Syed Kumayl Mehmood

Business Management - BA

With a dream of running his own fruit business in Pakistan, Syed was anxious to find out he had missed the UCAS deadline after deferring  for a year. Now, Syed is working towards his goals by landing a place on the Business Management course through Clearing.

‘I was looking to apply to university in 2019, however due to the world events at the time, all lectures were completely online. I personally didn’t want to study online as I work best with face-to-face teaching. I knew that taking a gap year would be best for me, however when it came to applying, I was a few weeks too late and couldn’t register on UCAS. I immediately went on the BCU website which clearly said that you could apply through Clearing. I didn’t know anything about Clearing or what it was, so when I spoke to the BCU helpline I realised I had another chance.

Luckily for me, I was looking at doing something like Business Management or a course that was finance related and I found out that there were places on the Business Management course. The process of applying to do Business Management through Clearing was easy and straightforward, I was relieved when I found out how easy it was to apply considering I didn’t know what Clearing was! Getting a place on the course was a huge milestone for me as I thought I was in the dark after missing the UCAS deadline. My family live in Birmingham so I wanted to stay close to them wherever I studied. I was looking at three other universities but the course options, location and facilities at BCU were the deciding factors for applying here.

I have always wanted to manage a business of my own, as my dad owns a company. I would love to walk in his footsteps and start up a farming career in my home country, Pakistan. Pakistan is a very culture-based country and isn’t very industrialised, there is lots of land to work with, so you have to use the land for work. It is my goal to export and import goods to and from Pakistan, I would love to grow mangos and apples to export all over the world. To be able to offer employment to others in my home country would be a dream too.

To any student that finds themselves in a position where they think they’re unable to get into university, I would say for them to be patient and be open to looking at all options through Clearing. Like myself, you might land on your feet with the exact course you want to do, if not, there might be a very similar course that you would enjoy just as much. Reach out and get help and advice from the university as they are the best people to speak to.’