Worried im overreaching

Hi all,
I want to do economics and data science at university and I’ve applied to Imperial, lse, warwick, bristol and leister
However my predicted grades are only A*A*A (CS, Maths, Econ) and I ended up doing really badly in the further maths mock and ended up with a B :frown:

My gcses are 9888877777 (7.6 avg) with a 9 in maths and 7s in both english lit and lang
I have both contextual and FSM but I’m not sure how far it’ll stretch
Realistically what TMUA score much I get to have a chance at my top unis? Or should I withdraw and choose lower ranking uni?

If anyone could give me any advice that’d be great :^) thanks

Reply 1

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

'Leicester' is a safe choice, I would stick with what you have already. You have a very solid profile and contextual in your favour.

Reply 2

ringi

Mocks can be misleading depending if they cover the complete syllabus or just what you have studied to that point.

Reply 3

Frazzzer_Who

Original post

by mxssino

My gcses are 9888877777 (7.6 avg) with a 9 in maths and 7s in both english lit and lang
I have both contextual and FSM but I’m not sure how far it’ll stretch
Realistically what TMUA score much I get to have a chance at my top unis? Or should I withdraw and choose lower ranking uni?
If anyone could give me any advice that’d be great :^) thanks

Scottish applicant, but to me I don't see why any of your options are stretches I'm not highly familiar with the grading system down south but you appear to have a top set of grades and even if you're slightly lower and it would only be slightly lower than average they'll contextualize it. Obv you've picked some strong unis but more then likely you'll get into Bristol and Leicester, the other 3 are far from guaranteed but that is the case for every applicant. For context I balanced mine out a bit more I had 2 reach (St Andrews, Cambridge), 2 in between (Bath, Edinburgh) and then Glasgow as a safety, so I haven't got 3 of the absolute top econ courses but again as long as you're fine with the possibility of going to one of the other two (there obv still good) I would stick with what you have. For TMUA score I don't think anyone has a definitive number aim for 6.5/7 or above but loads of people will have got in with less (like 4s and 5s) and it is harder then it used to be. Realistically if you got a 7 TMUA, had a good ps, good reference and you have good grades contextual or not I don't see there is away you don't get into a least Warwick out of the top 3. I wouldn't lower you're aim unless you feel you must, personally I already regret applying to Glasgow, as while I'm in, Ik I'm not going to go, so it's a complete waste of a choice. Whatever you decide good luck you'll get into a couple, also just remembered Warwick don't even look at TMUA for contextual applicants but do check that.

Reply 4

ringi

I think Warwick see taking TMUA as an indication of commitment, it also makes the
1st year at university easyer regardless of grade provided made an true effort to study for TMUA.