regretting uni choices

Take a step back.
Firm Southampton - you dont need an Insurance if you do not want one - and wait until August.
Once you have your results, you can then make a decision about whether to go to S'ton (if you get the grades) - or decline S'ton, do some calm rethinking and reapply to 5 new Unis next year that you do actually want to go to and you have appropriate achieved grades for. Nowhere does it say you have to go to Uni this year.

hi, i'm sorry if this isn't the right place or if this sort of thing has been asked before, but i'm a bit stuck because i feel like i've made the wrong choices in the unis that i've applied for. i applied for english or english literature at york, southampton, durham, edinburgh and bristol and have been accepted by all apart from edinburgh. however, the only one i actually can see myself going to is southampton. during the ucas application process i felt very rushed by my school to just put down some choices and get the application finished quickly, and some of the reasons behind my choices were not really proper reasons, e.g. i applied to edinburgh because my mum really advocated for it, and for durham because i knew it was very prestigious, but i've never really had any desire to go to either of those places. there are other universities i wish i had applied for, specifically newcastle, birmingham and manchester, and i'm just wondering whether i should withdraw my choices and go into ucas extra or just stick with what i've got.
i have to clarify i'm very lucky and grateful to have received four offers and i don't want to complain because i know other people are in much worse situations than me, but i'm just worried about making the wrong choice.
sorry this is really long and if no one reads it then i don't blame you haha! x

I disagree with what McGinger said. Do not take a gap year just to re-apply to your preferred universities. If you are genuinely keen on taking a gap year aside from that, aka to get a break from studying and perhaps travel, then sure. Otherwise, you should firm Southampton for now and then on results day if you're still set on Manchester / Newcastle / Birmingham, call them up and they'll most likely be able to give you a place through clearing. None of these universities are likely to be oversubscribed for English so at least one (if not 2 or 3) will almost certainly offer you a place on results day if you want, especially as I'm assuming you must be on track to get great grades having got 4/5 offers. It's quite important to call them up though as they should be able to then give you an offer over the phone without you having to reject Southampton first.