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Don't know which uni/s to pick for your Firm and Insurance? FAQ 2012 **here**

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Original post by alexsasg
Just firmed Cambridge and insured Warwick :smile: felt terrible rejecting Durham but they wanted the same grades as Cambridge. Now to get the grades..


:woo: good to see that you finally decided! Out of interest, was it combined arts course at Durham?
Original post by C'estlavie...
i have an offer to study history at cambridge, which is a*aa,which will be my firm, then im in a bit of a dilemma about insurance...its either st andrews, which is aaa, or royal holloway which is abb. and i have NO idea what to do, my friends are saying holloway and my parents and teachers st andrews. i definitely prefer st andrews, but its not really a conventional insurance, and im really worried about getting a b and then having to go through clearing :/ also, i think im more likely to a*ab than aaa at the moment... any advice welcome!! (p.s. cambridge said to fax them ums marks on results day if i dont get the grades so they can see if i could still have a place, so i think that probably supports going to holloway? idk.)


So put St Andrews then.

Yes you might get A*AB but there still might be a chance that either Cambridge or St Andrews accepts you. They may not accept you, but with A*AB then you'd be in a strong position for reapplying for 2013 - clearing isn't the only option. You may get AAA though and then how will you feel on results day - I imagine you'd wish that you'd gone with your actual preference and chosen St Andrews but by that time it will be too late.

If you don't want to go to Royal Holloway now then you will not be wanting to go there in September. It's as simple as that - ignore the grades aspect as that's purely marketing. If they were both asking for the same grades then which university would you put? I'm guessing it would be St Andrews from your post. There isn't any such thing as a "conventional insurance" as it isn't as simple as picking which grades logically go together - lots of people have their firm and insurance asking the same grades whereas others have an insurance with higher grades as their firm. Depending on the situation it still might make sense (eg: if you had Cambridge A*AA as your insurance and St Andrews AAA as your firm then came out with A*AB you'd miss both offers by 1 grade) to do so and that's okay. What it doesn't make sense to do is put somewhere your friends want to go as YOUR firm.
Original post by 22DubDub
Helloooo, i'm in a bit of a muddle about what to put for my insurance. I'm 100% that i'm firming Bristol (for History... AAA), but i can't choose between Cardiff (AAB) and UCL SSEES (ABB) for insurance :frown:
- Cardiff is good as i love the uni/ city, the course looks good, accommodation is guaranteed, close to my boyfriend of nearly 3 years. However offer is fairly high for insurance.
- UCL SSEES is good as the course is Russian History, my preffered field, but possibly too specific? Prestige + general feeling of UCL are big plusses. However i'd have to find accomodation by myself, which could be miles out, and it costs roughly £4000 more a year. and its far from my boyfriend.

Any advice much appreciated! x


Having exactly the same dilemma with UCL - only it's my firm, and apart from the boyfriend bit haha - I know thatg in the history side you can do other British/European/World history modules from within UCL or the University of London (eg.SOAS) however it's still very specific history compared to my other choice at Sheffield
The deadline is the 9th may and I still haven't decided!!! The problem I have is that I've only physically seen 2 of the 5 unis that have given me offers (UEA and Leicester). I liked both of them, so in an ideal world I'd have 1 of them as my firm and 1 of them as my insurance. However, if I put Leicester as my firm choice (BBB), I can't put UEA as my firm choice because it has higher entry requirements (ABB) (therefore i'll have to put down a uni that I don't want to go to as my insurance. However, If I put UEA as my firm, then it's a risk because I probably won't get the grades they're asking for. So I've been mulling over this dilemma for weeks now, and still haven't reached a conclusion :confused:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by ManUtdFan333
The deadline is the 9th may and I still haven't decided!!! The problem I have is that I've only physically seen 2 of the 5 unis that have given me offers (UEA and Leicester). I liked both of them, so in an ideal world I'd have 1 of them as my firm and 1 of them as my insurance. However, if I put Leicester as my firm choice (BBB), I can't put UEA as my firm choice because it has higher entry requirements (ABB) (therefore i'll have to put down a uni that I don't want to go to as my insurance. However, If I put UEA as my firm, then it's a risk because I probably won't get the grades they're asking for. So I've been mulling over this dilemma for weeks now, and still haven't reached a conclusion :confused:



Ahh same here! How likely do you think it is that you'll get BBB? If you think it's highly likely, then it probably wouldn't matter too much to put Leicester as your firm and UEA as insurance. If you're apprehensive about achieving BBB, then put a lower offer as your insurance. As for your firm, don't be led to choose solely on grades/offers, but instead on which place and course you liked best.

I think visiting is really important to get a feel of each place, so if you have the chance and money, maybe visit 1 or 2 of the places you haven't visited this weekend. I applied to Sussex but absolutely hated it when I visited and I'd have hated myself if I'd chosen them as insurance without visiting. I've insured Manchester, and whilst I can't really speak for Man met, the city itself is really vibrant/busy and alive. There's quite a bit of nice big gothic architecture and the city certainly has a particular coolness. I
pretty sure I'm going to be firming Oxford and insuring Manchester over Sheffield for bioscience. Please reassure me I'm not making a terrible mistake!!
Original post by ManUtdFan333
The deadline is the 9th may and I still haven't decided!!! The problem I have is that I've only physically seen 2 of the 5 unis that have given me offers (UEA and Leicester). I liked both of them, so in an ideal world I'd have 1 of them as my firm and 1 of them as my insurance. However, if I put Leicester as my firm choice (BBB), I can't put UEA as my firm choice because it has higher entry requirements (ABB) (therefore i'll have to put down a uni that I don't want to go to as my insurance. However, If I put UEA as my firm, then it's a risk because I probably won't get the grades they're asking for. So I've been mulling over this dilemma for weeks now, and still haven't reached a conclusion :confused:


Just put Leicester as your firm if you think you are going to get those grades. No brainer really. You can get the grades and you like the place so that is your university of choice. It would be better to go into clearing if everything goes pear shaped and you don't meet these grades than end up somewhere you don't want to go or having to sort out a release from some university you hate in order to get into clearing in the first place. You don't HAVE to put an insurance.

If you don't think you can get UEA's grades then its silly putting them as your firm as it will mean you will have to sort out accomodation late at Leicester if you miss the UEA grades rather than in advance along with everyone else.

:smile:
Original post by IzzyAnne
Can anyone give me a fresh eye on my SCARY DECISION?
I have to chose in the next 24 hours whether to reject St Andrews or Exeter University. It's impossible, I wish I could split in half and go to both.
I am: into tradition & character (dislike concrete shoeboxes)
not a fan of cold and dreary weather
applying for English & French and hoping to pick up more languages
pretty broke
depressed when alone and need a lively atmosphere, but don't want to feel lost in the crowd
a lesbian
needing to be challenged to think ( I enjoy philosophical discussion when studying texts:colondollar:)
If anyone has been to either of these places and can offer advice about whether they think I'd be happy there I'd really appreciate another perspective :smile:


The weather is the clincher surely... South West is warmer.

From your description of your needs I would say Exeter would suit you. I asked about the LGBT group at open day and it seemed very active with things ranging from meeting for coffee to trips . Look on Stonewall's Guide to University for a read up on both Exeter and St Andrew's university and town with relation to gay issues.
Neither is in a gay friendly heartland as say Brighton or London would be, however Exeter is relaxed. You are less than an hour from Bristol on the train (station next to the university) which is livelier if you wanted that and its possible to reach London for a day trip etc.

The English department at Exeter has a brilliant reputation as I'm sure you know, the university have established a language swopping scheme between students and there are paid classes in a range of other languages. You can earn £7.25 a hour as a student rep with times fitting in with your studies (see on line) The campus is very pretty with an excellent sculpture walk (Hepworth etc) and has everything you need on site which is not to be sniffed at if you are a bit broke. St Andrew's obviously does have older and more picturesque buildings however. Exeter library is open 24/7 which is a major plus.

Good luck choosing!
:smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by 22DubDub
Helloooo, i'm in a bit of a muddle about what to put for my insurance. I'm 100% that i'm firming Bristol (for History... AAA), but i can't choose between Cardiff (AAB) and UCL SSEES (ABB) for insurance :frown:
- Cardiff is good as i love the uni/ city, the course looks good, accommodation is guaranteed, close to my boyfriend of nearly 3 years. However offer is fairly high for insurance.
- UCL SSEES is good as the course is Russian History, my preffered field, but possibly too specific? Prestige + general feeling of UCL are big plusses. However i'd have to find accomodation by myself, which could be miles out, and it costs roughly £4000 more a year. and its far from my boyfriend.

Any advice much appreciated! x


Cardiff seems the obvious choice to me from what you say. Don't under estimate the negative effects of logistical matters and money on your university experience. I would only put UCL if I was unsure I can get that second A.

:smile:
Original post by catoswyn
Just put Leicester as your firm if you think you are going to get those grades. No brainer really. You can get the grades and you like the place so that is your university of choice. It would be better to go into clearing if everything goes pear shaped and you don't meet these grades than end up somewhere you don't want to go or having to sort out a release from some university you hate in order to get into clearing in the first place. You don't HAVE to put an insurance.

If you don't think you can get UEA's grades then its silly putting them as your firm as it will mean you will have to sort out accomodation late at Leicester if you miss the UEA grades rather than in advance along with everyone else.

:smile:


Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
I know the logical thing is to put Leicester as my firm choice, but I think I like UEA more than Leicester, I'm finding it hard to decline UEA, even though I know that it'll be a very tall order to get ABB :frown:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by ManUtdFan333
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
I know the logical thing is to put Leicester as my firm choice, but I think I like UEA more than Leicester, I'm finding it hard to decline UEA, even though I know that it'll be a very tall order to get ABB :frown:


If you prefer UEA and like UEA then put them as your firm choice with ABB. The whole point of a firm choice is putting somewhere that you genuinely want to go to - there's no point selling yourself short now and declining one of your offers just for the sake of it.

If Leicester is your first choice and UEA is your second choice then there's no harm in having your insurance with higher grades than your firm. As I said, if you get ABC on results day then you will have missed both offers by 1 grade. One university might take you and the other one might reject you.

Given you only seem to be considering UEA and Leicester (which is sensible given you have visited) then you need to put which ever you like more as your firm and which ever you like second as your insurance. There is zero point rejecting an offer just for the sake of it when you like both universities as having a firm and insurance will give you a second chance if something goes wrong with your grades. If you only have a firm (either UEA or Leicester) then get ABC on results day and your firm choice doesn't accept you then you're straight into clearing, whereas at least this way you have two chances of acceptance before clearing.
Hellooo,

I'm having trouble choosing a firm between Durham (Hatfield) and St. Andrews for history.

I liked the atmosphere at Durham, the course, the teaching system - whereas I loved St. Andrews for its beautiful location and history, the quirkiness of its traditions etc. I wasn't so sure about the more 'flexible' course, and its apparent isolation from the rest of the world (?)

Anyone have any advice? Are they similar in terms of prestige (for studying history as well as generally...?)
Reply 152
Avatar for alexkol
alexkol
15
Original post by TheSophistory
Hellooo,

I'm having trouble choosing a firm between Durham (Hatfield) and St. Andrews for history.

I liked the atmosphere at Durham, the course, the teaching system - whereas I loved St. Andrews for its beautiful location and history, the quirkiness of its traditions etc. I wasn't so sure about the more 'flexible' course, and its apparent isolation from the rest of the world (?)

Anyone have any advice? Are they similar in terms of prestige (for studying history as well as generally...?)


Hmmmm...according to the guides, for history, Durham is a little bit better, than St Andrews, same with the world rankings.
They are both great unis and you will not regret your studies there:biggrin:
I would personally go for Durham:wink:
Original post by ManUtdFan333
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
I know the logical thing is to put Leicester as my firm choice, but I think I like UEA more than Leicester, I'm finding it hard to decline UEA, even though I know that it'll be a very tall order to get ABB :frown:


Ah, well in that case go with your heart not your head. You might get the ABB or UEA might accept you if you just miss. If they don't then with Leicester as your insurance. and if you're virtually sure you'll get the BBB, then you'll be going to uni anyway to somewhere you liked but given yourself a shot at the one you really, really like.

Good luck!

:smile:
Original post by alexkol
Hmmmm...according to the guides, for history, Durham is a little bit better, than St Andrews, same with the world rankings.
They are both great unis and you will not regret your studies there:biggrin:
I would personally go for Durham:wink:


Yup, I'm leaning towards Durham for that reason, I'm not sure how trustworthy these league tables are though...

But thank you :smile:
Reply 155
Avatar for alexkol
alexkol
15
Original post by TheSophistory
Yup, I'm leaning towards Durham for that reason, I'm not sure how trustworthy these league tables are though...

But thank you :smile:


Well, when a Uni is scoring high in both Uk and World rankings, that means that it is good, because they are using different criteria. Anyway, I forgot to mention that St. Andrews was the first Uni in Scotland, which I understand that you are aware of and that might give it more prestige or better reputation, I guess:biggrin:
Original post by Tsunami2011
:woo: good to see that you finally decided! Out of interest, was it combined arts course at Durham?


Haha, yeah. It was the combined honours in social sciences course but that's practically the same thing as the arts one! How did you guess? :smile:
Original post by TheSophistory
Yup, I'm leaning towards Durham for that reason, I'm not sure how trustworthy these league tables are though...

But thank you :smile:


They're not which is why universities can move 10-20 or more spaces a year quite easily without changing anything about themselves, their course, their intake or anything else. It just depends on how the results are calculated and universities can appear at totally different points in different stages - for example, some league tables take into account research star rating when as an undergraduate it makes no difference to you whether your university is good at research or part of the Russell Group which relates to research. The ranking a university has when you start there might be totally different when you leave as the rankings take into account things like what the most recent cohort of graduates have said about their course, which will be nothing like the course you're going to start as the university will have taken their feelings into account etc. This is why league tables should be taken with a pinch of salt - when you graduate no one is going to care whether you went to Durham or St Andrews and weigh up which university is "better". From what you've said, you seem much keener on Durham as a beautiful location isn't going to do you much good if you hate your degree course.

Similarly, perceived university prestige moves with the times of what is considered to be "in". Ten years ago no one outside of Scotland really knew or thought much of St Andrews - it was just another university. Then Prince William decided to go there so applications shot through the roof which led to the university being able to be more picky as they could pick students with higher grade profiles. It also meant that they gained a reputation internationally. Prince William got ABC in his A levels - TSR would laugh at someone with that grade profile now who wanted to go to St Andrews as the university's popularity has meant that they can now ask for AAA from applicants. If you had asked a group of 17/18 year olds in 1999/2000 about St Andrews then I doubt many of them would have placed it on the same level as they would have done if you asked similar 17/18 year olds today. I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all; more that prestige and rankings can change very dramatically within a short period of time.
Original post by oxymoronic
They're not which is why universities can move 10-20 or more spaces a year quite easily without changing anything about themselves, their course, their intake or anything else. It just depends on how the results are calculated and universities can appear at totally different points in different stages - for example, some league tables take into account research star rating when as an undergraduate it makes no difference to you whether your university is good at research or part of the Russell Group which relates to research. The ranking a university has when you start there might be totally different when you leave as the rankings take into account things like what the most recent cohort of graduates have said about their course, which will be nothing like the course you're going to start as the university will have taken their feelings into account etc. This is why league tables should be taken with a pinch of salt - when you graduate no one is going to care whether you went to Durham or St Andrews and weigh up which university is "better". From what you've said, you seem much keener on Durham as a beautiful location isn't going to do you much good if you hate your degree course.

Similarly, perceived university prestige moves with the times of what is considered to be "in". Ten years ago no one outside of Scotland really knew or thought much of St Andrews - it was just another university. Then Prince William decided to go there so applications shot through the roof which led to the university being able to be more picky as they could pick students with higher grade profiles. It also meant that they gained a reputation internationally. Prince William got ABC in his A levels - TSR would laugh at someone with that grade profile now who wanted to go to St Andrews as the university's popularity has meant that they can now ask for AAA from applicants. If you had asked a group of 17/18 year olds in 1999/2000 about St Andrews then I doubt many of them would have placed it on the same level as they would have done if you asked similar 17/18 year olds today. I'm not saying this is a bad thing at all; more that prestige and rankings can change very dramatically within a short period of time.


Thanks very much, that's really useful! I guess that means it's fairly difficult to distinguish between the departments, I've sort of been biased towards Durham because it's ranked slightly higher. It's difficult!
Original post by catoswyn
Ah, well in that case go with your heart not your head. You might get the ABB or UEA might accept you if you just miss. If they don't then with Leicester as your insurance. and if you're virtually sure you'll get the BBB, then you'll be going to uni anyway to somewhere you liked but given yourself a shot at the one you really, really like.

Good luck!

:smile:


I agree with Catoswyn... If you don't get grades then try calling UEA And asking them if they will still take you, if not then you can go to Leicester. I've firmed UEA and cannot wait...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t4TnaVXQCa4

... Roll on September!
(edited 11 years ago)

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