Teenagers everywhere are nervously awaiting today's A-level results. Lindsay Jennings looks at how they can still pursue a successful career path, even if they are disappionted.

JOANNE Mooney clutched the tiny piece of white paper in her hand which contained the passport to her future. The small, grey letters spelled out what she would be doing with her life for the next three years - and in her eyes it was not good.

Instead of celebrating her A-level results with other students who were giving whoops of joy, she felt only devastation at her disappointing results and a sense that her rock solid "plan" was in tatters. She needed two B grades and a C in geography, psychology and computer science to get into Newcastle University and study geography. In her hand were two C grades and a D, along with a C in general studies which did not count towards her chosen course. Nor did she have good enough grades for her second choice of Hull University.

"I was devastated. I thought to myself, this isn't my paper, they've given me the wrong one. I just couldn't believe it," recalls Joanne, now 21.

"So many people kept telling me they were excellent A-level results, which they were, but as far as I was concerned you could have ripped them up because they weren't what I wanted, they weren't what I'd worked for. I knew I'd get into university and get on a course, but the fact that I'd under-achieved made me feel a complete failure. It really knocked my confidence."

According to Brenda Stephenson, development manager at Connexions County Durham, which offers impartial advice to young people, if you've been looking forward to attending your chosen university or college for months, finding out that you can't be accepted can come as a terrible shock.

"You might feel quite distraught at first," she says. "But don't despair. Whatever sort of exam grades you've got, you still have a wide choice of things to do, and there's no reason why you can't go on to your dream career."

Before launching into wild hysterics, the best thing to do, says Brenda, is to check on the UCAS website using the private password you are given to find out if you have been accepted or rejected. If the website is jammed with thousands of others trying to log on, do it the old fashioned way and phone up your chosen university. Ask to speak to someone who deals with admissions for the course you are interested in.

"Institutions should know whether they're going to accept you or not because they will have had the results for three or four days," says Brenda.

"If they can't accommodate you on the course they may make a changed offer to another course. But young people need to be aware that they don't have to accept the changed offer, they should think hard about whether it's right for them. If your firm offer course turns you down, next check with your insurance offer - or back up plan."

If you are left without an offer, the next step is clearing, where students are matched with universities that still have vacancies. If you applied to university through the UCAS system you will automatically be entered into the clearing system. You will then be sent a CEF - clearing entry form - and some instructions, fairly soon after the results come out. Some vacancies will be filled almost as soon as they are advertised, so it's important to act quickly. Some national newspapers run lists of university vacancies.

Contact the university in person, but don't get your mum, dad or teacher to do the ringing, as admissions tutors won't be impressed.

Says Brenda: "An admissions tutor may be able to tell you over the phone if they will offer you a place or not, or they may want to see you. Be ready to answer questions about yourself and why you're interested in the course, and also to arrange interviews and visits at very short notice.

"If a university or college is interested in you they will ask for your CEF. They will either then send you a letter of confirmation if they are offering you a place, or will return your CEF, in which case you start again with another course."

There are also a number of alternatives for students if they cannot find a suitable course for this year. They include taking a year out and doing re-sits, undertaking a Modern Apprenticeship, - where you are paid for work but get training at the same time - earning some cash or doing something such as voluntary work which would help you get on your chosen course next year.

"The important thing is that students are not on their own and, however difficult they think their choices might be, it's better to ring up or call into a centre which gives impartial advice."

The same day as Joanne's A-level results came out, Newcastle University wrote to her offering her a place on a different course in town planning.

"I looked at other possibilities to do geography but I decided I wanted to go to Newcastle so much I would have a go at the town planning course," says Joanne, who went to a comprehensive school in Cheshire.

"I loved the course from the beginning. I think I went to university thinking I'm the most stupid person on this course and then you speak to other people and find some of them flunked their A-levels too. There were a small number of people on the course, which I think, looking back, gave me more confidence and allowed me to shine."

Joanne certainly did shine when, in July this year, she picked up a different set of results - a first class honours degree. She says: "I was really nervous but I didn't want to get my hopes up because I'd been knocked down before. When I heard I got a first I was crying and it just felt wonderful. It made up for all the heartache after my A-levels. You're only as good as your last exam and now nobody asks me what my A-level results were. They ask me what degree I have."

Joanne is now into her second week as a graduate planner with GVA Grimley in Manchester, a planning consultancy. As part of her employment she is due to go back to Newcastle University next year to study for a year's diploma in town planning.

"I know how upsetting it is to get disappointing A-level results but you have to not let it knock your confidence and when you get to university you'll find there are loads of people in the same position.

"When I did badly, my mum always said these things happen for a reason, and maybe it did, because here I am now working for a top class agency in Manchester."

USEFUL NUMBERS AND WEB ADDRESSES

www.ucas.com

www.connexions-durham.org

www.dfes.gov.uk/aimhigher

Connexions Durham 0800 328 1195/ Connexions Chester-le-Street 0800 7833482/ Connexions Sedgefield 0800 3281195.