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TSR Wiki > University > Applying to University > Firm and Insurance Choices

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Once you have applied to university, you will hopefully receive some offers. Since you can apply to up to 5 universities, you can receive up to 5 offers, and once all of the universities you applied to have replied you need to narrow down these choices. You can choose 2 final universities, a Firm and an Insurance.

Contents 1 What is a firm choice? 1.1 Choosing your Firm 2 What is an insurance choice? 2.1 Choosing your Insurance 3 Do I need a firm and an insurance?

What is a firm choice?

When you have all your offers in, you choose for your Firm the university you most want to go to. If you have an unconditional offer for your preferred university (usually because you are applying with your grades already known) then you can only choose a Firm. If you have a conditional offer, and you have more than one offer, it is usual to pick an insurance choice as well, but you don't have to. On results day, if you meet the grades for your firm choice then that is where you will be going.

Choosing your Firm

Do not be tempted to choose your Firm without visiting the university and department concerned first. If you went on an open day before you applied, consider going again when there is an open day for people holding offers. Most unis will invite you to one of these, and it is essential to make the effort to go. If distance and expense is a problem, ask the uni if they can help; they often will.

Make sure you have given the course itself a thorough going-over. Try and find the current undergraduate handbook for your course on the uni website and see what you think. Do you like the style and tone of it? Is there enough choice of modules to cover the possibility that a favourite may not be available for your year? Check out the Students Union and Accommodation sections of the website too - it's all part of the picture.

One of the factors to take into account when making your choice is how likely you think it is that you will make the conditions of your offer. If you have been asked for AAB and you don't think you will achieve it, it's worth asking around to see whether the uni/department concerned is known for being very strict or - at least for some subjects - being more lenient, letting people in even if they have missed their offer by a grade or two. On the other hand, don't assume that you won't achieve your predictions unless you have good reason to. If you think it's a long shot, but you have an insurance (see later) you are happy with, and wouldn't rather go the insurance uni anyway, then why not?

Once you have made your choice and confirmed it, it can be difficult if not impossible to change, so it is best to check everything that's important to you before hitting those buttons. If in August you have made the conditions of your offer, you are expected to go to your Firm. It is possible to get out of this, and go to another uni in the same year, but it can be a stressful business and is much better avoided. If you can't persuade a university that has unconditionally accepted you to release you, the only way out is to withdraw from UCAS for that year and start all over again.

Finally, even if all your decisions are in by January, you still don't have to make your firm/insurance choices until early May. So don't rush it.

What is an insurance choice?

Your Insurance choice is your "back-up". Usually, but not always, the offer requirements are less demanding than your Firm. You can hold an unconditional offer as your Insurance if your Firm is a conditional offer. (If you are holding an unconditional Firm, by definition you can't have an Insurance.) People who have applied through Extra do not get an Insurance choice.

Choosing your Insurance

The first point is that your Insurance must be somewhere that you would be happy to go to if you don't make your Firm. There is no point in choosing as an Insurance a uni/course you don't like and have no intention of going to. This just wastes everyone's time. So, just as for your Firm, go visit. Check it out.

Some unis/courses are much more lenient than others about missed offers, so it is not necessarily as mad as it seems to pick an insurance with a higher offer requirement. Not only that, your Firm may have specified module or subject grades, but your insurance hasn't, or a subject is excluded by your Firm but not by your Insurance. It is important to ask around though because you don't want to find out too late that there is no flexibility and as a result you end up in Clearing.

Do I need a firm and an insurance?

No. Some people may have only one offer anyway - if they decide to accept it, that's their Firm. If you have more than one offer, but really only want to go to one of the unis concerned, then you don't have to choose an Insurance. If you are really sure about this, it makes life easier to not have an Insurance, so that in the event of you not making your Firm you go straight into Clearing on Results Day, rather than having to go through the process of persuading a uni to release you.