Returning to Clearing

Yesterday was first day back at work and it started early as I volunteered to work on the clearing helpline from 07:30 along with about 50 others. Still feeling tired and out of synch with the travelling and time zones so probably not at best but it was a really interesting day talking to such a wide variety of callers during my stint. Of course while I was away people had been in over the previous weekend to download the results which took a couple of hours and it all went smoothly due to careful planning (thank you Susan). Every one of the calls was different and this surprised me I was expecting a stream of 18 year old A level students who didn't quite get their grades but in fact there were mature applicants, students who had taken a year or two out, students who were changing courses after a year from other places and they were from all over the place. Lots of interest in the Life Sciences but a wide variety of other courses and the callers seemed very clued up on the specific course they were interested in. Perhaps the internet is changing the way that people do their research prior to calling as they can get so much quickly online. Also I was surprised by the quality of the candidates - mainly very good and often excellent grades. Positive stuff overall but we won't know the final out-turn for a little while yet. The telephone and IT systems worked pretty faultlessly all day and that is thanks to a big team effort - lots of people involved in making the day a success from an operational point of view. No one really notices when it all goes right but it's truly appreciated by those with scars from when it wasn't so smooth.....