Will universities accept student's with lower UCAS Points?

Basically, i left college in 2009 and decided to work to earn money, well anyway i left college with 240 UCAS Points and wasn't planning on going to University, but now i have decided i do want to go. The Universities i have been looking at have increased their entry requirement's to 260 UCAS Points, so now i'm buggered. Would they accept me with 240 UCAS Points? If not, there are only a few other Uni's who require 240 Points.

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Reply 1

jjackson18624

i'm not sure, best to contact the universities your intrested in. better plan yet (if your household incomes really low or you have money to burn) take a chance and leave it a year and you will discover nearly every university has dropped it's entry requirments in response to a drop in demand ..

Reply 2

hypocriticaljap

There will be no drop in demand. There will be a cut in places. Entrance requirements will go up not down. 240 points equate to a B, C and D. Very unlikely any uni will offer on those grades.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

ByronicHero

They may do, depending on the rest of your application but I certainly wouldn't rely on it. There is no harm applying to one or two, and then applying to ones where you meet the requirement. It is definitely worth calling the ones you're looking at and asking them what your prospects would be if you applied.

Good luck.

Reply 4

implicity

Original post by hypocriticaljap

There will be no drop in demand. There will be a cut in places. Entrance requirements will go up not down. 240 points equate to a B, C and D. Very unlikely any uni will offer on those grades.

There are many combinations of A level grades that make up 240 points

AA
CCC etc.

If anything you've been doing in work has been relevant to your course they will always look at it, your qualifications are important but many people find ways of getting into university without the grades they wish they had.

Or you can always do an access to higher education diploma, which is aimed at adults.

http://www.accesstohe.ac.uk/

Reply 5

mynameisq

Best thing to do is call them up to see if they'd still consider you, maybe already having your grades could give you a little edge?

Reply 6

hypocriticaljap

Original post by implicity

There may well be. No uni will take a student with just 2 As nowadays.

Reply 7

Piper88

Original post by implicity

Yeah i know what you mean about studying for an Access Course, but then that's another year and i already have UCAS Points. That was the whole point, so i didn't have to go back to College to study again. And also the access course is nearly £2000, and the tuition fee's will rise next year, meaning i'll be buggered lol.

Reply 8

implicity

So you want to apply for 2011 entry? Bit late aren't you?

Reply 9

Piper88

Original post by implicity

So you want to apply for 2011 entry? Bit late aren't you?

Well the deadline is 15th Jan, so i need to get my application in ASAP! But i needed to know this stuff before/if i applied.

Reply 10

username451427

Well im applying to Keele for a marketing course with an added year at the start doing foundation sociology, this is a course tailored specially for people with a lack of qualifications so there are such courses out there but they are probably very few and far between.

I only have an A and a C, 200 points. Entry requirement is 160 ucas points. However I have 18 months of work experience with about 6 of those doing marketing for a small fashion e-commerce company which I have added to my PS which I hope helps make up for lack of A levels.

So I guess its all down to individual situation and what you want to study and why. Im no expert but perhaps vocational courses have lower UCAS demands than scientific courses.

Perhaps im wrong in this and have no chance of getting into Keele for the above cource, but hey, who dares wins. Or something like that. :tongue:

EDIT: Oh and I neither have submitted my UCAS yet, deadline isnt until the 15th so there is still time and I work on mine every night after work, almost complete; just getting some help from some lovely people on the TSR crew with my statement.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 11

Piper88

Original post by Eat_My_Brains

Well i'm looking to study Nutrition & Health, so that pretty much comes under Science (Biology). But there are a few other Uni's out there that only require 240 Points, but they aren't the best of Uni's. I guess beggars can't be choosers when it comes to Uni places.

Reply 12

username451427

Original post by Piper88

Well this is the thing, you ultimately have to decide how low you are willing to go before it isn't worth your money nor your time. I could go and do a marketing degree at a 110th ranked university with 200 points but then what's the point in that? (Pun intended).

Do you have any work experience to supplement your PS?

Reply 13

Little_My

It depends what you are applying for, for Art and Fashion they are more flexible and it saved my bacon.

Reply 14

Piper88

Original post by Eat_My_Brains

No, i don't have work experience in the subject. The problem is that Nutrition is quite a tough subject to get work experience in, unless you have qualifications.

Reply 15

Crazee'

you could always try a foundation degree and then work your way up, foundation degrees offer low UCAS points

Reply 16

username451427

Original post by Crazee'

you could always try a foundation degree and then work your way up, foundation degrees offer low UCAS points

Degrees where you can study a foundation year then progress to the 3 year course making the whole thing a 4 year degree seem thin on the ground though.

Oh well, guess I should have tried actually working in the first place. :rolleyes:

Reply 17

k8k

Original post by Piper88

I am a mature student doing a 1 yr Access to HE (Science) course which cost £800. £2k seems comparably expensive.
I am applying for nutrition-related courses. The pre-requisite seems to be a chemistry A-level plus 2 other A-levels pref including biology, or at least 15 Access points in both chemistry and biology.
If you do go down the Access route, get the college to guarantee in writing that you will study at least 15 points in Chemistry and Biology before you start as there is variation between different colleges (and they all want your money!).
The foundation yr 0 option would be a good alternative too.
Good luck!

Reply 18

username451427

Original post by k8k

The foundation yr 0 option would be a good alternative too.
Good luck!

Maybe I missed something in doing my research, is this an option on all courses at all universities?

Reply 19

whitepantha

A minority of Uni's offer Foundation Years ,some seem to be specifically for/aimed at International students .
You could try searching for Foundation Year on the UCAS courses search facility .