I am applying to schools in both the UK and US (along with Trinity College Dublin probably). In the US, I have my respective reaches (Columbia, Brown), matches (Reed, NYU, U of M), and safeties (Sarah Lawrence, New School), along with other possibilities if I’m not driven completely insane by the application process in a couple of months (UT-Austin? UW-Seattle? Vassar?).
Mercifully, the UK process is comparatively simple and am more or less ready to go to submit my UCAS in a week. The only problem is my choices. I have my reaches (Oxford, University College London) and matches (King’s College London, Edinburgh), but am hard-pressed for whether I should include a safety. I was initially think Queen Mary for this purpose, but is a UK safety necessary? Am I aiming too low, if I have a good chance at Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, etc.? And lastly, am I underselling Queen Mary, considering I’m applying for English?
Of course yes, that is the purpose of 5th choice. You don’t want to join the clearing process - unless you are not really sure you want to study in UK.
Looking over past messages and I may have missed some so forgive me, but at the moment you have 5’s in AP US History and Eng Lang/ Comp, and Sat II 800 in American History. Are there anymore scores you have to share because that’s not going to cut it for an unconditional offer for UK schools at the moment as the universities will see US history and your SAT II as the same subject.
There’s no disadvantage, and potentially a fair few benefits, to adding a fifth choice. However, you don’t have to add one now - you can just send off your application now and add a fifth choice later - so long as you do so before 15th January, it will count as being an on time application.
Clearing is the process of matching universities with spaces to students that need places. It happens in the summer (by far the biggest day is A Level results day, which is always on a Thursday in August - many places will become available and be filled on that same day) and is open to anyone who is not already holding an offer and wants to start studying that September, including international students. It’s usually used by a mixture of students who have missed their conditional offers and students who have had a change of heart about the course they want to do or the uni they want to go to. Last year 1 in 8 students got their place through Clearing, so it’s a pretty big operation.