Is January too late to visit?

Hi,
I have received 4 out of 5 of my offers for uni from : Reading, Loughborough, Nottingham Trent and Portsmouth. I'm still waiting on Liverpool but Reading's my top choice at the moment.
However, Loughborough invited me to a visit day specifically for my subject on 4th Jan, should I go? Who knows I may love it even more than Reading (although I highly doubt it lol). Would it be too late by them to pick firm & insurance or should I just do it as soon as I get my final offer?
Thanks

Assuming you receive all your offers by 31st March, you have until 6th May to choose your firm and insurance. You should spend the time visiting, weighing up the pros and cons of each offer, and generally taking your time until you are certain. Under no circumstances should you choose as soon as your final decision arrives. Every year, TSR gets many posts from applicants wailing 'I made the wrong choice and I wanna change...'

you have until may to make your decision. likelihood is you will get invitations for visit or post application open days for each uni between jan and march. take them up then make your decision depending on which you prefer

Thank you, I'll definitely visit then.
Also is it wise to pick to high graded unis as firm and insurance.
I was told to put one high (firm) one mid range (insurance).

But isn't it better to choose sooner rather than later?

Hi,
I have received 4 out of 5 of my offers for uni from : Reading, Loughborough, Nottingham Trent and Portsmouth. I'm still waiting on Liverpool but Reading's my top choice at the moment.
However, Loughborough invited me to a visit day specifically for my subject on 4th Jan, should I go? Who knows I may love it even more than Reading (although I highly doubt it lol). Would it be too late by them to pick firm & insurance or should I just do it as soon as I get my final offer?
Thanks

That depends on various factors such as... what exactly these offers are... the probability of you achieving them... how happy you would be to attend each uni...



No. No. And thrice no!

No it wont be too late by then, it is worth going just in case it turns out the be perfect for you (I know unlikely but still better to go and know)

It's worth checking how accommodation applications work at the uni you want to firm. At Bath, accommodation applications have opened in April for the last few years, and you can only apply if you've already firmed - and it's first come, first served.

I was thinking it would be careless of me to put down loughborough and reading as firm and insurance as they both want the same grades. isn't the whole point of an insurance is "worst case scenario" e.g you don't get the right grades. so i was thinking of putting down reading and portsmouth as portsmouth requires slightly lower grades.

Yes, but only if you want to go to Portsmouth. If you don't then it could end up being a waste of around £45k.

Also, look at you chances objectively. Say Loughborough and Reading both want AAB. If you achieved AAA at AS with average marks of around 95% you would seem to be a good bet for AAB or better. OTOH if you achieved ABB at AS with marks heading towards BCC then you would perhaps be better advised to have a lower insurance.

I do like Portsmouth and I got aab. but you never know what may happen between now and then. i dont want to end up in clearing.

Is this after the deadline by which you have to decide on your offers?

And what are the various offers you are considering?

No, you have to decide on offers by a date in May, which is why it causes problems. Some universities will also have early deadlines for things like scholarship applications.

as has been said it is probably advisable to put a lower graded offer as insurance provided you are comfortable with that choice and are happy with the course content. That is why it is advisable to attend visit or pre-application open days. Due to a change in the way government applies funding to unis there last year was not enough aab students for all the unis that made such offers. this is why some unis are now making unconditional offers. it is possible that even if you drop a grade the uni might accept you rather than go through the clearing lottery and perhaps not filling the place. I have actually put an article from the telegraph on another thread