Need some advice - University application

Hi, first of all I'd like to say congratulations to everyone who got their results back and I hope you got what you wanted

However, I'm in a bit of a situation and don't really have anyone to steer me in the right direction (parents didn't go to uni etc.). Yesterday after I opened my results I was a little bit disheartened to see that I had achieved AABB. Now I know this is a GOOD set of results and I'm not trying to boast or brag by any means but of course I was disappointed as I was predicted AAAA and was a potential Oxford candidate before. Now looking at universities I'm faced with a problem. Originally I wanted to apply to Oxford, Bristol, Imperial etc. but wanted know if it was worth it with these AS grades as most offer A*AA which I'm not sure I can get now. I'm looking to do Chemistry and the breakdown of my grades were:
Chemistry - A
Maths - A
Physics - B
Spanish - B (biggest waste of time imo)
GCSE is got 9 A*s and 1 A

So what I'm asking is, is A*AA a realistic achievement for next summer of do you reckon it will be more worth while to apply to universities with lower entry requirements e.g. Bath - AAB, Warwick - ABB

Thank you for any replies in advance

Congratulations on your results!

What we'd generally advise is that you pick a range of courses with different entry requirements, regardless of your results it would be inadvisable to go and apply to 5 places who want the highest grades. Getting AAA or higher in the end is certainly not an unrealistic option for you, unless you feel that it is? What do your teachers think? If they think that they can confidently predict you A*AA then I'd certainly apply to 1 or 2 of the places you mentioned and then pick some other universities like Bath, Warwick etc as back up options to your aspirational choices. There are people with much lower AS grades than you who are still planning on applying to Oxford/Imperial etc so it's not a stupid idea, you just need to be realistic and know that these places are highly competitive and this advice would stand regardless of your AS scores.

How far of an A grade were you in Physics?

Thank you very much for the reply. I personally don't think A*AA is unrealistic but I know it will require me to work a lot harder than I did this year. As for physics i was 16 UMS off the A grade so I was a pretty solid B (I was only 4 UMS off an A in Spanish ). However, I spoke to my physics teacher after I opened my results and he said in terms of resits I would only have to redo Unit 2 as that's what let me down and then I could be on track for an A at A2. Hoping to go to Bristol so fingers crossed for next year!

So all in all, you've got a very good set of results there!

I would advise that you stick with plan A and see what happens.

Oxford, Imperial, Bristol, Bath and Warwick sounds like a very good plan.... so you need to get writing your personal statement and going on open days!