Would I be stupid to apply next year with better grades?

i see that, but as the debt is more, more will be taken from your wages, or it wont be cancelled when your 40 whatever because we are assuming that it will be payed back at the same rate (e.g. amount per month) and conditions, which i doubt it will be other wise they wont get all the money back

I'd try adjustment first - if that fails could you drop out of soton then?

I don't think you're stupid, but then again I don't think its worth paying 9k a year unless you go to a top 5 university. If you are truly not happy with Southampton and think you could get in to the likes of Oxbridge, Imperial, LSE then I'd say go for it, because it is going to be 3-4 years of your life, and you don't want to be thinking "what if" for the rest of your time at university. I think a lot of the people here saying you shouldn't reapply are the ones that (a) already have an offer from their top choice university or (b) are applying next year and don't want the competition

It's true but even so, the fees aren't a barrier to even the poorest families regardless of when it's paid back.

I'm aware of that. I have many other positives like vast work experience and I'm grade 7 trumpet, grade 5 violin, I've won athletic medals, I'm a prefect, student supporter at school etc... I feel like I'd have a good shot at the top universities.

EDIT: I agree with you though, I wouldn't apply to SOTON again.

I think that's the plan at the moment

I can promise you, Adjustment will not get you into anywhere you're planning on applying next year.

Best thing to do, get those grades and decide on results day whether to reapply or not, after calling and being told no by those unis.

Thanks, if I applied again it would be to universities ranked 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

Oxford, UCL, Bristol, York, Durham.

Having applied to 4/5 of the courses this year, here's some things you may want to consider before:

Oxford - you need to do the TSA before you even get an interview. Try it out and see how you fair (around 64 points is safe - remember to convert it). You said your GCSE grades were fine, but what were they? Oxbridge are known to be GCSE nazis. The course is experimental based, that means they prefer science/maths A-levels and you need to be interested in stats and research methods if your going to enjoy the course

UCL - the competition is HUGE! 1600 applicants, 78 places, 140 offers this year, you do the math

Bristol - also call themselves experimental psychology, they tend to reject a lot of people who lack 2+ science subjects. Also crazy competition, something like 22 applicants per place

Durham - not that highly ranked due to the applied psych pulling it down, but psych is definitely not one of their strong subjects


Also, grades are only part of your application.

Okay, thanks. I might not, I might talk to my school mentor...

No! Southampton is an excellent uni and you'd be a fool for risking everything as, lets face it, you don't really know whether you will do better next time. Your degree is what you make of it and it'll probably be easier to get a 1st at Soton than Cambridge. Plus do you really want to be a year behind (in life!!) and £25k more debt? Ultimately having Bristol or Oxford on your CV is NOT worth the £25k (and year late start in life) if you really want to go into a psychology career get that first, do postgrad etc. By the end you'll be laughing at how you nearly chucked it in for a 'better' uni.

I understand that. My GCSE's were four A's, 6 B's, 1 D. So in terms of Oxbridge I'd get shot down with a machine gun. However, I've heard Cambridge are particularly bad in that sense, not so much Oxford. You say Psychology isn't one of Durham's strong subjects, they are ranked 9 (CUG), which is pretty good.

At the moment I'm going to try adjustment, and if not that stick with SOTON.

I would say my personal statement and references are better than most of what I've seen. I have a very active life outside of academia.

Perhaps, I have thought about 'wasting' a year of my life, but I'd just get more work experience with a neuropsychologist and get a paid job. I'm a very fit and healthy young guy, my years aren't limited just yet.

I'm thinking of reapplying next year. People make out the fees to be a bigger issue than they are.

To an extent, 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush', but if you really don't want to go to Southampton, and you think you could do better, why settle for it?

To be sure, I'd scout out the prospects for extra/clearing on your course, not for this year (it will be very hard to find a place at a top uni for a top course), but to get an idea of whether you can apply again to Southampton or somewhere next year, if it all goes tits up. Another option is to put Southampton, or another decent uni you are almost certain you'll get into, as fifth choice next year. That way you have a backup.

Perhaps, I have thought about 'wasting' a year of my life, but I'd just get more work experience with a neuropsychologist and get a paid job. I'm a very fit and healthy young guy, my years aren't limited just yet.

True but why get into more than triple the debt if you don't have to? A lot of people seem to have some inferiority complex about going to 'lesser' uni's but Southie is still a very good place. You can always change in second year and like I said it is wasting a year if you don't get significantly better grades (Ok yes you say that you will get a job but that is not something you were going to do had you gotten the grades and gotten into the university you wanted to though would it? Hence I see it as wasting a year of your life). And lets say you do get much better grades, then you're still wasting a large amount of money for what in fact will be an even worse quality of teaching-what with all the cuts.