Top Unis - am I missing something?

It depends what she wants to study. I work at one of the Unis you went to see, high grade entry requirements is much more about balancing our admissions process than being anything to do with the quality of academic experience.
Medicine and Dentistry will need 4 A* at my
uni.

LSE PPE is 4 years

I got rejected from Cambridge many moons ago

Went to UCL instead and loved it
everyone had top grades. So many people rejected from UCL too so the idea anyone can get into top unis besides Oxbridge is highly misguided.

I would recommend UCL as an option if not on her list.

There's more to education at university than just the course they study. I'd encourage you DD to think about moving outside a SE England bubble.

Have you thought about going up to Durham or Edinburgh for a weekend by train or plane to have a look at the city / university, and to see if the journey is doable?

We are also in the south east, DS used to fly between Edinburgh and Gatwick - with a bit of planning you can get flights from £25 each way (but then depends how far away you are from an airport).

So why she did push herself so much then? Where did you think she’d be applying for?

Nope. It’s not. Often A+AA … u can check their typical offers by degree online

Their offers are often exactly same as Bristol, LSE, Edin, Warwick
Which often means that if student missed Oxbridge offer, they miss their Safe schools too.

Absolutely! I think you're assuming your daughter is a dead cert for all the unis she applies to... no such thing. I got rejected from Durham despite being predicted top grades in everything at A Level, taking 5 A Levels, top of my county at GCSE, and eventually getting 100% in my A Levels in the subject I took at uni. I have a PhD now and am very smart, but you can't assume a uni will snap you up just because you're above their entry requirements!

Shouldn’t it ultimately be your DD’s decision? Does she even want to go to Oxbridge or is that just something that’s expected of her because she’s academic? When I was doing my A Levels my English teacher tried to pressurise me into applying but I knew it wasn’t for me - not for fear of not getting in, but because of the snobbishness- and I’m glad I stuck to my guns and went to Sussex. She should do what feels right for her.

Weird post . Moaning because your DC studies to hard and got food work experience. Weird

If DD thinks Oxbridge is her only option, she hasn't done much research. And basing courses on entry requirements alone is not a great way to choose where you'll live the first years of your independent adult life.

DD is up north at uni. 4 hr drive or 3 - 3.5 train. She's hopped on a train to meet me for lunch/ go to an exhibition/concert and goes home next day. She's even met me to go to a BBC Prom (she also has a job at uni) and gone back up north the same night. And in her first year, I visited at least once a month.

It's totally doable. Lots of students do it.

Your DD should visit all her potential choices and base her decision the the course , how she likes the uni itself and the results / outcomes etc.

Hope she gets a place where she wants to go

Yes, I got this impression too... ahi h is ridiculous of course. I think you might get a shock ...

High entry requirements don't always reflect the academic rigour or prestige of a course; sometimes they have been inflated to reflect popularity and manage applicant numbers. I previously worked in student recruitment at an RG so have seen this first-hand. So don't worry if the entry reqs for her chosen course aren't 3 x As; it doesn't necessarily mean the course isn't as good. As other posters have said, top grades also don't necessarily guarantee an Oxbridge offer anyway and plenty of brilliant candidates won't receive an offer. Remember too, that not every A student wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge; some don't even apply.

There are plenty of good unis out there beyond those two, and Edinburgh, Durham etc. Your DD needs to go where she thinks she will be happy, can thrive and grow and max out on every opportunity that she comes across, beyond just the study.

What are you on about?
All I said that Loughborough is a top 10 university.
No-one is claiming that it is on a par with Oxbridge.

The CUG doesn't rank universities based on the campus or partying.

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings

Shame on you.

Loughborough is only well rated because they have a good campus and students party HARD there. It had a reputation when I went to uni over a decade ago and that doesn’t seem to have changed. Who on earth is recommending Lancaster/Loughborough to be on par with Oxbridge?

If you think the University of London consists of two of its colleges then you are mistaken. And it's an intercollegiate uni so the colleges all take the same exams (or they used to). Choose one of the more campus based colleges if you want a more rural setting. Royal Holloway is in Egham!

Oxbridge is not the only option here. Personally for PPE, I'd actually want to go to LSE over Oxbridge. I have a degree from University of London and I didn't get an offer from Bristol so it's a perfectly acceptable Uni. Don't judge it by entry requirements as it doesn't mean you'll get an offer. My college asked for 20 points (two As or four Es in those days I think) because they wanted me! Others didn't receive such kind offers such as 20 points from two A-levels.

Advising Loughborough to a girl predicted to get 4 A stars? Don’t make me laugh. Shame on you.

Your views are outdated and incorrect.

RG universities are research intensive institutions that have got together to market their "superiority"

St Andrews, Loughborough, Bath and Lancaster are all top 10 universities, none of which are RG.

Most employers recruit university blind these days and really don't care where their applicants went to university.

And yes, you are a snob.

I say this as the parent of a DC who went to an RG university for undergraduate and will be going to another for post grad, none of which are top 10 universities.

I feel like you and your daughter might be falling into the common trap of thinking that the only use for school grades is to get you into uni and then they’re suddenly no use.

While that is true to a certain extent, and particularly for people who’s exam results don’t reflect their ability for some reason, it’s not the full story.

Yes, in the near term they’re a major feature of what your next options are. But that’s not the end of the story.

Someone who has both the intellectual capability and the motivation to study to the point where they’re in the straight A star position will carry the benefits of that with them forward in life. The longer term benefits are two fold:

1. The benefit the grades themselves bring. Some examples - the GCSE results and any results since will have been a major feature in her getting the lower than standard offer she’s already got. Her work has brought her the benefit of an option of a ‘back up plan’ at a higher calibre university than most people will get to carry as their insurance offer. That’s the first example. They’ll be plenty more. The language A level will be a distinguishing feature through a lot of her career. Especially if she keeps enough of it up as a hobby to keep that level ticking over. Having done a lot of graduate recruitment, we do look back to A levels to give wider context on a candidate.
2. The underpinning study skills and knowledge she’s developed in this process will stay with her, and set her in good stead for future study and qualifications. Yes, it’s hard work doing this study at school - but you’re in a much better environment to be learning study skills than on your own at uni. You also retain the knowledge you’ve gained. That gives you a more solid foundation for your further studies. That means that wherever she goes, she’s in a better position to get better results than if she’d scraped in.

If she’s not sure, has got good predictions, and a solid insurance offer already then it may be worth suggesting she considers keeping her options open and putting a range on the application. The oxbridge and insurnace are already there. Fill the rest with a mix of the short travel range campus she favours, and an alternative to the oxbridge ‘top’ course. Keeps that piece open while she further considers whether that travel distance and style is something she’d be interested in.

Travel is doable, and a better option that compromising on course content. Oxbridge and other ‘intense’ uni students still have fun. Durham, Oxbridge and St. Andrews in particular have the benefit of working on a small group and community basis - which fosters a culture of work hard, play hard. Whereas larger broad campus set ups have the potential for being disconnected from the party life of the less studious students if you take your studies seriously as there’s a wider range.

Great dilemma to be faced with. Open days are good - particularly for talking to other students about the day to day life piece, not just the course and departments.

(On London, well worth asking about international student proportion. That can influence the feel of a course and student experience when it’s very high).

Agree with OP, doesn’t seem to be a clear second tier of universities these days, outside of Oxbridge, Imperial, LSE.

Really?

I disagree. I think it depends on the subject and what career the young person has in mind.

I see the snobby attitude is alive and well here.

Definitely stick to Russell Group unis at a minimum. People on here may say I’m being a snob, but it makes a difference regarding future employment opportunities, I’ve seen it.

My niece got 3 a stars and got in. She's one of the cleverest people I've ever met so there's that.

I think Oxbridge is 4 A*'s these days.