offer dilemna

[hazemm]

Im having trouble choosing my firm and insurance. the offers i received are as followed:

UCL for civil engineering and the offer entails me getting a 36 with a 4 in english

Nottingham University for Mechanical engineering and they are asking for a 34 with a 6 in Math SL and 4 in English

and my last uni, which I am kind of considering is Warwick for systems engineering and they want the same thing as Nottigham.

I really have no idea which one to choose, the only thing that I can think of is that I didnt do as amazing as i thought i'd do in math so i could potentially get a 5, but I did amazing in all the rest. I really have no idea to choose and i keep getting mixed signals from everyone. Some ppl say UCL is bad at engineering, and some say that its good. Also, im leaning towards UCL and nottingham because im more interested in Civil and mechanical.

Right now im thinking of putting UCL as my Firm and Notts and my insurance. If you can give me some guidance on this decision it would be appreciated

also does anybody know if its possible to change courses once in the university?

Edited May 18, 2009 by hazemm

[Vvi]

I think your firm and insurance options sound good, seeing as you like both the courses and the Nottingham offer is lower than the UCL one, meaning that if you don't get into UCL there's a chance you will still go to Nottingham. Definitely don't switch them around, as if you don't get 34 you won't get into UCL with less than 36. Be aware that if you decide you want to go to Nottingham instead of UCl after results come out, and UCL was your firm, you cannot change your mind anymore. Once you accept a firm offer, you are committed to going there unless you decline all offers and apply again next year. You also cannot decline an insurance and go through to Clearing; if you decide you don't want to go to Nottingham (your insurance) if you don't get into UCL, you must decline the offer and apply again next year. You don't have to put an insurance if you don't want to.

Changing courses once at university is possible, but it can be difficult. You are usually not allowed to change to courses that you didn't meet the entry requirements for (e.g. If you wanted to change to Law and their entry requirements were 38 points, and you only got 35 and accepted a place for engineering, then wanted to change, you wouldn't be able to). Ecah university has different procedures for allowing students to change courses and they will only do so if you can provide a good reasn and if they have spaces left (most universities don't, as the spaces are filled up in the Clearing process). It would be too late to change your course before starting university at this point, unless you want to decline all offers and reapply next year. You can always try changing once you're there, you should look on the university websites to see what they say about changing courses.

Everything that I've heard about UCL had been positive. Nottingham is also very well-regarded, and many students that don't get into Cambridge and Oxford go there instead. Warwick is also great, but if you don't like the course then don't go. Have you also read through the modules and course programmes for each course? This is the one for your course at Nottingham, http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy/course.php?inc=course&code=000363 , if you look at the bottom of the page you will see "Modules" and you can read exactly what the course covers and see if it interests you more than the others. Do this for every university, it would be awful to get there and find out that the course is completely different from what you had hoped.

I myself put Nottingham as my insurance choice and Leeds as my first, even though Nottingham is ranked higher than Leeds. For me, accommodation was better as Leeds for self-catered students and transport will be easier (since the university is in the city and not outside like it is in Nottingham). Have you considered factors like those? For example, living costs in London are about £2000 pounds higher than for students in any other university in England. Warwick is a campus university and is not situated within a city/town but rather, it's in between two towns in the middle of the countryside. You will have to spend more on transport costs on weekends going out and so on. Nottingham's second year residences are all in the city and so you also have to buy a bus card and travel back and forth (although I can't remember if the engineering department is on the Jubilee campus together with the medicine students, in which case the campus is in the city but first year students have their accommodation on the main campus, meaning you have to travel back and forth the other way).

[Abu]

I would choose Warwick for your insurance just on the basis that it's ranked higher and it's not in Nottingham. Although, be sure that you actually like the course.