Advice on Choosing Firm Choices

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Hi I have received my conditional offers for civil engineering and it's almost time to select my two firm choices. My insurance university will be Exeter which wants a 5 in Science HL, 5 in Maths HL and a 34 overall. The thing is, for the other unis, the conditions are slightly high and I am afraid I won't be able to make it. Bath wants a 6 in HL maths, 5 in SL Eng and 36 overall; Edinburgh and Durham (for general engineering) want 38 and 666 in HL subjects and Edinburgh wants an additional 4 in English. Glasgow wants a 34 with a 666 at HL.

For the Scottish unis, they are offering me point of entry two and I believe (though I'm not sure) that I should be able to go down to year 1 should I not make the grade. I kinda like Bath because it's quite good for architecture and I am interested in architecture, but I kinda heard rumours that it's erm overrated, so to speak. While we're on it, is it actually possible for me to change from civil engineering to civil engineering and architecture when I am in the uni? Glasgow has this civil engineering and architecture too. What I like about Durham is that it starts off with general engineering.

I'm sorry if I rambled on. I don't even know what I'm trying to ask. I'm just kinda confused and I want advice to help me pick my other firm choice. Like what to look for when accepting or declining offers, and any other general advice.

Thank you for your time.

Edit: I would like to add that I like nice modern campuses and a fun student life, but I'm not sure how much importance I should put on these.

Edited April 19, 2013 by -._._.-

[Sandwich]

Hello strange punctuation named person Can I ask what your predicted grades are? And separately, how much you feel like you're not going to achieve them by or what your worries are. I would also like to point out that nothing is yet impossible and you could well make if not exceed your offers if you put the hard graft in!

Anyway, this is the point at which I always think it's easier to only have received two offers just so you don't have to decide! Generally it's not possible to swap between courses unless they're really very similar to begin with - like Biology and Genetics or something. Things within the same faculty, possibly. Otherwise everybody would apply for Sociology or something (..sorry Sociologists!!) and then switch to something they liked better. To my understanding you would have to re-apply next year along with the people in the year below only this time specifying Architecture. This may differ at different universities though so you could always give them a ring or perhaps see if anybody else on IBS can enlighten you more.

My view would be that you've got to be realistic about getting your grades, and also consider every single combination. If you got 36 points but had firmed Durham, would you kick yourself for not having firmed Bath? If you got 37 points, would you kick yourself for not putting Durham 1st choice and having Bath rather than Exeter as your insurance, because then you'd still be at Bath which you'd prefer to Exeter? Really I guess you've got to decide whether you're just having a downer on your grades or whether it's genuinely a dicey decision. If 38 seems really way way way ambitious, on balance Bath would be the smarter option. If 38 seems like a far away but potentially achievable goal, it might be worth the gamble, and actually you might also want to consider having the 36 offer as your insurance.

All of those are good Universities and every University will have a great student life, so I wouldn't worry about those. We all love where we end up - mostly! Durham definitely isn't a modern campus but actually I think the only 'modern' one of those is Exeter. You should also consider that Edinburgh, Glasgow and Durham are all city Universities - Exeter (depending on the campus) is... well, a campus. I think going on the course is a really good idea, to be honest, if you're stuck. Starting out with general engineering would leave more options open so you can presumably determine your interests and see if they change, and I think it's a better decision life-wise than going on the basis that you can always go in at 1st year instead of 2nd year level. To be honest I wouldn't want to do a University course where other people had done 1 year and I was coming in straight from school... the knowledge base is never going to be identical and it could create a lot of work and stress for you.

Not sure how helpful that was. Really it's you who's got to make the decision, but I think having people ask you the questions can sometimes help.

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At the moment I'm just focusing (maybe worried?) too much on the maths that the overall score doesn't really give me an impact, which I know shouldn't be the case. It was just recently that I got a 5 for maths in an unofficial mocks. The last official mocks, I barely made a four and in junior year I got a couple of 3s. My January predicted is 35, 5 for maths. After our January mocks (last official ones), chemistry and econs was reduced by one so my predicted is a 33. But I think I can get 5/6 for physics and chem, my HL subjects. Maths is probably a 5. I don't know if it is just me being laid back or what, but somehow I don't seem to mind a 5.

I actually kinda like exeter too. I mean it's not that I prefer Bath over Exeter. They're pretty much equal. For bath, what I meant was "civil engineering and architectural engineering" so it might be pretty similar. They might even have common first years. But I suppose this is considered like a minor thing compared to picking my firm choice(s).