Choices for Universities offering History

[Winstonny]

I am going to send off my UCAS form in the next week or so and I want to check the consensus here among mothers with kids doing the same or already at uni, about my choices for History. In no particular order:

York
Bristol
Edinburgh
Warwick
Kings, London

The rationale for these choices are a) course offerings & locations b) ranking of university generally. Anything else I should consider?

I have grades in hand A(star), A, A

Oxford
St Andrews

AAA is the minimum for a humanities degree at both.
Lower if contextual - are you eligible?

Both are as good as or better than your list of Unis for History.
Usual advice is 2 aspirational, 2 that match your grades and 1 safety school.

@ToBeDetermined Thank you. Is that advice about aspirational / match / safety still used when you have grades in hand tho?

You might want to look at the ranking for History

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

I’d just drop the safety school and go for a 3rd aspirational or match.
You also should think about schools you have visited, student satisfaction and graduate prospects.

So my choices are
#7
#9
#10
#12
#17

I am not sure there is a problem?

Oh I see. I thought all my choices were matches.

See you have 152 UCAS pts so deffo enough to give Oxford a shot.

All good choices.

They are all good schools, but your grades indicate you have a shot at the best schools too. I think you should at least try one in the top 3

Edinburgh is a great city, I loved living there. And I enjoyed the course.

Do you know if you are eligible for a contextual offer under widening participation? That would up your chances as well.

Oxford doesn't make contextual offers. They offer AAA for history regardless of whether you went to a poor state comp or a top public school.

They take it into account at the interview stage as to who they make an offer to, kwim?

Here is their outreach page, OP, you can sign up for some of these still
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/increasing-access

Great choices for history . Where they are, travel for you, expense and things like assessment types, compulsory modules, work placements and modules need consideration.

Lancaster, Birmingham and Sheffield are all highly regarded too.

I'm not sure your list doesn't feel a bit like a prestige uni list , above all else. York and Warwick have the best history reputations on there.

Durham not in the mix?

You clearly said "lower if contextual". That is incorrect info. Everyone receives the standard offer of AAA for history at Oxford.

OP would still need to score well in the admissions tests and at interview, but has obviously already exceeded the standard offer so it would be unconditional.

What appeals to you about the modules -compulsory and optional -in your five Uni choices?
What area of History are you interested in?
What careers are you interested in -as you mention university ranking as part of your decision?
Which unis did you visit and discount?

Why not have a go for Oxbridge? You have the grades.

Location wise they are very different as some campus and some city unis and quite spread out across the country.

Yes because it’s lower grades for St Andrews and lower expectations for interview & supracurricular for Oxford.

I could have been more detailed, but a contextual offer is still an offer based on levelling the playing field for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Each University does them slightly differently.

Not sure why Oxford is being pushed and not Cambridge...

Is the A star in history?

Other things to bear in mind are accommodation costs and availability. Cambridge colleges can offer term time only accommodation for a whole undergraduate degree - can end up working out cheaper than other universities where you have 50 week private rentals after your first year. Also each faculty and college have their own libraries so your spend on books may be lower too. Am assuming similar for Oxford
too, so definitely worth looking at. Bursaries and other funding also available for students with lower household income levels if that applies.

My DC’s friend’s offer was AAB

Yes the A star is in History.

I don't think I could handle the pressure of either Oxford or Cambridge and their 8 week terms. I take a while to warm up and get up to speed with things sometimes and suspect the term might well be over by the point I'm ready to get started.

Have you visited? The Warwick campus is very marmite. I’m a teacher and 6th form tutor and students usually have a very strong response to it so I’d che k it out if you haven’t been. All solid unis but v different in terms of student experience so think about what you want.

Yes I visited all of them except Edinburgh, open days at Bristol and Kings, non-open days to York and Warwick.

Oxbridge is not for everyone, I do think that’s worth mentioning.

Fair. Well how about St Andrews or Durham (in top 5)?
I feel you may be selling yourself short. You obviously have the brains and motivation - so any school would be lucky to have you.