What Is Clearing at the University of East London and How Does It Work?

Updated

Clearing at the University of East London (UEL) is the route to apply for an autumn start when there is still time to secure a place. UEL's own site states plainly: "There's still time to apply to start this autumn — Apply through Clearing." If you have no plan yet, are unsure which course fits, or assumed the deadline had passed, Clearing is the pathway UEL directs you to. The practical first move is to contact the UEL Clearing team rather than trying to work it out alone.

What Clearing is for at UEL

Clearing is presented on the UEL site as an active application route, not a leftover option. The page pairs it with a direct call to action and a student account of using it, which tells you the university expects applicants to arrive without a settled plan and still find a course.

It suits you if:

  • You want to start this autumn and have not yet applied or accepted a place.
  • You are unsure which course is right and want guidance before choosing.
  • You assumed you had missed your chance and stopped looking.

How the process works

The steps below follow what UEL and its student testimonial describe. UEL does not publish a detailed menu-by-menu walkthrough on this page, so treat the sequence as the route the university itself points to rather than a script of exact screens.

  1. Contact the UEL Clearing team. This is the step UEL emphasises. Nancy, a Medical Physiology student who entered through Clearing, says: "Just call the UEL Clearing team, they can help you and guide you with the steps you need to take with your course selection."
  2. Get guidance on course selection. The team helps you narrow down which course fits, rather than leaving you to search alone.
  3. Ask what the course is actually like. Nancy notes the team can "explain to you what the course is like, the duration and future job opportunities" — so use the call to get content, length and career context, not just a place confirmation.
  4. Apply through Clearing. The site's Clearing page carries the application entry point for an autumn start.

Expected result: you move from no plan to a course choice and an application, with the course's content, duration and career prospects explained to you along the way.

What students say about it

Nancy's account is the most concrete evidence on the page for how Clearing feels in practice. Her key observations:

  • "Clearing was so much easier and simpler than I thought."
  • She was "really stressed and overwhelmed" beforehand "because I had no plan."
  • The Clearing team "was able to help me find the right course for me."
  • Her advice: "just don't be scared and just do it."

The lesson worth taking: the stress came from having no plan, not from the process itself. A single call replaced the uncertainty.

Common sticking points

  • Waiting because you feel unprepared. Nancy's experience suggests the opposite — the call is what creates the plan.
  • Only asking "is there a place?" Ask about course content, duration and job outcomes too; UEL's team is described as covering all three.
  • Assuming Clearing is a lesser route. UEL presents it as a standard way to start this autumn, alongside its main course search.

Where to start

Go to the UEL Clearing page and contact the Clearing team. If you already know roughly what you want to study, you can also search courses by type — Clearing, undergraduate, postgraduate, short course or apprenticeship — but the team call is the step UEL and its students both point to first.