Economics Courses at University - Application Advice

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Would love some advice from those who have been down this road already. DD is my first to go to University and I/her father am not from UK and have limited knowledge of UK Universities.

DD is in Yr13 and has predicted grades of A star (Maths), A star (Economics) , A (History) and is hoping to get the history grade up to A star early this term. She also has an EPQ but has not yet had her final grade.

She wants to apply for Economics at Durham, Bath & Exeter. She has visited all three and really liked them in different ways. However she is really stuck for her last 2 options. She is not hugely keen on Bristol and would consider both city and campus. Would be great to hear what other universities your DC considered or any ideas of some to look at?

She is very aware that even if she gets her predicted grades up to 3 X A star, that there is no guarantee of an offer from Durham & Bath as they are extremely competitive but thinks that Exeter might be more achievable. If her predicted grades end up being 2 X A stars + 1 X A, would you advise against applying for Durham & Bath?

Just asked DD about E&M and FM, she thinks in her year about 60% have FM, remember though what a state comp applicant will have may be different to what a private or grammar may have plus there are international students. She just has Maths A level and I asked her if she finds the maths hard and she said no its really easy then she added well to pass is really easy, if you want a First you have to do some work. She said people find the maths in the finance part harder than in the economics, she mentioned Fischer analysis. She said from year 2 its all options so anything you find hard you can drop though added if you want to do a Masters there are certain topics you need to keep and you need a high 2:1 or a First.

When she went to an open day someone said I had FM A level will that increase my chances of an offer and Oxford replied no. When she had her interview we found some stats on success rates once through to interview so down from 18 to 1 to 3 to 1. 4 A stars 1 in 2 got offers, 3 A stars 1 in 4 got offers, I think 2 A stars A 1 in 10 got offers, below that it was needs a miracle. But remember school type will affect this so don't worry about being from a state school with 3 A stars predicted, that was DD.

Exeter for Econ did not take a dropped grade for firm or insurance . Also know Business Management was very strict this year. Heard of someone missing out on Exeter for Bus due to drop grades but ending up at Durham (not doing Econ though).