Are Good Grades the Be All and End All?

Gladys

Definitely go back to the uni of choice. If there are places left they are much more interested in "bums on seats". Also, to prove your committment, why not offer to do a piece of work set by the course tutor in the interim. I am 39 (I know that's alot older than you, but the point still applies) and when I phoned up and asked if I could be considered for a place on an Ecology degree, they asked me to do an assignment as an indication of my capabilities. When it came to it, I just didn't get time to do it, so I emailed again and asked if I could still be considered without the assignment. Ultimately, numbers were down and I passed at the interview, mainly on the back of the volunteer work I'd done and the sort of interests I had. I haven't got any A levels and I left school at 16 - so if they're prepared to take a chance with someone like me with zero academic experience to speak of, I'm sure you could fly in. Good luck!

EEK!!!

I would definitely call the course tutor at Plymouth and ask if you were to complete the Open University modules would they consider you. Ask them to specify modules if necessary. The assignment from the Uni is also another brilliant idea. By now they will have numbers for the course from the Jan 15th UCAS deadline. Not a nice way to look at things but if the course intake is low they will be more willing to accept you. At the end of the day you are showing huge willing by calling them and asking what you can do to get on the course and that has got to stand for something.

My moto - Don't ask don't get!!

Good luck and double good luck.

studentmusician

I think, at the end of the day grades dont matter. Im on an HND course because I didnt get brilliant grades at A level, and I havent regretted it. If you met some of the slackers on my course you would realise that anyone can get into UNI. If you are really dedicated, once you are in you will be able to thrive on the weaker ones, and really ge a top degree. It takes dedication. But grades dont matter one bit really, I ave flatmates who got in on an interview with no A Levels. So just give it a go.

Blacksheep1979

studentmusician wrote:

I think, at the end of the day grades dont matter. Im on an HND course because I didnt get brilliant grades at A level, and I havent regretted it. If you met some of the slackers on my course you would realise that anyone can get into UNI. If you are really dedicated, once you are in you will be able to thrive on the weaker ones, and really ge a top degree. It takes dedication. But grades dont matter one bit really, I ave flatmates who got in on an interview with no A Levels. So just give it a go.

Not 100% true - yes you can get into a 'university' but wether the course you are doing will be respected or worth anything when you come out is a different matter. Do you honestly believe that an employer will look on a candidate (even with a good degree) with no a levels from an ex-polytechnic the same as someone from a university such as nottingham, manchester, plymouth, warwick with a levels? You have counter proven your own point by saying your 'university' is full of slackers, now being better than a slacker doesn't make you amazing. So the whole point of your university seems to have undermined itself.

Yes its a way in and a bit of a foot in the door but I do think if you can't get into plymouth with the grades/courses you have it might be worth while doing a science based a level before going.

djhworld

Blacksheep1979 wrote:

Not 100% true - yes you can get into a 'university' but wether the course you are doing will be respected or worth anything when you come out is a different matter.

That's a very naive and almost snobbish view to take on people.

Getting into University is an achievement for a start, let alone graduating. 'whether your course will be worth anything' - of course it will be worth something, you wouldn't do it otherwise.

A lot of employers nowadays are looking for life experience and work skills, so things like graduating from a 'respected' university might get you a few brownie points, it gives no advantage to those from 'less respected' (as you put it) universities.

It depends on the candidate.

Although for things like medicine I can understand what you are saying.

Blacksheep1979

djhworld wrote:

That's a very naive and almost snobbish view to take on people.

Getting into University is an achievement for a start, let alone graduating. 'whether your course will be worth anything' - of course it will be worth something, you wouldn't do it otherwise.

A lot of employers nowadays are looking for life experience and work skills, so things like graduating from a 'respected' university might get you a few brownie points, it gives no advantage to those from 'less respected' (as you put it) universities.

It depends on the candidate.

Although for things like medicine I can understand what you are saying.

Whilst it might be a snobbish view it seems to be accurate - most employers would prefer a candidate from a traditional university compared to an ex-poly and the reasons why seem clear from studentmusicians post, that is to do well at one of those uni' you just have to work a bit more than the slackers. I can't see how getting into a university that will take anyone without even a levels is an achievment and undermines those who actually worked to get into a university and that is another reason why employers don't look on ex-polys as favourably.

You go on to comment on life experience - yes its very important to prove that you can interact and relate to your colleagues but having gone to university and gone out drinking 6 nights a week doesn't prove interpersonal skills and those that you may pick up are overcast by the fact you got a 3rd. Whilst the work skills, I think thats proven itself - no a levels hmmmm that person obviously worked hard now didn't they?

I'm sorry but the work force is already being saturated by people with degrees and in a job market such as that the employers are going to be the ones able to chose and they will chose the prime candidates.

studentmusician

At the end of the day if you take a course that a traditional university doesnt do then you have to go to a non-traditional university. When I come out with my degree in Sound Technology then in the industry I go into (hopefully the music industry) will want me more than someone without a degree. I think that your view is highly cynical.

Oldernotwiser

Obviously some vocational degrees are offered only by the new universities but you'll still find that some have a better reputation than others and their graduates are valued accordingly.

It's not snobbishness to say that some universities are more prestigious than others; it's no different from saying that Eton's a better school than a local comp. That's not to say that some people will do well after graduating from a "poor" university, if they get a good class degree and build up an impressive portfolio of activities and work skills.

It's not hard to get into some kind of university these days and not much more difficult to graduate with a low level degree. Personally, I feel that university numbers have been expanded far too much and many students are running up enormous debts for very little reward. Of course it does wonders for the unemployment figures for this age range, but at what cost?

scorpio_princess

Blacksheep1979 wrote:

Whilst it might be a snobbish view it seems to be accurate - most employers would prefer a candidate from a traditional university compared to an ex-poly and the reasons why seem clear from studentmusicians post, that is to do well at one of those uni' you just have to work a bit more than the slackers. I can't see how getting into a university that will take anyone without even a levels is an achievment and undermines those who actually worked to get into a university and that is another reason why employers don't look on ex-polys as favourably.

You go on to comment on life experience - yes its very important to prove that you can interact and relate to your colleagues but having gone to university and gone out drinking 6 nights a week doesn't prove interpersonal skills and those that you may pick up are overcast by the fact you got a 3rd. Whilst the work skills, I think thats proven itself - no a levels hmmmm that person obviously worked hard now didn't they?

I'm sorry but the work force is already being saturated by people with degrees and in a job market such as that the employers are going to be the ones able to chose and they will chose the prime candidates.

I see what you're saying here, but I do have one issue: If having no A levels is seen as a problem by propective employers, how do you explain Open University graduates getting into highly-respected professions such as law, teaching, engineering etc? A large proportion of OU students don't have A levels (I only have the one myself - health problems messed up the rest), but quite a few graduate with a first class honours degree (which, I might add, requires a score of 85% and above to acheive). These students' lack of A levels doesn't seem to hinder their career plans, and so they shouldn't.

I agree with you that with an increasingly saturated pool of graduates, the 'top' employers can afford to be picky, but it's also worth bearing in mind that not everyone can or will follow the tried-and-tested route of school-sixth form-uni - I do believe that if you're dedicated and stop at nothing to acheive your dreams, you will get where you want to go eventually. If you think to yourself "I don't attend a prestigious university, therefore i'll be working in the local shop for the rest of my life because my degree is worthless" then you're already defeated. Self-belief and dedication is just as important as good grades and posh unis.

I like to 'go against the grain' personally - after all, wouldn't the world be a boring place if we were all the same!

Blacksheep1979

scorpio_princess wrote:

Self-belief and dedication is just as important as good grades and posh unis.

Dedication yes, self belief maybe - but there is such a thing as being blinkered and just because a university is harder to get into/better thought of doesn't make it 'posh'. Whilst I agree the OU is a great university their methods of teaching level at a time and the fact that you pay for the course makes it a little different to a traditional university.

As to studentmusician yes a course can be more tailored towards a job but still quite a few employers will seek their prospective employees from fields that show the necessary learning abilities and not the necessarily those with the exact skills/training to do the job as once you have been taught something one way you tend to be stuck in a certain way of doing things which may not be the way they want. Examples of this are mathematicians, physicists and engineers going into computing roles where the majority of the work is programming.

There are very few vocational courses that have a job that other courses couldn't apply to, the few I can think of are medicine and law, depending on the area you are looking at I guess that electronic engineers would be able to apply