Getting Into University?

[Fish-Finger-er]

had a search on the net for this over the past few days and nothings really come up with the answers i was after.

but are any of you/do any of you know of people who have got into university with vocational qualifications(supposedly its doable with vocational stuff in theatre/accountancy and business, but thats all ive been able to find out)

want mechanical engineering, motorsport engineering,automotive engineering or the like.

to give you a rough idea of my qualifications, ive got 12 gcse's,3 as levels (in media,sociology and computing,so nothing useful) a btec national level 3, and an nvq level 3 (may be level 4/foundation degree by this time next year)

basically my employers where on about sending me on a nvq level 4/foundation degree course, (which meant i could just hot tail it into uni next year), but thats basically looking like its falling through, so wondering would i have a chance to manage getting into university next september with what i got now, or is there anyway i could just jump on evening school/some learndirect course for 9 months or so, to get me into university?

[Luke Rainbird]

If you find a Uni/course you want to do, drop them an email and go from there - it's the best way

Most places are more than willing to at least consider alternative qualifications

[Fish-Finger-er]

If you find a Uni/course you want to do, drop them an email and go from there - it's the best way

Most places are more than willing to at least consider alternative qualifications

yea that was the general plan, see how thinks pan out for the next few weeks as regarding to me getting on a foundation degree course through work, and also let the whole start of the academic year calm down, and email a few places. find out whats needed and what i have or havent got.

[Luke Rainbird]

Have a flick through the usual routes of www.ucas.com and individual uni sites/prospectuses, a lot of them will list a number of vocational qualifications they'll take, or will at least say something like "other qualifications will be considered"

[1a2bcio8]

An access course will get you to university in a year. I just completed one and got a place at Bristol university. They are well recognised by universities and you aren't really at any disadvantage over A-level students these days. You'll probably have to hurry though as the course begins around now. I really enjoyed my access course and highly recommend it.

[Fish-Finger-er]

An access course will get you to university in a year. I just completed one and got a place at Bristol university. They are well recognised by universities and you aren't really at any disadvantage over A-level students these days. You'll probably have to hurry though as the course begins around now. I really enjoyed my access course and highly recommend it.

full time or evening?

[1a2bcio8]

full time or evening?

Full time in the day or part time over two years. Full time though represents 14-15 hours though and plenty of people maintained near full time work. One of my subjects was in the evening and perhaps some colleges cater for that in terms of the entire course being in the evening.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Ben Rowlands

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

The courses you want to do are very heavy on maths and as such I don't think you'll be able to get straight onto any of them with vocational qualifications. However, as Ben says, a lot of Universities do 'foundation years' which give you the required footing in maths/physics etc to then go on to do the actual degree.

[James Quigley]

You're 21 or over right?

From what I've heard from mature students (on my course) is that they didn't really need any qualifications to get in, a lot of places tend to accept mature students regardless. This is only based on what I've heard from students on my course at my Uni (Architecture in Portsmouth) so may be completely inaccurate. Best thing to do is get in contact with whichever uni it was you were looking at.

[Fish-Finger-er]

You're 21 or over right?

From what I've heard from mature students (on my course) is that they didn't really need any qualifications to get in, a lot of places tend to accept mature students regardless. This is only based on what I've heard from students on my course at my Uni (Architecture in Portsmouth) so may be completely inaccurate. Best thing to do is get in contact with whichever uni it was you were looking at.

erm, 21 in a month, so will be, but im by no means mature (hell i made a joke about the next door neighbour trimming my mums bush for her yesterday).

yea i think im gunna give a few places a ring in a couple of weeks once i know the score with work sticking me through a foundation degree.

[Tomm]

I don't know how it works but don't a lot of universities simply need UCAS points? And I would have thought that the NVQs count for UCAS points? Some courses might have specific requirements (E.g. Maths A-Level A or B - and I should probably include A* too these days, tsk) but I'd think there are some that don't. Particularly if you have a valid reason for not wanting to do A-levels, universities love people from different backgrounds who have had interesting lives.

[Mark W]

What Tomm said. Go here, enter your results, find your UCAS points score. Go back to the UCAS site, check out which courses you want to do at which institutions, check out their entry requirements where they usually say "___ points required". Win.

[JonMack]

erm, 21 in a month, so will be, but im by no means mature (hell i made a joke about the next door neighbour trimming my mums bush for her yesterday).

Hold on a minute, I'm older than you?!

[Fish-Finger-er]

I don't know how it works but don't a lot of universities simply need UCAS points? And I would have thought that the NVQs count for UCAS points? Some courses might have specific requirements (E.g. Maths A-Level A or B - and I should probably include A* too these days, tsk) but I'd think there are some that don't. Particularly if you have a valid reason for not wanting to do A-levels, universities love people from different backgrounds who have had interesting lives.

yea they basically need UCAS points, but for some reason i cant find out whether the NVQ i got counts for jack, the only thing i could find about whether NVQ's count towards UCAS points is that aparently an NVQ level 3 counts for 2 A levels (but no where officially says that) and some stuff about it being aceptable for Business, accounting etc.

What Tomm said. Go here, enter your results, find your UCAS points score. Go back to the UCAS site, check out which courses you want to do at which institutions, check out their entry requirements where they usually say "___ points required". Win.

magic, thats what i was after, NVQ's aint on there, but found out with my AS levels, my BTEC national diploma, and my key skills im up to 420/460 straight off(Dependant on whether i got DMM. or DDM in my BTEC)

Hold on a minute, I'm older than you?!

why yes, yes you are, your also cooler, skinnier, paler, and worse at COD4, but meh

[David]

Courses will ask for a certain Ucas score but also usually 99% of the time (for engineering) at least a certain grade in A level Maths. Usually A or B.