Top Unis - am I missing something?

Another thing - Oxbridge can be a disconcerting experience for people who have flown through at school and are used to being top. Inevitably there are lots of people who are far brainier than you. I’ve known a few people that have stumbled a bit in that atmosphere.

@redskydarknight LadyGabriella has some very odd, goady and outdated views about higher education. I have read her bonkers opinions on other HE threads. Ignore her.

It comes very high up the rankings for politics, has a lovely campus and is not too far a journey from the SE. It attracts A* students.

In other words, it ticks all OP's boxes. What's the issue with it?
(and no, you don't have to do sport to go there).

Oxbridge look for a certain way of thinking in a student as well as great grades. Has she had any Oxbridge interview training from school? Has she read any of the books that tell you how to approach an Oxbridge application. My son read ‘Tell me about a Banana’ which is probably hopelessly out-of-date now. He also has a quirky (nerdy?) personality. There’s also techniques for getting in, like applying for a really unpopular subject and then requesting to transfer once you’ve got there. I loved his experience of him being there like dinner in hall, matriculation and graduation in Latin, but it’s a certain kind of experience, which she would need to love too!! I would have thought the social life is trendier/livier at some of the other Russell Group universities. And not all courses at Oxbridge are rated the best in the country either. And the terms are strictly 8 weeks - very short indeed!
Sounds like whatever she does she will ‘fly’. Congratulations!

As a retired professor from the US, I would ask what career path is she wanting? Does she have a joy for learning?
I would never discount having an avid intellectual base. It will do her well regardless of what she studies

Please Stop calling in Edinburg OP! Nobody else is and it’s driving me nuts reading this thread. Once is a typo, this number of errors is very ‘the world is build around London attitude’ It’s Scotlands capital city! Sounds like you have ruled it out along with others outwith oxbridge just by your disinterest.

No uni requires 4 A levels …all are 3….even Oxbridge.

Most top 6th form colleges only allow u to take 3 (as 4 is pointless). Achieving A ‘s in all doesn’t mean you are Oxbridge material. It’s all about quotas too. If you are at a top performing 6th form where most students get A then you stand less chance…they can’t take all students from one place now. This was to stop only public schools getting to Oxbridge. They want more diversity and equality. If you are the top performing student in a poor performing school you stand a lot more chance of getting in to Oxford or Cambridge with your 3 A*’s.

All the Russell Groups ask for the same grades as Oxbridge anyway, Oxbridge aren't higher. But definitely do your homework and look around the ones offering the degree content and delivery the YP wants, you will get a feel what is right, and it's about the course they want to do, so different at every single Uni. Do they get a choice of modules, is it assessment or exam only. Consider cost of accommodation and availability. My dd turned down her offer of Cambridge as on further consideration her course looked restrictive and quite boring, she has never regretted it and more than happy at her RG Uni with same grades

Loughborough requires 3 A* for some subjects and comes out top in a lot of Uni tables.What is your problem with it?

OP, I think you're making a number of assumptions. First, that predicted grades are accurate (IME they can be wildly optimistic). Second, that course minimum grades are the same level as those achieved by the students on that course (often they are a minimum exceeded by the majority). And that the best course for your dd is at the most prestigious uni.

My dd has just started doing international history and politics at a northern uni. From memory, there were some very good options for that course in the South, including Bristol and Exeter. It does sound as though she could benefit from a gap year, and thinking seriously about whether she would thrive in a high pressure environment like Oxbridge.

I was 5.5 hours away from uni, rarely went home midterm.

But the OP's daughter isn't you. Some young people just want the safety net of being able to nip home for the weekend, even if they don't do so.

I think you're mad to rule out Durham / Edinburgh just cos of the five hours travel.

I was 5.5 hours away from uni, rarely went home midterm.

They may have them but they don’t need them.

My DD got AAAA* and went to Exeter. She’s doing Marine Biology. She wanted to get the best grades she could.

Top of my head. For Physical Natural Sciences at Cambridge most candidates have 4 A-levels and do Maths, Futher Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

Lots of students at St.Andrews have 4As at A-Level. I don't know Exeter Uni, but think it's probably similar.

Another vote here for Loughborough - one of the best single-site campus in the UK. Its politics course rates much higher than Bath, Exeter, Bristol in the league tables. The university itself is in the top 10 of all league tables for good reason - and while it is more known for sport, there are many other reasons why it is so successful for students.

You can't really say "Loughborough is this, Bath is that". It will depend on the course. Some of the non prestigious post 1996 universities for example can be excellent for particular subjects. You can look at graduate outcomes for each course.

I agree, but some posters have blinkers on about a university's overall prestige without drilling down into how good a university is for a specific subject.

Can you fly to Edinburgh from where you are? Or get to London to fly? Then it’s not so far. Have you taken her to visit the further away unis and also the London ones? A campus uni is not all it’s cracked up to be in my experience. Nice to be in a big city and feel more like an adult rather than inside the campus bubble (I’ve been to both kinds).

Going to the best university doesn’t give you a pass to a happy life
you are over focussed on the wrong thing

Explore what makes your child happy, secure and resilient

It isn’t as simplistic as going to Oxbridge

No it isn’t. No one needs 4 A-levels.

She got a reduced offer from Warwick already
That's because she's doing so well. Universities make lower offers to the students they want.

one child went to Durham. Still at home applying for jobs constantly, no joy. Other one went to a former polytechnic doing extremely well in a major national organisation. Up to them and circumstances in the long run:

I agree it's an odd post, not quite sure what the issue is. I have been a university admissions tutor for many years... strange dismissal by OP of anywhere but Oxbridge. Many students with these A level grades choose not to go to Oxbridge because they don't like the course as taught, or maybe the ethos. It is horses for courses and some universities suit some students better than others.
As other pp have said 5 hours travel is nothing for university students...please don't limit her options in that way. She can always be proud of her A level results whatever she does, where ever she chooses to study

I don't know much about the specific subject your daughter is interested in studying. But you need to look at the courses she wants and not the university as a whole. You can't really say "Loughborough is this, Bath is that". It will depend on the course. Some of the non prestigious post 1996 universities for example can be excellent for particular subjects. You can look at graduate outcomes for each course.

Secondly the campus uni thing is a bit of a red herring. In most universities first year students will live in halls together whether they are city or campus based. Often there are halls options close to the teaching facilities so no commute needed or it may be a short bus or bike or half hour walk- perfectly manageable for a teenager. Campuses to me seem mind numbingly characterless and isolating - at least in a city you have options if you aren't loving the student social life.