Did I make the wrong choice in picking a sixth form?

Hello everyone,

I'm in Year 12, and I recently moved back to my old school after trying out a different sixth form for a week. Let's call my old school A, and the other school B.

For context, B is a grammar school with a very good reputation, both regionally and possibly nationally. They produce really good grades (over 30 students got straight A*s last year) and many of their alumni attend prestigious unis, including a high percentage of Russell Group unis.

However, A (my current school, where I've been since Year 7) is merely a local secondary/sixth form with a "Good" Ofsted rating. The school has been open for a long time, before WW1 even, but has only had one student off to Cambridge, and none to Oxford.

My friend, who was on the fence as well, but ultimately chose to stay at her new school that is basically another school B, keeps telling me the cons of moving back to A, though I have already moved back.

(That was so wordy but I hope that made sense.)

Now, she's been sharing different opinions about the situation (such as her parents', our mutual friends', and her friend's parents'). All in all, they believe I've made the wrong decision, because they say I've jeopardised my chance at a Russel Group uni.


Let me be clear: I have already moved back. I'm pretty sure I can't go back to school B anymore, even if I wanted to, but please could anyone share their thoughts on this? Have I just lost my shot at going to a prestigious uni?

I don’t know what you want to do at uni, but from my experience (graduated from my BSc 7 years ago and went back to get my Masters in the 23-24 academic year), both degrees in Biomedical Science (masters specialised in clinical biochemistry), the uni you go to doesn’t dictate your success in life as going to a non-RG uni does absolutely nothing (at least in my field) as, if I went to a RG uni, I wouldn’t be able to work in pathology (diagnostic hospital lab).
Once you have your degree and a few years experience, where you attended uni means absolutely nothing, minus bragging rights which doesn’t matter.

Thanks, and belated congrats on your degrees!
That's quite reassuring to know. I'm hoping to do Computer Science, or Maths and CompSci, if you have any insight into those?
Although, not trying to feed into the stereotypes but as a child of immigrant parents, bragging rights are especially valuable - particularly as they emigrated from an academically rigorous country.

I think you need to pick what is best for you (however cliche that might be). Please don't worry about what other people think, because at the end of the day it is your decision to make.
What are you hoping to study at university? There is no point in even thinking about specific universities if you do not know what subject you want to study.
Russell Group means nothing, as it is the universities themselves that decide if they get to call themselves that. Even a "prestigious" university may not be right for you so please don't think that this is the be all and end all.

Thank you and I'm afraid I can't comment on Comp Sci or Maths and Comp Sci as I don't work in those fields and I only know one person who I'm still in contact with who did Computer Science at uni (we met in secondary school), albeit he did go to a RG uni (specifically UCL) to do Computer Science but now works in software development.
So, I'm sorry but I can't confidently say anything about those fields simply because I have a whole 1 person to go on which, statistically speaking isn't much to really go on in terms of a sample size, sorry to say! Although, I will say we both completely agree that, with respect to what you learn at uni, truth be told, you don't use most of it as once you enter a specific field (like when I specialised in clinical biochemistry), the rest of it is kind of useless (translation, most of what you learn at uni will likely not be used again like all those hours I spent learning about medical microbiology).
Sorry I can't be of much more help!

As a mum and a teacher, please go with your gut rather than other people’s opinions. You could go to a school with the best reputation in the world but if you don’t put the effort in you won’t get the grades. On the flip side, you can go to a school without an outstanding reputation and work your socks off and get some amazing results. Teaching only takes you so far, but if you are prepared to put the work in this will be reflected in your predicted grades and therefore in the offers you receive. It sounds from your message that you are a determined hard worker so I think you will do well wherever you go. You’ve made the decision now, so just focus on the next stage of your journey. I wish you the very best of luck for your future.