A Level&#x27;s at Sixth Form or College Vocational Courses (BTECS) HELPPPP

Original post by Tily

I don't know what to do. My GCSE grades were all mostly C's and I didn't fail anything. What do you think I should go for, A Level's or Courses like Level 3 BTECs at College? People say that College is **** and BTECs are **** and people with A Level's get the best jobs and uni's. I honestly don't know what to do, help!

With your GCSE results, you may find A-Levels very difficult. That said, if you apply yourself, it's possible to get decent grades. A-Levels are generally considered as better than BTECs, even though they are educationally equivalent. What subjects/careers are you interested in?

Reply 2

OP

Original post by SH0405

With your GCSE results, you may find A-Levels very difficult. That said, if you apply yourself, it's possible to get decent grades. A-Levels are generally considered as better than BTECs, even though they are educationally equivalent. What subjects/careers are you interested in?

ICT. I was thinking of doing either Geography, Business Studies, Psychology and Economics at A-Level or either doing a BTEC Level 3 Forensic Computing course at College.

What get's the better jobs or uni etc? I don't want to be stuck on benefits or having a life where I've got a rubbish job...

Reply 3

Original post by Tily

ICT. I was thinking of doing either Geography, Business Studies, Psychology and Economics at A-Level or either doing a BTEC Level 3 Forensic Computing course at College.

What get's the better jobs or uni etc? I don't want to be stuck on benefits or having a life where I've got a rubbish job...

Generally universities require 3 A Levels, but some (generally considered as lesser universities) require a given number of UCAS points. Did you get any A* or A grades at GCSE?

A-Levels will certainly be harder, so you'll have to really work hard.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by SH0405

Generally universities require 3 A Levels, but some (generally considered as lesser universities) require a given number of UCAS points. Did you get any A* or A grades at GCSE?

A-Levels will certainly be harder, so you'll have to really work hard.

I didn't get any A* or A grades.

Do you think A-Level's will be impossible for me to do?

And also, are BTECs rubbish and are A Level's what get's the jobs?

Reply 5

Original post by Tily

I didn't get any A* or A grades.

Do you think A-Level's will be impossible for me to do?

And also, are BTECs rubbish and are A Level's what get's the jobs?

Not impossible, but, as I say, you'll need to work hard and really want to succeed. In my opinion, BTECs are not 'rubbish' but are worse than A-Levels. Perhaps this is because A-Levels [tend to] lead to better universities which [tend to] lead to better jobs.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by SH0405

Not impossible, but, as I say, you'll need to work hard and really want to succeed. In my opinion, BTECs are not 'rubbish' but are worse than A-Levels. Perhaps this is because A-Levels [tend to] lead to better universities which [tend to] lead to better jobs.

What do you think I should do?
All I want is a stable life with a stable decent job.

Reply 7

Original post by Tily

I didn't get any A* or A grades.

Do you think A-Level's will be impossible for me to do?

And also, are BTECs rubbish and are A Level's what get's the jobs?

BTECs are accepted by 95% of uk universities and are preferred by employers

I got 5 uni offers and I am now a second year Computer Science student at Royal Holloway, University of London, I did the IT BTEC, nothing wrong with them at all, in fact for certain subjects that are naturally more vocational you may find them to be better preparation

another comment on the employment issue you raised, have a look at the following

BTEC + Degree: 80% Employment
A levels + Degree: 73% Employment

BTEC (No degree) in a skilled or managerial job: 49%
A levels (No degree) in a skilled or managerial job: 45%

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 8

Original post by Tily

What do you think I should do?
All I want is a stable life with a stable decent job.

It depends how good a university you wish to go to. Academically, it seems BTECs would suit you more, but A-Levels will almost certainly lead to a better university.

Reply 9

Original post by SH0405

It depends how good a university you wish to go to. Academically, it seems BTECs would suit you more, but A-Levels will almost certainly lead to a better university.

Not necessarily, UCL, Durham, Surrey, Bath, Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton, Cardiff, Lancaster, Bristol, Leeds, York, Kings College London, Royal Holloway, Queen Mary, Exeter, Birmingham, Loughborough, Nottingham and Kent accept BTECs

Also Oxford accept BTECs for their BA Fine Art and BSc Computer Science degrees also Cambridge accept it for Engineering

Reply 10

Original post by yt7777

Not necessarily, UCL, Durham, Surrey, Bath, Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton, Cardiff, Lancaster, Bristol, Leeds, York, Kings College London, Royal Holloway, Queen Mary, Exeter, Birmingham, Loughborough, Nottingham and Kent accept BTECs

Also Oxford accept BTECs for their BA Fine Art and BSc Computer Science degrees also Cambridge accept it for Engineering

They may accept BTECs, but I think A Levels provide a much more rigorous and academic foundation, which more closely echoes the style of university teaching.

Birmingham says that BTECs "may be considered"; not that they are accepted. It is also often the case that those that accept BTECs require an A-Level to ensure that a student is capable of the more scholarly aspects of a subject.

Reply 11

username2130115

16

if you want to do computer science, make sure you take A-Level Maths so you can apply to the top 10 universities

Reply 12

Original post by SH0405

They may accept BTECs, but I think A Levels provide a much more rigorous and academic foundation, which more closely echoes the style of university teaching.

Birmingham says that BTECs "may be considered"; not that they are accepted. It is also often the case that those that accept BTECs require an A-Level to ensure that a student is capable of the more scholarly aspects of a subject.

That sort of depends on what you take and what your intentions are, if you want to study Art for example then take the Art BTEC, it is accepted everywhere and also you already will have a big enough portfolio to show, same applies to Creative Media, Business and sometimes Engineering and IT/Computing,there is sometimes a Maths requirement for CS or Engineering (generally top 10 unis), which is fair enough for Engineering, however, i dont understand it for CS as it is nearly all discrete mathematics where A level mainly covers pure maths (unless you take the decision modules, but a lot of schools/colleges discourage D1)

I know someone who got into Birmingham for Computer Science last year with D*D*D in BTEC Extended IT thats why I mentioned Birmingham

Also with most CS course having a significant amount of programming modules now it is a good idea to not just be really good at maths but also make sure you know the fundamentals of programming at least, and the BTEC IT can actually cover more programming content than Computing A level, provided you take the BTEC units in Programming (X3), Software development/design (X2), Web Development, Computer Architecture(Low-Level programming) and Computer Games.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

OP

Original post by SH0405

It depends how good a university you wish to go to. Academically, it seems BTECs would suit you more, but A-Levels will almost certainly lead to a better university.

I think I might go for BTECs, thanks.

Original post by yt7777

Also with most CS course having a significant amount of programming modules now it is a good idea to not just be really good at maths but also make sure you know the fundamentals of programming at least, and the BTEC IT can actually cover more programming content than Computing A level, provided you take the BTEC units in Programming (X3), Software development/design (X2), Web Development, Computer Architecture(Low-Level programming) and Computer Games.

For what you're saying, I'm liking the sound of it.

1. What careers can your BTEC course and Degree in university lead to? (Which degree are you doing btw?)
2. What BTEC Course did you take at College and how long was it?

Thanks to everyone who's replying, this is slightly bringing my mood up now. :smile:

Reply 14

Original post by Tily

I think I might go for BTECs, thanks.

For what you're saying, I'm liking the sound of it.

1. What careers can your BTEC course and Degree in university lead to? (Which degree are you doing btw?)
2. What BTEC Course did you take at College and how long was it?

Thanks to everyone who's replying, this is slightly bringing my mood up now. :smile:

1. I am hoping for a career as a Software Engineer however there are so many jobs in t he industry, im also considering doing an MSc in either Information Security or Data Science, 'Big Data' is a good area to look into, in a few years it will be massive, especially with the funding from the government in 2018 (my graduating year) and Computer Science is a great degree for it (thats what im doing btw, BSc Computer Science)

Software Engineering
- Requirements Analyst
- Software Developer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer
- Project Manager
- Systems Architect
- Software Designer
- Software Tester
- Web Developer

IT
- Business Consultant
- IT Manager
- Network Manager/Administrator
- IT Application Analyst

Teaching
- Secondary (GCSE IT, Computing, CS and Maths)
- Sixth form (A level Computing, ICT, Electronics or BTEC level 3 IT/Computing)

Electronic Engineering
- Hardware Engineer
- Design Engineer
- Embedded Systems (Software) Engineer

Security & Cryptography
- Security Consultant/Analyst
- Cryptographic Analyst
- Network Security Specialist/Engineer
- Cyber Forensic Analyst (police)

Big Data
- Data Scientist
- Data Analyst
- Business Analyst

you could also go on to do a PhD and become a lecturer and researcher at a university

2. I did a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in IT and it was 2 years and 18 modules in total

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

OP