The Student Room Group

My Access Course Update (Halfway thru)

Okay last year this time i applied for an access course in social sciences with the goal of studying social work at university. I came on here and asked for advice as i had just turned 39 and had not been in formal education since i did my O`Levels. I got a lot of encouragement here and i thought i would update and also maybe motivate others who want to study an access course but are full of nerves on what to expect.

My subjects are Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology and German History. on our first day we were were all very nervous and fortunately there were some 2nd year part time students in our class that made us relax and feel welcome. The lecturing staff for all my subjects are brilliant and always willing to assist. We were eased into our subjects gently with our first ungraded assignments being given in November to be handed in December. In all honesty by the 3rd week we were all in our stride and had forgotten about our initial nerves.

The drop-out rate was quite moderate according to the staff as one week someone would be there and the next week they are gone. Obviously its not for me to judge as circumstances differ on why people drop out but it was quite sad to see some people you had grown accustomed to drop-out. Our philosophy class had 15 students when we started and now we are 6, history we were 18 now 14, psychology 22 now 18 and sociology 24 now 22.

There are times when the assignments come and it gets very intense and the workload is heavy and then afterwards it gets quiet again. Now we are doing our final assignments and prepping for exams so it is busy again. This is where it gets difficult especially for those of us that have kids but my motivation has been my kids who are 4 and 2 and knowing that in 3 years time from now i will not have to do shift work and be there for them more than i do now. Its a sacrifice when it come to family time and i am in the fortunate position of having an employer who is giving me paid time at work to do assignments at times.

I applied to 5 universities and have had offers from 3 so far and haven't heard from the other 2 but the college helped us with our personal statements and references were glowing according to one interview i went to.

All in all in i am enjoying this experience and the lecturers and fellow students are so helpful we get each other through those stresses and wobbles one might have.

Don`t hesitate do it and once you start the time flies by so quick, i cant even believe we have about 4 months to go now. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. The college i go to is in Farnborough Hampshire and i would recommend it to anyone in that area.
Hi, I'm in a similar position - no formal education for 16 years - only that I'm doing humanities (Eng Lit, Education and History). I'm enjoying the social interaction of the course and the college has been really helpful with UCAS (5/5 offers) However the course itself, I think, is not as difficult as A-levels so I'm not sure how prepared I'm going to be for uni.

I think our teachers have made the workload a bit trickier than it needed with often 3 assignments needing completion in the same week. Also having to do a placement for education is very time consuming.

We've only had one dropout but we did only start with 17 which seemed low, I would also recommend Access. I would only say that if you have some confidence you could probably save yourself a lot of time and do it online but it depends how you want to be funded as I dont think you can get 24+loans.

EDIT: how many hours do you do a week (for full time). We only do 11 and we finish in early May which I think is down the college being under huge financial pressure.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by skeptical_john
Hi, I'm in a similar position - no formal education for 16 years - only that I'm doing humanities (Eng Lit, Education and History). I'm enjoying the social interaction of the course and the college has been really helpful with UCAS (5/5 offers) However the course itself, I think, is not as difficult as A-levels so I'm not sure how prepared I'm going to be for uni.

I think our teachers have made the workload a bit trickier than it needed with often 3 assignments needing completion in the same week. Also having to do a placement for education is very time consuming.

We've only had one dropout but we did only start with 17 which seemed low, I would also recommend Access. I would only say that if you have some confidence you could probably save yourself a lot of time and do it online but it depends how you want to be funded as I dont think you can get 24+loans.

EDIT: how many hours do you do a week (for full time). We only do 11 and we finish in early May which I think is down the college being under huge financial pressure.


We in college 4 mornings a week 9;30 to 12;30

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