[historygirl]

I want to do a History degree, however I know that the subject is very competative. I'm predicted for AS:
- History - A
- English lit.-B (but I've been working really hard and got an A for a practice question and got 52 out of 60 for the coursework)
-Politics -A
-English lang. - A (I got a C last time so I've done a resit)
This is a list of unis which I am interested:
-Durham AAA (Amended to A*AA)
-York AAA
-Sheffield AAA
-Leeds AAA
-Manchester AAB-AAA
-Liverpool AAA
-Hull BBB-AAB
-Lincoln BBC
But, as I'm only at the end of AS, I don't know what my five choices will be yet.
I think they may be:
-york - AAA
-sheffield - AAA
-durham - AAA
-lincoln - BBC - obviously, this will be an insurance choice just in case
- And then I'm unsure whether to pick Liverpool or Leeds (or what ever of the AAA unis are left) because they require AAA, so I don't really want a fourth AAA uni, whereas Manchester is AAA-AAB and Hull is BBB-AAB. Would it be wiser to put those in, rather than another AAA uni?

[JollyGreenAtheist]

Just a heads up, Durham's entry requirements for BA History are A*AA, with the A* in history.

[historygirl]

Really?? I'm sure it says AAA on Durham's website and in their prospectus... I'll have to check that out directly. I'm going to the open day so I guess I'll find out then.
But, it is abit of a long shot anyway.

[M4LLY]

Not really

[historygirl]

Argh!! They have upped it! Durham IS now A*AA for BA History... I'm good at history but I don't think I'm quite good enough for that and I don't want to 'over egg the pudding'!
M4lly, why isn't it risky? I'm worried that I won't get AAA which makes it very RISKY in my eyes if the majority of my choices ARE AAA... Unless they're lenient.

[Josh93]

Sounds sensible enough, A2 is a pretty significant jump from AS but you should be fine.
Don't forget about your personal statement though, grades alone are not going to get you into Durham etc for such a competitive subject.

[agoetcherian]

It is a bit risky. Durham do want an A* in history, as someone's pointed out above. I think your insurance is a bit low to be honest. If you achieve your predicted grades, then an ABB or BBB would be plenty low enough.

I would probably put in one of the middle ones, just in case you're unlucky in a couple of the AAA ones.

[JessicaUk]

(Original post by historygirl)
I want to do a History degree, however I know that the subject is very competative. I'm predicted for AS:
- History - A
- English lit.-B (but I've been working really hard and got an A for the practice exam we did and got 52 out of 60 for the coursework)
-Politics -A
-English lang. - A (But i've had to do a resit because I got a C last time)
This is a list of unis which I am interested:
-Durham AAA
-York AAA
-Sheffield AAA
-Leeds AAA
-Manchester AAB-AAA
-Liverpool AAA
-Hull BBB-AAB
-Lincoln BBC
But, I'm only at the end of AS, so I don't know what my five choices will be yet.
I think they may be:
-york - AAA
-sheffield - AAA
-durham - AAA
-lincoln - BBC - obviously, this will be an insurance choice just in case
- And then I'm unsure whether to pick Liverpool or Leeds (or what ever of the AAA unis are left) because they require AAA, so I don't really want a fourth AAA uni, whereas Manchester is AAA-AAB and Hull is BBB-AAB. Would it be wiser to put those in, rather than another AAA uni?

Hiya, after you have been to the Open Days for all the uni's you may decide you do not like some of them anyway. This is what I found when I was visiting the Open Days, some which I thought I would love by looking in their brochure and on their website I then didn't like at all when I was actually in the place.

It sounds better to have 3 choices as AAA and then the other 2 not so, just my view. xx

[cuckoo99]

Hull would probly be your best bet for insurance going on grade requirments.

[EMPStudent]

Sheffield is an amazing university and will also take you in if you drop a grade. Apply there.

[historygirl]

(Original post by agoetcherian)
It is a bit risky. Durham do want an A* in history, as someone's pointed out above. I think your insurance is a bit low to be honest. If you achieve your predicted grades, then an ABB or BBB would be plenty low enough.

I would probably put in one of the middle ones, just in case you're unlucky in a couple of the AAA ones.

Yes, I may have to rethink Durham now unfortunately. I really wanted to see if I liked it there because I know it's really good for history - but I'll probably still go to the open day anyway.
With Lincoln only requiring BBC I do wonder if that is too low for me, as I think it's possible that I might not get an A in either english lang. or Lit., but I don't think it would be below a C - HOPEFULLY!!! So overall, BBB is probably the lowest option meaning that I should put Hull in and probably Manchester instead of Durham. But, We'll see

@cockoo99
Sheffield is very good but the only problem with it is that I only live about 12 miles from it and my Dad works there... But I'm still considering it because it's respected and has fantastic facilities (as my Dad tells me!)

[Shelly_x]

Put at least one AAB. You don't even have AAA yet, so yes your choices of all AAA but one is risky.

[chinaberry]

Rep just for the expression 'over egg the pudding'- it's funny

[Theflyingbarney]

There's nothing to stop you going for several unis with the same grades - in my application I picked three that were all AAA - because that way you get a choice if they all accept you and a backup if some don't.

Also I don't think your insurance needs to be quite as low, by the time you get to accepting your uni offers (around March-April time) you tend to be fixed between a few sets of grades, because you'll already have done 3/4 of your exams in each subject (barring retakes). Therefore, if you're predicted AAA or AAB, as it looks like, then putting a BBB uni as your insurance could be a bit rubbish - it's so far below your other ones that you could conceivably find after January exams that you're pretty much guaranteed to get above it. For example, I put Reading (ABB) as my 'insurance' option, but after my January results and good AS grades I'm pretty much guaranteed to get way above that, e.g. in my lowest-scoring subject so far I need 57% in the summer exam for an A overall.

Having said that though, it's possibly still worth putting a low one in, and another (perhaps AAB-ABB) as prospective insurance choices, just in case things go really bad in January - remember you don't have to accept your offers until May.

[historygirl]

(Original post by Theflyingbarney)
Also I don't think your insurance needs to be quite as low, by the time you get to accepting your uni offers (around March-April time) you tend to be fixed between a few sets of grades, because you'll already have done 3/4 of your exams in each subject (barring retakes). Therefore, if you're predicted AAA or AAB, as it looks like, then putting a BBB uni as your insurance could be a bit rubbish - it's so far below your other ones that you could conceivably find after January exams that you're pretty much guaranteed to get above it. For example, I put Reading (ABB) as my 'insurance' option, but after my January results and good AS grades I'm pretty much guaranteed to get way above that, e.g. in my lowest-scoring subject so far I need 57% in the summer exam for an A overall.

Having said that though, it's possibly still worth putting a low one in, and another (perhaps AAB-ABB) as prospective insurance choices, just in case things go really bad in January - remember you don't have to accept your offers until May.

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll probably have Hull as an insurance though because it's better than Lincoln for history and its entry requirements are BETWEEN BBB AND AAB, which makes it quite open. I have looked for a history course which is BBA, but they're really hard to find as most good unis want AAA for it. That's why I've picked Hull because it's not too low but not as high as the others either.

(Original post by Shelly_x)
Put at least one AAB. You don't even have AAA yet, so yes your choices of all AAA but one is risky.

Yes, I'll have to see what my results actually are for my AS exams in August to properly determine what my five choices will be. But, thats why I want some general advice on what would be wise to do based at the moment on my predicted grades. Obviously though, if I don't get as high as those predicted, I'll have to reconsider some. But, I'm not stupid or arrogant enough to put all AAA bar one anyway - I think two lower ones would be better-like you said

[historygirl]

I've just looked at the entry requirements thread for history and it says that LANCASTER is
BBA-AAB yet in the 2013 prospectus it says AAA, so I don't think I can choose that.

[BogBrush]

How the hell are you predicted an A in English Language?! No offence but... God, I reckon I'd've done well in that subject...

[swbp]

(Original post by historygirl)
I've just looked at the entry requirements thread for history and it says that LANCASTER is
BBA-AAB but in the 2013 prospectus it says AAA, so I don't think I can choose that.

Not to say Lancaster is easy to get into, because it isn't, but a boy in my year got BDDE in his AS levels and got an AAB offer for history at Lancaster. It doesn't matter if your AS grades are a tad below the usual offer, if your statement and A2 predictions are good you'll stand a good chance of getting in

[historygirl]

(Original post by BogBrush)
How the hell are you predicted an A in English Language?! No offence but... God, I reckon I'd've done well in that subject...

If this is in reference to me getting a C in the January exam, my target grade and expected grade is an A because I got an A* in GCSE English lang. I got 81 UMS marks - I needed 84 for a B for it's not as bad as it looks, Plus, English Lang. at A level is very different to GCSE and the exams for it are tough and not really very interesting to be honest. Also, I had two exams at the same time when I first did it so I think it may have put me off abit. This time, I had all my exams in the afternoon except for Tsarist Russia (history) and General studies - no more than one in a day this time as well!
I've resat the AS exam though and I think that section B went better than the first time - which is very important because it's worth 50 MARKS. The actual questions and texts were alittle trickier than last time but this may mean that the grade boundaries are alittle lower.
If I don't do better however, I may have to keep Government and politics (which I had intended to drop) and instead drop English language or Literature as I've been worried about that but as I said in the first post, my coursework is really strong for Lit. but then again, my Lang. coursework is pretty good too.
I'll just have to see

[historygirl]

bump