Yet another thought...

lethal_2

Hey, I am in a very difficult situation at the moment and would like a bit of advise from someone who has experienced university and the real world. At present I am in my first year of college.

This is incredibly embarrassing but at the end of year 11, my GCSE scores were poor (three b's, one c, and the rest d (inc eng and sci). I therefore then repeated a year to do retake english GCSE and double award science, as well as doing two AS LEVELS (maths and travel and tourism). Half way through the course, head of science entered my gcse paper to be re-marked, as I was only 0.5marks of CC. It got re-marked, and the examination board missed 7 marks out of my paper, and I was awarded two C, which meant I had to only re-take eng GCSE. I managed to persuade the design department in my college to pick up AS Design and Technology, as I could not take AS Business studies, as it was too late. So, I am now doing, GCSE ENGLISH, AS TRAVEL AND TOURISM, AS MATHS, AND AS DESIGN TECNOLOGY. The trouble is that my college does not do A2 TRAVEL AND TOURISM, also I am not really enjoying the course.

i was wondering, would you think it would be better to try and squashed 2 AS and 2 A2 in one year or try and spread my A-Levels out over three years and do full A-levels in the subjects that I would be more comfortable in. Would potential employers looked at my a-level (as I want to also take a placement yr) and is one year a big difference?

lethal

Broke_Student

Hi. Do you have any set ambitions/career plans? If you are aiming for a particular job, look into which course you require at university. Once you know which course you require, look into the entry requirements for it. Some uni courses require a certain number of UCAS points from any A2/AS level subjects whereas others might ask for three A2's in particular subjects.

emma0787

It really depends what grades you're expecting to achieve in your Maths and Design Technology A2's. Most universities would accept you with just these two, depending what subject you're choosing to study.

Personally if I were you I would finish my AS Travel & Tourism this year, carry on the other 2 at A2 level and pick up another AS level next year, depending on your college they'll often let you squeeze a full A Level in to 1 year depending if you think you'd cope and have enough time to complete it in.

lethal_2

I am hoping to go to a decent university in London, as I want to do something along the lines of marketing, economics, business std, I feel if I did pace my a-leveks over the period of 3 years I would get much better grades as I could potentially RE-TAKE the modules that I may not do well in, in my third year. The only problem is that I would be taking a whole year out.

pinginal

I wouldn't worry about that. I took two gap years before university and I have no regrets.

lethal_2

hey, I was told by someone that id I did this I would be less likely to get into a GOOD university, is this true?

Oldernotwiser

lethal wrote:

hey, I was told by someone that id I did this I would be less likely to get into a GOOD university, is this true?

The better universities are going to prefer people who get good grades first time round. If they accept you then they'll expect you to get better grades than someone who's taken them over two years. I think that your poor showing in English GCSE is likely to be a problem here as well. I hope that you're likely to get a really good grade for this so that your D will look like a fluke; if you only scrape a C you could be in trouble.

lethal_2

theres a problem, I am only allowed to do foundation (get grade max of a c)

but I feel with the A-levels that I am doing I will get high grades, would that make a diffrence?

Oldernotwiser

I think that with rather a weak level of English you may struggle with the subjects you're thinking of studying at university and many of the better universities will see it that way. It's not just a question of getting in but of coping with the work when you're there.

I don't necessarily think that you need to be scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as university choices go, just don't put to much money on getting into the LSE!

Seriously, go to your college's careers centre and have a look at "Degree Course Offers" by Brian Heap. It'll give you some idea of the grades likely to be expected of you for entry into those subjects.

pinginal

I disagree with many of the comments from oldernotwiser (no offence). I got into Nottingham University, after taking my A-Levels over 4 years.

I don't think that universities tend to go on GCSEs that much, unless you are looking to study a conventional subject, then they might specify that you have a certain grade at GCSE in it as well as an A-Level. For the degree you want to do they'll be more interested in your maths.

I got 5 As, 3 Bs and a double C for science at GCSE then at AS-Level, I got BCCD and at A-Level CCD first time round. I did a few resits in the first year after my A-Levels and improved to ACD, then went to college in my second year and improved to ABC. I applied to university (Bristol, Durham, Southampton, Nottingham, Warwick and York) with ACD and got a number of offers, which I made. I can't see that I was at any disadvantage and the offers that I received were typical to the courses that I chose.

Are you young enough to apply through UCAS still? I think that would be your best option. If not applying as a young mature student often puts you at a great advantage because you have A-Levels as well as some life experience and passion for your subject. If the latter is the case then arrange a meeting with the head of school of the subject you want to study at the universities you want to go to.