Insurance option

No, you lose the offer from your insurance if you get accepted into your firm choice.

So if you have a change of heart and decide you want to go to your firm uni, you have to go through clearing?

Did you mean to put insurance instead of firm? On results day you could ask your firm choice to release you and then go through Adjustment. Although I'm not sure if this is correct, you could email the admissions of both universities before results day and ask them to swap the choices round, and then notify UCAS of any changes.

(Yeh sorry aha) okay thank ylu

No problem! I almost had the same position as you too

Just so confused on what to do and where to go and if I want to take a gap year on not. Have to firm by the 1st of May and I have no idea where I’ll firm.

Which universities are you looking at and what's the main factors affecting your choice?

Unfortunately, I've only visited Leeds on an open day, but all three cities are generally good for social life and are highly ranked. Personally, I'd choose between Leeds and Nottingham for your firm choice and then Birmingham for insurance as it's your lower offer.

I'd say go somewhere that you'd feel most comfortable in (sorry if this is very generic). Maybe look specifically at the courses at all three universities and see which one you'd most enjoy? One of the main problems I see is that you haven't visited Nottingham, and so you may or may not enjoy it if you go there. Birmingham and Leeds are far larger than Nottingham but all three universities have similar student numbers so it looks like you would have a good social life in all three.

If you prefer your insurance choice, why did you not make this your firm choice?

Haven’t done anything yet. Just don’t know what to do and worried I will make wrong decision

You should firm the university you really want to go irrespective of grades. Birmingham campus isnt in the city centre it is about 2 miles out.

The whole point of an insurance is that it's supposed to be lower than your firm choice so that you have a place at another university if you don't make the grades for your firm. What would be the point in firming a university with grades of AAB so that your insurance is AAA?

Consider the following scenario...

On results day you get something like A*AC or ABB. Your firm choice of AAB rejects you because you haven't met all the conditions of your offer and they are full up with applicants who have done so. Otoh your insurance of AAA has a shortfall and opts to take you rather than try to recruit through clearing.

It's quite an unlikely scenario and it's subjective to certain universities.