Science/Eningeering Foundation Year - worth it or not?

Unfortunately, despite working my tits off for the academic year that has just passed, I still got crappy AS results and resitting is not an option since I'm already a resit. I wanted to apply for Aerospace Engineering, however, since I have received even more disappointing results I have definitely missed any chance to apply to the course directly, therefore I have been considering a foundation year in which I would learn all the necessary information for certain degree's, so is a foundation year worth the money since it is costing £9000 a year.

Thanks in advance.

It depends entirely on you. What's more important to you, finishing your degree a year quicker or going to the university you really want to go to?

Personally, I would say that an extra year is a small price to pay in order to study where you want. Student Finance covers the foundation year so while it might be an extra £9000, you won't really 'see' that cost until you're earning over £21,000.

Do you have any idea which universities you might apply to if you do decide to do a foundation year?

For me personally it was worth it because I had too (didnt do a maths A-level)

some universities offer discounts on foundation year fees, I went to leeds and received a £6000 discount. A think others do too from when I was looking at other unis for foundation years (can't remember which ones though maybe nottingham)

Wow, that's awesome, what form of engineering are you studying?

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You make some valid points, atm I'm thinking of Manchester for a foundation year, do you have anywhere else in mind? I dont know if Southampton or Bristol offer foundation years.

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My foundation year was science and engineering so after about 5 months of choosing between chemical engineering and physics, I chose physics (though I have watched about 6-8 chemical engineering second semester lectures at leeds when I was making my decision)

Couldn't see myself being an engineer really, I'm a scientist at heart

Just a note leeds engineering/science foundation year is called interdisciplinary sciences foundation year (not too many people have heard of it)

Good luck next year!

I did the foundation year at Manchester so I might be able to help you with any specific questions about it.

I don't really know much about the foundation years at other universities, to be honest. The only other places I remember applying to were Manchester Metropolitan and Brunel but I imagine they're a bit below what you're aiming for.

You make some valid points, atm I'm thinking of Manchester for a foundation year, do you have anywhere else in mind? I dont know if Southampton or Bristol offer foundation years.

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Awesome! What a cowinky-dink.

Did you ever feel looked down upon by your lecturers or whatever because you didn't make it into year 1?

Do you only learn modules related to what you want to go into or are they all compulsory?

Can you transfer to other uni's after your foundation year?

Did you feel it really prepared you to study your degree choice? And what degree did you choose?

Really appreciate your help man.

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You make some valid points, atm I'm thinking of Manchester for a foundation year, do you have anywhere else in mind? I dont know if Southampton or Bristol offer foundation years.

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For me personally it was worth it because I had too (didnt do a maths A-level)

some universities offer discounts on foundation year fees, I went to leeds and received a £6000 discount. A think others do too from when I was looking at other unis for foundation years (can't remember which ones though maybe nottingham)

Awesome! What a cowinky-dink.


Did you ever feel looked down upon by your lecturers or whatever because you didn't make it into year 1?

Do you only learn modules related to what you want to go into or are they all compulsory?

Can you transfer to other uni's after your foundation year?

Did you feel it really prepared you to study your degree choice? And what degree did you choose?

Really appreciate your help man.

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Tbh, studying physics has always been at the back of my mind, it's either physics or Aerospace, but I didn't know what jobs a physics degree offers.

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Bristol offers a preliminary year to the course you want to study so its more or less a foundation year. However, I think the spaces for a preliminary course at Bristol are full.

No, I never got that impression from any of the staff. They were all very supportive, some only taught within the foundation year anyway.

In total, there are I think 16 units available (mostly maths, physics and chemistry) but you only take 12 of them. People who are going on to study things like engineering and physics only have compulsory units but for some of the other courses (e.g. maths, computer science), you're able to choose to a certain extent. None of the units are particularly specialised, it's mostly similar to the stuff taught at A-level. The only exception is the project unit which involves doing something directly related to your future school. Those of us on the electrical and electronic engineering pathway, for example, had to design a simple circuit.

You don't earn any qualification as it's an integrated foundation year so transferring would depend entirely on the university in question and whether they would accept the foundation year as suitable proof of your ability. You would need to contact prospective universities during the foundation year and see if they would give you a conditional offer based on your performance. It is possible but it's by no means a standard thing to do so building your plans entirely around the assumption that you would be able to transfer isn't a great idea.

I did feel it prepared me for my engineering course, yes. I'd say I had a small advantage over the A-level students in first year as some of the material we had covered in the foundation year went slightly beyond the A-level syllabus. As I mentioned before, I chose to study electrical and electronic engineering. I'll be going into my second year this September.

Check out Queen Mary foundation programme for aerospace engineering. They are around 20th ranking for it which is good

This is off the top of my head but I think Durham do a foundation year but for Physics. Not sure if they have one for engineering or if they even do engineering at all

Durham?! No way! I don't think my gcses would be good enough though.

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Alot are means tested though. At my uni for example, they gave £4500 discount, either off accommodation, credit or off tuition...or a mix of all 3. But you didn't get a penny if your household income was above £50k.

I think I looked into the course at Leeds actually, really wanted to go there, but ended up not meeting one of their requirements I think, can't remember what it was though.



Foundation years are most often aimed at people who haven't studied science A-levels, to allow them to switch. That is basically why they exist, not as a back up if A-levels go tits up. However most foundation years will allow students with science backgrounds on the course. So the lectures won't judge, since they are well aware not everyone in the room is there because they didn't make it to year one. They probably don't give a **** anyway.

You could also easily ask do the Oxbridge lecturers look down on the students at non-Oxbridge unis because they didn't make it to Oxbirdge? They probably don't give a **** really.


You can transfer after the foundation. Not everywhere accepts it as a qualification though, eg I tried to transfer to Exeter, they told me I can't do that course due to having BBB at A-level, the course wanted higher, so they didn't care what grades I was getting on the year 0. Same for Royal Holloway, except those scummy ***** told me over email that they accepted it and never bothered to tell me they look at A-levels also (despite me making it clear what grades I had at A-level), so I got a rejection from them...aggressive emails were sent.

But I got plenty of offers, Leicester, Cardiff, andanother one I can't mind(wasn't great uni), I only applied to these ones because they wanted me to get less than the grade needed for me to stay on at my uni, in case I missed out. Others such as Southampton told me they accept foundation year students, only if they have a high grade, probably 75%, maybe higher. So I never bothered applying.

Also, Southampton offer foundation years. Not sure about Bristol, but Lboro, Durham, UEA, York, Liverpool, Keele, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, maybe Cardiff all offer foundation years in science and/or engineering.