So which ones are considered to be the Top ones nowadays?

[wurzel]

It's probably more a case of falling behind/failing exams and being advised against continuation, rather than actual expulsion, which is quite rare. I do agree with you, vivienphung, that if a student who attends all lectures, tutorials and problem classes, makes full use of these opportunities and studies thoroughly in the evenings, still can't keep up, there is not a great deal that can be done to help them in the university environment, other than some advice from a tutor. Sometimes, they can be less than diligent in the first year, or have outside problems, and might need a second chance. I would hope these cases would be given proper consideration, and I fully expect they are.
If the dropout rate is very high, it does suggest entrance requirements might need a re-think. I have no evidence that dropout is excessively high at Imperial, though it's perfectly possible that gung-ho academics claim this to emphasise the excellence of their institution (and not only at Imperial)!

On the original subject of this thread, I still can't understand why the poster's friend was advised that she was wasting her UCAS choices, with grades about as high as it is possible to get. My kids aren't at this stage yet, but I work in a university myself, so I'm not entirely ignorant about the processes. Would she not be seriously considered anywhere with these results, unless they're in very oddball subjects or something?

[Clare]

You could apply for any of the top unis with those GCSE grades including Oxbridge. Can't think why the school would advise that.

[Caroline1852]

I have recently realised that my data is way out of date and there seems to have been quite a lot of movement in which University courses are the ones most highly sought after. A friend of mine has a dd with 9 A*s and 4 A As's who wanted to put Durham first and Bath second for Physics but was told by her school that she would be wasting her choices with no chance of offers and that she should rethink her choices. In my opinion the school were caring too much about their percentage success rate for girls getting their first choice and not enough about her choices. Are these two really so unattainable? They were just solid choices in my day. DG

Durham's standard A level offer for Physics is A*AA to include Physics and Maths and not incl Gen Studies or Crit Thinking.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/courses/2012/info/ ... admissions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is it possible the pupil concerned is either not studying A level maths as well as A level physics and/or is not predicted to achieve the A* at A level? In which case, she almost certainly would be wasting her time.

[catcool]

Durham does not exclude Critical Thinking Caroline.
My daughter had an offer from Durham last year to study English Literature and History and needed 3 A's. They specified 2 of the A's had to be in English Lit and History but there third A could have either been in her third main subject which was Latin or in Critical Thinking which all the girls at her school took at As and A2.

[ACS_2802]

Some time last year the university I went to was ranked last (LSBU) and chided for still needing to charge the full fees. I was surprised as it was no where near the bottom when I was choosing to go, and I was looking at combined Forensic Science courses. I think its right to say (as someone above did) that for some it does depend what you want from it - the Forensic lecturers are good and many have worked in the field for 10+ years and subsequently gone into teaching. They also have good NHS courses for nurses and radiography, so I presume it's let down by the quality of other courses and it's entry level requirements for some. It tries to be very inclusive and encourage people from the area to get into higher education, so I feel quite sorry for the position it's in now.

[marigold]

ACS, my brother went to South Bank, when it was a Poly back in the 80's, did very well on one of their fantastic building /surveying courses which they still excel at and he is now the richest most successful member of our family, horse, porche etc ( said through gritted teeth)
As so many have said on the other thread about Russell Group universities, it is not so much where you go but what you make of the opportunity of further education. My local university is not high up in the rankings but does provide some quite well respected courses and has given the opportunity to many in this area who would not dream of moving away from home to take a degree.