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Firm/Insurance choice Issue

All of my offers are AAB or above. I'm looking at putting UCL (AAB for Information Management for Business) as my firm and putting Sussex (AAB for Business Management) as my insurance, as I believe if I do not get the offer grades, Sussex are more likely to still let me in (such as with ABB or ABC) than UCL are. However, the university/careers person at my college has said putting an insurance with the same grades as my firm is pointless and will just delay me if I need to go into clearing, and that I should not bother putting an insurance choice at all. Any advice? Thanks.
Original post by masseffect
All of my offers are AAB or above. I'm looking at putting UCL (AAB for Information Management for Business) as my firm and putting Sussex (AAB for Business Management) as my insurance, as I believe if I do not get the offer grades, Sussex are more likely to still let me in (such as with ABB or ABC) than UCL are. However, the university/careers person at my college has said putting an insurance with the same grades as my firm is pointless and will just delay me if I need to go into clearing, and that I should not bother putting an insurance choice at all. Any advice? Thanks.

Worried about your careers person, frankly. It's not an ideal situation, but as you rightly point out, you have two universities to give you a chance of getting in if you miss the grades rather than one. It is true that if either of them haven't made their minds up by the time you get your results, you can't enter clearing until they reject you, but I'd have thought taking a chance on one of your actual choices taking you was worth it, rather than having no chance with them at all.
What are you basing your 'might still get into Sussex with lower grades' assumption on?

If its just 'what I've heard' then be careful. These anecdotes are often untrue and in any case, what happened last year will give you no certainty of what might happen this year.
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Zottula
16
I agree with carnationlilyrose that it's better to take your chances at getting into universities that you have chosen to apply for. No it's not ideal, but if you don't have a choice with a lower offer that you'd be happy to go to then it's probably your best option.

But it's also important to remember that while universities do sometimes let people in when they miss their offer on results day, this is not something you can rely on, and every year is different, even at the same university.
On top of the above advice (and they're right - an insurance you'd be happy to go to is better than none - even if the offer grades are the same or higher than your firm)

It is MUCH too early to be choosing firm and insurance. Accepting/declining offers this soon just locks you into a decision (and if you're finding the decision difficult then all the more reason not to commit).

Take your time - there is no panic to decide. Don't send anything to UCAS until April at the earliest.
It's not an ideal situation, but I do agree with your logic that having two shots of being let in with slightly missed grades is probably better than one. Also, the careers advice assumes you would definately want to go into clearing if you got less than expected results, rather than, for example taking a gap year and resitting which might be a better option.

However, I would be very wary of assuming you will be let in if you get less than ABB. Firstly, it is not that usual to be let in with two missed grades. Secondly, this would drop you into the level of results where student number controls apply, which means universities have to be stricter about who they accept. If getting ABC is a real possibility (rather than a worst case scenario) then you need to think about your choices very carefully.

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