How many ‘safety’ unis did you apply to?

Hi! I’m predicted A*A*A*A at A-level and I’m currently looking at my top 5 choices to apply to next year. A lot of places, including school seem to suggest 1 or 2 safety unis to have as your insurance - so I’ve been looking around the AAB/ABB range, however I’m realising most of these unis are going to have places in clearing anyway, so isn’t it just worth having an AAA uni as an insurance?

I don’t really have any family to ask who know about uni applications so please let me know if you picked some ‘safety’ unis and if you did how many! And is this a good decision? Most places seem to suggest applying to a uni or two above your predicted grades - which isn’t quite relevant so I don’t know if 5 A*A*A/A*AA/AAA unis would really be that bad of a decision?

However, obviously going through clearing isn’t a fun experience, especially since being so late means you might not get accommodation - but do you still get accommodation if you put it as an insurance? You can see how little I know here!

I’m also considering leaving off a uni with A*AA requirement that I really like as it always comes up in clearing for my course, and my idea is if I missed AAA or something like that I could hopefully get in there through clearing - but that’s a whole other topic!

Thanks!

Hi! I’m predicted A*A*A*A at A-level and I’m currently looking at my top 5 choices to apply to next year. A lot of places, including school seem to suggest 1 or 2 safety unis to have as your insurance - so I’ve been looking around the AAB/ABB range, however I’m realising most of these unis are going to have places in clearing anyway, so isn’t it just worth having an AAA uni as an insurance?

I don’t really have any family to ask who know about uni applications so please let me know if you picked some ‘safety’ unis and if you did how many! And is this a good decision? Most places seem to suggest applying to a uni or two above your predicted grades - which isn’t quite relevant so I don’t know if 5 A*A*A/A*AA/AAA unis would really be that bad of a decision?

However, obviously going through clearing isn’t a fun experience, especially since being so late means you might not get accommodation - but do you still get accommodation if you put it as an insurance? You can see how little I know here!

I’m also considering leaving off a uni with A*AA requirement that I really like as it always comes up in clearing for my course, and my idea is if I missed AAA or something like that I could hopefully get in there through clearing - but that’s a whole other topic!

Thanks!

I was wondering similar. I really like the look of oxford, imperial and warwick for maths, but they're ridiculously competitive, and the likelihood is I would get a rejection from all 3, despite having the required predictions, because well, everyone applying there has the required predictions.

My mum seems to think I don't really need to apply to a 'safety' uni, but I don't really want to end up with no offers and have to go through extra or clearing lmao

I think you should check for Warwick. Before Covid I think most applicants for maths got offers. The issue could be that the offers you get are very high (STEP grades for example).

Oh damn really? I was under the impression that it wasn't as competitive as the likes of Imperial, but still very, very much so. I didn't realise they gave out so many offers (even if they are really high).

I'd check but when I knew of such things a few years ago that was the case. Not sure about Imperial for maths - again its worth checking. Difficult to base things on the last couple of years as the number of people getting higher grades was so much higher and universities ended up with more people making offers than expected.