ID - your UCAS number is your personal ID given to you by UCAS. It's not the same as your Clearing number or ID.
Unconditional offer – An offer of a place on your chosen course that is subject to no conditions.
Unsuccessful – The outcome of an application if you either haven’t been made an offer or you have not met the conditions of an offer.
Questions about Clearing?
Get in touch and talk to our admissions team about Clearing.