Top Unis - am I missing something?

[OnTheRoll]

DD is in Year 13, predicted 3 A, already has an A from a language A Level she did last year, and 11 GCSEs all 8/9. Got a great work experience in her chosen field, lots of academic reading, etc., etc. Has been working very hard and aiming for a top uni.

The problem is, it seems that unless she gets into Oxbridge, there isn't a suitable option for her?

We are in SE so decided not to go for Durham/Edinburg as the travel is just too much, 5+ hours, and she would not be able to come home more than once a term. She would very much prefer a campus experience rather than a city uni which rules out LSE/UCL in London.

There are of course great options like Warwick, Bristol, Bath, Exeter. We visited and DD loved them and so did I.

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. Does it make sense? Entry requirements in those unis in her subject are all quite lower than her current and predicted grades.

Would appreciate some perspective.

The post converted formatting, what I meant is DD predicted 3 A Stars .
And she already has a language A Level A Star.

Surely this is like moaning there isn't a super selective grammar in every town?
There are plenty of options, you are just dismissing them all.

I think it's very subject-dependent. If she's aiming for MFL, say, or Theology, then a full hand of A stars is overkill (though useful to have on her CV later). If it's something more like Computer Science, then all the A stars in the world can still see a student rejected from several universities.

Thanks for replying. I am not moaning and I did list some great unis. But I think you will agree that they are not top ones and you don't need 4 A Stars to get into those.

She is just wondering why did she need to push herself so much if that's her options.

It is an odd post

Obviously there is not going to be a uni to meet every single persons exact requirements!

She'll either get into Oxbridge or she'll be one of the brightest people at one of the other unis and either way she'll do very well in life which is surely more important than A level results or which exact uni she attends

Saying the only option is Oxbridge is setting her up for huge potential disappointment. There are plenty of options, but my son went to one of the unis you mentioned and it was almost 5 hours away. It wasn’t a problem. He didn’t come home during term time, but he seemed fine and had a great social life. Terms are not that long.

She is applying for Politics

My brother got a place at Cambridge,he turned it down and went to University of Manchester instead. He said it felt better. He's doing very well for himself.

Durham and Edinburgh are heaving with students from London and the SE. LSE is full to the brim with over ambitious teenagers. She has options- she just doesn't like them and that's fine. Warwick would need top grades for maths/CompSci courses.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Yes, that's what we thought too when we visited Durham! But in the end she felt that it's just too unreachable. She is the kind of girl who would want an option to go home (for a family birthday or smth) rather than wait for Christmas.

Frankly, a local friend with a DD in Durham is now experiencing the same thoughts.

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??

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?

This!

That's not what "I" think.

"I" think that she could add London, especially as her two best friends are applying to a couple of London Unis. But she wants campus and I am not forcing any choices on her.

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.

She got a reduced offer from Warwick already.

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.