Best Universities for Computer Science - Accepting BTEC Extd. Dip. ICT (2015)

Hi there,

I'm currently on my first year of a BTEC Subsidary Diploma in ICT, which carries into an Extended Diploma next year (Equivalent to 3 A-levels, 120-420 UCAS points).

My current predicted grade for the Sub Dip is at D*, and I'm aiming for anywhere between D*DD and D*D*D* for the Extended Diploma.

I'm just wondering what would be the best London/UK universities to consider applying for in 2015? my current attempts at researching uni's have been really confusing...

Side note - I'm not currently doing a maths A-level (I am definitely considering picking one up next year), but I've achieved an A at GCSE Maths.

Reply 1

yt7777

18

Original post by Big-I

Hi there,

I'm currently on my first year of a BTEC Subsidary Diploma in ICT, which carries into an Extended Diploma next year (Equivalent to 3 A-levels, 120-420 UCAS points).

My current predicted grade for the Sub Dip is at D*, and I'm aiming for anywhere between D*DD and D*D*D* for the Extended Diploma.

I'm just wondering what would be the best London/UK universities to consider applying for in 2015? my current attempts at researching uni's have been really confusing...

Side note - I'm not currently doing a maths A-level (I am definitely considering picking one up next year), but I've achieved an A at GCSE Maths.

You can get into so many good universities with the BTEC alone, i will be starting at Royal Holloway in September for Comp Sci, other people from my BTEC class got into: Bath, Southampton, Surrey, Reading, Manchester, Cardiff & Sussex, all of us who applied to uni got D*D*D* or D*D*D, but the offers are usually just DDD for the unis that i have just mentioned.

Reply 2

101lewis

I'm doing the same course and just finished with D*D*D. I applied to University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham and got offers from all three. However, BTEC's are considered to be less 'theoretical', thus your personal statement will have to prove to them that you are capable of studying theory as well as the practical. Give us a shout if you need any more info! :smile:

Reply 3

older & wiser

2

Original post by yt7777

other people from my BTEC class got into: Bath, Southampton, Surrey, Reading, Manchester, Cardiff & Sussex, all of us who applied to uni got D*D*D* or D*D*D, but the offers are usually just DDD for the unis that i have just mentioned.

Original post by 101lewis

I'm doing the same course and just finished with D*D*D. I applied to University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham and got offers from all three.

Hi there - Did they specify a certain level in Maths alongside BTEC Extended Diploma?

Original post by 101lewis

BTEC's are considered to be less 'theoretical', thus your personal statement will have to prove to them that you are capable of studying theory as well as the practical. Give us a shout if you need any more info! :smile:

What sort of things did you add into your PS?

Thanks!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

ollyatk

Hey man, i just did my sub diploma and I did not get any D* Criteria in any of my units?

Reply 5

cnova

9

Original post by Big-I

Hi there,

I'm currently on my first year of a BTEC Subsidary Diploma in ICT, which carries into an Extended Diploma next year (Equivalent to 3 A-levels, 120-420 UCAS points).

My current predicted grade for the Sub Dip is at D*, and I'm aiming for anywhere between D*DD and D*D*D* for the Extended Diploma.

I'm just wondering what would be the best London/UK universities to consider applying for in 2015? my current attempts at researching uni's have been really confusing...

Side note - I'm not currently doing a maths A-level (I am definitely considering picking one up next year), but I've achieved an A at GCSE Maths.

I'm in the same boat, just started the first year. I have checked a lot and the universities I am deciding on are (First 2 will definitely be choices with Birmingham my main choice)

University of Birmingham (GCSE Maths at B, English at C)
Kings College London (GCSE Maths at B, English at C)
Cardiff University (GCSE Maths at B, English at C)
University of Manchester (Requires A level maths for direct entry, or you can do a foundation year)
Nottingham (GCSE Maths at B, English at C)
A couple others.

I would definitely go to University of Birmingham if I get the chance though.

Original post by 101lewis

I'm doing the same course and just finished with D*D*D. I applied to University of Liverpool, University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham and got offers from all three. However, BTEC's are considered to be less 'theoretical', thus your personal statement will have to prove to them that you are capable of studying theory as well as the practical. Give us a shout if you need any more info!

May I ask what university you chose?

Also if you don't mind my asking, what kind of stuff did you put on your PS?

Thanks in advance.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6

yt7777

18

Original post by older & wiser

Hi there - Did they specify a certain level in Maths alongside BTEC Extended Diploma?

What sort of things did you add into your PS?

Thanks!

Initial interest in the subject, what am i currently studying +what im currently interested in (relating to compsci), Work experience, other interests (part time job, hobbies etc.) and why i am a suitable applicant (I mentioned that i wanted to pursue a career in software development)

hope this helps

Reply 7

101lewis

Original post by older & wiser

Hi there - Did they specify a certain level in Maths alongside BTEC Extended Diploma?

What sort of things did you add into your PS?

Thanks!

Original post by cnova

May I ask what university you chose?

Also if you don't mind my asking, what kind of stuff did you put on your PS?

Thanks in advance.

Ok, I'm just going to ramble for a bit and hope that answers your questions and maybe any future ones. First things first, I accepted my offer at Uni of Birmingham as my firm (D*D*D) and had Uni of Nottingham as my insurance (DDD). I'm starting at UoB in 2 weeks. (tl;dr at bottom)

All universities for Comp Science will want to see evidence of 'advanced' numeracy, now it depends on the institution as to what they mean by this, but let me break it down. Everywhere is going to want at least a C in GCSE Maths, but if you want to actually stand a chance of getting a place — considering most applicants will have a B+ — then you're going to need to get a B or above as well. I re-did my GCSE Maths in my first year as I only got a C at school (higher tier paper) and managed to land myself a B with little effort. Some universities will want to see you apply with AS/A level maths alongside your BTEC, usually at grade C or above, but you will have to contact them individually or have a look at their prospectus to get the specific details. For example, University of Liverpool won't let you study Computer Science without AS Maths but will let you do Computer Information Systems (CS but with less maths units), with the option to change to CS in the second year with good previous performance. I know this because that's what I had to do when I applied to them. For the BTEC in IT (what I did) there is a unit called "UNIT 26 Mathematics for IT Practitioners" this was asked by a few universities I was looking at applying for but unfortunately my college didn't do it. If it is part of your course, then make sure you get yourself a distinction in it. Also other units like Databases, Event Driven Programming and basically all the maths/programming/technical/'hard' ones you need to get good grades in as well as that helps prove your ability to tackle mathematical problems, which CS contains a lot of.

For the personal statement it is quite hard to say what should and should not be put in it. I took a risk used 1/3 of the space to talk about relevant work experience, because I have a lot of it since I'm an IT Systems Administrator for a company. However when you apply with a BTEC I feel the PS needs to be tailored slightly to remove any concerns the admissions tutors my have about a vocational student. Like I said in my earlier post, BTECs aren't theoretical and all 'top tier' (Russell Group + a few other) universities are theoretical since they are research institutions, see the potential problem here? To fix this, I studied an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) alongside my BTEC in my second year with the subject being "Experimental Computational Methods for Artificial Intelligence". It's quite obvious to see in the title itself that the entire project was me reading and writing about cutting edge technologies and scientific theories (e.g. quantum computing), thus showing the university that I am not only interested in applied work but also theoretical. Problem solved. Now I'm not saying that you need to copy me and study an EPQ or whatever, but you need to think hard about how you can prove to the university that you are an 'academic'. After all, stereotypically BTEC IT students are supposed to be become people who install and fix computer hardware/ software, not the ones who invent, design and create it. However I — like many of you reading this — will want to prove that stereotype wrong. A final point on a PS. You need to prove everything you say, anyone can claim to be a "leet haxor for anonymous", but unless you can back up your claims, they are just empty words. Talk about specifics and how it made you think. If you did a week in a IT technicians office for example, talk about the tasks you did, what you learnt, what challenges you had to face and why you like/ disliked the experience. If you write programs in your spare time, talk about the specific challenges you had, and how you over come them. But whatever you do DON'T LIE! Someone I know highly exaggerated their PS (in regards to their coding ability) and when questioned about it at an interview got completely destroyed. The people reading your statement know more than you about the subject, so even if you think you can blag your way through something, they will see the flaws in what you write/say. It's their job to do so.

Sorry about the essay I'm just trying to help the best I can. A lot of what I have written is my opinion based on experiences I've had. Anything else?

tl;dr/summary: get anything maths related to the highest grade you can, it will help you out when compared to other applicants. If you want to increase your chances further, do an AS in maths, but only if you think you will achieve at least a grade C. Your PS needs to show an interest in the subject along with evidence to support your claim to liking it. Purely stating "I like computers" is not going to show anything since they already know that since you're applying to CS.