Choice of 6th form-instinct or reason?!

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How far would you trust your instincts over your reason in making a choice of 6th form?
We're doing the rounds of 6th Form colleges at the moment. One of them has extremely impressive stats, off the scale, by far the top state 6th form in the area, and in the top 10 for the country. It's relatively easy to get to, good location, nice campus, etc etc.
SO why do we (dd, dh and me) all feel that it's not the place for dd?
If it's a choice between her own school's 6th form (ofsted rated Good, v small, modest success rate) and this super-award-winning college, why can't we get excited about her possibly going to the latter?
There's no logical reason but we all feel the same.
What is going on and WWYD?

I think its a mixture of both and you do instinctively know if something is 'wrong ' for you .

Because you get a feeling when it's right to jump into aknew environment.

I would have hated to leave my school for sixth form.

And would equally have hated not going to a proper big city university.

DD1 is ready to move on. She wants to be treated as an adult and drop the uniform and petty school rules. She isn't the fussy, dizzy social immature dyslexic of Y7. She wants to make friends who never knew her then.

DD2, I suspect will stay, she fits into the social and academic structures of school far better.

Into a new

Thanks for the comments. Sorry i should have explained better that it's not the choice between leaving her school and going to a new place that's at issue. She is applying to another college as well as to her own school's 6th form.
Her choices are:
1)College A, big, outstanding OFSTED
2) College B, the Super-duper-award-winning top 10 in the UK college, outstanding OFSTED
3) College C her own school's 6th form, Good OFSTED, v small,good but not fabulous results [it is separate from the school, no uniform].

What i can't get my head around is why all our instincts are telling us that if she doesn't get into College A, we'd rather she went to College C, even though on paper College B is miles ahead of College C in all academic areas.
That's my instinct question (very poorly explained, sorry! ) - if reason is shouting 'COLLEGE B!' why are our instincts saying 'COLLEGE C!' ?

I would look very carefully at how the individual lessons might be for the subjects she's intending to take.

It might be that better vibe/feeling comes from those departments irrespective of the overall school's results.

Do you not really want your baby to grow up and go out into the big scary world to the big scary sixth form?

Do you feel that the extremely high standards will mean that she will feel like a small fish in a big pond?

Does a small part of you worry if she is "good enough" for the super duper top 10 college?

Are you worried about you learning the new rules and the new things that are expected of the parents at a new place?

Just checking some possibilities.

Because an outstanding Ofsted can be for stunning results, from the dullest box ticking formulaic lessons, with no fun and bugger all pastoral care.

For all DD is ready to move in now, she'd choose her (now in SM) secondary for the support it gave her in Y7/8 against being teased over 100% outstanding teaching.

All good thoughts, thanks. Yes we need more info on individual lessons.
We and DD DO want her ' to go out into the big scary world to the big scary sixth form' , she is very excited about it., it's just WHICH big scary sixth form!
StarBallBunny, now you say it i got the impression pastoral care is better at College A and College C, although no doubt College B would rustle up some impressive statistics to argue against that if asked! Trills you touched on this too, with your 'small fish' comment. Food for thought there.
'Does a small part of you worry if she is "good enough" for the super duper top 10 college?'...will have to think about this one. Could also be interpreted as do we think there'd be too much pressure on her..
This is all exactly what i needed - thank you MNers!

We're just about to start on the 6th form open evenings, but so far we have a fairly long list of pros and cons for moving and staying, and I think it is just going to come down to instinct - where feels right? Where can dd2 see herself spending the next two years?

I think it's probably sensible to go with your gut feeling (as long as she is sure it isn't just fear!) rather than trying to convince yourself of the 'sensible' option and spending two years not feeling at home.

We looked carefully at the individual subjects dd was choosing.

Which college had the best reputation/resources for those particular subjects, which curriculum sounded best, what contacts did they have with the kind of HE/employers who might be the next step?

Also at pastoral care- what would happen if she fell ill/had a breakdown/found herself struggling socially and emotionally?

In the end she went not for super-duper college but for almost-super-duper college: not quite the same reputation but results still very good and specialisting in her particular area. Plus very welcoming and strong on pastoral care.

Dd herself thought (without prompting) she wouldn't be happy in the pressurised environment of super-duper college, and that seemed a consideration worth taking into account. They do need to hit the ground running in sixth form, and feeling comfortable about where you are does help enormously.

Why don't you apply to both? You can apply and hold offers for multiple places at sixth form.
I have known students not thrive at the amazing sixth form college but do far better at an alternative. What suits one person might not suit another.

mummytime is right: that is the most sensible idea

she may find her ideas get clearer after the taster days- or even after she gets her GCSE results

dd applied for 3 colleges and held places at 2 until she had seen her results

I agree with mummytime. My dd applied for and had places at 3 sixth form colleges. She changed her mind goodness knows how many times about which one she wanted to go to, but by the time her GCSE results came out she knew which one she really wanted to go to. I think having the choices open to her helped her pick the one she liked best.

Go with instinct.
We have the choice of several colleges round here, two of which are outstanding academically.
One of them DD just does not "like"
The other felt like home within half an hour of wandering around on the open day.
One of her friends feels exactly the opposite about them.

All the schools round here stop at 16 so there is little real "choice" but to go to college

are you talking about PS and BP perchance ?

Hi Talkinpeace, no, sorry don't know what PS and BP are, but interesting about the instinct thing!

Some schools achieve their very high results by ruthless weeding of those who don't do as well as expected at AS, asking students to leave rather than helping them to resist.

the state 6th forms round here do not do that - as they of course would have to find the kid somewhere else with the school leaving age at 17 next summer and 18 the year after
what they do do is get kids to drop subjects and concentrate on their strongest

I am just wondering if your own school is smaller and less high achieving in the 6 th form because lots of students leave for the other colleges. This means would she do well academically if lots leave? Are her friends likely to leave? This could leave her isolated. Friendships determined DD1 not moving for 6 th form plus availability of subjects. DD moved because she needed more arts subjects at a school with outstanding teaching in this subject area. It is a big decision to move on but I would look at subjects and quality of teaching at all three colleges. Staying on at a school with average teaching may not be best for her future. If you are happy with the teaching in her subjects, then stay, providing enough friends do too!