What Do I Need To Get Into University? BTEC or A-Level?
05:15
''do I have to do a-levels to get into uni? because I really don't want to'' - this was me as I was coming towards the end of my GCSE's in year 11. Many people/teachers doubted the 2 90 credit BTEC diplomas I was about to do in sixth form, yet here I am a year later with 3 offers and 2 interviews from universities.
What I Did at Sixth Form
Just over a year a go I was deciding what to do when I leave school, do I go to college to study 4 a levels or stay at sixth form to study 2 BTEC 90 credit diplomas in Business & ICT (equivalent to 3 A-Levels). I ended up staying at sixth form because the benefits outweighed those of going to college. With sixth form I had so much spare time to get a job and some experience, I even had a day off in my first year (I wished it was monday, but thursday wasn't that bad I guess). There wasn't really a benefit of going to college apart from this thing people think 'a levels are better than BTEC'. Well no your not going to get into Oxford with a BTEC but are you a person that is going to get A*s at a level or are you going to be scraping a C?
Which Universities Are We Talking About? Where am I Going?
Every university has their own entry requirements which you should check before you decide what to do, but I applied for 5 universities, got 3 offers and 2 interviews. I got offers from Uni of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University and Manchester MET (my interviews were from Uni of Manchester & Sheffield Hallam).
My first choice uni was University of Leeds which is one of the Russell group universities (don't ask me what it means, but apparently it's good) and they're one of the few in the Russell group to offer a school of design. After sending a couple of requested pieces of work off, they've given me a conditional offer to study fashion marketing which (the perks of doing a BTEC) I'm 99.9% sure I'm definitely going to get so I'm pretty happy.
I'm not saying every university will accept this type qualification but you can always ask! Email the subject leader just to check (I did this and it helped me feel a bit more confident about making my decision).
I'm not saying every university will accept this type qualification but you can always ask! Email the subject leader just to check (I did this and it helped me feel a bit more confident about making my decision).
Think About The Bigger Picture
Your GCSE's and higher education are just a part of your application and whilst they're still important, lets not forget your personal statement and what the hell goes into it. I'm thinking of doing more tips posts (such as personal statement advice) but generally, you need to have relevant experience to kind of 'pan out' your statement otherwise you could find yourself stuck with 2 paragraphs considering whether you should start writing about your dog.
Do you want to see what went into my personal statement?
Let me know and I'll definitely do a post!
Do you want to see what went into my personal statement?
Let me know and I'll definitely do a post!
I hope this give you a bit of an insight on the pathway you can go down to get you into university. It's not easy copping out of A Level exams for (lots of) coursework, but if you put the work in, then it will pay off.
Do you want to see more posts like this?
klowey x
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