Risky insurance?

[delta]

Dc is trying to decide on his firm/conditional offers for university. He's decided on his firm but the insurance is more of a difficult decision. He has one offer that he's pretty much dead cert to get, and that's the obvious insurance, but he's not sure if he really wants to go there. He'd prefer to have university B as his insurance but for this the grades are still v high ie will still need one A* (although slightly lower than his firm). Any thoughts? We wondered if he missed the more risky insurance there might be some flexibility from university B in August so it's worth taking the gamble. My only concern would be that if he missed the A* he would end up with nowhere and might regret not going with the lower (dead cert, although nothing's guaranteed....) offer. Hope this makes sense - don't want to name the universities!

[Y]

I guess he needs to decide whether he would want to go to his 'third' choice university, or whether, if he didn't achieve the necessary grades, he would prefer to defer a year and try again. There's nothing worse than spending 3 (or more) years somewhere you don't want to be, studying a course you don't want to follow. If he doesn't want his 'third' choice, then it would be a wasted choice.

[hermanmunster]

so we have Firm, risky and deffo Unis

reckon he has to decide:

a) do I really want to go to university this year (ie can't bear the thought of a gap year)
If yes then put deffo uni as insurance
If no then put risky uni as insurance

b) do I want to go to deffo uni at all / ever ?
If Yes then put it down
If no then put risky and reapply if he doesn't get it.

[Looking for help]

Yes this is a difficult one. My older two needed the same grades for firm and insurance, for one of them this worked out, but not so well for the other. My third - there is a difference in the grades but it is quite small, only one grade less, so we will be very nervous in August. I did take the view that this year there may be more flexibility (having spoken to a few admissions tutors on the rounds) due to lower applications because of the high fees, so we felt it was a risk worth taking.
I reckon there will be plenty of chances in clearing (there usually is)

[hermanmunster]

very frustrating having offers with all the same offers - a friends son has just this with all four!

Grades irritatingly different from the prospectus.... comes down to trying to work out which uni will be the most "flexible"

[Kesteven]

You shouldn't put a place you wouldn't be happy to go to as your reserve. Stick with the highly rated fallback, even if its demanding in terms of A level points. In the current climate there will be lots of places available at Clearing and anyone with ABB will have a whole range of extra options available under the new universities funding arrangements. The better institutions can draw down off-quota places for the better qualified candidates (ABB). It's a buyers' market these days, so don;t settle for second best.

[Looking for help]

Grades irritatingly different from the prospectus.... comes down to trying to work out which uni will be the most "flexible"

We've not found that at all - all offers were the same as advertised. I guess it must depend on the course

[KB]

Agree with all the above - its a great deal of money now and if job market still tricky when they graduate they want the best degree (including from the best University) they can manage so don't settle for second best if there might be better options available.
If it all goes wrong and can't sort out anything in clearing then will have advantage of applying next year with grades in the bag and knowing better what the options are - whether decides to resit or not.

[another mother]

Hi Delta,

Would he consider a Gap Year? Because if so, herman is absolutely right, go for the risky one and if he misses it re-apply. Given how high the grades are that he's expected to get, (well I'm assuming so if you say one less a* !) he's still going to emerge with a pretty good set and can then apply with those in the bag. And who knows - maybe 'risky' will be a bit more lenient!

I agree though it's hard to know what to do for the best. DDs firm offer is lower than her second choice - so that's absolutely off the table - and the others are the same. They all say they wouldn't be able to shift from 3As as they are all so oversubscribed but I wonder if they might if she got 2A*s and 2 Bs - clearly no-one will admit to this at this point though!

A Gap Year could be fantastic though - though it's probably unlikey to happen. Unless he's really opposed I think I might suggest living a little dangerously. As kesteven says you really don't want to spend upwards of £27000 somewhere you don't want to go and imagine if he does make the risky offer and can't go.
Really good luck - who knew this bit would be so tricky too...sigh

[Looking for help]

They all say they wouldn't be able to shift from 3As as they are all so oversubscribed but I wonder if they might if she got 2A*s and 2 Bs - clearly no-one will admit to this at this point though!

We have been told the opposite, so again this must depend on courses.