Access Course for Physiotherapy

Hi everyone this is my first message on here.

I'm a 28 years old french education assistant living in London and I'm seriously considering a new career in physiotherapy.
I've asked St Georges University for their entry requirements and here is their reply:

Yes, you would need to take up some extra study to be considered. The best option may be to take an Access course which you can do at many local colleges. The content is more important than the title and it would need to fulfil our requirements which are:

To achieve the full diploma with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 3. This must include:
30 Science related credits (Biological and Health Sciences, excluding Sociology), graded at Distinction and Merit
At least 30 Distinctions and 15 Merits overall

As I haven't studied for a while, I need to do an access course.
Seems like "Access to Health and Human Sciences" is the most suitable one.
Does anyone know of a more appropriate/another one ?

And I was wondering, 30 Distinctions and 15 Merits overall, is it easily achievable ?
I did a scientific baccalaureate and I love biology but I want to stay realistic.

And my last question, can you do this access course online and be considered later on for a uni application ?
I've seen it somewhere.

Thanks a lot guys and I'm looking forward to reading your replies.

Corentin

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

Corentin

Sorry to insist but does anyone has an answer to my questions ?

Reply 2

Maes Seren

I've just done a search on google and it popped up with this page which should answer your question -
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1696552

But I would email the admissions tutors for the universities you plan on applying for (remember you get 5 choices) to find out which one is the most accepted one. Physio is an extremely competitive course so you'd be wise to not lay all your eggs in one basket or so to speak and apply for all 5, mix of top uni's (like st George's) and uni's which require lower grades and also less competition. The further out of London you go the more likely you'll get offered a place (not to say they won't decline you and a London uni accept you mind).

Good luck, I'm probably too far out to give you specific uni advice, as I'm at Cumbria but if you do decide to stray from London that far then I give Physio a good thumbs up from Cumbria. :smile:

Reply 3

Corentin

Ha great thank you ! I was desperate for an answer :smile:

I found the page you refer to but it seems like in 2 years a lot have changed.

The universities I've emailed so far haven't been very helpful ..
Last week I've received a credit break down for the course I plan to do (Access to Health and Human Science) and I've emailed some universities asking them if they value this course. That's the last detail I need before I apply.

Yeah I guess I'll try two uni in London and 3 outside and very soon I'll be busy soon with voluntary work and looking for places to shadow a therapist.

Cool I'll have a look at your uni next year then. Thanks for the recommendation

Reply 4

Elenac86

Hi! I'm interested too in this thing...but I'm completely lost...and also my parents are a real problem for me..
Well, I'm Elena from Italy, I would like to start a new career since I choose the wrong BA in Italy (I have a BA in foreign languages...which is not useful at all..) and now a first year student in a MA in Tourism business...but it's not what I would like to do...I'm an athlete also (middle-distance runner), and sport has been part of my life since when I was a little girl..and I would like to have a suitable job in the sport sector.
At the beginning I was thinking about Sport science, but since I already have some certificates in order to work in a gym as a fitness instructor or artistic gymnastic instructor, I thought about if a BA in sport science would be more useful or not; so I change my mind toward physiotherapy, something that I liked a lot also i the past..
As I said the problems are my parents: they don't want me to go abroad now without anything sure in my hands (something that could give me a job I mean..)...but damn..I'm 26 and I want to live, I need a change in my life now...otherwise it will be even more late...They are right that I don't have anything sure now...but I have to be in UK in order to find something, it is not possible to find a job in UK from Italy..and then I need to do my experiences..even if everything seems extremely difficult..
As I have a BA in languages I suppose that I have to do an Acces course..(or are there other routes?) for the moment I don't know anything, and I don't know where exactly I could do it and the the BA in Physio...so I'm asking for help!!!
The other big problem is money!!! I hope to be able to find a little job in a gym or something like that, but is it possible for an Italian to receive a loan (for the access course and then for the BA)? how does it work?
Please...I need any kind of advice...because just looking on the internet it's not easy..and I don't want to loose time and years...I' m a bit worried...because I think that I will not be able to do it..

Reply 5

apparentlyblue

Hi, I'm an access student with only a few weeks left of my course and then I'm off to Southampton in September to study physio :smile:

You're on the right path and you definitely need to push the admissions tutors for the universities you're interested in to find out exactly what they want and cross check this with what the access courses local to you offer.

For example, you mention St Georges. My course would not have been accepted there as it did not contain the required 30 units of science (purely biology, physics and chemistry). I'm sure in London you'll be able to find a good access course that meets all your requirements but make sure you find out what those are before you start the wrong one!

In my personal experience, I found all universities for physio would accept a science pathway. Many would also accept (or 'may consider') health and social care pathway. It really makes little difference the pathway you are on as you could be on exactly the same subjects and timetable as someone else but be on different pathways, but some universities will dismiss an application purely on the name of your course!

There are more specialised courses such as health professions pathway and I've even heard of a physiotherapy pathway, but science is generally what the universities know about and ask for.

30 distinctions and 15 merits is about standard as far as access entry requirements for physio go. It is most defintely achieveable as long as you are willing to put in the work. Access is very intensive and, although the work is no harder than A levels, the constant deadlines are tough to meet if you have outside commitments. I worried when I first started that I wouldn't be able to make the grades but I've achieved all distinctions and have just hit my 30th and met the conditions of my offer :biggrin:

I don't know about other courses, but the thing about mine is that even though your certificate only holds 60 credits, you can study up to 90-odd if you need them. So if a uni wants all 45 level 3 credits at distinction, and you get one merit, it doesn't mean the end of all your ambitions; you can add an extra assignment and aim for top grades there instead and bump the other one off the certificate if needs be.

I don't know what you mean by study online, but most universities want you to have achieved the grades you apply with within the previous three years (some say two) so you have a couple of years to play with if you don't want to go to university straight away.

I hope this has helped and if you have any other questions about access or applying for physio feel free to ask :smile:

Reply 6

Corentin

Thank you apparentlyblue. Congrats for the admission !
Here is the breakdown of the credits for Access to Health and Human Science:

Health Science: Biology (12 credits)
Health Science: Physics (9 credits)
Sociology of Health (18 credits)
Psychology (12 credits)
Maths (12 credits = GCSE equivalence)
English (12 credits = GCSE equivalence)
Mandatory Units & Study Skills (18 credits)

What's very "funny" is that in the pdf Morley College sent me about their access course, they run a story about a guy doing it and then getting a place with St Georges but apparently according to my exchange with the uni this course doesn't qualify ...
St Georges was not able to tell me clearly if psychology is considered science related ... (they require 30 science related credits)

Thank you for the details, it makes me feel a bit better. I hope they don't stick exactly to their requirements.
It's like some uni asking for great GCSEs on top of your Acces Course. What's the point ??
I 'm going to work very hard to get the best grades and as much experience as possible. I just can't afford to waste one more year.
I already have a day of observation next week at the hospital.

I don't understand what you mean by

you can study up to 90-odd if you need them

How does it work ? I just need to ask my college ?
And out of curiosity, can you tell me what access course you've done ?

Thanks again !

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Corentin

For you Elena ..

I don't like to bring bad news but it doesn't look very good.
The NHS will pay your fees if you've been a uk resident for at least 3 years ..
Otherwise I guess it's the full fee and it's just crazy. Can be as much as £9000 a year !
How does it work in Italy ?
Otherwise you could try Belgium. It's cheap and it's a lottery.
Only thing is the lessons are in French.

Like you I love sport since my early childhood and I want to work in this field.
Unfortunatelly it's very limited. Have you look into becoming a personal trainer ?
Fitness instructors earn peanuts. Or maybe marketing ?

For the work experience I think it doesn't really matter where you have it. You can try your local hospital.

Reply 8

apparentlyblue

Original post by Corentin

No problem. I'm doing the Science pathway at my college. The breakdown is as follows:

Biology: 12 credits
Physics: 9 credits
Biochemistry (can count as biology or chemistry unit): 3 credits
Psychology: 12 credits
Study Skills: 21 credits
English (level 3): 12/15 credits (optional extra unit)
Maths (level 2): 12 credits
Maths (level 3): 6 credits (optional)

I'm sure you already know that one unit = 3 credits. As you can see, this adds up to 84 credits so you have option of doing more if you need to. I dropped psychology after the first unit, didn't do the optional english unit, didn't do the level 3 maths units and only did 3 of the 7 study skills units. As such I ended up gaining 63 credits (3 of which won't appear on my certificate), 51 at level 3 and 12 at level 2.

My offer was for 45 credits at level 3, 30 of those at distinction and 15 at merit. I was fortunate in that I achieved distinction for all my units so I only did what I needed.

BUT, if I'd completed 30 level 3 credits by this point in the course and say only 12 were at distinction, 9 at merit and the other 9 at pass then instead of having no chance of hitting my offer, I could opt to do more units than I needed.

So I could choose to do the optional 6 maths credits, 3 english credits and all 21 study skills because I thought I could easily achieve distinctions in those. Then I'd end up with say 54 level 3 credits, 30 at distinction, 15 at merit and 9 at pass. Only 45 level 3 credits are needed on your certificate, so you'd discard the pass credits and just put the distinctions and the merits on.

That looks really complicated reading it back but I hope it makes some sense! Some offers will be dependent on all biology credits at distinction, so you'd have to work hard at those, but if you were just trying to make up the numbers to 30 you could do more non-subject specific units than you needed and only put the best grades on the certificate.

There are quite a few people on my course working really hard at the end for as many credits as they can to meet their offers, but it's good that they have that option. I'm not sure if all access courses work like this or just mine though...

As for St Georges, that's the same response they gave me when I asked. I didn't apply as it was vague, but you'd think in a year they could have decided whether psychology was a science or not :s-smilie:

Definitely get as much experience as possible. I had five work experience placements and volunteer weekly at my local hospice (I'm a massage therapist) and thought I'd have a strong application but everyone else has a strong application too! Someone on my course who has worked as a physio assistant for 3 years was rejected from her first choice so be prepared for that and make use of all five of your choices!

I wish you all the best :smile:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 9

Corentin

Thank you. It's good to know that there's more credits than you actually need.
I had to read it twice but no worries it makes sense :wink:

I'm pretty sure that St Georges changed their mind about phychology as this access course Access to Health and Human Science is apparently now the most common way for adults to go tu uni and study physiotherapy. I don't understand why they can't say it clearly ...

When you talk about work experience placement is it like a day of observation or you are active and it lasts longer ?
I would appreciate if you could give me more infos on that.

I was wondering as well, do you think doing pilates will be seen as a plus or they will think "ah another guy who wants to become a sport physio" ?

Thank you

(edited 10 years ago)