history BA conditional offer

my current predicted grades are 3A*B and will retake, after retake would be 3A*A (physics/math/history, economics)
i'm thinking of apply to UCL, KCL, UOM, university of Bristol and Birmingham, what cons do they usually give? i'm afraid i could not get AAA in A-levels. is there other recommendations?

Why are you worried that you won't get anywhere near your predictions?

i think it's because my school's threshold for predicted A* is very low, which is 80%, and fortunately i got 80% in both math and history and was just enough for 3A*. also i'm outside of UK.

Ok, well you know what offers those universities give so you're aware of the risk/reward.
One option is not to apply to all 5 at once. Hold a choice or two back until you have a better idea of your progress and what offers/rejections that you've had.

i get it. so i should apply for Bristol and Birmingham with 3A*B now and wait for retake grades to apply for the rest 3?

What is it you're retaking?

economics. i messed up and got an C.

Do you mean your internal school exams?

sorry im not sure what internal school exams you're referring to. I did CIE exam board As level in May, and got predicted grades according to our school's threshold. i guess it's different in overseas?

Ok, got you now.
Given that you have 3xA* predicted as well as the economics, what's the problem with your choice of universities? Perhaps just hold one back for now?

ok, so obviously i'd like to go to UCL, but my college council (and other people too) thinks that a B would not look great, especially economics is essay based and therefore would be very important for History BA, so i'm applying it after my retake grade come out, which is very close to the deadline, and this is the first problem, to what extent would late application affect my chance to get an offer?
secondly, for these unis, the contextual offers are often AAA as i researched, and i've explained that i don't see myself getting that high results, so, should i lower my expectations and apply for less demanding unis?
btw thanks for helping!

that's good to hear.
im outside of EU, so not qualified for contextual offers
thank you so much for helping! i feel a lot better now. 😁

I don't think you'll have a problem getting offers from your chosen unis. KCL, for example, use their history course as an "alternative offer" for more popular courses such as IR.
Glad to have helped! 😁

i know,,, i'm just nervous 'cause it seems so competitive for Asian applicants. thanks a lot again!

You sound like you have already given up.
Why are you already planning retakes when, if you pulled your finger out now, you could get the grades required this year.

i know that, but China's too competitive, i think you know what i mean