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Finding it impossible to choose firm and insurance

So I applied to do only foundation degrees, four in Law and one in English. I got offers for three of them, one at Sunderland uni, one at Newport, Wales uni, and the last at Truro and Penwith College. The offers at Sunderland and Wales are for Law foundation degrees, wheras at Truro it's for English.

I am finding it really difficult just to put my firm and insurance on Ucas, because I know once it's done there's no going back!

I want to put Sunderland as my firm, and then Wales as my insurance. But here's the issue, the offer for Wales is higher than the offer for Sunderland. So I'm wondering if there's much point putting it as my insurance. At Truro the offer is lower than both.

But I don't really think I'd want to go to Truro, because it seems to be quite tiny, and more like a college than uni, and I really, really want to get the full uni experience. But I love English and always have done, but I;m not sure I'd want to sacrifice the uni experience so I can study it. In the final third year I would study at Plymouth uni and the foundation degree would get topped up to a ba.

At Sunderland uni, I would be commuting twice a week all the way from Sunderland to Hartlepool sixth form, which is about 23 miles away!! This is very far and I'm not sure it'd be that easy. There is a train that takes 23 minutes from Sunderland to Hartlepool, but it seems like I would have to walk abou 27 minutes to Sunderland station and then another 25 minutes to the sixth form. I'm not a big fan of that much walking in the morning.
Though after completing the second year of the foundation degree, I could progress straight onto the second year of the full Sunderland qualifying llb law degree. I imagine this would be a good move for my future, or I would hope so.

At Newport, the degree also lasts 2 years, and I wouldn't have to commute as far to campus. I could go straight onto a top up 'law and buisness' year after the two years, but it would not be a 'qualifying law degree' that would mean I would be able to go straight into work as a lawyer, I think I would need a GDL. Or, after the two year I could progress to a qualifiying law degree, but it didn't say which year, and I wouldn't really want to study 3 more years after that again.



Any advice would be really appreciated! I know I probably want to put Sunderland as my firm and then Wales after, as it's always been a bit of dream of mine to move to the north east (I'm from London) and Sunderland has great reviews from students, and I imagine it would be a great experience studying there. Wales also, but Sunderland would be my first choice. But I just can't find the courage to just put my choices on track and confirm them! I'm just too scared that I'll regret it afterwards :frown:
I don't want to leave it too late as I want to make sure I get accommodation.


Any sort of advice would be very appreciated!!
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 1
Sounds like you've made your choice really. Your commute doesn't seem that bad, and if its only for a year then it seems worth it to me. There may also be buses you haven't accounted for.
Well is there ANY chance you want to go to Truro? Doesn't seem like it. So why would you regret it? It is tough to commit yourself and it is scary, but it seems like you already know what you want to do so go for it.
Original post by Shelly_x
Sounds like you've made your choice really. Your commute doesn't seem that bad, and if its only for a year then it seems worth it to me. There may also be buses you haven't accounted for.
Well is there ANY chance you want to go to Truro? Doesn't seem like it. So why would you regret it? It is tough to commit yourself and it is scary, but it seems like you already know what you want to do so go for it.


thanks a lot for the advice :smile: I definetly think I will be putting Sunderland as my firm and Newport as my insurance. I just have to believe more in my decisions rather than keep second guessing my self!! I'm just finding it very hard to log into track and then confirm them as my choices, but I will make sure I do it today! :smile:
Original post by beansontoast93
So I applied to do only foundation degrees, four in Law and one in English. I got offers for three of them, one at Sunderland uni, one at Newport, Wales uni, and the last at Truro and Penwith College. The offers at Sunderland and Wales are for Law foundation degrees, wheras at Truro it's for English.

I am finding it really difficult just to put my firm and insurance on Ucas, because I know once it's done there's no going back!

I want to put Sunderland as my firm, and then Wales as my insurance. But here's the issue, the offer for Wales is ?higher? than the offer for Sunderland. So I'm wondering if there's much point putting it as my insurance. At Truro the offer is lower than both.

But I don't really think I'd want to go to Truro, because it seems to be quite tiny, and more like a college than uni, and I really, really want to get the full uni experience. But I love English and always have done, but I;m not sure I'd want to sacrifice the uni experience so I can study it. In the final third year I would study at Plymouth uni and the foundation degree would get topped up to a ba.

At Sunderland uni, I would be commuting twice a week all the way from Sunderland to Hartlepool sixth form, which is about 23 miles away!! This is very far and I'm not sure it'd be that easy. There is a train that takes 23 minutes from Sunderland to Hartlepool, but it seems like I would have to walk abou 27 minutes to Sunderland station and then another 25 minutes to the sixth form. I'm not a big fan of that much walking in the morning.
Though after completing the second year of the foundation degree, I could progress straight onto the second year of the full Sunderland qualifying llb law degree. I imagine this would be a good move for my future, or I would hope so.

At Newport, the degree also lasts 2 years, and I wouldn't have to commute as far to campus. I could go straight onto a top up 'law and buisness' year after the two years, but it would not be a 'qualifying law degree' that would mean I would be able to go straight into work as a lawyer, I think I would need a GDL. Or, after the two year I could progress to a qualifiying law degree, but it didn't say which year, and I wouldn't really want to study 3 more years after that again.



Any advice would be really appreciated! I know I probably want to put Sunderland as my firm and then Wales after, as it's always been a bit of dream of mine to move to the north east (I'm from London) and Sunderland has great reviews from students, and I imagine it would be a great experience studying there. Wales also, but Sunderland would be my first choice. But I just can't find the courage to just put my choices on track and confirm them! I'm just too scared that I'll regret it afterwards :frown:
I don't want to leave it too late as I want to make sure I get accommodation.


Any sort of advice would be very appreciated!!



I took a look at Newport (Uni of Wales) website and they don't actually offer a Law degree. All the information says that you can apply to join a qualifying Law degree.

You would be able to apply for a 'Law top up' which would be a qualifying Law degree, and they're only one year. By looking at UCAS the only place I can see that offers one is Huddersfield University.

As for Sunderland, you don't necessarily HAVE to live on Campus. You could always live off campus in student housing or something. Although I understand you want the student experience.

As for travelling to the Sixth Form, you can get a bus from the uni to the station - Sunderland Uni offers a free shuttle bus which goes from one campus to the other, and goes through the city centre past the station. You can then get on the train to Hartlepool. At Hartlepool you can get the number 4 bus to the Sixth form... or you can get a bike! :smile:

I hope this helps - i can see you want to go to Sunderland you're just worried about the travelling. What I would say, is to wait to hear back from your other two offers first :smile:
Original post by Knalchemist
I took a look at Newport (Uni of Wales) website and they don't actually offer a Law degree. All the information says that you can apply to join a qualifying Law degree.

You would be able to apply for a 'Law top up' which would be a qualifying Law degree, and they're only one year. By looking at UCAS the only place I can see that offers one is Huddersfield University.

As for Sunderland, you don't necessarily HAVE to live on Campus. You could always live off campus in student housing or something. Although I understand you want the student experience.

As for travelling to the Sixth Form, you can get a bus from the uni to the station - Sunderland Uni offers a free shuttle bus which goes from one campus to the other, and goes through the city centre past the station. You can then get on the train to Hartlepool. At Hartlepool you can get the number 4 bus to the Sixth form... or you can get a bike! :smile:

I hope this helps - i can see you want to go to Sunderland you're just worried about the travelling. What I would say, is to wait to hear back from your other two offers first :smile:


they do a Law foundation degree :smile:

http://www.newport.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/Pages/LawFoundation.aspx

But even so, I still want to go to Sunderland. I don't know why but it seems more fun/exciting.

And thanks about the bus info in Hartlepool, I didn't know that :smile: I thought I would have to walk. And I've already had rejections from the other two offers, so Sunderland it is :redface: I think I would probably prefer to live in halls though, it seems like it would be more of an experience I think. Thanks for the advice again :smile:
Original post by beansontoast93
they do a Law foundation degree :smile:

http://www.newport.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/Pages/LawFoundation.aspx

But even so, I still want to go to Sunderland. I don't know why but it seems more fun/exciting.

And thanks about the bus info in Hartlepool, I didn't know that :smile: I thought I would have to walk. And I've already had rejections from the other two offers, so Sunderland it is :redface: I think I would probably prefer to live in halls though, it seems like it would be more of an experience I think. Thanks for the advice again :smile:


At Newport, you would have to top the degree up to a full LLB (another year) in order to practice Law.

I would rather live in halls too, it seems pretty fun!
Remember that you have until May to make your decisions so if you're still not sure then don't do it right now - you've still got another two months and once you've made a decision it's very hard to undo it once a 7 day window has passed.

With regards to having an insurance as higher than your firm, don't worry about it. Plenty of people do it because life and choices comes down to more than simply whether the offer grades align. Lots of people end up in situations where they miss both offers then are accepted by the uni who wanted higher grades and rejected by the one with lower grades because unis all have different numbers, students and targets to consider.
Original post by Knalchemist
At Newport, you would have to top the degree up to a full LLB (another year) in order to practice Law.

I would rather live in halls too, it seems pretty fun!


Yep it does :smile: thanks for the advice.
Original post by oxymoronic
Remember that you have until May to make your decisions so if you're still not sure then don't do it right now - you've still got another two months and once you've made a decision it's very hard to undo it once a 7 day window has passed.

With regards to having an insurance as higher than your firm, don't worry about it. Plenty of people do it because life and choices comes down to more than simply whether the offer grades align. Lots of people end up in situations where they miss both offers then are accepted by the uni who wanted higher grades and rejected by the one with lower grades because unis all have different numbers, students and targets to consider.


Yeah I was thinking that too. I still haven't visited Sunderland or Newport yet, so maybe I should visit at least one of them before making my choice. But I'm just worried that I wont get the accommodation I want.

Yeah that's what I thought too, there's no point really in me putting an insurance for a place I wouldn't really be happy going to, which is why I'll put Wales instead of Truro. Thanks for the advice :smile:
Original post by beansontoast93
Yeah I was thinking that too. I still haven't visited Sunderland or Newport yet, so maybe I should visit at least one of them before making my choice. But I'm just worried that I wont get the accommodation I want.

Yeah that's what I thought too, there's no point really in me putting an insurance for a place I wouldn't really be happy going to, which is why I'll put Wales instead of Truro. Thanks for the advice :smile:


Most unis won't even open accommodation until the summer and the vast vast majority do not operate a first come first served thing with accommodation because people make decisions and become unconditional at different times. It'd go against everything that we advise applicants if unis started giving you a better room because you made your decision in Jan rather than thinking about it more seriously until May... it sends out completely the wrong message.

I'd really reccomend you visit both universities as this is the only way you can get a clear idea of whether you'd really like to live there. Back when I applied to uni I loved the idea of Lancaster on paper then went to visit and realised a campus uni was not for me so went completely off the idea when at one point it might have been my firm if I'd made decisions without visiting. That's not to say Lancaster isn't a great uni as loads of people love it, it's more it really wasn't the right place for me at all and I didn't realise that at all until I went to visit.
Original post by oxymoronic
Most unis won't even open accommodation until the summer and the vast vast majority do not operate a first come first served thing with accommodation because people make decisions and become unconditional at different times. It'd go against everything that we advise applicants if unis started giving you a better room because you made your decision in Jan rather than thinking about it more seriously until May... it sends out completely the wrong message.

I'd really reccomend you visit both universities as this is the only way you can get a clear idea of whether you'd really like to live there. Back when I applied to uni I loved the idea of Lancaster on paper then went to visit and realised a campus uni was not for me so went completely off the idea when at one point it might have been my firm if I'd made decisions without visiting. That's not to say Lancaster isn't a great uni as loads of people love it, it's more it really wasn't the right place for me at all and I didn't realise that at all until I went to visit.


thanks :smile: yes I will definetly try to visit both before making up my mind.

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