Are "backup/safety" choices important within your 5 choices?

I will hopefully achieve AAA for my A-level grades, but I am scared that I will be rejected from all my university choices if I only apply to the top ones. All their courses seem so competetive!!

I am hoping that lots of people who get low grades try to apply to the unis, and that is why they get 1000 applicants for a course with only 100 places :wink:

Btw.. I want to study psychology. My 4 choices are UCL, Bristol, Durham and Warwick... but I now need to decide if my 5th shall be somewhere good, or... less good lol.

PLEASE HELP ME :frown:

Reply 1

Angelil

19

Psychology is very competitive, as I'm sure you know. It's therefore wise to have a backup - and 'backup' doesn't have to mean having a rubbish uni alongside 4 good ones. There are plenty of middling unis that are just as good. My firm was Exeter; my insurance, Sussex - a good example of a 'middling' uni perhaps? While I ended up going to Exeter, I would have been delighted to go to Sussex, from the point of view of prestige, from the point of view of enjoyment, from the point of view of it being an excellent course, plus everything else.

You take a real risk if all the universities you apply to are likely to make you the same offer as you then effectively have no insurance. Just look at league tables (make sure they're the Times ones though :wink:

), find out which unis are best for your subject (rather than necessarily being 'best' overall) and then get copies of their prospectuses or look on their websites.

Reply 2

Dionysus

15

Never put 5 top-class Unis, but also never put one terrible one. There is no point having an insurance choice that you don't want to go to and you would probably do better than on clearing anyway. If you want something a little easier, I'd suggest Leicester - It's a very good Uni and they tend to have quite low entrance requirements. They offered me BBB!

Reply 3

Queen Alice

OP

10

how about Loughborough?

They are higher in the overall league table than sussex, but for psychology entry standards are practically the same.

However sussex has a much better psycho course, at 12th place compared to 28th!

So now I must decide if it is better to go to a more prestigious uni, or a to one with a better course!!

Reply 4

Angelil

19

Generally speaking Loughborough is considered a bit of an anomaly in its ranking.

Remember not to take league tables as the gospel truth...

Reply 5

vixky!

13

I was thinking of this. I want to apply to SOAS, Manchester, Warwick and another "good" one (possibly Durham) but was thinking of applying to Goldsmiths just incase my GCSE grades hold me back at those better unis.

Not that Goldsmiths is THAT awful... I'd probably be quite happy there, but the average offer is something like BBC so obv not as good as the others.

Is this a good idea?

Reply 6

Angelil

19

Offers are not always a reflection on the uni's overall standard.

When I applied (so for a 2004 start), applicants for straight English at Exeter were offered AAA.
Applicants for joint hons (English and French, English and Film, English with a year in America, English and Classics etc) were given lower offers. Mine was BBB. Does this somehow 'worsen' the uni or mean the course is less rigorous? Of course not. They still have quotas for every course, and they still have to fill them, and if they have to fill them by lowering the offer, then so be it. It's mostly about bums on seats. There are usually fewer applicants to joint hons courses - it's a fact of life, and doesn't mean much in the wider scheme of things.

So take care to think beyond the frame of mind of 'oh, it's a lower offer, it must be a worse uni'. While this *may* be the case, it's not the only conclusion to draw. Think about all the reasons *why* the offer might be lower.

Reply 7

Queen Alice

OP

10

Angelil

Generally speaking Loughborough is considered a bit of an anomaly in its ranking.

Remember not to take league tables as the gospel truth...

Which of these do you suggest then?

LEICESTER:
21st overall
32nd psycho
388 point entry

SUSSEX:
35th overall
12th psycho
395 point entry

SOUTHAMPTON:
14th overall
22nd psycho
405 point entry

All my other choices are in the top ten.. so i am tempted by southampton, but it might be too high for a "safety" choice :frown:

My other unis want 436, 428, 424, 423 points by the way.

Reply 8

Angelil

19

Any of those would be fine. As a security choice Sussex might be good - it's the best of the three for your course and wouldn't give too high an offer for a security choice, while still being a perfectly good uni. But honestly, pick the one you prefer - as well as the course, it's important that you enjoy being there.

Reply 9

LatinMachine

1

Royal Holloway or Reading?

Reply 10

Interrobang

20

When I applied, I got one AAA offer (Cardiff), one AAB offer (York), three ABB offers (Royal Holloway, Leicester and Manchester) and my insurance place in case everything went wrong was Bangor (280pts). While it's not the biggest uni or will have the best night life, I know a couple of people who go there and love it (and they're not the 'stay in every night and study' types) and it has a really good reputation for Psychology

Reply 11

La Trampa

18

everyone always has a back up uni or two just in case. you never know what will happen. i had a friend who put in the top 5 unis and she got rejected by all of them even though she got AAA in her subjects. pick 3 in the top 20, and the last two in the next 20-30 unis.

Reply 12

louisedotcom

13

Dionysus

Never put 5 top-class Unis, but also never put one terrible one. There is no point having an insurance choice that you don't want to go to and you would probably do better than on clearing anyway. If you want something a little easier, I'd suggest Leicester - It's a very good Uni and they tend to have quite low entrance requirements. They offered me BBB!

BBB for just straight psychology? I think you might be in the minority there, everyone else Ive spoken to got AAB- ABB :s-smilie:

Although they are very flexible if you miss the grades on most courses.

Rather than going so much on rankings I suggest you visit the uni. I had my heart set on a particular uni, everything about it looked amazing- I visited and decided it was awful and id never go there in a million years. Visited Leciester however and knew I wanted to go there the minute I walked on campus.

Reply 13

Dionysus

15

louisedotcom

BBB for just straight psychology?

It wasn't psychology, no. This thread wasn't originally in this forum. Although I would have thought my course would be less likely to get a low offer.

Reply 14

suicidal_dream

1

loughborough is a pretty good uni for most social sciences!

it'd be well worth you looking into as the entry requirements arent too high, its a well-respected uni and the campus itself is great.
loughborough is definitely getting more popular judging by the amounts of people applying each year is getting more and more!

Reply 15

Lolly-88

13

suicidal_dream

loughborough is a pretty good uni for most social sciences!

it'd be well worth you looking into as the entry requirements arent too high, its a well-respected uni and the campus itself is great.
loughborough is definitely getting more popular judging by the amounts of people applying each year is getting more and more!