Firm & Insurance Help

I have applied for economics, predicted 3A. Rejected by Durham then got offers from York, Leeds and Newcastle (3A) and Leicester (ABB) now I have no idea what to do. I'm pretty sure I want to firm York and I'm pretty sure if I missed my grades I wouldn't go to Leicester. So I have no idea what to do, I thought I should insure Newcastle because they're most likely to be lenient but I prefer Leeds massively. At the same time accepting 2 of the same offers seems dumb even though I'm reasonably confident I can get those grades. Any help?

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Reply 1

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Flather

Don't put down anywhere you don't want to go to. If you miss your grades and end up at Leicester, and you don't want to go there, you could miss out on places in Clearing through the delay in getting Leicester to let you go. Put the place you want to go firm and choose the second favourite as your insurance. There's no real debate to be had here, really, if you genuinely don't want to go to Leicester.

Reply 2

Flather

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

If I was to do that I would firm York and insure Leeds. What happens then if I get AAB and no one drops their offer as I think Newcastle might.

Reply 3

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Flather

If I was to do that I would firm York and insure Leeds. What happens then if I get AAB and no one drops their offer as I think Newcastle might.

You go into clearing and start looking for somewhere else.

Reply 4

Flather

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

You go into clearing and start looking for somewhere else.

What are the chances I end up at a Russell Group uni like that though?

Reply 5

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Flather

What are the chances I end up at a Russell Group uni like that though?

No one can tell, but pretty reasonable I would imagine, given that only 5 or 6 universities didn't enter clearing last year.

Reply 6

Flather

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

No one can tell, but pretty reasonable I would imagine, given that only 5 or 6 universities didn't enter clearing last year.

But for economics are the chances of anywhere good having places reasonable?

Reply 7

r-t

Original post by Flather

But for economics are the chances of anywhere good having places reasonable?

If you're really worried about clearing and believe you can get the grades that York want and you want to put Leeds then you should do that even though they want the same grades if you believe you can do it.

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Reply 8

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Flather

But for economics are the chances of anywhere good having places reasonable?

As far as anyone can tell, which is not at all, as the situation changes every year. If you don't find anything you like, you will have to take a gap year, but do bear in mind that if you are in clearing at all, then you will have failed to make the grades for what you term a 'good' university and may not therefore find anywhere you feel suitable this time round. If this is something that is a problem for you, then I suggest you insure Leicester, which I presume you regarded as having some merit when you applied for it in the first place.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

emanueladiana

Original post by Flather

In your place I'd firm York, insure Leicester, and work my ass off. It would probably have me working herder, to achieve those grades! And in case **** happens and you don't get them, then you decide whether you'd rather go to Leicester (maybe transfer from yr 2), or you'd rather stay a year home (maybe gain exp & money).

Tbh, your situation is why we're supposed to choose more varied courses in terms of offers. :naughty:

Reply 10

Flather

Original post by emanueladiana

Thought York would be A*AA, thought Newcastle might be AAB and I thought I had a slim chance of getting an offer from Durham

Reply 11

emanueladiana

Original post by Flather

Thought York would be A*AA, thought Newcastle might be AAB and I thought I had a slim chance of getting an offer from Durham

Ah. Well, **** does sometimes happen. :frown:

They all lowered their entry req for you, though, pretty good sign there.

Reply 12

Holmstock

Original post by Flather

Taking into account everything that others have posted, and in particular about your choices if you do not achieve AAA, I am only posting to say that there is some flimsy evidence to suggest that you could pick Leeds over Newcastle as your insurance, but I wouldn't put much weight on it. If you look at Unistats, entry tab, and compare the achieved UCAS points of those going to York, Newcastle, Leeds and Leicester, for courses starting in 2009-2011, you will see that really the only meaningful conclusion is that the grades achieved by those on the Leicester course reflects your ABB offer compared to the AAA offers of your other three.

However, if you focus on the bands 320-360, 360-400 and 400-440 (because AAAa would be 420 points and AABb would be 390 points), then you will see that for 2009-2011 you would have been slightly more likely to get into York (23%) than Leeds (19%) with up to 400 points and very slightly more likely to get into Leeds (19%) than Newcastle (17%) with up to 400 points. I suspect that there is probably little statistical significance between these variations, and in any case, the data is about 4-6 years old now, but it might make you feel a little better about putting York as your firm choice with Leeds as your insurance.

There are now huge numbers of undergraduates studying in Leeds (including Leeds Beckett and Leeds Trinity universities). Have you considered the accommodation implications of your insurance choice?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

swanseajack1

to be perfectly honest if I was in your shoes I would firm York and either insure Leeds or risk clearance. whilst it cannot be guaranteed it is likely most unis will accept AAB for an AAA offer. If you get lower most rg unis wouldnt touch you although there are likely to be many good non rg unis who would take ABB as well in clearing. As you clearly expect A*AA it is unlikely you will do worse than AAB

Reply 14

Flather

Original post by Holmstock

I hadn't thought about accommodation really. I know at Leeds it is guaranteed that's a good point.

Reply 15

Holmstock

Original post by Flather

I hadn't thought about accommodation really. I know at Leeds it is guaranteed that's a good point.

Ah, I see, yes.

I knew someone thinking of putting Leeds Beckett as insurance, which meant that they could not apply for accommodation until the A level results were out. It seems at Newcastle, you can apply with as an insurance offer holder, but you are not guaranteed accommodation.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 16

Flather

Spoke to some teachers at school they said they were happy for me to put 3A offers down for both. They said I should email to see if they say they would drop a grade as well.

Reply 17

swanseajack1

Original post by Flather

Spoke to some teachers at school they said they were happy for me to put 3A offers down for both. They said I should email to see if they say they would drop a grade as well.

they wont tell you that because they wont know how many people will meet their offer and it would look bad if they admitted it beforehand

Reply 18

Flather

Original post by swanseajack1

they wont tell you that because they wont know how many people will meet their offer and it would look bad if they admitted it beforehand

I was told they would tell me if they would usually be lenient by a grade on the entry requirements.

Reply 19

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Flather

I was told they would tell me if they would usually be lenient by a grade on the entry requirements.

They cannot know this. This year is even more unpredictable than usual, with the lifting of the cap on student numbers. They are unlikely to make any firm statement other than that they will consider cases on their merits, which tells you nothing, I am afraid.