Top Unis - am I missing something?

If she's worked that hard for those grades surely she is willing to travel to a top university? Sorry but it's completely mind boggling to me you'd put in all that effort but then not go to a suitable school because it's "too far", she'll be an adult, location from home really shouldn't be a factor, it wasn't for me and I wasn't even trying to go to a top school.

Please don't let her waste her potential by keeping her closer to home, you should be encouraging her to focus on the school, not proximity to home.

Durham/ Edinburgh - just suck it up. Five hours is completely fine. Absolutely crowds of kids in Durham/ Edinburgh are from the south. They throw themselves into uni during term time - shouldn't be trotting home every five minutes anyway or they'll miss out. She'll come home once per term and you'll visit once per term. The holidays are LONG - trust me, you'll see plenty of her!

Just because a course typically makes AAB offers doesn't mean that this will be the standard of every other student. Every degree course with AAB minimum entry criteria will have a range of students who got anything from ABB (if contextual offers are made) to 3-A-stars. Those students will then, depending on their intelligence and how hard they work, get a range of degree classes from lower second to first class. The work your child is putting in now to get all the stars at A-Level will make it more likely that she gets a first class degree and a launch into the career of her choice. The AAB student who gets a 2ii degree will not get nearly as much benefit from their university years.

OP, you need to spend some time on the UCAS website, there are many courses where those enrolled have 4 x A star at many unis. The exam boards give out more top grades than there are places at Oxbridge!

Also my dc is a top performing school where nearly 50% of the year have 8's and 9's at GCSEs and 30% have 7 or more 9's.

Have you considered Southampton? It's also Russel group

This

Maybe she didn't need to push herself so much. But she did

Maybe that was driven by parental/personal expectations; fear; a love of studying and personal achievement?

Does it matter?

Different universities have different characters and appeal to different people.

My daughter attends one of the top 10 universities and its the top in the country for the course she is doing.

My university wasn't a top university but no one has ever been interested in where I did my degree. In some sectors this may be more important.

But I cannot help thinking that if she were to go to one of those unis she didn't really need to spend that much time working, studying and sacrificing her free time

You're coming across as a bit of a snob! Surely you should just be happy that she's got a great work ethics and probably has a bright future ahead of her whichever uni she ends up in

It’s seems very narrow minded to rule out good universities that are 5 hours away. There is a whole world out there to explore! Choose the best university for her and worry about travel later. In reality once she settles it’s probably unlikely she will be hopping home every other weekend.

DD went to Durham. Less than 2 hrs travel but never came home mid-term. Far too busy with uni activities etc and terms are pretty short anyway.

She's supposed to go to uni and not come home til the holidays!! 5 hours is fine. Durham is an amazing uni, great place to do politics on the green.
Your antipathy to travel is ridiculous. I was 4h from home at Durham. 1st year I went home x2 a term cos I was a real homebody, 2nd year x1 a term and not at all Yr 3. They are short terms. Please don't rule it out for that reason

A friends child got a fistful of A* results and went to Cardiff. She's just got a graduate job in an industry that is notoriously impossible to get into, on her first application. Because she's an absolutely excellent candidate and they can see that she's a superstar and an extraordinarily hard worker.

Despite the 'nobody will ever ask your A level results again' rhetoric, they aren't nothing. A friend who studied History at a uni you haven't mentioned was a star from day one and had really close relationships with her tutors. She's now an academic. There's a lot to be said IMO to being one of the highest achievers in your setting.

This!

Well hopefully she's learnt plenty by pushing herself, etc. Which will stand her in good stead when she's doing her degree and there is the step up in level. So maybe she will find it easier to get good grades in her degree?

Also remember that even if Warwick for her degree states ABB it does not mean kids with ABB will get in as easily as kids predicted AAA.star. So she should have an advantage to getting a place at such unis. If she hadn't worked hard and got such grades she might not even get offers from those. Also remember she hasn't actually got her grades yet, she might drop some grades on the day.

And in 3 years time if employers are looking at CVs and everyone has a 1st class degree then higher A level results could be a deciding factor?

There are thousands of DC's just like yours, many will have tried Oxbridge entry, and not got a place, because there simply aren't enough, and they are all very happy and doing well in the Unis you have listed.

The entry requirements are often lower than you need, Oxford is a standard AAA for Humanities, and all of DD's offers were AAA. Many students however will have a clutch of A*s,. Some won't, just like school, but it's good to have a range, no??

My daughter is in a similar position - straight 9's in gcse. 2 a star and 1a predicated a levels.

She doesn't want to apply for oxbridge so unless she goes for Edinburgh (which I'm
Not sure she will as 4 years) the highest she needs for her course is AAB.

But she loved York and that's ABB.

The way I'm looking at it is she's lucky that it takes the pressure off for exams (not that she won't heap it on herself) and she can be fairly sure where she's going (assuming she gets an offer)

Five hours travel is nothing 😂 like a PP said, Edin/Durham - even St As even further away - heaving with kids from SE

Has she looked at Manchester? The travel time by train might be ok.

Actually, from how you’ve written your post, it sounds as if you think most uni’s are not good enough for your DD.

She should go gor Oxbridge the, if she’s clever enough she will get in. I don’t see the problem!

What subject does she want to study, and what final career plan?

What’s wrong with five hours travel, most students won’t want to be going home every weekend anyway ? The Uni term is so short really, most go home if they’ve a reading week and then end of term or the odd weekend during term-time. Parents sometime in between.

Dismissing a Uni because of five hour travel distance seems odd.