Are my options realistic

4

I was planning to apply to Bath, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham and Belfast for aerospace engineering. Their entry grade requirements on their pages all sit at AAA/A star AA with Bath in particular being A star A star A but willing to take A star AAA for 4 a levels. My predicted grades are A star AAA and I’m still waiting on my predicted grade for my EPQ (hoping for A/A star) I thought this was fine applying to these unis with my predicted grades but upon looking at the chat university offer database and other student predicteds for some of these unis. Almost everyone applying to these courses (especially at Bath and Southampton) has much higher grades than me and/or the entry requirement. Now, I’m a bit worried not that I won’t get into any offers, but that I effectively don’t have a chance at most of the options I applied for which I initially thought would consider me. Would it be better if I apply to easier options or what?

Reply 1

University of Bath

Official Rep

14

Hi there!

Its lovely to hear you're considering Bath as one of your options, and those are fantastic predicted grades so huge congrats for working for those.

Your choices all seem like solid choices which would be classed in the 'realistic' category for you, but please do be aware that generally Aerospace is a competitive course at most unis and so applying to all with AAA when you're predicted A*AAA is risky when you don't have a safer choice. I would probably advise you to swap out one of your AAA choices for an AAB just to give you a safety net.

Its ultimately up to you if you'd like to apply for a safer choice or not, and if so where, but some good, high-performing starting suggestions are... the uni of Nottingham ask for AABB, Liverpool ask for AAB, and Leeds also ask for AAB (though this is Aeronautical and Aerospace which may not suit your interests as well!). All these are very good unis overall.

I hope this helps a bit, and best of luck! 🙂

University of Bath

Reply 2

McGinger

20

Having all AAA and above choices for a very competitive subject is far too risky. You need to have at least one choice below your predicted grades - as above, just meeting the entry requirements may not be enough to get you an offer, and you need a potential Insurance choice.

Reply 3

shbee123

OP

4

Original post

by McGinger

Having all AAA and above choices for a very competitive subject is far too risky. You need to have at least one choice below your predicted grades - as above, just meeting the entry requirements may not be enough to get you an offer, and you need a potential Insurance choice.

Thank you for the advice, I've decided to replace one of my options with Liverpool so now I have one AAB (ABB with EPQ) option however I don't know which option would be the smartest to replace. My options were initially Bath, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Belfast. Which of these would be the best to replace with Liverpool?

Reply 4

McGinger

20

Original post

by shbee123

Thank you for the advice, I've decided to replace one of my options with Liverpool so now I have one AAB (ABB with EPQ) option however I don't know which option would be the smartest to replace. My options were initially Bath, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Belfast. Which of these would be the best to replace with Liverpool?

That's entirely a personal choice - what will help you decide is to look at each of the courses carefully, check all the optional units available in all years of the course and think about what you would choose of you went there. Do any of them offer a placement or any other work-experience, or study abroad - these all add heaps to your graduate CV. Are any of those place going to be more expensive - rent, food, transport. Do any of the cities particularly appeal to you - or not.

Write all of the pros and cons for each course/Uni on a big piece of paper and look at those reasons very realistically. This usually helps with these sort of choices - I recommend students to do something similar when choosing Firm/Insurance.

Reply 5

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

16

Original post

by shbee123

I was planning to apply to Bath, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham and Belfast for aerospace engineering. Their entry grade requirements on their pages all sit at AAA/A star AA with Bath in particular being A star A star A but willing to take A star AAA for 4 a levels. My predicted grades are A star AAA and I’m still waiting on my predicted grade for my EPQ (hoping for A/A star) I thought this was fine applying to these unis with my predicted grades but upon looking at the chat university offer database and other student predicteds for some of these unis. Almost everyone applying to these courses (especially at Bath and Southampton) has much higher grades than me and/or the entry requirement. Now, I’m a bit worried not that I won’t get into any offers, but that I effectively don’t have a chance at most of the options I applied for which I initially thought would consider me. Would it be better if I apply to easier options or what?

Dear student

Thank you for your message. It’s lovely to hear you’re interested in applying to the University of Southampton. I’ve checked the entry requirements for Aerospace Engineering, and they are A*AA. Based on what you’ve shared about your predicted grades, you meet the entry requirements, so you would absolutely be welcome to apply.

It’s very normal to see other students online with higher predicted grades, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be considered. Universities look at a range of factors, not just predicted grades. If Aerospace Engineering is a course you’re genuinely passionate about, it’s definitely worth applying.

If you’d like, you could also include one or two choices with slightly lower entry requirements in your UCAS list for balance. But there is no need to remove universities you really want just because others online seem to have higher grades.

Please feel free to reach out if you have more questions. Happy to help and wishing you the best with your application!

Best wishes
Junfan

Reply 6

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

16

Original post

by shbee123

I was planning to apply to Bath, Southampton, Sheffield, Birmingham and Belfast for aerospace engineering. Their entry grade requirements on their pages all sit at AAA/A star AA with Bath in particular being A star A star A but willing to take A star AAA for 4 a levels. My predicted grades are A star AAA and I’m still waiting on my predicted grade for my EPQ (hoping for A/A star) I thought this was fine applying to these unis with my predicted grades but upon looking at the chat university offer database and other student predicteds for some of these unis. Almost everyone applying to these courses (especially at Bath and Southampton) has much higher grades than me and/or the entry requirement. Now, I’m a bit worried not that I won’t get into any offers, but that I effectively don’t have a chance at most of the options I applied for which I initially thought would consider me. Would it be better if I apply to easier options or what?

Hi shbee123, 👋

It's so great to hear you are interested in Sheffield for your aerospace engineering course. 🛩️

So yes Sheffield does have the entry requirements A*AA. However this will be dropped to AAA if you have maths and a science, and an A in a relevant EPQ. So judging by your predicted grades, I believe you won't have any issues getting an offer.

I have also found Sheffield to be quite lenient when it comes to achieved results. Both myself (EngLit) and my partner (ChemEng) applied for our courses but achieved slightly lower than the grade requirements. However, as we firmed Sheffield as our top choice we were both accepted onto the course! 🎉

So I definitely would say to go for it with Sheffield, I can't see any reason you wouldn't get an offer. As suggested by other people however I would recommend going for a safety university choice which you hopefully won't need but it's best to plan ahead.

But yes, Sheffield is very supportive in allowing people to get access to their dream courses. After my BA, I wen't on to do my MA and now I'm doing my PhD, all at Sheffield as I didn't want to go anywhere else :smile:

If you have any questions about the University of Sheffield, please let me know and I'd be more than happy to help. 😊

All best wishes,
Phoebe 😀
Student Ambassador - PhD in English Literature

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