Nerves are jangling across the country this week as young people prepare to find out their exam results and whether they have a place at university.

If things don’t go to plan, or for students who change their mind, Clearing provides another opportunity to secure a place – but in a competitive year, it may feel like a daunting prospect.

Ramat Tejani secured her place at the University of Hertfordshire through Clearing, and is now an award-winning Strategic Partnerships Lead at Google. Clearing was an unexpected step on her journey, but she is grateful for the extra choice it gave her.

After a serious car accident in her A-level year, Ramat missed several months of school and didn’t get the grades she had hoped for. But she was determined that she would still go to university – so on results day, armed with a newspaper supplement on Clearing, she got on the phone:

“I remember sitting in the old arcade on Tottenham Court Road, and calling universities I liked the look of! When I phoned Herts, the woman I spoke to was a dream. Instead of just taking my exam results, the first thing she did was ask what I studied, what I enjoyed, and what I wanted to do in the future”.

Ramat was offered a place to study International Business with a year abroad and jumped at the chance. “A course that fits all my interests, and I could go to the USA for a year? I definitely bought into that!”

East London and West Essex Guardian Series: Ramat Tejani, University of Hertfordshire alumni and now an award-winning Strategic Partnerships Lead at Google Ramat Tejani, University of Hertfordshire alumni and now an award-winning Strategic Partnerships Lead at Google

On leaving the cultural melting pot of London and moving to Hertfordshire, Ramat says the best thing was having so many societies and spaces on campus to meet people from all walks of life: “You quickly find your tribe and start to build your community”.

From helping to lead the Afro-Caribbean Society, to her year in Connecticut in the USA, she threw herself into everything that Herts offered: “At university you’re no longer being spoon-fed and get a real sense of independence. So it’s important to approach university with an open mind and take advantage of all the societies and opportunities. You never know who you’ll meet”.

Thanks to the diversity of her course and the support of lecturers, Ramat not only learned about traditional business topics, but was also introduced to the importance of culture and psychology in business. She says that this teaching has had a profound impact on her career.

Since graduating, Ramat’s journey has taken her from careers and confidence coaching to social enterprise, recruitment technology, working in marketing and communications and at a global membership organisation, before joining Amazon Web Services and, most recently, making the move to Google. She has won a host of awards and was named in the 2021 HERoes list of Top 100 Women Future Leaders.

“A lot of these things wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone to Herts through Clearing”, Ramat says. “It never mattered how I got my place. For me it was a second opportunity, and a door was opened for me”.

And Ramat is keen to reassure young people in a similar situation: “You never know where your journey is going, so embrace Clearing as an option. A ‘no’ is always a redirection, not an ending – it’s just another path, and more power to you for taking that step!”

To find a course and to join the University of Hertfordshire in September, visit herts.ac.uk/clearing or phone 0300 303 6300.