A-Levels as an adult?

garfield33

Hi all

Does anyone know if it's possible to do A-Levels as an adult/mature student? I'm looking at going back to university (BSc or MSc - still looking into it), but the area I'm interested in is very different to the A-Levels and the degree that I already have.

I live in a city with many colleges etc, but all the adult courses advertised seem to be more vocational than straight-up A-Levels. Anything A-Level related seems to be aimed at those who've recently done their GCSEs, mine weren't even this century!

Online courses would be fine too but have no idea where to start with those.

Any advice or tips welcome! Thanks

sangie595

If you already have a good standard of education, for most higher courses the admission is often more linked to capability or capacity. So, for example, if you wanted to train as a planner, most of those come through the geography routes at a lower level, but there is no reason why, technically, you could not go straight into a higher degree in planning if you could show them you'd be a good candidate - and can pay the bill!

ReadingTim

If the ultimate aim is another degree you're probably better off looking at the degree course requirements for mature students rather than looking at a-levels: the path for mature students usually involves university access courses, which may take into account previous education and/or skills & learning acquired since. A-levels are generally only for students aged 16-18 and taught full time during the day, whereas access courses will be part time and in the evenings/weekends.

Unless you weren't sure you'd continue on to university, or simply wanted to do some a-levels for the sake of learning and the subject itself, I'd skip them and concentrate on what I needed for university.

Mojisola

ReadingTim wrote: »

the path for mature students usually involves university access courses

This is what my son did - the local college's access to uni course was very good.

The college also offered online A level courses with support from their lecturers.

engineer_amy

Entry requirements for mature students (and part time students) are vastly different from those for school leavers.


When I applied for a part time accountancy degree, they were not interested in my previous school grades, as I had already been accepted to and attended a different university (for mechanical engineering) so a very different subject. This might be the same situation for you.


I had to write a short statement about why I wanted to do the course and how my work experience helped me gain transferable skills that I could put to use on the course.


Theres APEL - Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning. Put simply - if you can demonstrate how you might nearly meet the course requirements through prior education, training or work experience, the university would tick all the boxes and enrol you.

bouicca21

I did A levels as an adult in evening classes some 40 years ago. Apart from the hard work and loss of social,life, it was easy to find courses and the end result was by exam. Modern A levels with so much course work are harder to do part time and there are virtually no suitable courses (I've been looking to do one, because I want something more structured than is on offer at adult education classes).

So the advice above is correct, what you need is to find out the mature entrant requirements.

clairec79

I did A level biology as an adult - in the evening at the local college.

I had the entry requirements for uni, but needed recent study - this was a far easier, quicker and cheaper way for me than access

Mrs_Soup

I did A levels as an adult at the local tech college but that was years ago-I'm not sure it is as common now.
What I would suggest from working in a university is to contact the Admissions people for whatever course you think you would like to do and discuss with them what quals/experience you already have and if there is any specific subject knowledge you might need to gain in order to cope with the course. When I was studying with the OU there were students there doing maybe one OU course to get specific subject areas they needed to then get into a full degree somewhere else.

One thing I would beware of particularly if you go for an undergrad course is that as I understand it you won't get any funding if you already have a degree. Masters level courses don't get the same funding anyway although I think there are now loans but i'm not sure if they have the same criteria.

garfield33

Thanks for your advice everyone! As you can probably tell I've only just started looking into this, access courses look to be the way to go if I can't start a course at my current level.

I've got some regular volunteering/work experience lined up, and once the academic year has started and settled down I'll approach some local unis to see what their requirements are.

agrinnall

It really depends on whether you want to learn something new or gain a qualification in a subject that you already now but don't have anything formal. For the former then access courses may well be the best option, for the latter I would look at postgraduate courses that might take your knowledge into account ahead of your lack of paperwork (as described by sangie).

NineDeuce

Why do the A-Level courses appear to be only for people who have recently completed their GCSEs?