All 6 rejections from Ucas for Social Work :-(

BusinessStudent

Hey all,

I have been rejected for every social work course i had applied to via ucas. I had 4 rejections straight off and then 1 group interview/ test and one video test and got rejected from both of them :-(

Im a male, 18 so i thought i would have had more of a chance of being accepted on the social work course because there are more females, and thought they might want a mix.

I am currently studing a BTEC Nat Cert in Buisness, and have GCSES & a GNVQ.

I did not study a social work course before or have experience in Social work. I dont know what to do next? - I've looked on Ucas Extra but all the remaining social work courses are too far away from home and i wanted to stay local.

I've had a look on the local council websites and there seem to be alot of jobs going such as admin assistant at the local drug help centre place. Is it worth geting a job related to the course for a year and apply again or what?

Thanks

Tallulah22

Hi sorry to hear about your rejections

can you not go and speak to your local career advisor and ask for their help with this?

Hope you get sorted

Gingernutmeg

It is probably worth getting some work experience - possibly it was felt that at 18 you're still a bit too 'young' for a social work course (not meaning to be rude here ) ... or that you don't really have much relevant experience in social work - your current BTEC, for example, is in Business. Is there any way that you can get feedback from your interviews, as that may be helpful to you and might point you in the right direction.

There is also the possibility that spaces on the courses you want may come up in clearing. You could contact the universities and see if that's likely, and see if it's worth you applying that way.

BusinessStudent

Thanks for your replies - today i got the final decision which was that i had been unsuccesful yet again.

At the group interviews i did find that many of the people there are much older than me. While i didn't study social work at college, the business course did teach me alot about laws such as the DDA during recruitment.

tabytha

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Hey all,

I have been rejected for every social work course i had applied to via ucas. I had 4 rejections straight off and then 1 group interview/ test and one video test and got rejected from both of them :-(

Im a male, 18 so i thought i would have had more of a chance of being accepted on the social work course because there are more females, and thought they might want a mix.

I am currently studing a BTEC Nat Cert in Buisness, and have GCSES & a GNVQ.

I did not study a social work course before or have experience in Social work. I dont know what to do next? - I've looked on Ucas Extra but all the remaining social work courses are too far away from home and i wanted to stay local.

I've had a look on the local council websites and there seem to be alot of jobs going such as admin assistant at the local drug help centre place. Is it worth geting a job related to the course for a year and apply again or what?

Thanks

Do you not have to have experience in Social Work before applying anyway? That's what I thought

BusinessStudent

tabytha wrote: »

Do you not have to have experience in Social Work before applying anyway? That's what I thought

Not always, but it does help.

sockospice

Definitely getting some experience will help. Social work is a very competitive course to get on to at the moment because of the bursary you get. Although many courses say you don't need experience, you will struggle without it - you need to be able to prove you can work with people in an anti-oppressive way. Voluntary work is a good way to gather experience, and I'd also suggest having a read through Neil Thompson's 'Introduction to Social Work' (I think that's what it's called).

Oldernotwiser

I don't mean to be rude but from your description of yourself I can't imagine why you expected to be accepted! You're very young, you have no experience and your current studies aren't really relevant! It's not a recipe for success, I'm afraid. I also think that, had you been successful you would have been unlikely to have survived the course.

I would take at least a year out and get relevant experience, either paid or unpaid. It might also be useful to take an appropriate Level 1 module with the OU (D100 - Understanding Social Change is the one that comes to mind). When you come to apply for entry in 2008 you'll be well prepared, both for the academic work and for some of the stresses of the profession.

As a Careers Adviser that would have been my advice to you before applying, not just because you've been rejected. You really need to understand what Social Work is all about before you commit to it as a career. Email me if you'd like to discuss it further.

carebabe

working in the field of social care would be helpful towards applying for a social work course in the future. as others mention your age and lack of 'work with people' experience are against you at the moment.

BusinessStudent

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I don't mean to be rude but from your description of yourself I can't imagine why you expected to be accepted! You're very young, you have no experience and your current studies aren't really relevant! It's not a recipe for success, I'm afraid. I also think that, had you been successful you would have been unlikely to have survived the course.

I would take at least a year out and get relevant experience, either paid or unpaid. It might also be useful to take an appropriate Level 1 module with the OU (D100 - Understanding Social Change is the one that comes to mind). When you come to apply for entry in 2008 you'll be well prepared, both for the academic work and for some of the stresses of the profession.

As a Careers Adviser that would have been my advice to you before applying, not just because you've been rejected. You really need to understand what Social Work is all about before you commit to it as a career. Email me if you'd like to discuss it further.

Thanks

I understand what you are saying. I could get a job with the council social work related for a year in a office and also help out at this local centre that has social work carers who need help with ICT.

sockospice

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Thanks

I understand what you are saying. I could get a job with the council social work related for a year in a office and also help out at this local centre that has social work carers who need help with ICT.

That sounds ideal. Also, if you want to keep up with learning in your year out, psychology and sociology courses will also give you a really good grounding for understanding the theories you'll be using as a social worker.