Decision deadline looming!

[postitnot]

Has anyone else's child not made their mind up about where to firm/insure?

Dd can't decide between Leeds and Newcastle. It's driving me mad. Both have all her boxes ticked. I've told her to toss a coin!

Yes.

Ours is awful: Cambridge vs York. It's a head vs heart decision I think for her. Words of wisdom from anyone going through the same appreciated!

@MrsMabelThorpe yes , on paper Cambridge is the obvious choice. But will she be happier at York? It's really important!

With dd1, who is not good with decisions, we had about 12 hours of tears on the day of decision.
She had two she liked equally, but differently.
In the end she put the one with the higher offer as 1 and the other as 2 because then she didn't feel she was burning her boats - it was then up to fate.

But even on results day when she got into #1 she was worried she'd made the wrong decision. However I think if she'd not put it #1 then she would have also worried on results day.

Realistically, as I told her, she'd end up happy at either. It was that they both had such different pros and cons that made it so hard, I think.

Whatever they choose, I don’t think they looked back. Dd1 struggled with her insurance decision. Didn’t feel that relevant, but ended up being v relevant as she missed her firm. Wouldn’t have been my insurance choice but I kept my views to myself. She is v happy at her insurance.

dd2 just chose Warwick above UCL - again not my choice and probably not the way I would have chosen, but I felt more confident she would be happy wherever she chose.

It’s hard to be neutral with the decision making as they get older!

Have you looked at train prices? The societies? How they allocate accommodation? Extras like semesters abroad?

Struggling here too. Trying to choose between 2 RG and one much lower ranking uni. Leaning towards the last one as will have much more support there, but finding it difficult to let go of the more prestigious ones ….

DS is still waiting to hear back from one university so can’t make his final choice yet….

I would separate "best university" from "best firm/insurance pair". For two genuinely liked options, look at course modules, accommodation allocation, travel home, societies and what happens if grades slip. The insurance choice only really works if it is a meaningful safety net, not just the second favourite.

Gosh, massive difference! What subject?

Tossing a coin is actually a good plan to unstick the decision - just to see if DD can figure out how she feels, based on what comes up (happy? Frustrated?) We get DC to do it quite often when they're stuck on something..

If there's absolutely nothing in it, agree w PP another good plan would be to just figure out which one is cheaper to get home from by train - gives her an objective reason to pick one rather than the other

It's a big decision for sure, but having two great choices is brilliant so hopefully she'll take some comfort from that. (Tbh I bet she never thinks about it ever again once she's settled at her new place and meeting new folk 😊)

@ShinyBlueTractor we did indeed toss a coin for the reasons you gave. It came up newcastle and she chose newcastle!
Firming firmed and accommodation applied for and an overwhelming sense of relief all round!

She can now concentrate on exams...eek!

'Massive' in what way??

Cambridge and not Cambridge presumably?

Im guessing so but 'massive'. We're talking York, not York St John.

In my experience those who get as far as an offer for Cambridge rarely turn it down. She’d be daft to. Cambridge is fantastic and there’s more individual care/ teaching as they really know you in your college.

Given the effort it takes to get a place at Cambridge, it’s generally a no-brainer to choose it at this point. Unless they’ve gone off it in which case the choice is made.

Oh that's great @postitnot . Hope she has a wonderful time in Newcastle, it's meant to be a great place to be a student 😍

Just checking, not that I don’t trust DS, but if they’re still waiting to hear about one application when do they need to firm their choices up by?

Not disagreeing , just rather interested in the hyperbole. MN does underrate York. Not sure 'massive' would be a word used for Durham, Edinburgh or St Andrew's.

Its usually 6 May but gets pushed back to 6June if unis are late. Awful, though. Is this Bristol?

Tbf I rate York but still wouldn’t include it with that bunch. The whole thing is tier-tastic and I think it’s fair to be surprised anyone’s tussling over those two unless there’s a specific reason like they live in York and wanna stay home. And anything lower than York wouldn’t be a debate at all so it’s as massive as it realistically gets if.

Really? Not for history or English , it isn't!

Thanks, yes that’s what DS has said! Right in the middle of his exams.

It’s LSE that he’s waiting to hear from.

LSE and co seem to forget young people have lives to plan and exams to sit!

LSE is a victim of its own success: unlike many universities it cannot expand physically (it's a bit like Cambridge colleges in this respect) and the number of applications per place is extremely high. It cannot afford to make mistakes with numbers at intake so it drags out the offer season until the last minute, using information from places firmed and refused to judge numbers very carefully.