How many insurance choices?

[Dixiechickonhols]

DD in yr 12 predicted A* x3.
Shes been consistently working at this level and achieved AAand A/A* in her mocks so the predictions do seem realistic but I’m very aware that nothing is guaranteed.
Course she’s looking at is A*AA for most top unis. One she likes is AAA so was planning on using that as an insurance backup.
Is that enough or is it advisable to put one with lower offer.

No LNAT not phasing her at all. She’s wanting to put virtually all LNAT unis down.
It’s very much me thinking hang on shouldn’t you have a back up. Hence question here. I’m from old uni/poly system days so held offers from ABB to DD! The poster saying AAA is like BBB in old money has definitely helped thank you.
I’m definitely encouraging her to aim high and go for what she wants.
She was told at Oxford would be 2 or 3 virtual interviews in December if she gets that far.

Thank you that’s very helpful and in line with what I anticipate she’ll do.
So 3 requiring LNAT inc Oxford, one none LNAT/with lower AAA entry and leave one spot free.

DD2 was also predicted 3 A*s and got offers from all her unis except Oxford. The lowest was AAA. Her argument was there was no point applying to unis with lower offers because if she couldn’t get 3 As she would have to rethink her future anyway.

Thank you yes that’s attitude of my dc too.
Obviously I see stats of acceptance rates so fantastic your dc got multiple offers.

@Dixiechickonhols Do not forget that the highest potentially qualified Dc are all applying to the top 10 universities. So if 1000 apply to Oxford, they have applied for other top unis too. Oxford take their share and the rest get distributed. The reason a few use LNAT is because they need to filter applicants. As my DD did a conversion she never did LNAT at all. There are other routes into law.

Yes we have had the discussion about non law & conversion but she’s adamant law. Obviously if she doesn’t pass lnat or get any offers it will be revisited.
It’s virtually all top unis for law wanting lnat hence my insurance question on here but have been reassured with comments on here.

@Dixiechickonhols Tbf she didn’t apply to any other mega-competitive unis like Durham/UCL/LSE. She’s at Warwick now and loving it there, amid plenty of other Oxford rejects, as it turns out. She aced the LNAT though (the multiple choice part anyway - they don’t get a mark for the essay as that’s up the individual unis).

She was also adamant that she was going to do law and not something else plus conversion, because a) she found the course interesting and b) she didn’t want the extra year of study.

DD has friends that did conversion with her and then did MLaw after bar course and before they started pupilage. It’s a very long haul for some, especially if undergrad is 4 years, as DDs was. You need high level
organisational skills to navigate the very many deadlines!

Warwick is well regarded it’s just been dismissed by mine as she doesn’t want campus.

No she’s good in exams and like she keeps saying to me she’s not anticipating having a bad day in all 3. She’s predicted A x 3.*

With respect that’s very naive. She’s had A stars in internally marked exams. A stars in the real exams are dependent on what thousands of others in the country get since this is what determines the grade boundaries.

plus you never know what is going to happen on the day. DS is predicted three A stars but now he’s sat the exams he’s glad he didn’t insure at A star AA. Lots of very competitive places don’t offset so if they want AAA and you get A star A , B, they won’t accept you.

I think more than grades your DD should be focussing on her choices. She’s gone for highly competitive universities. This limits her chances. Given that law firms are increasingly getting sucked into blind recruitment it is not necessarily sensible if it reduces her chances of getting an offer.

Personally I’d stick down an AAB choice but it’s a waste of a choice if she doesn’t use it as her insurance anyway.

Anecdotally firms use blind recruitment but loads don’t. Plus you need to pass their selection tests. Very bright grads ace these. Others less so. Thousand don’t get a law job at all. You also need to get through the interview(s). You might need to do a vac scheme. You need to get on with people. There is a bit of a lemming approach to high powered law jobs at some universities. Less at the regional ones serving regional firms. The other issue is: they use blind recruitment but end up with huge numbers of Oxbridge grads anyway! So give yourself the best shot.

You have to trust the school re A level predictions. Otherwise no one would apply to Oxbridge. It’s not naive. If Astar X 3 turns into ABB something has gone wrong. Also LNAT will show potential or not. Plus gcse grades. Some unis take these into account. Possibly Oxford, definitely Bristol.

Yes I’m aware nothing guaranteed but she is strong academically she’s not got anything below an A in any class work, tests or exams.
With law it’s pretty far down list of seen as desirable for law with an AAB offer (outside top 20) and none are really speaking to her or have other compromises. You’ve reminded me we did visit one with an AAB entry requirement last autumn which she didn’t like.
If it backfires and she’s got no offers then a year out and reapplying with grades is always an option.

Thanks. Bristol is one we haven’t looked at as it’s not appealed to her on paper and isn’t easy location wise for us.

I see that. Is Northern Ireland easy then? Bristol over Belfast for law I think.

Definitely Bristol over Belfast for law

It sounds like you’re both pretty set on what she is planning to do anyway.

If she’s content to potentially have a year out then that’s fine anyway. She can always reapply to a university asking for slightly lower grades. However if she then wants to practise law then she should make sure she does something law related during that year. We don’t like gaps on CVs and competition is so fierce that you have to make sure you have something that makes you stand out. We get literally hundreds of applications for every training contract place we have to offer. It’s much more competitive than university, partly because there are too many kids doing law degrees and conversions now.

For me I base recruit decisions almost completely on personality since every cv looks the same. Nothing lower than straight As at A Level and nothing lower than a 2.1 from a decent university (since unfortunately all degrees are not created equal). We don’t yet do blind recruitment but are being pushed to think about it.

Yes it’s been easiest one we’ve visited (quick flight from M/cr) much easier than the shambles of train to London we’ve endured last 3 Saturdays.
Yes Bristol definitely more well regarded for law but it’s A star AA and lnat same as all others on her list except Belfast.
Belfast Queens will definitely be making list as her insurance (AAA, no lnat and better acceptance rates)
My question was if we should be looking below that and view seems to be not.

Another poster put it as rethink life choices. So if it did go wrong and she got Bs then she’d probably reassess her degree choice rather than end up at a University for law way down ranking.
Obviously risk with applying to all competitive Unis is risk no offers at all but if that happens then she can reapply with her grades in hand for 2025.
Thread has been helpful so thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Be aware that law firm recruiters don’t really tend to look at the minutiae of the rankings since they are often based in things such as research. We will have an idea of general rankings since we appreciate things change over time but it’s a safer bet to have a top ten university in general than one which ranks more highly for law but is lower down the general rankings.

Warwick, Exeter, Belfast,QMU and Manchester all in clearing for law at the moment. I don’t think these are LNAT unis. Therefore they might be flexible on grades if Astar is missed at Manchester, Warwick and Exeter. They obviously don’t have sufficient applicants at the moment. I’m quite surprised by this.

Or they had sufficient applicants but misjudged the number they needed to make offers to in order to fill their places.
This is particularly difficult for universities to judge for international students who may have applied to many countries. Places currently in clearing now are much more likely to be for international students than home students, since many international students will already have their exam results.

Looking at the university websites, and not UCAS, I don't see Warwick or Manchester offering Law in Clearing to UK applicants.

For Exeter, their main LLB Law courses at the Streatham campus are only available to International applicants

Interesting they are in clearing. Thanks for sharing.
She hated Queen Mary on visiting (no lnat - looked good on paper and offered law or global law)
Manchester has been deemed too close to home she wants to live away and experience a new city.
Warwick been dismissed as not wanting campus.
Exeter hasn’t been mentioned….my initial thoughts are it’s miles away and used to have a posh/private school reputation but we haven’t looked.
Belfast Queens is definitely on her list.

@lastdayatschool They are flagged up on CUG. So apologies if that’s wrong.

Exeter is Penryn. Not that cug make that clear!