Russel Group uni acceptance after 2 years out.

You will not find any decent unis offering economics via clearing. Better to get some relevant work experience and apply for 2024 entry.

This statement is nonsense. Every year there are about 1/2 dozen RG universities in clearing as well as other excellent universities. Rather than wait for clearing you could use extra now. A look at extra shows Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Nottingham, Queen Mary, Sheffield and York are currently offering Economics along with many very good non RG universities including East Anglia, Lancaster, Loughborough, Reading, Royal Holloway, Surrey and Sussex.

All are excellent universities and were members of the 1994 group

You basically have a choice. You can either apply now too one of these or wait until September and apply to higher ranked universities. The reality is that Economics is very competitive as you have found especially in London aand there is no guarantee you will get into the top universities if you wait.

What is worth asking is why you were rejected and by whom. One of the issues is often a lack of Maths at A level and a couple of the very top universities also look for Further Maths as well. Nottingham amongst the RG is one of the few university that doesnt require Maths at A level.

My personal view is that you would be better applying now to one of the universities available but yo you do need sure it is right for you as you have used your bonus years student funding in Edinburgh.

I applied to LSE ( on a whim ), UCL , Durham, Leeds and Edinburgh with A*A*AA in maths economics further maths and physics. LSE UCL and also Durham I know are very very high for economics so I’m not too surprised they said no and I knew at the time I applied I likely wouldn’t be offered a place but was a little surprised at the other too. These were all places I would have chosen over Edinburgh which is why I chose such competitive ones but I, perhaps foolishly, thought that at least Edinburgh would say yes. I didn’t really expect a yes but again I had hoped to worst case go back to Edinburgh. I’m doing a Cambridge summer school, got a good work experience thing in a big company coming up, and I’m also exploring tutoring and travel, plus my job.

I think my overall question is whether give all the above, if it’s worth taking the year out to try for the same or similar unis, or if given the general response to someone in my situation is such that it would be better to do what you have suggested. I’ve been to look at notts and lborough and wasn’t keen just in terms of the vibe I got but I’m also looking at Birmingham maybe.

Thanks anyway for the response I really appreciate it)

I’ll also say my original intention was to stay at Edinburgh but they said I’d have to apply via UCAS and I was advised that withdrawing for financial reasons was probably a good idea as they would very likely say yes so I took the risk, but then I was auto declined last week when they didn’t respond by the deadline.

Reading your comments one of the the tjings that comes to mind is what about the vibe you dont like as that will help you look elsewhere. What does worry me is that you might be thinking only certain universities are good enough and the problem with that is they are very difficult to get into especially for a competitive subject like Economics as you have already found out.

Economics, Law and Computer Science have become the in subjects over the last couple of years and are extremely over subscribed. Top London universities are insanely competitive just because they are in London and students especially overseas students see it as the place to go. As an example Imperial make offers to 1 in 20 for CS.

If you do decide to take a gap year then apply to at least 2 very good universities that arent as in demand but still very good or solid choices. Places like Bath and Exeter come to mind.

One of the issues that come through in your thinking is that you seem to prefer Northern universities. Have a good look at Lancaster or York both really good universities. If you feel you want to be in a bigger city how about Sheffield or Liverpool alongside Birmingham. That is one of the reasons I suggest looking at why the vibe was wrong about the others and you can spend a week or so deciding rather than make a rushed decision over clearing. The reality is that there won't be better options in clearing as the other universities have already decided they are likely to fill their spaces.