The Student Room Group

Conditional firm and insurance with terrible grades

I have received 3 conditional offers from York, Bristol and Birmingham but I’m not sure which two to pick as my firm and insurance. I’ve visited Birmingham but not the other two unis. I need to make a decision quickly as the deadline to accept or reject (5th June) is fast approaching.

The problem is my grades are terrible. I’m 22 years old and doing an Access to HE course at college, all my offers want a minimum of 30 distinctions and 15 merits or better. So far I’ve mainly been getting merits, with one pass and zero distinctions. My teacher says I was too ambitious and snobby in only applying to RG unis, despite me explaining multiple times over the course of this academic year that university isn’t free, I genuinely need it for my future career in a highly competitive industry, and besides it was my dream to attend an RG. She also said that the difference between Merit and Distinction quality of an assignment is roughly Level 3 and Level 4 /first year of university respectively, and that I should consider Clearing.

Anyway, the point of my post is that I have these theee offers, two of which I need to firm and insure, that I am also at risk of losing all due to my poor grades. I don’t want to reject all three as a small part of me has this vain hope that one of them might still take me, or give me a reduced offer or something. The way I see it, it’s giving checkmate. I’m in a doomed if I do / don’t type of situation. Grateful if anyone has any thoughts or advice on this, thanks.

Reply 1

What degree subject are you applying for?

Reply 2

Original post
by username6261325
I have received 3 conditional offers from York, Bristol and Birmingham but I’m not sure which two to pick as my firm and insurance. I’ve visited Birmingham but not the other two unis. I need to make a decision quickly as the deadline to accept or reject (5th June) is fast approaching.
The problem is my grades are terrible. I’m 22 years old and doing an Access to HE course at college, all my offers want a minimum of 30 distinctions and 15 merits or better. So far I’ve mainly been getting merits, with one pass and zero distinctions. My teacher says I was too ambitious and snobby in only applying to RG unis, despite me explaining multiple times over the course of this academic year that university isn’t free, I genuinely need it for my future career in a highly competitive industry, and besides it was my dream to attend an RG. She also said that the difference between Merit and Distinction quality of an assignment is roughly Level 3 and Level 4 /first year of university respectively, and that I should consider Clearing.
Anyway, the point of my post is that I have these theee offers, two of which I need to firm and insure, that I am also at risk of losing all due to my poor grades. I don’t want to reject all three as a small part of me has this vain hope that one of them might still take me, or give me a reduced offer or something. The way I see it, it’s giving checkmate. I’m in a doomed if I do / don’t type of situation. Grateful if anyone has any thoughts or advice on this, thanks.

Hey there,

Congratulations on those three offers! That in itself is no small achievement 🎉

If there isn't much difference between the offers from the three universities, my advice would be to firm the university you most want to go to, and insure the university that's your second choice.

If you reject all your offers or if you miss your conditional offer requirements for both your firm and insurance, you'll enter Clearing either way. So the way I see it, you might as well put down a firm and insurance choice on UCAS, as you might meet your offer requirements, and avoid Clearing.

That being said, going into Clearing isn't a bad thing. It's an opportunity to see what you could do and where you could go with the grades you've achieved. And if you don't like any of the options, then you can always reapply next year.

I hope this helps to reassure you. If there's anything you'd like to know about York, or what it's like to study here, feel free to add any questions to this thread.

Wishing you all the best - Hannah 😀

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.