I'm not going to get the grades for my firm, what are my options?

My firm is an offer to do English at Durham for A*AB, I didn't revise at all and my exams are in like ten days so that's pretty much not an option anymore. I also misunderstood Newcastle's PARTNERS Programme and put them as my insurance so they revised their offer and that's now AAA to do English with them, that's easily less achievable than my firm. So I guess I'm getting into uni through clearing if I get into uni at all. The problem is, I'm not putting myself over 40 grand in debt to do English at a poly, absolutely no way. My A levels are in Literature, Language and Classics but I do not want to study a humanities subject at a poly in general. What are my options? I'm definitely interested in going to uni however I'd like to do something with better graduate prospects other than teaching which I very much do not want to do, hopefully outside of humanities if there are courses which will accept A levels based on their merit rather than their specific subjects. Any ideas? I'd definitely be willing to do something skill-based. less academic and more vocational with a clear occupation in mind after graduation

My firm is an offer to do English at Durham for A*AB, I didn't revise at all and my exams are in like ten days so that's pretty much not an option anymore. I also misunderstood Newcastle's PARTNERS Programme and put them as my insurance so they revised their offer and that's now AAA to do English with them, that's easily less achievable than my firm. So I guess I'm getting into uni through clearing if I get into uni at all. The problem is, I'm not putting myself over 40 grand in debt to do English at a poly, absolutely no way. My A levels are in Literature, Language and Classics but I do not want to study a humanities subject at a poly in general. What are my options? I'm definitely interested in going to uni however I'd like to do something with better graduate prospects other than teaching which I very much do not want to do, hopefully outside of humanities if there are courses which will accept A levels based on their merit rather than their specific subjects. Any ideas? I'd definitely be willing to do something skill-based. less academic and more vocational with a clear occupation in mind after graduation

I'd say that you should concentrate on doing what revision you can in the time you have left - you'd be surprised how much can be accomplished in ten days if you put your mind to it - rather than spending time now thinking up contingency plans. Plenty of time to do that between exams and results.

Still, it's worth saying now that there are other universities in the country that offer perfectly respectable English courses, and that are not what you so disparagingly describe as 'polys'. However, for the more vocational/skills based courses, you probably would be looking at a good 'poly' and there are such about. In the meantime, get your head down and start doing the work. Don't assume now that you have no chance of meeting your Durham offer because self-assessment in these cases is notoriously unreliable.

My firm is an offer to do English at Durham for A*AB, I didn't revise at all and my exams are in like ten days so that's pretty much not an option anymore. I also misunderstood Newcastle's PARTNERS Programme and put them as my insurance so they revised their offer and that's now AAA to do English with them, that's easily less achievable than my firm. So I guess I'm getting into uni through clearing if I get into uni at all. The problem is, I'm not putting myself over 40 grand in debt to do English at a poly, absolutely no way. My A levels are in Literature, Language and Classics but I do not want to study a humanities subject at a poly in general. What are my options? I'm definitely interested in going to uni however I'd like to do something with better graduate prospects other than teaching which I very much do not want to do, hopefully outside of humanities if there are courses which will accept A levels based on their merit rather than their specific subjects. Any ideas? I'd definitely be willing to do something skill-based. less academic and more vocational with a clear occupation in mind after graduation

There are lots of good Russel group unis in clearing. I will be in clearing most likely myself and I'm not worried about it.

Insightful, thanks. I have friends at various 'polys' who throughout the year have who have a long list of problems with their course, multiple friends have transferred or dropped out and others are miserable and not sure they should continue to second year. That's all I meant, I definitely wasn't saying all polys are ****, just that the English course a lot of polys offer is not worth the colossal amount of debt. I find that a lot of people go to uni just for the sake of it. Just because it's excited and they get to move out of their house. I want to move out extremely badly but I'm not naive enough to just go to any uni despite reputation and course quality.

Yeah I'm definitely revising as much as possible and trying to get the best grades I can. I'm just objectively sure that I haven't put in the required work for the grades I need, we'll see though, you're right.

I agree with you that going to uni just for the sake of it is pointless - better to wait until you're sure what you want to do, than to waste your time and money. There is no rule that says you have to have completed your education at 21 (and a great deal to suggest that higher education at a later age than most is no bad thing!).

Good luck with the revision; it's not unusual at this stage of the game for people to feel really unconfident about the whole thing, and many of us tend to underestimate our capabilities rather than the other way round.

There are lots of good Russel group unis in clearing. I will be in clearing most likely myself and I'm not worried about it.

My firm is an offer to do English at Durham for A*AB, I didn't revise at all and my exams are in like ten days so that's pretty much not an option anymore. I also misunderstood Newcastle's PARTNERS Programme and put them as my insurance so they revised their offer and that's now AAA to do English with them, that's easily less achievable than my firm. So I guess I'm getting into uni through clearing if I get into uni at all. The problem is, I'm not putting myself over 40 grand in debt to do English at a poly, absolutely no way. My A levels are in Literature, Language and Classics but I do not want to study a humanities subject at a poly in general. What are my options? I'm definitely interested in going to uni however I'd like to do something with better graduate prospects other than teaching which I very much do not want to do, hopefully outside of humanities if there are courses which will accept A levels based on their merit rather than their specific subjects. Any ideas? I'd definitely be willing to do something skill-based. less academic and more vocational with a clear occupation in mind after graduation

If you swapped your firm and insurance over, would your Partners offer revert to its original, lower level?

They were understandingly pretty upset with me for putting them as my insurance anyway, they offered me the chance to switch them to my firm and few months ago and I naively declined so no they wouldn't allow me to do that.

They were understandingly pretty upset with me for putting them as my insurance anyway, they offered me the chance to switch them to my firm and few months ago and I naively declined so no they wouldn't allow me to do that.

My firm is an offer to do English at Durham for A*AB, I didn't revise at all and my exams are in like ten days so that's pretty much not an option anymore. I also misunderstood Newcastle's PARTNERS Programme and put them as my insurance so they revised their offer and that's now AAA to do English with them, that's easily less achievable than my firm. So I guess I'm getting into uni through clearing if I get into uni at all. The problem is, I'm not putting myself over 40 grand in debt to do English at a poly, absolutely no way. My A levels are in Literature, Language and Classics but I do not want to study a humanities subject at a poly in general. What are my options? I'm definitely interested in going to uni however I'd like to do something with better graduate prospects other than teaching which I very much do not want to do, hopefully outside of humanities if there are courses which will accept A levels based on their merit rather than their specific subjects. Any ideas? I'd definitely be willing to do something skill-based. less academic and more vocational with a clear occupation in mind after graduation

I know of many russell groups who has english courses in clearing last year, and many of my friends from college got onto them, But you have to understand that in clearing the grades dont drop dramatically, they will still be expecting around ABB for an AAA course (or even sometimes more).

If your results arent ideal for something like that Ii would personally take a gap year and weigh up your options, its not worth you getting into tonnes of debt for a degree you hate at a uni you hate, so give yourself more time!