Deciding on which university

THIS weekend many A-level candidates will be basking in the glory of excellent examination results.

For others, this will be an anxious time and important decisions need to be taken quickly.

Judging by the telephone calls I made on Thursday, some UK universities had not yet decided whether to give places to candidates who had just missed their offers. Examination results are issued to universities three days before they reach schools, so you'd think they'd had time to make their decisions. But apparently it's not that simple. In the next week or so, many universities try hard to land a few more good candidates. Admissions tutors understand that applicants want to be put out of their misery and promise to inform candidates as soon as possible.

If you missed your UK offer, the first thing to do is to log on to the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) website and go to "tracking".

Many applicants will discover that their places have been confirmed even though they did not meet the offer. For very competitive courses, this may not be the case. If it seems from the website that no decision has been made, contact the university directly and ask.

Sometimes the UCAS website will show that students have been offered a place on a different course; you may not want to accept this. The course offered may be very similar, but it is important to check in the prospectus and discuss this option with your higher education advisor.

If you have missed both your firm offer and your insurance offer, you can go into clearing, which opened on Thursday. Go to the UCAS website and look at all the universities that still have places, but be very choosy. If you need a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, you must check that the course and the university have been approved, otherwise you will not get funding. Some very prestigious universities are in clearing, for example Durham.

I noticed yesterday that it has places for Accounting and Finance, a very popular course among young Bruneians. Durham is rated highly (11th) for Accounting and Finance by the Times Good University Guide.

Beware however. Universities may leave a course in the clearing list just to see if they can scoop up one more excellent candidate with very good grades. They may not be prepared to accept results below their standard offer. There is no harm in looking at the clearing lists anyway, without making any commitment. If you identify a course that meets your requirements, you can press the university, which is still considering your original application, for a decision. Almost everything is flexible at this stage. You want to get into the best university possible for the right course and the universities want the best candidates that are available. The important thing is to keep phoning and talking to people to ensure that you achieve the best possible outcome for you.

Surely persuading the university you are keen on counts for something, so don't give up!

Another option, if you have not got the place you want, is to withdraw from UCAS altogether and retake your A-levels. It is only worth doing this, if there is a reasonable chance that you will improve your grades. Many candidates retake and do worse than they did the first time, so think carefully.

You may only need to retake one A-level and you can do this in November. Afterwards you can travel or get a job for six months and even live a little! You will apply in September for entry in 2009 through UCAS. You'll get the results from November retakes in March and know then whether you are onto your chosen course. Of course it's hard to watch your friends go off to university next month, but it's much better to retake A-levels at 18 than try to do it at 26. Don't accept a place on a course you do not want. It will only end in tears.

You may have surprised yourself and achieved very high grades which you, your parents and your teachers did not expect. If you have four or five As and applied to middle-ranking universities, you might consider withdrawing from UCAS altogether for this year and having another go for September 2009. By December you may be holding several unconditional offers from top universities for entry next year.

Why settle for a degree from Newtown University, when you now stand a chance at Oxford or Cambridge, LSE or Durham? It's worth thinking about, but this is a strategy that needs discussion. Inevitably this course of action involves taking a gap year. Many students do much better at university by having a break between school and university. Getting a job and some work experience is a good way of deciding whether you have chosen the right degree programme.

Those who enter university with some experience of the world are often more focussed and mature and tend to be more motivated when it comes to getting down to hard work.

The possibilities for gap years are endless. Many young people chose to work at home initially to make a little money and then head off overseas in the New Year. Six months' teaching in China or India will certainly make you grow up a bit. Many organisations exist to place young people overseas in exciting and worthwhile positions.

It is vital to enlist with a reputable company of course. An Internet search will provide a long list of possibilities. Strong candidates who have secured a place for this September may be able to defer the place until next year in order to take a gap year.

For those going off to a UK university this September, the next few weeks will be a busy time. A little preliminary reading would not be a bad idea, particularly since some time is lost at the start of the first term, sorting out boring things like bank accounts and winter clothing. September can be perfectly balmy in the UK so there is no need to panic about the weather. You are going to Sheffield not Sverdlovsk and it won't get chilly for a while.

We will think of you, trudging your way home through fog and sleet, as we watch the sun set behind Bukit Shahbandar and light up the sky in glorious technicolour.

The writer is the principal of Jerudong International School.

The Brunei Times