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Award-winning student describes how she found her place at Harper through Clearing

Posted 16 August 2023

An award-winning student who secured a Harper Adams place through Clearing believes the chance to take a “second opportunity to pick somewhere new” made her time at university all the better.

Final-year BSc (Hons) Food Technology and Product Development student Annabel Rutherford has described her experience in a video for prospective students who – like her – might find themselves looking for a new place through Clearing.

She said: “I applied to go to a different university and my course got dropped just before I wanted to go. I’d just come off holiday, so I wasn’t thinking about what I wanted to do. I rang up my school and I said I was in a bit of a frenzy, basically – and they told me to go look at Harper.”

Annabel, from Northamptonshire, was able to visit Harper Adams – and after seeing the University’s campus and facilities, she set her heart on a place there.

She added: “I had a wander round, I had a one-on-one tour, and I absolutely fell in love with the place – and me and my mum felt it was the right place for me.

“And then I got told that the only place to go was through Clearing, which at first threw me into a bit of a shock – because I always knew Clearing as for the people that, potentially, didn’t get the grades they wanted.

“However, I applied, I rang them up, they gave me my place – and actually it was the best thing I ever did, because it gave me that second opportunity to pick somewhere new, and it’s all turned out for the better in the end.

“It gives you opportunities that potentially you wouldn’t have had had you just gone with your original choice. And I think changing your mind is absolutely fine.”

Annabel is now in the final year of her four-year degree, and secured an Aspire Award at the University’s Placement Awards this year for her placement at Saputo Dairy UK.

The prize, which is given to the student in each subject suite with the highest overall performance in personal development planning, was awarded in May.

Having secured her initial place through Clearing, Annabel is keen to stress to others that the process is simple – and, for her, helped her find a place at a University she loves.

She added: “I got my grades on a Thursday morning at 9am, I think it was, and by 11am I had a place – so I still made it out to go and celebrate with all my friends.

“I literally just rang up, gave them my grades, and they offered me a place there and then – that was it.

“I never looked back.”

If, like Annabel, you are considering applying through Clearing, find out more here.