DD fixed on only 3 Unis

[EmmaStone]

DD is currently applying for 2023 entry, she's got good predictions of at least 2 A stars and an A (with this possibly being bumped up, she's taking a further assessment next week). She wants to read something within Classics/Ancient History, but told me the other day when she was trying to decide on her 5 choices, that if she didn't get into her top 2 (or a third being Edinburgh which I'm trying to discourage due to distance and less likelihood of an offer), she would probably reject any offers from the others anyway.

Her top 3 are Oxford, Durham and Edinburgh, with 'bottom' 3 being Warwick, Exeter and Birmingham. I've explained that the odds are against her for her top 3, but she's desperate to be in an ancient university environment, adores Oxford and Durham in particular, and can't see herself at an 'ugly' Uni.

Now I know when push comes to shove she may change her mind, but I'm quite concerned that she would dismiss other excellent choices if she (likely) gets rejected from Oxford and Durham (let's ignore Edinburgh for now...). Those with older (and wiser) children, has anyone come up against this? How did it pan out? Having visions of her applying year after year for Oxford /Durham 😂

UCL, Glasgow, St. Andrews would work from an ancient perspective.

Or encourage her to look at the right course rather than just prettiness of university, and the look to do a summer school, semester or year abroad at one of the many ancient Italian universities. They will teach some courses in English. Can’t get older than Bologna or Padua, Rome or Florence, and ideal for what she wants to study.

I loved the idea of going to Durham but took one look at the degree and realised it would be three years of tedium (different degree though) so I changed my mind very quickly!

Really good point. DS listed early (Oxford application) and got an offer from Edinburgh (Maths) less than 3 weeks later in November! We then had plenty time for the open days. He ultimately decided on Glasgow, but it was great to have that early offer.

To add to the other good points already raised, it can be demotivating for a DC when their friends are receiving offers and they aren't. Oxbridge offers to very few, Durham unpredictable and often very late, the Scottish universities also very late and fewer offers to RUK expected this year. It's nice to include somewhere on the application where there is a good chance of a relatively quick offer (which it sounds like she would get). Btw Warwick isn't a pretty campus but the Classics department seems very good and is in a stunning new building.

Depends if she is state or private tbh. If the latter then she needs to be very careful - DCs at my DS’ selective school were routinely turned down from Oxbridge/Durham/Edinburgh/St Andrews despite twelve GCSEs at 9 and four A star predictions - lots of levelling up going on in the “pretty” universities that have been traditionally overpopulated with private school kids. Exeter is a good backup, as are Warwick and Nottingham. I’m pretty sure she would get offers from all 3 of them with her predictions so why not roll the dice with possibly 3 of the “pretty” ones and then have 2 bankers. DS is at Durham and thought he wanted to live in a pretty Bailey college until he saw the faculties at some of the “uglier” Hill colleges and swiftly changed his mind!

I would let her apply and see how the cards fall. She might fell very different once offers are in.

I did classics at Warwick. It might not be pretty but the department is really good. They've just opened an AMAZING museum space which I would have killed to study in / work in at uni.

I had a devil of a time getting DD2 to pick 5 unis because she had her heart set on Plymouth (it's the gold standard for what she wants to do) but she saw sense in the end. It's tough when they're exclusively focused on their dream and practicality goes out of the window.

She did pick 5 in the end, got offers from all 5 and made the grades for her first choice. Plymouth is very far from beautiful and 7 hours' drive but she loves it there. It means I have to do transport support because she's disabled, but it's worth it.

Thanks again for all your input, it's been really helpful. I'll try to address the points I remember:

Edinburgh - I'd seen their policy of RUK admissions being very low - and in fact favouring north of England students over rest of England (we're SW England). Of course if she's absolutely set on Edinburgh, I wouldn't stop her at all, my concern is largely with the chance of her top 3 choices all being rejected (due to factors mentioned above re levelling up, never really knowing if you'll get an offer or not, despite good grades). But of course, logistics do play a part, and the journey to get her up to Scotland (or Durham TBH), plus additional funding for a 4 year course, is somewhat galling as a busy working parent.

Choosing Universities based on looks - she is initially basing her choices on her course - it's not actually offered in that many Universities, and she has discounted some excellent Unis as she doesn't like their course (including several Unis mentioned in this thread such as Nottingham). Of those left in her (quite slimmed down ) list, yes, she wants to be in a beautiful building. Yes, I've told her that even the oldest Unis have had to build 'ugly' concrete blocks to accommodate their growth, but she's overlooking that. I went to Warwick (back in the Middle Ages), so am not personally against how a Uni looks, I chose based on course and league table positions, so honestly, this isn't coming from me! And former classmates and teachers have told her how excellent Warwick (and Exeter) are for Classics, so it's not through lack of knowledge on that front. She's also discounted London Unis due to costs of living, and potentially a more fragmented experience (again, this was her decision, I didn't influence that - she loves London, so perhaps she'll choose to spend some time there when graduated).

She's been to a few open days (inc Durham and Oxford), and we've got Warwick coming up, although by then, she'll have submitted her form. Interesting about adding to her choices after Oxford early application, I'll mention that to her.

I spoke to her Classics teacher last night, he's very supportive of her Oxford application and seems to think she's got quite a good chance. Perhaps I'm just trying to curtail any future feelings of disappointment for her, but I don't want her thinking not getting an offer (or an interview) is because she's rubbish. My concern is she could have rejections from all the places she wants to go, and it could really impact on her teenage fragile self-esteem.

But I'm going to take your advice and take a bit more a step back and let her make her choices - her school is excellent at giving advice, and will be so much more experienced in advising than me, so will encourage and support accordingly.

Cost of living in Edinburgh is only slightly London's but you get a slight increment on maintenance loan for London.

My son had one uni he wanted...nowhere else would do! So I feel your pain. He didn't get the grades he needed but we appealed (and won) and he waited a year and reapplied.

At the time it was very stressful and I thought he was bonkers but that boy knows his own mind and was unwavering in his choice and would not accept any of the other (excellent) offers he had.

He's sat at that uni right now having a fabulous time in a city he loves. So what do I know?

There used to be a direct train service from Plymouth to Edinburgh - don't know if it's still running?

Distance really shouldn't be an issue. It's not like she's applying to Harvard!

Edinburgh is full of Oxbridge rejects. St Andrews and Glasgow are prettier though.

Is she desperate to go in 2023 or happy to take the view that she'll try for the ones she really wants in that round, and that if she doesn't get in she'll reassess for 2024 entry? Being wedded to set ideas is really only a big problem if the student is also wedded to going to uni in that particular year.

St Andrews and Glasgow are prettier though

I agree. Glasgow is also older than Edinburgh by around 150ish years (1451). I'm biased cos I'm a West coaster.

But that doesn't solve your travel/ 4 year degree concerns, OP. Just shamelessly promoting Glasgow Uni!🙈

Lots of good advice given already. For what it is worth here is our experience with 2x DC with similar 'asks' to OP but different subjects.

My two DC applied to Oxbridge, Durham and Edinburgh as well as two others each that had lower grade requirements. Given the competitiveness of Oxbridge and that Durham offers for both my two matched their Oxbridge offers. i.e. Durham is no good as an insurance offer to firming Oxbridge. We concluded it was also important to have a insurance choice where they would be really happy to go to and that was achievable even if A Levels didn't go as well as predicted.

DC chose by visiting several towns and cities, mooching around halls of residences and the departments- not necessarily on open days - so they could assess whether they liked the vibe - on the basis being happy is a key step in flourishing. DC1 for instance didn't want a campus Uni or to be by the sea...... as good a way to create a short list than any other I suppose!!

Edinburgh were so late responding with DD2 that they gave up waiting. Her friend applying for the same subject hung on another week and did get an offer but higher than the advertised standard offer. Newcastle also asked for higher than the advertised ask. And this is from a state school with straight 9s at GCSE (admittedly TAGs). So don't rely on offers being what is on line.

DC2 also applied to Trinity College Dublin and was two weeks ago offered a place (offers come out post A Levels / Irish leaving Certs) and that would have been her second choice with her insurance as her third choice. TCD places have the advantage of being based on points so if for instance you get A star A B instead of AAA you still get in while for lots of UK unis there is no slippage. We were in Dublin this week on holiday and it happened to be Freshers Week - looked great fun and what a beautiful site. Fees are cheaper but living costs more expensive.

Wow to Glasgow! I am so going to visit soon.

I remember thinking my DS should just skip the whole y13 application and do it post results. However someone very wisely on MN said that you should do it in y13 as he might get a lower offer than would get him in with results in hand.

It's very true. For entry this year he got an ABB offer from St Andrews (published grades are AAA) with no contextual issues. As it happens he easily exceeded this and would have been fine applying with achieved grades, but anything can go wrong.

I know another DC who got an ABB offer from Edinburgh and only just scraped it with ABB come results day. There's no way if he'd have got in if he'd applied after results.

What I'm saying is I wouldn't recommend doing what a PP's DD did of only applying to three and on the assumption that she'd reapply post results if she didn't get offers (to be fair the PP wasn't recommending it either!). Your DD's year, like my son's, didn't do GSCEs and you've no idea how they'll handle having actual exams. Most of his friends did well, as expected, but there were inevitable curveballs - the kid who got the day of the exam wrong or who answered the wrong option or who had a freak out. She really should apply for five now, get a nice low offer from one of them and have it as insurance.

"the journey to get her up to Scotland (or Durham TBH), plus additional funding for a 4 year course, is somewhat galling as a busy working parent."

You can travel at the weekend you know! And she will be an adult, you have no obligation at all to "get" her back and forward to University, and definitely not at the start and end of every term. Belongings can be delivered by courier if she needs to take a lot of stuff.

Agree. Dd has done all the majority of moves herself , with minimal input from us, and used storage over the summer break or worked there.

I agree with a PP that the OP's daughter has a much better chance of an Oxford offer doing classics than most other subjects.

I'm going to go against the grain a bit here and say that if she's only interested in 3 places, there's no point in applying to any others. If she doesn't get an offer, she can always apply again next year. But if she doesn't want a gap year, with classics there are almost bound to be places at good universities available in clearing.

However I wouldn't go as far as two young men I know who applied only to Oxford. One got in first time. The other got in on his third attempt.

I went to Edinburgh from England and my parents brought me and my stuff up at the start of first year and that was it - I did all the rest of the moving around on my own. There's no expectation of moving "home" every term the way there is at Oxbridge.

I applied to Oxford and Durham didn't reject me. Ditto many of my friends who I met at Durham while studying there!

Hey Valley 👋. If you're in Glasgow PM me and I'll recommend all the cool ass places to go (as DS would say🤣)

Aberdeen is ancient (1495) and very pretty.





I think parents over think distance. Plenty of international students manage to get to uni without parents and an overloaded car. They can buy things they need themselves when they see what they need. So don’t let that put you off a great uni.

After the first term they prob don’t want parent taking them. And visits? Max once a term anyway as they have their own lives.

makes sense to me if a classics student likes old buildings!

Ha ha don't say that, OP probably thinks Aberdeen is as good as being on the moon!

Sorry, is that somewhere in the UK, or an overseas Uni? 😉