University choices - the best of the 'rest'

[SlightlyJaded]

I was on the A level results thread last year and anyone who was on it will have seen our experience. DD predicted all As was completely blindsided by terrible results. We were all shocked as was her school. As a result, she missed her first choice and her insurance choice - it was bloody awful and clearing was a very much a scramble. She is ok-ish now, but still hurting and feeling the fallout...

DS is in his A level year now and we've done a few Uni tours and he is trying to get focussed on his UCAS, finishing his personal statement and whatnot. But having witnessed what his sister went through, he is wondering about going for a much 'easier' insurance option than she did. Her choices needed AAA (first) and AAB (insurance) and he is now saying he doesn't want to be aspirational at all with his insurance as he'd rather know he had something if he fucks up.

I don't think he will fuck up, but I sort of get his logic. He is leaning towards a solid/Russell Group first choice that will need AAA/AAB and then one of the city 'second' tier options: MMU / Nottingham Trent / Leeds Beckett etc. He is keen to do Northern City but not wedded to it.

Is this a silly idea? From experience, he would be more likely to get one of these in clearing I think so maybe should stick with more aspirational for insurance? But again, he doesn't like uncertainty so I get where he is coming from.

His predicted grades are still moving a bit but broadly AAB - possibly ABB. He is smart but not A A A* academic.

I want to advise him well but just not sure. And if anyone has good experience/recommendations of that second tier, I'd love to hear them? I don't mean the non-RG ones that everyone knows are amazing: St Andrews etc, more the genuinely 'lesser regarded' ones that are still pretty good.

Thank you!

And I'll be honest, the 3 you mentioned all have accommodation issues. A campus university might be better for someone who needs a push socially - Bristol in particular end up putting students all over, not ideal

Be careful with Newcastle. They are very firm with their policy on passing each year and lots of first years end up having to leave when they underestimate the amount of revision they should do..

I’ve been through this a couple of times with DSx2. They both ended up at great places which were first choices but we were very cautious about where they targeted. My advice echoes what was said to them by their college. History is a very competitive subject so look at variations of it. Definitely look at courses such as Ancient History which tend to give lower offers. History and Politics often tend to be competitive (one of mine did it and the offers were as high if not higher than straight History). Lots of RG unis give lower offers for Ancient History with an A in EPQ. Birmingham for example. Liverpool wanted BBC for Ancient History with a B in EPQ. Their department is fantastic, the city is fantastic. It is a brilliant offer to have in the bag. If it doesn’t make much difference to your DC if they study History or Ancient History have a serious look at it. If the plan is grad job or law conversation I can’t see how Ancient History or similar would hamper them.
I can’t understand why people jump from RG universities to their city counterparts when results don’t go their way. NTU from Nottingham for example. There are loads of brilliant universities which sit in between. My choices for History would be Hull, Leicester, Sussex.
i think having a great insurance they’d be happy at takes loads of pressure off them in A level season.
I think the way clearing worked this year may continue in the sense that students are sitting back a little and seeing what’s out there post-results. It will change from year to year in terms of what’s out there. There have always been fantastic options from particular universities. Liverpool has been great in the past for clearing. This year Nottingham had incredible availability although I think this could have been down to students being worried about the terrible incident which happened there so that may not be the case again.

The very best of luck to both your DD and DS. It’s such a difficult thing to navigate and I have learned a lot from here over the years. I hope this is helpful.

History (less so with politics) is relatively less popular at the moment so I would predict flexibility on results day- appreciate that's a risk.

I think that’s a good point @aramox1 I know people who did exactly that this year and it worked out brilliantly well.

Has he considered Exeter Penryn campus? Still graduates with an Exeter degree, but the offers are lower than the main campus.

If he fancies a northern city, I can't see the beach at Penryn lighting his fire

Well Op also says he’s less wedded to the North and they’ve looked at Bristol, Bath and Exeter.
Also says she thinks he needs a push to go out, maybe what he wants is not to go out clubbing and instead might love a relaxed vibe and living in Cornwall for 3 years.

I don’t know. 🤷‍♀️

But it’s an RG option at a campus university So might be worth considering.

She cant have looked very hard , Bath don't offer history

I agree with PP - dont let your DS sell himself short. My DS was convinced he had bombed so I was up all night looking for History in clearing the night before results - there were loads at really good RG - 'best of the rest' was History at University of Nottingham at CCC.

Liverpool is a wonderful city and uni to experience.

Always be aspirational - its his huge debt that will be financing it.

His idea sounds very sensible, an AAB choice when you're predicted AAA isn't really a good "insurance" tbh.

If his lowest predicted grades are ABB I'd be looking for an insurance option at BBC /BCC kind of level - yes he could get it at clearing but there's no guarantee and if he chooses somewhere he likes for his insurance then that's better than going through the stress of clearing

Ds got an unconditional offer from Nottingham trent and took it over a Bath offer. His experience there was very positive, he has just finished his masters. Teaching was good, first year accommodation was great and lots of activities to join. His course was ranked highly. Ds17 went round Oxford Brookes and loved it so that will be one for him I think.

We looked at Bath when he was still tossing up between History and one of his other A level subjects.

This is all so helpful. I am on the road at the moment - dropping DD back to Manchester - so will read properly later.

The suggestion of a RG uni and a tier two in the same city is a good consideration for accommodation - will look and see if there is a combo that fits the bill - because DD's clearing place at MMU was nearly thwarted by accommodation. Think we genuinely got the last halls room in the whole of Manchester after several stressful days of logging onto a an empty accommodation portal at 8am. So very much a consideration.

I don't disagree that 3 years in Cornwall could be just as lovely as a Northern city (far lovelier if it was for me!) but i don't want to push DS too hard away from what he thinks he wants, as if he hates it, it will come back to bite me

Specific Uni suggestions are proving especially helpful. Thank you.

I would still aim to go for a good university. I do a lot of recruitment in my job and we very much look at which uni candidates have attended when we offer internships, graduate scheme placements etc
Its similar to how I also like to see big brand names on CVs when I recruit for more senior roles.I would personally never choose Nottingham Trent over Bath and Oxford Brookes is one of the unis I would
never recruit for. It just tells me you didn’t get into Oxford. Sorry if that offends and I am sure I have missed out on good candidates this way, but for us this is a filter as we cannot interview everyone.

Or choose where you really want on ucas, and if it bombs, take a gap year and apply to realistic choices with grades in hand.
My DD took a gap year as she was applying for drama schools as her first choice. Unfortunately despite getting through to the final of 4 rounds, she was wait listed.
She applied to good RG unis with offers in hand, was accepted at both (she only applied to 2) and went in and had an absolute ball. She graduated in the summer with a first in History and the uni are publishing her dissertation.
The year out where she worked in retail and visited friends, really helped her mature and helped her choose which offer to accept.

This was pretty much the list I would suggest.

I think your DS's policy is sound but the unis he's mentioned as insurance are the ones who expect to fill a lot of places in clearing and tend to guarantee accommodation to clearing applicants.

So he can probably afford to be a little more ambitious in his insurance choice unless he absolutely loves the look of one of the more ambitious ones.

No personal knowledge of Swansea but if you search "Mumsnet" and "Swansea" you'll find a lot of rave reviews.

Oxford Brookes is one of the unis I would never recruit for. It just tells me you didn’t get into Oxford.

Oh dear. Whilst I agree with most of your post the above comment is just pure ignornance. Absolutely 0% of students at OB were ever in the running for Oxbridge. I wouldn't say that out loud in your professional environment.

It’s factual if you want a (junior) job where I work, you need to get your degree from a top uni. Like I said, it’s just a filter we use (not just me).

This year Nottingham had incredible availability although I think this could have been down to students being worried about the terrible incident which happened there so that may not be the case again.

It's also slipping down the rankings - now at no 30 in CUG.

I went to Oxfords and work with a few Oxbridge graduates.

There is no noticeable difference in the quality of work produced by us as opposed to those who have degrees from "lesser" universities.

I understand that anecdotally, but if you read my post I am saying that we select and short list candidates to interview who got good degrees from top universities. It’s a filter. You cannot see everyone who applies so this is filtered already at the HR stage. The people we currently have on grad scheme have degrees from Durham, Exeter and Bath.

Thats not what I contested as you can see. I challenged this statement you made:

"Oxford Brookes is one of the unis I would never recruit for. It just tells me you didn’t get into Oxford."

Which is just so embarassing.

Exactly, such an ignorant statement and to think they recruit from "better" universities, yet make comments like that.
Completely ignoring the fact that Oxford Brookes is one of the top universities for degrees not offered by Oxford university like quantity surveying. Plus the access OB students have to Oxford facilities like membership of their student union etc which makes for a very rounded University experience.

Why is it embarrassing? My experience of OB students is that they tend to put Oxford on their CVs and it then quickly becomes apparent in the interview it’s OB so waste of my time. Sorry if this is brutal, but this how many employers operate. I am sure there are also employers think very differently. My company is quite old school perhaps, but it’s a very sought after career…

I am not recruiting for quantity surveying. I am in banking.