What to do when first choice is lower offer?

[Perfectlystill]

DD has all five offers which is great, although most of them are high (AAA) and I think she's unlikely to get that.

Her favourite uni has offered slightly lower, ABB.

What should she do for first and insurance? How does it work?

It depends where it is for. DD had this because her favourite uni gave her a contextual offer. She knew that was the place she wanted to be so it would have been silly to put anywhere else.
Her insurance uni we knew were more flexible on grades if needed, but otherwise we knew there was the option of clearing.

We had this. She's picked two that are pretty much the same grades.

She should put the one she wants the most first.

Has she got a lower offer than ABB or is that the lowest?

How it works is that she picks two and if she gets the grades for her first choice she’s in. If she doesn’t and she gets the grades for her insurance then she can take that.

if she doesn’t get the grades for her insurance she can try clearing.

Put the one she wants higher. If she misses the grades another may still consider her, even with a higher initial offer.

Yrh what everyone says. Ds2 had firm and insurance with identical grades as his lower offers were not as appealing to him. Figured the second choice might flex tho luckily not needed.

So she should put her second choice as insurance and they may accept her. If you put the lower offer as insurance but want that one really, you risk making the grade for the higher offer and losing the one you want, so that would make no sense.

Tho if she misses ABB (so gets say BBB) it's a big ask for an AAA offer to take her. But nothing lost by asking as it were.

My daughters insurance will be higher. She's got ABB from her favourite and the two lots of AAB.

I did read that the insurance also comes into play if the course gets pulled so she would rather have somewhere for insurance that she would actually want to go. She should easily hit grades of ABB so should be fine.

My daughter is in the same boat unless the one Uni not to respond offers low (highly unlikely).
She is working out which of two others to make her insurance. But they both have offered for higher grades.

DD had the same last year. She got a really low offer of ABC from her favourite choice (standard offer was AAA) and her insurance was A*AA. It essentially meant that she didn’t really have an insurance but thought it best to put something rather then nothing. She knew she would most definitely achieve her favourite (achieved her insurance offer) so really took the pressure off while she was doing her exams. She is very happy at her firm.

Your DD should put where she wants to go most as firm and where she would be next happy to go to as insurance. There’s no point putting something you wouldn’t see yourself going to regardless of the grades.

My dd has offers of AAB for her first choice and BCC for her second choice.
However she has now decided that she likes her second choice better. Does she have to go to her first choice if she gets the grades? Can she turn it down and go to her second choice? She says not but I said it's not a legal contract! Who is right?

Yes of she gets the grades for her firm choice, she automatically loses her insurance place. She could turn down the first choice but that's risky. I assume it would then be clearing.

You can't choose to go to your insurance place if your firm accepts you.
So no point in trying to play any angle - just firm the one you want to go to most. And insure one that is either lower, or that you want to go to second most.
But key is to firm your favourite.

I think you should probably phone UCAS and see what they suggest, if anything. My DS has firmed an unconditional offer so all the others disappeared but there's still an option for "have you changed your mind"? Which suggests possibly withdrawing from that firm and going for an "extra" or for clearing. He is not going to do this, it is just what I've observed. Happy to be corrected tho!

I would start by talking to the uni she has put as insurance. Don't try to DIY it by turning down the firm. There might be nothing she can do at this point but it's still early days and offers are still going out, so it's worth a try. See if they will be happy for her to upgrade to a firm, and if so they'll probably be delighted to talk her through it and help her.

OP as PPs say, she should firm her preferred option even if it's lower. She could consider picking one that's more flexible on grades as her insurance - check UCAS website for typical and lowest grades each of her courses have accepted in practice. Some have a surprising gap between the two. It's not generally a selling point in my view, but it might be worth factoring in in this very specific circumstance.

Yes it is a contract
in that instance I suggest students contact the uni and asked to be released from that contract.
But make sure the insurance will still take her.

If she knows now then contact the uni and ucas to see what’s possible. It makes a difference to accommodation allocation whether you get in on firm choice or insurance.

Thanks for your advice. So complicated!

Having been through this process twice, your yp need to put the offer they like the most as their firm, even if the grades are lower.

The Universities get the results the Friday before you do (the following Thursday). If your child meets the offer of the firm, they will be accepted and the insurance offer will disappear. If they don't meet the offer, the firm may still accept them, again the insurance offer goes.

If the firm rejects them then the insurance uni will consider them. Again if they meet those requirements they will have a place. Equally if they miss, the insurance Uni may still offer them a place.

If they decide they don't like the Unis or courses they have been offered (changed their mind or maybe did better than expected) then they can reject their offer and apply through clearing. Be warned that the most competitive courses or the most competitive Universities might not have any spaces at clearing.

UCAS employs the distance selling 'cooling off period', so is it more than a fortnight since she replied to her offers? If so, UCAS says that she needs to speak to the universities concerned herself and let them (UCAS) know the outcome. If less than a fortnight, she should call UCAS and the advisor there can change her responses.
https://www.ucas.com/applying/after-you-apply/making-changes-your-application-after-you-apply

Your DD should Firm the university she really wants and Insure her second choice. Statistically she is pretty likely to get into her Firm and there is always Clearing.

Well it makes no sense having an insurance choice. If she firms the ABB if she misses it she won't get in anywhere else from her offers. She has to go into clearing

I find it hard to advise without knowing what subjects and what universities.

It’s possible tho that the second choice uni would take her. Some unis have dropped grades a lot in recent years. I agree it very much depends which uni and which course – but I read recently on here I think about Nottingham Uni dropping from offers of AAA to accepting at BBC or maybe even lower?

She can turn it down yes - as you say it's not a contract. But there's no guarantee her insurance would still have places. She needs to firm her favourite.

What unis and subjects? If you turn it down, the insurance doesn't have to accept you.

I agree with everyone that in the unusual situation of OP’s DD she should Firm her first choice.

But speaking as a former admissions tutor I don’t understand why everyone is saying to Insure her second choice. If DD misses her Firm, she will have missed the others by some way.

I agree there is no point Insuring someplace she would not attend, but that decision should not be taken through today’s relatively optimistic (with good reason) perspective. In this scenario, the only choices only matter if something goes very badly wrong.

I think DD should look at the admissions histories of those choices she could see herself attending if she misses her Firm by one or two grades, and Insure the one that has recently shown the most flex.

The (perfectly fine) alternatives are to use Clearing or to take a gap year and resit.

Edit: the other choices only matter….