Accounting and finance at university

Hi everyone,
I am a current year 13 student sitting my A levels. I am predicted AAA, and I am in a very good position to expect good grades. I have firmed the University of Liverpool to study accounting and finance with a year in industry.
I feel as if I underestimated myself this year, almost applying to quite weak universities. I hold offers from Ulster University, Liverpool John Moores, the University of Reading, and Newcastle University. I applied to Reading and Newcastle for the Flying Start degree, which was my main plan, but I was unfortunately not offered a place but just given their standard A+F course.
I am currently unsure of what I want to do because I feel as if getting into the University of Liverpool almost doesn't really push me enough, as I may be able to enter better universities, such as the University of Edinburgh or the University of Glasgow, which are considered more of target schools and better ranked than Liverpool. I'm just wondering if this is something I should be fussed about.
I am considering potentially applying through clearing or maybe even next year because I am reapplying to the PwC flying start degree again anyways.

You can't apply through clearing with any outstanding offers, because it's for people who got 0/5 mainly - I guess you could reject them and then apply though. If you wanted to do a gap year then absolutely you could reapply next year with your achieved grades to the mentioned unis such as Edinburgh - which will give you an advantage when applying to jobs. Also, if you feel you want to be stretched academically then yes absolutely unis like Edinburgh would be a better fit for you - have you visited them?

Clearing can also be used on results day to level up - it's not just for students who don't get the grades they needed. Clearing opens in UCAS on 5 July, so you can go in then and see which unis have spaces still available. Make a list so you know which ones to target. On results day, if you get good grades and still want to try for a higher tariff university, you can give them a call and see if they'll take you. Don't reject any offers until you've spoken to them though, otherwise you could end up without a place. Your school or college UCAS coordinator should be able to provide advice. Hope this helps

I have not visited any unis Edinburgh yet but as you mentioned it could give me an advantage when applying for jobs, but do you think the difference from University of Liverpool to University of Edinburgh offers that much, or is this something I am just overthinking

Edinburgh definitely offers more in academics, graduate prospects. Personally I think its a really nice uni in every aspect (i know lots if people who went there) and I think its better than Liverpool (my opinion)

It does rank really high as well on basically every ranking system for both the uni and the course. I'll definitely take it into consideration.

But I think the overall uni experience at Edinburgh is far superior in terms of clubs/societies/sports

But I think the overall uni experience at Edinburgh is far superior in terms of clubs/societies/sports

Oh really, I think Liverpool has a great uni experience, especially for sports and nightlife, but I wouldnt know much about it for Edinburgh. Dont they have a really high number of international students as well

Fair enough, obviously that's just my opinion. Edinburgh has more prestige though. 36% of Edinburgh is international compared to 35% at Liverpool though haha so not really any difference

Oh right, that's not as bad as I thought, I was just going off what I heard. Are you going to study accounting and finance this year aswell

When you mention 'target' universities - target for what?
Which A levels are you taking (does it include maths) and what grades do you expect?

Target universities in the finance sector. I am a bit broad, so I am open to finance roles and accounting roles. I take A Level Economics, Business, and Graphic Design, and I am expecting arround AAA

I have just finished GCSEs and I've been thinking about the same thing but I have chosen Maths, Chemistry, Business/Physics for A-level because I'm bad at essay subjects so didn't want to do economics. However, I don't know how economics at university is compared to A-level. I want to go down the more finance/banking route. Are you able to tell me anything from your experience? (If not just ignore the waffle 😂)

I have just seen many degrees like Economics and Finance which I think I will look more into as they seem like interesting courses. However, I don't know whether the entry requirements will be a lot higher or not 🤷*♂️ And as you have already mentioned Maths is basically the only required subject for this type of area so I guess it should be okay. I need to have another look at unis after thinking of a change but I've got places in mind like Bristol, Manchester, Durham, Exeter, Cardiff, Queens Belfast, Bath, Liverpool, Loughborough etc