Every one of the 15 sections, start to finish, so you can see exactly what you get before you pay.
1
At a glance and the strategy on one page
Amara is in Year 12, predicted A* Maths, A Further Maths and A Physics, with a fourth A-level alongside. GCSEs are an 8 in Maths and a 7 in English, which are above what every course here asks. She wants CS in a big city - more excited by AI and building things than pure theory. She's considering UCL, Warwick, Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield.
The grades will get Amara into a top course. Two reaches leave her with one safety. It asks AAA, a grade below her prediction. The list needs one more course that still works at AAB. The application itself needs to be specific to her.
Keep the Maths at A*, add a safety that asks less than AAA, keep UCL on the list and finish the project over the summer.
2
What you told me
You told me Amara wants a big city, that she's more interested in how software gets built than theory for its own sake and that you'd consider a joint course if the computing stays central. You also asked me to look at Oxford and Cambridge, so both are on the list. Your worry is what happens if the grades come in below the prediction. That worry is exactly right and it's the first thing I've fixed.
3
How to read the numbers
These are real UCAS course figures from 2023 to 2025. Achieved means the grades students arrived with. Offer rate is the share of applicants who got an offer, so it's competition and not a personal chance. Pay is the median for that subject at that university five years after graduating, from the 2023/24 tax year, so every computing course at one university shares the figure. Confirm the entry requirements on each course page for 2027 entry. No outcome is guaranteed.
4
My take on your list
The five are all famous names. Her Maths, her Further Maths and the applied-computing interest are what CS departments outside the top few look for. UCL makes offers to 10% of applicants. The courses in the middle of this list make offers to between 60% and 80%. So the first thing I'd fix is the middle of the list. Make that strong and nothing on the form depends on UCL.
5
Your five courses - choice by choice
UCL - keep it, don't rely on it. It has an offer rate of 10%.
Your five courses, tiered at A*AA. Achieved ranges are aggregated UCAS figures †| Choice | Tier | Offer | Achieved † | Rate | Pay, 5 years on † |
|---|
| UCL CS | Reach | A*A*A | A*A*A* to AAA | 10% | £70,600 |
| Warwick CS | Reach | A*A*A | A*A*A* to AAA | 70% | £71,400 |
| Bristol CS | Target | A*AA | A*A*A* to ABB | 60% | £70,100 |
| Birmingham CS | Target | A*AA | A*A*A* to ABB | 71% | £62,600 |
| Sheffield CS | Safety | AAA | A*A*A* to ABB | 80% | £56,000 |
Warwick asks A*A*A, a grade above her prediction, so it's a reach on the grades. 70% of applicants get an offer though, against 10% at UCL. If the September mocks come in at A*, Warwick is where I'd put the firm.
Bristol asks A*AA, exactly her prediction. It takes 60%.
Birmingham asks A*AA too. It takes 71% and students have got in there with ABB.
Sheffield asks AAA. That's a grade below her prediction. It takes 80%.
7
Grade scenarios - if the grades move up or down
At AAB two courses still ask no more than she has, Liverpool and Newcastle. Nine have taken students with AAB. Cambridge and Imperial are the exceptions - they have taken nobody below A*A*A.
Read against my list of fifteen courses. The achieved grade range is the grades students arrived with, aggregated UCAS figures †| Scenario | Results | Based on entry requirements | Based on achieved grade range and offer rate † |
|---|
| Prediction rises two grades | A*A*A* | All fifteen | All fifteen |
| Prediction rises one grade | A*A*A | All fifteen | All fifteen |
| On prediction | A*AA | Ten, Oxford among them | Thirteen. Cambridge and Imperial have taken nobody below A*A*A |
| One grade drops | AAA | Five. Queen Mary, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Newcastle | Twelve. Southampton takes 85% |
| Two drop | AAB | Two. Liverpool at 94% and Newcastle at 95% | Nine. Southampton, Leeds and Sheffield all take 75% or more |
If anything slips, it can't be Maths. Her A* is in Maths and every course on this list asks for it.
8
Two ways to build the five courses
There are two ways to build your five courses. Which one depends on what the Maths does between now and results day.
One list keeps both reaches. UCL and Warwick as the reaches, Bristol and Birmingham as the targets, Sheffield as the safety.
The other gives up a reach for a second safety. UCL as the only reach, Bristol and Birmingham as the targets, Sheffield and one more underneath.
Decide after the September mocks. Maths still at A*, take the first. Maths slipping, take the second. Either way the firm and the insurance need to ask for different grades.
9
A practical shortlist
Five sensible choices are either two reaches, two targets and one safety or one reach, two targets and two safeties, depending on how much risk you want. Amara's five are the first of those two, so there's only one course below her. Sheffield asks AAA and has an offer rate of 80%. Students have got in there with ABB.
The other option is two safeties instead of one. Sheffield also runs Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence, which asks BBB and takes 84%. Same university, three grades lower. Swapping it in for a reach gives Amara two safeties.
If the firm and the insurance ask for the same grades, the insurance isn't doing its job.
You'll decide which course goes where months from now, with real offers in front of you.
10
The fine print that catches families
Admissions tests. Some top CS courses use a test or an interview. Check each course for 2027 entry and register early.
GCSE rules. The 8 and 7 clear every course here, no issue.
Subject rules. Maths is required everywhere and Further Maths helps at the most competitive courses. Amara has both.
The fourth A-level. No course here asks for it.
11
The personal statement
One statement has to cover straight CS everywhere and possibly Philosophy and CS at UCL. What works for both is how systems make decisions. Write about the thing Amara builds this summer, what she read because of it and the question it left her with. Name a module or research group at one or two of the five courses. Every CS applicant lists languages and frameworks, so use the space to say what she made of them.
12
Supercurriculars - about 10 to build toward
About ten things to build toward, chosen to back both the shortlist and the statement.
Finish one project. Software that solves a problem she actually has, written up when it's done.
Enter the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. It backs the Maths A* and the CS application at once.
Read one book or lecture series on how algorithms decide things, then write about it.
Apply for two work-experience programmes this month. The big employers run them directly and Uptree and Springpod list more.
13
What to do between now and applying
Here's what to do, from now to the day she applies.
Book the open days now and put in two work-experience applications.
Over the holidays, work on the project and keep the Maths ticking over. Nothing heavier.
By the mocks, pick between the two lists and register for the tests.
In the term before the deadline, draft the statement, settle the five courses and submit.
When the offers come in, choose the firm and insurance at least a grade apart.
14
The timeline
The dates that can't move.
15 October. Oxbridge and medicine close. Nothing on this list needs it but it's the date to know.
13 January. The equal-consideration deadline for everything else on her list.
Results day. She has already chosen the firm and insurance, at least a grade apart.
Where a test has a registration window, the booking-close date matters more than the sitting date. Put the closing date in the calendar.
15
Where this leaves you
Keep UCL and Warwick. Warwick is the more likely of the two reaches at 70%. Add one more course that asks below AAA. Finish one piece of software over the summer.
Which of the two lists, what goes at the bottom of it, the final five courses. If you want to talk any of it through, the Deep Dive is a £100 upgrade from here any time before you decide the five courses.
This is a sample. To get one written for your family, start your own report.