Uni insurance choice advice (newcastle, york, qmul)

Choose the course that interests you the most. Check the optional units in all years of the course - is there enough that interests you - and what opportunites are there for study abroad, work placemets etc, as these add to your graduate CV and initial job opportunities.

I agree w mcginger choose the course you love, the content and what opportunities there are over the grade requirements. If York is where you can see yourself then choose that over soton.

I went to Southampton (not CS) but I had a lot of CS friends who loved their time there but ultimately, it is where YOU feel you can see yourself at.

I visited Southampton uni recently and loved it as well as the course. It's definitely my favourite and I do see myself going there. I was a bit concerned with putting york or Newcastle (my preferred two after Southampton) as my insurance choice just in case I don't reach those grades so it feels like a bit of a gamble. Thank you for the advice, I think I'm going to go back and check both of their courses again and put more weight on that rather than the grades.

Oh wait I misunderstood your first post, your first choice would be Southampton & York as insurance???

When I applied to uni, 5 years ago now 😅 my insurance was one grade difference. But, I would still say yes look at course (Southampton is brilliant but I would say that!!)

For most subjects there are always likely to be universities in clearing should things not work out

Not top Unis this year.
Its likely to be like last year when most of them were not in Clearing at all.

Your insurance has to be somewhere you want to go, because there is a possibility of you spending 3 years living and studying there. If you don't think the course at Newcastle suits you and you don't want to go there, then don't put it down just because of the entry requirements. I would go with York, because it is unlikely you will drop down in 2 out of 3 subjects, and if that does happen, you could then take a gap year and reapply?
Having said that, what did you think of Newcastle? How big is the gap between your liking of York and Newcastle?

As far as an insurance uni is concerned go for your second favourite York in your case, For most subjects there are always likely to be universities in clearing should things not work out

That's a very good point, I am being a bit overcautious, and having read these replies, I am thinking of choosing york as my insurance after all. I'll need to discuss it with my parents/teachers first though.
Honestly, it's not a huge gap, it's mostly the overall feel of both unis (mixed with a bit of gut feeling) which makes me prefer York a bit more. Also, I prefer some of York's optional modules too, a couple of them really cater to my interests and ideas for what I'd like to do in the future.

Thank you for your help

Is that a realistic prediction or is it "if all the stars align it might happen but actually I'll probably get AAB"?

Did you have to beg to get predictions that high, or are they what your teachers suggested initially? We don't know any of these things, but you do.

Is that a realistic prediction or is it "if all the stars align it might happen but actually I'll probably get AAB"?

You don't want to have an insurance choice which is actually a reach. If you genuinely don't know, I suggest a chat with your teachers - let them know you need them to be blunt, not nice, because you are about to discard the offers you have which will allow you to get a B or two. There's a lot of pressure on teachers to overpredict because at least it gets your foot in the door, but it doesn't do you any favours if you end up with choices that need grades you won't get. Did you have to beg to get predictions that high, or are they what your teachers suggested initially? We don't know any of these things, but you do.

(Like others have said, this is in addition to them being courses you want to do and places you want to live.)

That is a very good point I think.

My daughter did actually beg one of her teachers to predict her an A (the teachers inclination was to predict her a B) because she badly wanted to get an offer from a particuar uni. The teacher obliged by giving her an A prediction but in the actual exam she got a B, got rejected by the uni anyway so in hindsight should have accepted the teachers honest first prediction and applied to unis accordingly.

Choose somewhere you like I see so many posts “I don’t want to go to my insurance.” On here on results day if you don’t like where you are you won’t succeed simple no ?