Sophie Brine has her gran to thank for her new outlook on life.

Two years ago Sophie was distraught and thought she had no future.

The previous four years of her life had been focused on getting good GCSEs and studying for top A-level grades - but her dreams of a medical career now lay in tatters.

For she had been turned away from all the universities she had approached - told she wouldn't get the grades they wanted for their fiercely-contended medicine and nursing courses - and had received no offers.

But everything changed on the day Sophie received her long-awaited A-level results - when she was left devastated and distraught.

Sophie, who lives in Denton Holme, Carlisle, said: "I'd already spent months contacting and applying to universities initially for medicine and then nursing. I was being told that they thought I wouldn't get the grades.

"By the time we reached May I didn't have any offers and I was panicking. I'd been in education all my life, it was the only thing I knew and I was asking myself what else was I going to do because I had no job and I'd always wanted to go to university.

"As a result of being declined so often I ended up nearly flunking all of my exams because I'd given up and I didn't know what else I could or wanted to do. I knew I was going to have to go through clearing and everything, the pressure, was just piling up."

Sophie, from Winchester, was a successful at school achieving 16-20 GCSE grades A*-C, before switching to do her A-levels at her local college.

Two years ago she got her results. She got a B in music and a C in biology, but she failed chemistry completely with a U (ungraded).

She had also gained a qualification in history.

"I remember A-level results day well," Sophie, now aged 20, said.

"My family always go on a long camping holiday to a remote spot in Wales and it was then I needed to be in a place where I could phone and contact people via the internet, so I was staying with my gran.

"My gran is always up early and me being a typical teenager then I wasn't up. She got my up because she knew clearing would start at 7am.

"I'd got my results and called around a few universities again for medicine or nursing but it was hopeless. I remember going downstairs bawling my eyes out."

She continued: "My gran then sat me down at the table, made me a coffee and it was a case of calming me down.

"It was then she told me that there was so much more that I could do. She told me I couldn't think straight because I was so upset. She was right.

"She went on to talk to me about the things she said I was good at as I was growing up. She reminded me that I could do other things like music, and she called me her 'drama queen'. She said I could look to do those, or maybe history because I'd been good at that too growing up. She even told me I didn't have to go to university.
"I even remember gran helping me learn my lines when I was the lead in my year six play in primary school."

With the mood lightened, Sophie quickly began researching online musical theatre and drama courses and coming across the University of Cumbria.

"It was the first university I phoned when I decided to go for it," said Sophie.

"My mum's family is from Scotland too but honestly I didn't have a clue where Cumbria was.

"It was the course details that attracted me instantly - 80 per cent of it was practical and in the first year I couldn't fail so I knew I would have 12 months to get back into the swing of things again."

Sophie was also not put off by moving to a new place either.

"Everywhere I've been when it comes to college and things I've always gone somewhere different to friends," she said. "I like a fresh start and to meet new people."

A short time later Sophie called the University of Cumbria's clearing hotline and, possibly it was fate, she spoke to the man who would later become her personal tutor at the Brampton Road campus in Carlisle.

Her life was about to take a sharp turn in a new direction - one that is more than 370 miles from her family home.

"I got my details together - things like my clearing reference number, details of my qualifications and I also made a list of my previous experience that I thought would be relevant because I knew the results I'd just received were when I was wanting to do medicine.

"I called the university and I ended up speaking straight away to the tutor who would become my personal tutor on the course.

"I gave him my reference details so they could find me on the system. I also said I'd made a list and could I give details of my experience. I did that and he said I'd be perfect and that I'd get the telephone interview the next day."

The interview lasted 45 minutes and Sophie got an offer to join the musical theatre and drama degree course which in Carlisle two weeks later.

"I felt great and it made me realise that my gran was right and that there is always more than one pathway to anything you want to try or do," she said.

"I went downstairs and told my gran. I knew my mum was not going to be happy because of the distance and it was only two weeks before I was due to go."


Gill Haigh

The University of Cumbria - recently voted second nationally for graduate employability - opens its Clearing hotline on Thursday to support students as they receive their A-level results.

The call centre opens earlier than in previous years, at 6.30am, and expert call handlers will be able to offer guidance on the availability of courses, eligibility, interviews, course details and other support services.

There are still some spaces left for students in the following subject areas: Teaching, Sport, English, Business, Law and Social Sciences, Creative Arts, Performance, Applied Psychology, Social work, Sciences and Policing.

This year there will be even more Clearing hotlines, with 39 phone lines which will be manned by more students and academics. The chances are callers will be speaking to students or even their course tutor who will be able to offer advice on their options and give them the ‘low down’ on what it’s really like to study at the university.

The university has a wide variety of routes into learning so even if students haven’t got the grades they were hoping for or are returning to studies later in life, the university says it may offer the solution

It is also offering specialist advice and guidance to teachers and others supporting and advising students who are contemplating Clearing. The dedicated number for teachers is 01228 616333.

The team will also this year be based at various schools and colleges throughout the county and Lancashire, so they can offer immediate help and advice as students receive their results.

Gill Haigh, director of marketing and recruitment, said: “People choose to come through Clearing for all sorts of reasons and there are more opportunities than ever before to get into university this year. The University of Cumbria has a 97 per cent rate for graduate employability and many of our courses have top satisfaction rates so my advice is, give us a call and we’ll take you through your options. The possibilities are endless.”

Course vacancies will be kept up to date on the university website www.cumbria.ac.uk and students can follow the university on Twitter (@CumbriaUni) or Facebook www.facebook.com/universityofcumbria throughout the day.

The clearing call centre number 08081 787373, which is free from landline and mobiles, will be open from 6.30am to 8pm on Thursday, 8am to 6pm on Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturday and then 10am to 4pm on Sunday. It is normal office hours, 8.30am to 5pm from Monday.

There will also be opportunities to visit the university campuses on Saturday. The university also has a range campus tours available in the week after clearing which can be booked through the university's clearing section

Sophie is now looking forward to starting her final year of her degree course this autumn and is loving life in Carlisle and at the University of Cumbria.

Her first year was spent living with seven other girls, all on the same course. Sophie has since moved into other shared accommodation.

When it comes to her future plans, Sophie is now not worried about keeping her options open. She isn't quite sure about what to do after graduating next summer, but teaching or working professionally in London are possibilities.

"All the tutors and students have been brilliant and really supportive throughout," Sophie said.

"The students' union has been great too and everyone is really good, particularly when it comes to your first experience of living alone and providing help and support you need.

"I absolutely adore the course too. You're learning by doing, not by sitting behind a desk thinking about how something would work. You're doing it."

So all is not lost for any student unsure of what tomorrow may bring.

And Sophie's key piece of advice for any fellow up and coming undergraduates looking to secure a coveted university place through clearing this year?

"Pick something that you love doing and you will be absolutely fine."