25 - Know my desintation, need help with the route!

always had that "too late, too old" feeling looming over me.

-Would it be an access course?

-Would it be to go back and study A-levels?

At 25? Lordy. My wife finally finished her first degree aged 32 and her Masters aged 45; there was a pensioner on her Masters course. I started my first degree aged 48.

From the OU access courses I looked at, they are incredibly trivial. I got the impression they're for someone older than me who never finished school at all and has never done any desk or admin work.

If you have a passion for your chosen subject, and you have been reading about it for some time, and you feel comfortable with the terminology and when you have questions you can find the answers for yourself, then I suspect A levels would be a waste of time. Go straight for the degree. Once you've been in the world of work for a few years you realise how easy A Levels are.

Go to the library and have a look at the Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry A Level text books. You'll probably need a good grasp of optics, the electromagnetic spectrum, spectrometry, gravity and inorganic chemistry. Have a skim and decide: can I blag this? Or is it gobbledegook?

Another way is to look at the astronomy material on the OpenLearn site. If you're happy with the material, go straight for a degree.

The age thing was more just looking at my peers advance ahead and not wanting to feel behind so much. I think it's more difficult in the years just after leaving school to accpet it and come back.

I actually read up and keep upto date about space and other things regularly as a hobby so the terminology and overall ideas are not new to me. The science behind them all I may need to brush up on but I think I'll be alright with.

Going straight for the degree is what I need clarity on. Would that getting a degree through the Open University or doing an Access Course in that case?

That link is brilliant thanks, looking through it all now.

My interests lie in studying celestial bodies. Becoming an astrogeologist/astrophysicist would be my dream.

-Would someone with an educational background such as myself, even if we assume I graduate with firsts, be disadvantaged against other people coming through with more steady and progressive educational pathways?
-Obviously I would not be expecting to work in the cutting-edge of my field but would a job with the average salary in the field be obtainable?

From the OU access courses I looked at, they are incredibly trivial. I got the impression they're for someone older than me who never finished school at all and has never done any desk or admin work.

After you've done a degree your previous educational background is completely irrelevant, especially if you go into research - academic CVs don't even include GCSEs/A levels. You won't be disadvantaged in any way. I don't know what job you'd like to do but you certainly wouldn't be paid any less than people with A levels.

That's not quite the case these days. Whilst it may or may not be true for the OP's career path (whatever it turns out to be), some employers have now started to filter by UCAS points. It started with them filtering out any applicants with a degree result below a 2:1 but there are now so many graduates with these that the exercise wasn't producing a short enough shortlist. This generally appplies to graduate schemes, so may well be out of scope for the OP's field(s). But worth bearing in mind that pre-degree results can now be crucial for some.

First thing's first, which do you want to do? Unless you took a combined Geology and Physics (or possibly just a Geophysics) degree then it would be hard to keep both options open. There are degrees in Astrophysics but you won't do much/any geology with them. You could perhaps do an Earth Science degrees which offers a Planetary Science route (I know UCL does this for instance), click here, is this the type of thing you mean?

I think an Access course is the best route because nearly every university accepts them, it only takes a year and the staff will be trained to help mature students - something A level lecturers won't have a clue about. Contact universities you're interested in and ask if an access course would be enough for entry or would they require you to do an A level alongside it? You would probably only need to do an A level if you were applying for a degree with a high maths content, if you wanted to do geology/earth sciences then an Access course on its own would probably be fine.

That's not quite the case these days. Whilst it may or may not be true for the OP's career path (whatever it turns out to be), some employers have now started to filter by UCAS points. It started with them filtering out any applicants with a degree result below a 2:1 but there are now so many graduates with these that the exercise wasn't producing a short enough shortlist. This generally appplies to graduate schemes, so may well be out of scope for the OP's field(s). But worth bearing in mind that pre-degree results can now be crucial for some.

The course you provided in the link looks about right. There are a number of similar courses which all seem to help but I'm not sure whether to do an access course as you say or whether doing a foundation year onto a degree would be possible. The latter being less likely because I have no recent education?

The people to ask are the admissions officers. I'm not sure about foundation years, they seem to offer pretty much the same thing as Access courses but they're more expensive and you're likely to have less contact time with teachers. Some foundation years are willing to accept students with qualifications, but some ask for A levels or even Access courses. It really is a case of asking each individual university/department what their policy is. Do you have a local college which offers a Science Access course?

Good morning. I have not read your full post but I get the general gist.

The one thing I would say is congratulations. Good for you. I started university when I was 23, as I worked before and left school with what I considered to be bad qualifications, and I've never looked back. Now I'm in final year I've had some incredible experiences; studying at a great uni in a great city, and the chance to Study Abroad.

The way I did it was whilst working full time after leaving school at 18, I decided I wanted to aim for the best uni I could so I did two additional A Levels teaching myself (like Open Uni but for A Levels), and had an online tutor. Then I just took the exams private, did well and went to uni. Also my auntie started when she was about 28.

Education is the greatest thing in the world, and I'd encourage you to chase your dreams. Best of luck, and contact me with any questions.

I agree that you need to ask each uni for their preferred route.

If funding is an issue, then you need to be aware of the options and implications around Access, Foundation Years and Foundation Degrees.

For an Access course, you'd be eligible for a 24+ Advanced Learning Loan. If you then went on to complete a degree, that loan would be wiped out and you'd owe nothing for the Access course.

For a Foundation Year or Degree, you'd be funded by Student Finance. This would be the standard package of Tuition Fee Loan, Maintenance Loan and (depending on household income) Maintenance Grant. The loan elements would all be repayable.

A Foundation Degree will take two years and can be topped up to an Honours degree with a further year's study. A Foundation Year is usually attached to a specific degree course or group of courses, and is a preparatory year which readies you for the three year degree course afterwards. For a Foundation Degree+top up year, you'd owe three years's worth of SF. For a Foundation Year+three year degree, you'd owe four years of SF.

To summarise:
Access only route - four years of study, one effectively free if the degree is passed, three with repayable SF funding
Foundation degree - three years of study (four if they want an Access course for entry), with three years of repayable SF funding
Foundation year - four years of study (five if they want an Access course for entry) with four years of repayable SF funding

You probably won't get a choice where a uni expresses a preference, and Foundation years/degrees aren't available for every subject. But it's worth being aware of the pros and cons of each route before you start contacting unis.

The point I want to emphasise is that it doesn't matter what you've done before. I left school with 6 GCSEs, and 2 A Levels of grades CD. The rest were fails. Now I'm at a Top 15 UK university and did a year abroad at a Top 3 Australian university. Never too late. Don't think about where you've been, think about where you are going.

For me, I left school, got a job, spent the first 18 months growing up, then I started some A Levels with UK Open Learning, the A Level equiv of Open University. Cost about £300 per A Level, you get an online tutor as well for two years, but you could easily do an A Level in a year or if you work very hard 6 months. It's tough because I was working full time 9-5 and I'd want to relax at nights not study, but I just ploughed through at nights, and I've enjoyed the rewards. You've got all this to look forward to. I'll graduate when I am 25, but what does that matter.

For me, I left school, got a job, spent the first 18 months growing up, then I started some A Levels with UK Open Learning, the A Level equiv of Open University. Cost about £300 per A Level, you get an online tutor as well for two years, but you could easily do an A Level in a year or if you work very hard 6 months. It's tough because I was working full time 9-5 and I'd want to relax at nights not study, but I just ploughed through at nights, and I've enjoyed the rewards. You've got all this to look forward to. I'll graduate when I am 25, but what does that matter.

The only point I was making with the comparison with OU is that you study in your own time at home. I'd rang up several local schools colleges and couldn't sit as an external candidate. It wasn't about prestige or anything, it doesn't matter where you did A Levels. I did mine sat in bed!

I've shaken that off now and have a vision but I need help in how to get there and whether or not it is realistic. My interests lie in studying celestial bodies. Becoming an astrogeologist/astrophysicist would be my dream

Now my questions are, what is the best way to get into doing an astrogeology course (I am aware there is probably not a course named this but the nearest course/route that would lead me to become an astrogeologist/planetologist).

-Obviously I would not be expecting to work in the cutting-edge of my field but would a job with the average salary in the field be obtainable?

The only point I was making with the comparison with OU is that you study in your own time at home. I'd rang up several local schools colleges and couldn't sit as an external candidate. It wasn't about prestige or anything, it doesn't matter where you did A Levels. I did mine sat in bed!



Well I just lived at home until starting uni, I was working in the energy industry. Started on minimum wage, worked the way up to a leaving salary of about 20k, which wasn't bad for someone without a degree. What's your story? Contrary to TSR belief, you can get a decent job and work your way up without a degree. You just might have to start lower.

But how do you apply for these kind of jobs? I rent a room in a shared house (Have no parents) and work part time in a coffee shop & Bar. Want to go to college, but you can't claim any benefits if you do, and I wouldn't be able to survive as I would need to work about 25 hours a week to afford rent, bills etc on top of college.
But in the meantime, I really want a job that pays £15k-20k so if you know any good ones I could apply for other than just more bar and coffee shop work, that would be great.