It's not easy only choosing five universities to put on your UCAS application, but once your offers start coming in, you’ll need to narrow down your choices again to just two universities! You’ll need to choose a firm (first choice) and an insurance (second choice) university.
Your firm choice university is the university you’ll be attending if you meet the entry requirements on results day. If you don’t meet the entry requirements for your firm choice, then you may automatically be given a place for your insurance choice instead if you meet the entry requirements for that course.
The best way to narrow down your top two is to make a pros and cons list for each university. We’ve thought of all the things you need to do to find a winner and select your firm and insurance choice.
1. Go to an Open Day or Applicant Taster Day
The best way to get a feel for a university is by seeing it in person. If you’ve received an offer from us then you’ll be invited to an Applicant Taster Day. This allows you to chat to current staff and students, explore the campus and facilities and get a glimpse into what it’s really like studying your chosen course.
2. Explore your future city
If you’re moving to a new place, see if it’s the right fit for you before you make your move. Head out into the city after an Open Day or Applicant Taster Day and see what it’s like to be a local. There are tonnes of things to do in Birmingham, from shopping to soaking up some culture at an art gallery to VR experiences!
If you can, travel using public transport to see how easy it will be for you to travel home at weekends or during the holidays. Birmingham has great transport links, our city centre campus is only a 10-15 minute walk to Birmingham New Street Station.
3. Research work experience, industry links and go abroad opportunities
If you want to do a work placement or go abroad during your time at university, then check out what opportunities the university has to offer. Where have students worked before? What did they do? Will you receive employability and placement support?
Our students have enjoyed placements with companies like the BBC, Cisco, IBM, NHS, Microsoft, Dolby, Selfridges, ASOS and more.
4. Review modules covered on each course
Courses can vary greatly from university to university, so make sure you look at what the compulsory and optional modules are. You want to make sure you choose a course that fits your interests and allows you to develop your knowledge in the right areas.
5. Check out the facilities
It’s important to make sure that the facilities you’ll be using on your course are industry standard and prepare you for work in your chosen career.
We've invested over £400 million in our campus and facilities, so our students can learn in state-of-the-art environments.
6. Check the unis out on social media
Social media is an underrated research tool! Posts on Instagram and TikTok can give you a feel for what the university is really like and the different activities that are going on. You can often find posts about things happening on campus or what a day in the life of a student looks like.
7. Figure out your finances
It can be much more expensive to attend some universities due to their location or range of student accommodation.
Take a look at the average living costs in different cities. Things like the price of accommodation, how much a train ticket costs or even how much it costs to go to the cinema could be important factors that affect your monthly budget.
8. Weigh up the entry requirements
Lastly, it’s good to aim high but you do want to make sure that the entry requirements for your chosen course are achievable.
It’s a good idea to put a university with higher entry requirements as your firm choice and a university with lower entry requirements as your insurance choice. That way, you have something to fall back on if you don’t get the grades you were expecting.
However, if the university with lower entry requirements is the right fit for you then you can still put this as your firm choice. It’s all about choosing the course you can see yourself studying.