help! am i aiming too high? will i get rejected everywhere im applying?

ahhh so stressed over ucas... was wondering if im aiming too high- please be honest!
so i wanna study econ and im applying to:
Cambridge
LSE
Warwick
Nottingham
Bath

I got 8 A*s and 6As for GCSE, 4As for AS (maths, econ, hist and Art...will the art pull me down btw?) and some extracurriculars...am i aiming too high? please help!!
hopey

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Reply 1

Doccykins

If you're dropping Art and going with Econ/Maths/History you should be fine, especially if you have a strong personal statement/referral backing you.

Reply 2

J-bob

yeah they dont see to be too high, LSE can be tricky due to GCSEs...but you have a shot at all of them really..
i dont know about cambridge but oxford tutors said AS art wouldnt pull a student down (for econ and management)

Reply 3

Oldmannow

you should get one or two offers don't worry.

Reply 4

Socrates

If you're predicted 3 As, you should get all the offers.

Reply 5

Crazster

3 A's isn't really enough anymore though.

Good Gcse's, you have. Make a killer personal statement and you should get a couple of offers with a good shot at Cambridge and LSE.

Reply 6

ma2k5

You'll only get rejected if you really screw up your PS and the person making your reference has somthing against you :P

Reply 7

J-bob

Crazster

3 A's isn't really enough anymore though.

Good Gcse's, you have. Make a killer personal statement and you should get a couple of offers with a good shot at Cambridge and LSE.

although you dont have 4full Alevels, if this is because you cant take 4 at your school then try and get ur referee to mention it...i had the same problem and LSE said if you get it mentioned in ur reference that you couldnt actually take a 4th then they wont count it against you...and plenty of people who have only done 3 Alevels have got offers, so give it a shot.

good luck

Reply 8

hopey

thanks for all your help, i feel slightly more relaxed...any tips on writing a personal statement? i've written one and i'm just a bit worried coz it's not like anyone else's ive read- i don't really out and out say that i love economics, but i do discuss a lot of topics and i include a few deep rhetorical questions, is it better to write things that are more conventional, ie, "im fascinated with the inner workings of the world and ever since discovering Economics... blah blah blah... than what i've done? of course i've said that i really enjoy economics and stuff, but less than other people's coz ive included more opinions and stuff...is that alright? help!

Reply 9

Socrates

Definitely mention stuff you've done rather than airy fairy stuff - they are more interested in what makes you different from other people, and if you're interviewed its always handy to be able to back up what you've written.

Reply 10

ObaMartins9

hopey

Judging by the intelligence level of this post i'd say you should fail to get into all of these.

Sorry if that sounds rude, but you have a near perfect academic record and if you have extra curriculars then you have the "roundness".

Surely if anyone would get in to a uni then you have a chance.

Reply 11

tiny_dancer

I'd say you are very very likely to get offers from Bath and Nottingham, most probably Warwick as well. The other two it's harder to say, depends on your interview skills and personal statement. BUT don't feel you have to do 4 a-levels! You do not 'need' them, at my school very few people do 4 unless the 4th is general studies and we had 12 people get into Oxbridge. Maths, economics and history is a really good combination. So just work on making your personal statement really good and put in any extra reading or related work experience that you've done.

Reply 12

Paulwhy

pomeroy784

Lacking confidence is not the same as lacking intelligence!

hopey

Firstly apply to places you want to go to. i.e. no value to you of an offer to somewhere you not want.

Secondly those sound like a mix of different places with different entry requirements. Which sounds good to me. I can’t say about the top two but I would be hugely surprised if you did not get an offer from Warwick. In fact if they do not make you an offer I will give you £10. (Unless of course what you have told me so far is untrue and you are an illiterate lorry driver from Doncaster.)

Reply 13

hopey

yup, you guessed it paulwhy, OF COURSE i was lying all along about my results, and in actual fact I AM an illiterate lorry driver from Doncaster!! how didya guess?? (he he, i am jokin btw...)
you have a real point about applying to where I actually wanna go, it's just i have a bit of a dilemma...
i went to cambridge (liked it) Nottingham (loved it!)... and LSE (didn't like it) but i feel that i should apply coz its such a good uni, and that its only for 3 years... the opportunities you get from LSE are just so amazin, i couldnt really turn them down, and not apply? Am i being a bit unreasonable?
hopey
p.s. im guessing paulwhy, that you go to Warwick... (coz it says that your location's coventry) if so, i was wondering what it's like there... i really liked the prospectus, and i missed the open day, and the next one's in May so that's a bit late...what's the atmosphere? social life and stuff? what kind of student would/wouldn't it suit? Any light you could shed on life in warwick would help if you or anyone who's reading this could help me with...thanks xx

Reply 14

Paulwhy

hopey

I think it ok to apply to LSE on basis that: "it did not initially appeal to you but if accepted u would give it more consideration."
I was thinking more somewhere lower down the food chain (e.g. Aberwiswith)
i.e. somewhere easy to get into that would be not worthy of you.

Yes I am at Warwick. yes I like Warwick. Atmosphere very liberal. Optimistic. Confident. Want to change the world. Nice (sorry that that word sounds weak). A better place than the normal world.

Warwick is a campus university. (Yes I know you know that). Hence you can walk for 10 minutes to the union have a good night out and then leave at 1:30am and be home in 10 minutes. Now you can't do that at the LSE can you?

Have lots of clubs and societies. Union one of best funded in country and hence so are the clubs and societies. And there is a sense of one-ness that just does not exist at collegiate universities. (e.g. does it even make sense to talk about Cambridge having an economics department?)

What kind of student? hmmm not sure. Put it this way the thing that most economics students complain about is the maths. so I guess if you weak at maths then it is not a great place to go!

Finally you want the option do a masters. This is now a signalling device used by able students to show they could do postgraduate research if they wanted to. and u want to do a masters at a big school (e.g. Warwick had 100+ last year) Big places being places like Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, LSE and UCL. and you might think I will go where ever I feel like (e.g. Nottingham) and then trade up for masters. Could end horribly I know many people who have come from mid-ranking universities (Royal Holloway, Sheffield) to Warwick and barely passed. e.g. on resits after being coached all summer.

Finally Finally Warwick has cash. It has doubled in size in the last 10 years. and money talks. during last 3 years got professors in from top US universities (e.g. Stanford, Brown)

Finally finally finally Warwick has one of top Economic History departments in country (e.g. Broadberry, Crafts) and I know you like History.

Reply 15

Paulwhy

Hopey

Check your messages!

Thanks

Paul

Reply 16

hopey

ok ok i have!!Sorry, i never realised that you could message people on this... am new to the student room u c... oh yeah, just to let you know, ive changed my mind about LSE... i thought about it, and i think it's more important that i have a laugh at a uni in a place i actually like and be able to meet loads of cool new people (like warwick!) rather than go to London and live in a squat that costs £150 a week, to a uni where i'll have to commute every day on the tube, where 50% of the people are foreign and can't speak that much english but are really clever... besides, is it worth the effort? It is for 3 years, and you only live once...
So, im gonna apply to Bristol instead i think, waay nicer, really liked it when i visited...
i guess it's just a waiting game now....!
hopey xxx
p.s apparently Coventry's a really depressing place..is that true? Please don't tell me it's anything like Peacehaven (if you've ever been there; they should really name that place "chavhaven.." ..totally off the record of course, i love chavs really; ahem....)

Reply 17

hopey

no offence if anyone reading this is a chav, i have nothing against them really... there's just too many in peacehaven! xx

Reply 18

silent ninja

Coventry is not depressing. The city centre is decent, there are pretty nice areas to live in, Leamington Spa and Kenilworth are local towns-- the former being a bit posh. I can name a lot of other cities which are far worse.

Reply 19

malamenm

I am applying to exactly the same unies (grades AAAAB for Maths Chem, physics, russian and bio) economics was offered at our school but for some reason I never took it... I dno y...would that be a big minus. Iv always wanted to study econ but only now that i have to write my personal statement do i realise that i dont know what its really about.. and i have no idea what to write.
does anybody have any sugestions or examples they can share with me? and am i aming to high?