Aarti graduated from Thames Valley University in London with a BA in Humanities (Media Arts with English).

When I received my A level grades, I knew straight away that I would not be accepted at any of the universities that I had applied to, and I panicked.

One of the first things I did was call up all those universities, just to see if there was any chance of getting on a course. I had been told that if they had places left I may still get on, but they did not, so I panicked again.

Eventually, I knew I had to do something quickly to secure a place at a university by the start of the new term.

So, I went to my school careers office and got a copy of the Ucas book which had a listing of all the universities in the country, and from there my experience of clearing began.

'Sigh of relief'

What made it easier for me, was the fact that I knew that I only really wanted to go to university in London, which limited the choice, so all I needed to do was find out which universities had a media studies course.

In the end, I had 13 universities to call up, all day every day, and although I knew it would be extremely tedious, I felt determined to get what I wanted.

Many students panic about trying to secure a university place

Within a matter of hours my list had become shorter, basically because most of the courses at the universities were full. I began to lose my patience, but I still called up day after day.

Finally after much grief, I was accepted into three universities. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I was so excited because I would be going to "uni" with the rest of my mates, and did not feel like the only one with nowhere to go.

Out of my "special" three, two universities did not offer me the course that I was mostly interested in - media, which really annoyed me because I thought I would be back to square one.

That was until I spoke to someone representing Thames Valley University.

This clearing helper was positive and helped me decide on my course. I told her about the other two offers not being what I was looking for, and she immediately told me about the three-year BA humanities course at TVU.

I was slightly unsure as to what humanities was, but she explained it all clearly.

I accepted the offer and began my degree at Thames Valley University in October 1995.

My time there was amazing. I met the nicest people and had such a good time that I would not go back and change my choice at all. The course work was tough at times, like all degree courses would be, but I persevered and eventually received my honours degree for Media Arts and English.

Clearing really is not as bad as everyone makes out. I think people often feel as though it is for failures, and that is not the case. If anything, I thought it was a positive experience, which gave me the chance to consider where and what I wanted to do.