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<\/p>\nHi everyone! Choosing firm and insurance university choices can seem daunting, but hopefully my six do\u2019s and don\u2019ts will guide you through the process and take some of the stress off.<\/p>\n
No matter how much good stuff you hear about a university, if you don\u2019t get a good feeling about it (especially on an open day) then you won\u2019t be happy there. This also applies when dealing with the opinions of your friends, family and teachers; the one that they like best is not necessarily the right place for you. My mum would only say she liked universities within a 60 mile radius of home, but I ended up going to Loughborough, around 3 times that (sorry mum), because it\u2019s the perfect place for me.<\/p>\n
Your firm should be your favourite university, and the one you are aiming to achieve the grades for. If your firm choice is accepted on results day\u00a0your insurance offer is automatically declined. Do be prepared, however, to attend your insurance choice if you don\u2019t meet the requirements for your firm; I chose not to have an insurance choice because if I didn\u2019t get into Loughborough I didn\u2019t want to go to uni at all. All of the universities I was interested in for Design asked for exactly the same grades; this will vary from course to course so make sure you\u2019re doing what\u2019s best for you!<\/p>\n
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Some of my friends got unconditional offers from universities and they all got very excited about it. Some accepted straight away and were all sorted for the next year, some accepted then regretted it, and some stopped to think. If your favourite university, the one you would\u2019ve firmed anyway, gives you one, then great and congratulations; enjoy being smug as your friends freak out over exams.<\/p>\n
If, however, one of your original choices that you\u2019d kinda forgotten about and might be your 3rd or 4th choice gives you an unconditional, please don\u2019t blindly grab the opportunity. Ask yourself whether you\u2019re just doing it because it takes the pressure off you come exam time; pushing yourself and going to the uni of your dreams will make you feel a lot better than taking the easy option.<\/p>\n
Also, make sure you know the term of your unconditional; many only apply if you put them as your firm choice on UCAS, so be careful!<\/p>\n
You should base your insurance choice off your grades. If you\u2019re not the best in exams, you could choose a university with required grades close to your predicted grades as your firm, then an insurance uni that asks for lower grades in case things don\u2019t go as well as expected.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, if you\u2019re confident you will achieve your predicted grades and perhaps want to aim higher, your insurance choice could be a university with quite easily-obtainable grades and your firm choice with aspirational (but not ridiculous) required grades.<\/p>\n
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This is not a decision to take lightly, so do as much research as you can.<\/p>\n
There are so many websites out there dedicated to helping you find the perfect uni for you, so use them! Look at student satisfaction scores, not just employability prospects; if you can\u2019t stand the university you won\u2019t hang around long enough to get your degree, let alone a job with it.<\/p>\n
If you can, it\u2019s also really helpful to ask students (at universities\/doing courses that you\u2019re interested in) about their experience so far. It may not be a good idea, however, to make a decision based on your teacher\u2019s stories of their \u2018golden years\u2019 at university; they probably studied there a little while ago and it will have changed beyond all recognition.<\/p>\n
If it all goes wrong and on results day you\u2019ve got no university places, never fear! Clearing is your friend. Contrary to popular belief it\u2019s not actually a trash bag full of awful courses at terrible unis, I know a lot of people that went through clearing and they were all very happy with the unis they ended up at.<\/p>\n
However, don\u2019t choose a course in a blind panic, as you might a can of out-of-date baked beans during a supermarket trolley-dash. Take your time and evaluate your situation; you can choose to take a year out and go travelling or work, then reapply next year. More and more people are choosing to take gap years, and taking a break from academia might appeal to you too.<\/p>\n
Happy choosing everyone, and have a great Easter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi everyone! Choosing firm and insurance university choices can seem daunting, but hopefully my six do\u2019s and don\u2019ts will guide you through the process and take some of the stress off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":440,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"lboro_blog_alternative_thumbnail_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-school"],"yoast_head":"\n