undecided about course/ uni

my firm was aston for business management however have decided to change to economics and politics at that uni which doesnt seem bad however i didnt want to go to aston eventhough i firmed it and tried uob during clearing but they said there was no space which was expected but still annoying tbh. i did call other places during clearing and also got an offer from essex to study ppe ( philosophy, politics, economics) however it is much further and im not sure if thats where i want to go or if i should just go aston. i just feel unsure about where i should go or if i should just stick it out with aston it doesnt seem bad at all but ig theres just this stigma around it and i feel like i couldve done better but i just messed up my intial application. ive tried looking at other unis too to see if theres any i would like but im not having much luck

Would you have the grades to reapply to Birmingham next year if you took a gap year?

You've said right at the beginning of your post that you 'didn't want to go to aston even though (you) firmed it'- sounds like you don't want to go! You'll be attending for 3+ years and you'll accrue a lot of debt, so it's really important that you go to a uni that you really like and genuinely think you'd enjoy being at. Maybe an option for you is to take a gap year and reapply to UOB and other unis you may like more during the next application cycle?