The Family Strategy, a full sample

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 clears every filter in this report. She wants CS in a big city - more excited by AI and building things than pure theory. She is considering UCL, Warwick, Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield.

Where you stand. The grades will get Amara into a top course. The plan risks wasting them - three highly competitive choices and no backup. This year isn't about a bigger name. It's about protecting the grades, building a list that holds at AAB and making the application specific.

The plan in one line. Protect the Maths A*, lock one genuine safety, keep UCL as the free shot and build the evidence over the summer.

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. Your main worry is whether this list survives a wobble on results day. That worry is exactly right, and it's the first thing this report fixes.

If any of that reads wrong, tell me and I'll re-run the strategy.

These are real UCAS course figures from 2023 to 2025. Achieved means the grades students actually arrived with. Offer rate is the share of applicants who got an offer, so it is competition and not a personal chance. Confirm the entry requirements on each course page for 2027 entry. No outcome is guaranteed.

The list was built by reputation, and Amara's profile wins on fit. Her Maths and Further Maths and the applied-computing interest are exactly what strong CS departments outside the biggest names look for, and those courses made offers at two to eight times UCL's rate. So the first thing I'd fix isn't the top of the list - it's the middle. Make the middle strong enough and UCL becomes a free shot instead of a gamble the whole plan depends on.

The same five, with a verdict on each.

UCL - keep it, don't lean on it. 9% is a long shot for everyone. It stays because the statement can carry it and nothing else should depend on it.

Warwick is the firm candidate. The most winnable reach at 52%, and students arrive with A*AA. If September's mocks hold, this is where the plan points.

Bristol is the awkward one. 37% with conditions that don't flex. It can't be the insurance and it's competing with Warwick for the same job on the form.

Birmingham is the natural insurance. It has taken students at ABB, which is exactly what an insurance is for.

Sheffield is solid but it's doing the safety's job without being chosen for it.

The same menu model as the Sense Check with twice the coverage. The extra courses fill the thin places in the list - more genuine safeties, the strong departments outside the famous names and the big-city options Amara asked about.

The counts are ten courses and three joint swaps at the Sense Check, and twenty courses and six joint swaps here. Every report is checked and adjusted by me before it's sent, whichever tier.

Maths is the swing subject. It anchors the A* and every course here cares about it most, which is why the plan protects it first.

There are two ways to build this five, and the choice comes down to how the Maths holds.

Model A keeps both reaches. UCL and Warwick up top, Bristol and Birmingham as targets, Southampton Maths with CS as the safety.

Model B trades a reach for certainty. UCL only, Warwick and Birmingham as targets, Sheffield and Southampton underneath.

When to choose. After the September mocks. Maths holding at A*, go Model A. Maths wobbling, go Model B. Either way the firm and insurance must sit at least a grade apart.

The same checks as the Sense Check, plus one judgment it doesn't make.

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 sharp end. Amara has both.

The fourth A-level. No course here asks for it. It should never take an hour that the Maths A* needed.

One statement has to serve straight CS everywhere and possibly Philosophy and CS at UCL. The thread that does 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. Don't list languages and frameworks - every CS applicant does that. Reflection, not listing.

About ten things to build toward, chosen to back both the shortlist and the statement.

One project, finished. Software that solves a problem she actually has, shipped and written up.

One competition. The UKMT Senior Maths Challenge feeds the Maths A* and the CS application at once.

Reading with a purpose. One book or lecture series on how algorithms decide things, then written about.

Work experience. The big employers run programmes teens apply to directly, and Uptree and Springpod list them. Apply to two this month.

The action list becomes a month-by-month plan through to application day, built from wherever in the cycle you start.

Now. Open days booked, two work-experience applications in.

The holidays. The project, light Maths upkeep, nothing heavier.

Mocks. Model A or B decided, tests registered.

The term before the deadline. Statement drafted, the five locked, submitted.

Offers season. Firm and insurance chosen a grade apart.

The absolute deadlines, laid against the plan.

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 the rest of the five. Everything here points at this.

Results day. Firm and insurance decided a grade apart, so one bad morning can't undo it.

Where a test has a registration window, the booking-close date matters more than the sitting date. Diary the close, not the sitting.

Keep the ambition. Fix the floor. UCL stays, one true safety comes in, Warwick leads the firm race and the summer builds the evidence. This plan has one real job - making sure one bad morning can't undo two good years.

What's next. The open decisions stay yours to make - Model A or B, the firm and insurance pair, the final five. This report frames and evidences every one of them - it never makes the choice for you. A Strategy Together session is where we work through them, and it's a £150 upgrade from here any time before the five are locked.