Clearing 2026: the subjects with hundreds of universities, and the ones with 26

By Sophie Chen · Updated 30 July 2026

People talk about Clearing as if it is one thing: a scramble on results morning for whatever places are left. It isn't one thing. Whether Clearing is a real second chance for you, or barely exists at all, depends almost entirely on the subject you want to study. The gap between subjects is enormous, and nobody tells you where you sit on it before you are refreshing the UCAS page at eight in the morning.

So I counted. On 30 July 2026 I went through UCAS's own course search and pulled the number of undergraduate courses, and the number of universities offering them, for every subject a school-leaver is likely to apply for. There are 42,657 undergraduate courses starting this September across 358 universities and colleges. That is the headline that makes Clearing sound easy. The subject-by-subject figures are where it stops being easy.

The subjects where Clearing is a wide-open door

If you want to study business, psychology, computing, media, criminology or sport, you are shopping in a buyer's market. Business studies is listed at 210 different universities and colleges this September. Media studies is at 176, psychology at 168, computer science at 162, engineering at 154, criminology at 144, sports science at 143. When a subject is taught at a hundred and fifty places, results morning does not close it down. Some of those universities will fill; plenty will still be answering the phone at four in the afternoon, and a fair few will still have space the next day.

This is the honest reassurance most results-day advice skips because it sounds too casual: in these subjects, if you miss your firm choice by a grade, you will almost certainly still start a degree this September. Not necessarily at the university you first wanted, and that distinction matters, but a place exists. Breathe, then work the phones.

The subjects where Clearing barely happens

Now the other end. Veterinary medicine is taught at 26 universities in the entire country, across 78 course listings. Dentistry is at 26 as well. Pharmacy is at 57, midwifery at 57, physiotherapy at 80. These are not subjects with a few leftover places on results day. They are subjects that were effectively full last October, filled by students holding conditional offers, regulated by professional bodies that cap how many students each course can take. In a normal year the number of Clearing places in veterinary medicine or dentistry rounds to zero.

If that is your subject and results morning does not go your way, I am not going to tell you it will be fine, because for some of you it will not be, and you deserve better than a pep talk at 8:15 on 13 August. What I can tell you is that no amount of Clearing hustle changes the arithmetic. Your realistic routes are three, and not one of them is a phone call: a gap year and a stronger reapplication, a foundation or "with a foundation year" entry that gets you onto the course twelve months later, or a related degree you transfer or graduate-entry from. Medicine sits just inside this group, taught at around a hundred providers once you count the biomedical and paramedical courses tagged under it, but with the same near-zero Clearing reality for the standard five-year degree.

One thing about these numbers, because I would want to know

A course count is not the same as a number of degrees. UCAS lists every entry route separately, so a single university can show up as six "computer science" courses once you count joint honours, foundation-year versions and different start points. That is why I have leant on the number of universities offering a subject rather than the raw course total, because the university count is the figure that actually tells you how much room you have to move. Both numbers move daily as courses open and close through the summer, so treat these as a snapshot from the end of July, not a fixed fact. The shape of it, though, does not change: some subjects are taught nearly everywhere, and a handful are taught almost nowhere.

What to do with this

Look up your subject before results day, not after. If it is taught at more than a hundred universities, your results-day job is logistics: have the Clearing number saved, know your grades and your backup courses, and be ready to ring the moment your status updates. If it is taught at fewer than sixty, your results-day job is emotional and strategic instead, because the outcome is closer to already decided, and the useful thinking is about next year, not this afternoon.

Clearing opened on 2 July and runs alongside results day on 13 August. Before then, spend ten minutes putting your own subject into that same search. It will tell you whether your results-day job is a phone list or a plan for next year, and that is a far better thing to know at breakfast than at 8:15. Go and look.

Questions

Does a subject having few courses mean it is harder to get into?

Usually yes, but for two different reasons. Some subjects are taught at few places because demand is low, so entry is not especially competitive; others, like medicine and veterinary science, are taught at few places because the courses are capped and regulated, which makes them fiercely competitive. The course count tells you how much choice you have, not how high the grades are. Check the entry requirements separately.

If loads of universities offer my subject, will the well-known ones have Clearing places?

Not always, and this is the trap in a comforting course count. When a subject is taught at 160 places, the supply is real, but it is spread across the whole tariff range, and the most competitive universities in that subject are usually the first to fill and the least likely to appear in Clearing. A high number means you will start a degree; it does not promise you the specific university you had in mind. If the name on the certificate matters to you more than starting this September, weigh that against reapplying next year.

My subject is not in your list. How do I check it myself?

Go to the UCAS course search, type in your subject, and make sure it is set to entry for this year. The results page shows a running total of courses and lets you filter by provider, so you can read off roughly how many universities are offering it. Do this the week before results day rather than on the morning, when you will want that ten minutes for something else. The number you see will differ a little from mine, because it moves daily.

Reviewed 30 Jul 2026 · Editorial standards

Written by

Sophie Chen

Sophie handles applications at UniSorted: course choice, personal statements, interviews, Results Day, Clearing. She has read enough personal statements to spot a chatbot opener at ten paces. The Clearing guides get rewritten every August because the timings shift every year. sophie@unisorted.co.uk