Can anyone recommend a 5th university choice for dd?

[Dancergirl]

Dd wants to do a Joint Honours degree either in English Lit + Philosophy, or English Lit + Linguistics (or various combinations of).

She will be applying to Birmingham, Nottingham, Newcastle and Exeter. They all have similar entry requirements (around AAB), although I've pointed out to her that won't necessarily be her offer as she is doing a BTEC as well as 3 A Levels.

She's not sure where to apply for her 5th choice. She's thinking of somewhere with lower entry grades just in case. She's a bright girl but lacks confidence and is finding this year tough. Predicted grades are around AAB but she's worrying in case she doesn't get them.

Can anyone suggest a uni that's good for English but may have lower entry grades?

She absolutely needs to put down a BBC course.

Of the four she has already selected, she should whittle that down to two (she’ll have to do that in April in any case), and broaden her range of required grades.

So would BBC grades be for the newer universities/ex-polys?

Lancaster. UEA, Kent?

RG (and former 1992) are all A*AA-AAB, so yes, any lesser is newer or ex poly.

Seriously, there is no point in putting down more than 2 RGs. Any more is an ego trip.

If she has a good personal statement and her predicted grades match the typical offer, she will get an offer. There really isn’t any need to put down 4 or 5 RGs in the hope of getting 2 offers.

RHUL has an offer of ABB for English and Philosophy.

There are lots. Keele, for example: BBB. Have you searched in Whatuni?

There was an interesting thread recently about the fifth choice. There was a debate about not putting in the fifth choice until a few acceptances/rejections were received i.e. delay the fifth choice until you know where you stand.

At a UCAS parents evening at school we were advised that the students should put at least one aspirational choice down, a couple of realistic choices and an insurance choice. It looks like your DD needs at least one insurance choice.

DD's boyfriend made the mistake of accepting offers for the same grades as his first and insurance choice. On results day UCAS track had rejections for both choices and he ended up going through clearing. Happily he absolutely loves where he ended up (drinking and partying a lot, and not doing very much work).

I find this know you could hold back and resend your UCAS application until I read the thread or similar referred to in TPAA.

I’ve had 4 children go through the system, and 3 of them got 5 offers. The fourth only got four, as she didn’t pass the Oxford pretest.

They made sure that their chosen universities were slightly above, at or below their predicted grades. They all put down a good spread of entrance requirements.

My very lazy DD1 put down Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Royal Holloway and Stirling in her UCAS application. Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle were all the same in terms of offers, so she chose one of them. Stirling was way below anything conceivable (CCD?), so she put RHUL as her insurance.

As I said she was lazy, so didn’t meet the Sheffield offer, but RHUL were happy to take her. She graduated this year with a first. Had she gone the RG or nothing route, she would have been in clearing at a place outside of her control.

Go for a range (have I said that before?)

That was a terrible opening sentence.

My Dd isn't considering any non RG unis and has only put 3 down for now. If mocks go disastrously she'll reconsider. There really is little point putting a low offer as insurance if you don't really want to go there. Better to have a year out and reconsider your options based on the grates you've obtained.

There are not that many lower tariff universities that will do Linguistics. I’m not sure Philosophy is highly thought of at a lower tariff university either. I think she could try and find ABB but lower than that could be difficult and BBC is really too low.

DD has various friends that rejected their insurance choices when grades were missed for their first choice. There’s little point in putting down a university if you don’t want to go there.

I’m not convinced Linguistics is particularly competitive at standard RG universities so perhaps dropping a grade won’t matter. It could do for English though. It depends on the results of others possibly. Does somewhere like Queen Mary’s or Swansea do these courses? Or Surrey?

CraftyGin I disagree. There's more than one approach to UCAS applications. I've had seven DC go through the process in the past ten years and the approach of all seven was to name five RG unis (or four in the case of the medic) that they were really positive about, on the basis that they only need one offer, and not all might offer. Schools do offer the 'safe approach' advice because if nothing else, they'll get it in the neck from parents if they advise a more risky approach. Tbh if it hadn't worked out, there was always the possibility of a gap year although none needed it as it turned out. I was fully supportive of that more risky approach and the school were fine with it once the DC had said that was the strategy and their choice and they were aware they might end up in the soup. The idea that it's an ego trip is daft. If you're paying colossal amounts to go to uni you might as well aim for the best and get as much for your money as possible.

UEA is very well respected for English.
Bangor also has a great English dept and is beautifully located.

Agree with UEA as a safe bet.

This is really helpful, thank you all so much.

senua thank you for pointing out that other thread, I didn't know you could add another uni to your application at a later date.

Dd seems to think that because of the BTEC, her offer will be lower. She will have the equivalent of 5/6 A Levels. The admissions tutors at the universities we have visited have been very impressed with this. Someone from her school got an offer from Exeter based on BTEC results alone.

Sorry, but I would ignore goodbyestranger's advice. All her children have been through grammar school and are at or have been to Oxbridge universities. I think a more realistic approach regarding aspirational, realistic and insurance choices is a better option.

I'm not convinced you can say your guarded approach is better Lonicera, it's just a choice which may well not pay the same dividends. So basically I wouldn't take your approach and you wouldn't take mine - that's fine. But - especially in a world where it costs so much to go to uni - there's a strong argument for 'risk taking' whatever a DC's grades and not dithering about with a fifth choice which the DC isn't enthused about. It actually has nothing to do with grammar/ Oxbridge etc. but about maximising the choice.

To be honest her offers will probably be based on either the 3 A levels, or the BTEC and one or two A levels, depending on the size of the BTEC. None will give her an offer of all 3 A levels AND the BTEC.

I don’t think her offer will be lower op. I think they will insist on a certain grade in English and then say what other two grades they want with the BTec and/or the A level. If she’s unlucky they might stipulate the whole lot. I assume this is two A levels plus the BTec. I don’t see what can be a lower offer than standard other than to disregard some of her exams. Quantity isn’t the same as quality.

Exeter might well offer on a BTec for some courses. That doesn’t mean they will for all courses.

My DD went to an offer day at Manchester and they said they couldn’t care less about her third A level. They just wanted the two languages. I was amazed but they clearly couldn’t fill the course. Apart from Oxford all her choices “required” the same A level grades. That was because it was MFL though.

Is she doing 3 A levels and a BTec??? Why?

"Is she doing 3 A levels and a BTec??? Why?"

That is a massive workload. So I would echo why as well.

Aberystwyth English dept rates very highly for student satisfaction etc. I'm biased, I'm related to one of the lecturers, but there have been several surveys where they've recently jumped up the rankings

The BTEC is in dance/performing arts. The school she is at specialises in combining this with A Levels. Dd is a keen dancer and was keen to pursue it further. It means keeping options open - students can either apply to dance college or university.

It is a lot of work but not as much as say doing 4 A Levels. A lot of the BTEC work is practical.

Student satisfactions scores are not worth the paper they are written on.