Which 5 universities?!

Hey! I'm going to apply for psychology next year (2014 entry) and I'm having a lot of trouble choosing universities!
My AS results are:
Biology-A (90%)
Psychology- A (83%)
English lit-B (78%)
Chemistry-C (69% 1 UMS off a B. Getting it remarked and dropping it)
I am also looking at taking the EPQ next year
Hopefully I will end up with AABB which I'd be incredibly happy with. Especially as I had to do two modular results in biology and chemistry respectively after getting a C and an E in january. i don't know what my predicted grades will be, but I'm looking at applying to
UCL (A*AA) am I aiming too high?
Bristol (AAA)
Royal Holloway (AAA) Iin the middle of nowhere? Good for pshchobiology?
Cardiff (AAB)
Nottingham (AAB) i've heard student satisfaction isn't great
Kent (AAB)
Bangor (280-340 UCAS points) is this too safe an option?
Maybe Exeter (AAA)

I prefer the biological side of psychology which is why I'm not sure that Exeter and Kent would be the right fit for me. I have however also heard that kent has great graduate prospects. I visited Exeter on a summer school, would this aid my application?

With my AS grades and aspirations which combination of universities do you think would be the best? I'd like to avoid 5 rejections! Haha
Thanks for any replies!

You might as well apply to a range. After all, you choose five so one or two rejections doesn't really matter. I would therefore apply for UCL if I was in your position - you've done really well in your Biology AS so if you keep it up next year then I think that A* would be possible Your English Lit is very close to being an A, so you my be able to move that up next year too. I personally would apply to one course wanting A*AA, two wanting AAA and two wanting AAA, but of course it's completely your choice. Have you looked around the unis?

I agree, you should definitely go for a range. However, you really need to visit them all if it's possible - I had quite a long list with similar entry requirements and going to open days really helped me to decide which ones I liked you can't just go by the photographs! Have you considered if you'd prefer to go to a campus based uni or not? I visited Bristol and the buildings were scattered around whereas Nottingham for example was all in one place.

So yes, I'd recommend visiting them if you haven't already as it really helps seeing the accommodation also helps!

Thanks for the reply! which would you pick because I'm really stuck. I've been to Exeter and I live 50 minutes away from Bristol so have seen the buildings multiple times I have also booked open days at Bangor, RH and Nottingham. I'd like to go to a campus university but Bristol and London I know quite well so I wouldn't mind living in the city
Just out of curiosity, Where did you apply and what were your A2 predictions? Thank you!

No problem! Personally I prefer campus unis because everything is together and you don't have to rely on transport to get to lectures etc. (e.g. the accommodation at Bristol is quite a way from the main buildings so you have to get a bus there) but other people prefer being away so it's just down to your choice. I really liked the campus at Nottingham as it's all together but there is a lot of open space/grass which was nice. I can't really say which I'd pick as I don't know much about some of them, but I'd definitely go for UCL and Nottingham

As for me, I was predicted ABB at A2 and I applied for:
KCL - AAB
Leeds - BBB
Bristol - AAB
Cardiff - ABB
QMUL - ABB

I got offers from all of these, although some grades were higher than what was on the website at the time (Leeds went from BBB to ABB) and some were lower (QMUL went from ABB to BBB).

Could I ask your opinion on Cardiff? What made you apply there?

That's a good question actually - I had one space left on UCAS and I picked Cardiff mainly because of the location (I wanted to go to a big city) and because at the time the entry requirements were my predicted grades. I also wanted to stick to the Russell group unis because generally they have a good reputation

So I've pretty much decided on UCL, Bristol and RH. But I'm not sure which my other 2 should be, I'm stuck between Nottingham, Cardiff, Kent and Bangor. Which would you chose if you were in my situation? Thank you!

Make sure you do visit! I put down Birmingham before visiting and when I did I didn't like it at all. :<
I was predicted AAB and applied to..
Bristol - AAB, Cardiff - AAB, Birmingham - AAB, Glasgow - ABB, Plymouth - BBB

I ended up with ABC and I'm going to Cardiff!
It seems like such a nice uni, and the city is lovely too.

I'm definitely going to visit! Haha I'm not sure if UCL have a pre offers open day though. The only one I found was in June 2014 for offer holders :/ I hope Cardiff is as great as it sounds because I've heard a lot of good things! Did you get offers from all of them and if so what were they? You got in even after missing their offer? That's so reassuring! Do you think they'd continue being lenient, even for extremely competitive subjects like psychology? Thanks so much for your help!

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