About picking my firm and insurance choice..

So, 4 of my 5 choices have gotten back to me. I already know what I want to choose as my firm choice and my insurance choice but, it seems like I can't choose those on UCAS until the last university responds back to me. Accommodation is being sold out already at my firm choice and I've basically waited a little over a month for the last university to get back to me. Should I just permanently withdraw from that choice? Will that allow me to make my firm and insurance choice?

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by solarrhoseok

So, 4 of my 5 choices have gotten back to me. I already know what I want to choose as my firm choice and my insurance choice but, it seems like I can't choose those on UCAS until the last university responds back to me. Accommodation is being sold out already at my firm choice and I've basically waited a little over a month for the last university to get back to me. Should I just permanently withdraw from that choice? Will that allow me to make my firm and insurance choice?

It's still February! At which uni is accommodation "being sold out already"?

UCAS explicitly prohibit universities from giving preferential treatment (in terms of accommodation or anything else) to those who make their firm/insurance choice sooner as it places undue pressure on students - exactly as the policy of your firm choice is doing now. So if your firm choice is in breach, then they need to reported to UCAS. I reported one a couple of years ago, and the next year their policy changed. I don't know that it was because I reported them to UCAS - but I like to think that it was. :smile:

(If you're interested it's called Business Rule 9, and you can read how it applies to accommodation allocation here.)

If you're absolutely 100% sure that you don't want to wait for a decision from your final uni, then yes you can permanently withdraw from that choice. That would allow you to make you firm and insurance decision. However, it is generally considered unwise to make your firm / insurance decision this early anyway. TSR forums are full of threads where people say something along the lines of, "I've changed my mind about my firm / insurance choice - what do I do?" Often the answer is that there's nothing they can do (other than wait for Clearing and hope).

Reply 2

McGinger

20

Be aware that its total cobblers about accomodation availability.
Unis dont open applications until around Easter, and will not allocate accomodation until Results Day.
Think about it - not everyone going Firrn at any Uni will end up actually going there. They wont get the grades in August, they defer, cancel etc. So any idea that anything as nebulous as 'accomodation availability' can be known at this stage is clearly barking - they certainly can't know if your 'first choice' or any other layer of housing is 'sold out', 'full' or any other nutsy indication of 'not available'.

Its a BRIBE. Some Unis that are 'hard to fill' - think about why that is - create this fake atmosphere of panic in order to twist your arm to go Firm early. As above, its a nonsense. There is no shortage of accom. If there was, they'd be building some more to solve the problem. Don't fall for this stupidity. Hold off, wait for all your Uni decisions, and make a calm, careful decision abut where you want to spend the next 3 or 4 years of your life.

About picking my firm and insurance choice..

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