[Mrgd291190]

OK...I think this might be the right place.

My friend is currently doing a BTEC Level 3 Health and Social Care. She wants to do Physiotherapy at University. She's on track for Merit Merit Merit or Merit Merit Pass and she also does the Welsh Baccalaureate which is usually counted as 120 UCAS Points or an A grade at A-Level. She thinks her BTEC is the equivalent to AA or AB at A-Level and the Welsh Bacc puts her grades as AAA/AAB.

The whole BTEC thing just confuses me so I'd like to know how...well...what it all means and what sort of Unis she could be looking into for this. With us being Welsh she's looking at Cardiff but what other Unis? Where are good for a Physiotherapy course? What does this course involve. Any help would be great.

Speedy replies would be useful as I'm meant to be helping her find Unis tomorrow and I have no idea :o

Many thanks,
Mrgd291190

[Spotty Dog]

Hi there!

I took a BTEC Level 3 in Childcare last year, and have a place at University to do primary teaching.

What does the BTEC mean? When you lay it down on paper, it's the same as 3 A-Levels. However, some fields consider it above A-Levels because of the focus you have, and some fields consider it below A-Levels for the same reason (ie you don't have the same spread of knowledge in BTEC that you do in 3 A-Levels)

MMM = CCC, for the record, but as I've stated, an MMM is considered higher than CCC in certain fields.

I would say about 50% of universities accepted my BTEC for a teaching course, however I haven't looked into how many accept for a physiotherapy course. If they do accept it, it will be listed on their entry requirements on the UCAS website, or you can ring them up and ask.

Again, I'm only speaking from a childcare perspective, but I can give you a run down of the grades universities required for me;

Uni of Cumbria: MMM
Bath Spa (to study English): DDM
Sheffield Hallam: 140 UCAS points

Brighton declined me without interview, and Kingston offered unconditional based on my A-Level results (taken 2 years previous).

Again, I must state that these are for childcare not physiotherapy, so it might be more (or less) in your friends field! You could always ring up and ask what the average offer is on the BTEC.

[k9ruby]

I will help:

PPP : CCC
MMM: BBB

DDD: AAA

[Spotty Dog]

Originally Posted by k9ruby

I will help:

PPP : CCC
MMM: BBB

DDD: AAA

Where did you get this from? Because all through my course I was told that P=E, M=C and D=A. =/

(Just curious! Not getting at you!)

[Spotty Dog]

To clear up;

I've just looked up the UCAS tariff points for the BTEC Heath and Social Care (for the 2007 specification)

A DDD = 360 UCAS points
MMM = 240
PPP = 120

An A at A-Level is 120, B=100, C=80, D=60 and E=40.

So, P=40=E, M=80=C and D=120=A.

[k9ruby]

Oh yeah- of course! Because E is a pass at A-level! *rolls eyes*

Don't worry

[Spotty Dog]

Originally Posted by k9ruby

Oh yeah- of course! Because E is a pass at A-level! *rolls eyes*

Don't worry

Haha. for a second I was like. "WHAT?! I GOT MORE THAN I WAS TOLD I GOT?!" xD

[Mrgd291190]

So she's getting, with the 3 Merits, CCC equivalent? Right? That's 240, which is the same as 2 As? Sorta...Might be on 220.

She's coming round tomorrow, so I'll go on all their sites and prospectuses and the like. Are BTEC grades well advertised on websites and the like?

Spotty Dog - can I ask how you did the A Levels and then the BTEC?

[Spotty Dog]

Originally Posted by Mrgd291190

So she's getting, with the 3 Merits, CCC equivalent? Right? That's 240, which is the same as 2 As? Sorta...Might be on 220.

She's coming round tomorrow, so I'll go on all their sites and prospectuses and the like. Are BTEC grades well advertised on websites and the like?

Spotty Dog - can I ask how you did the A Levels and then the BTEC?

They tend to be. If you click on the uni through UCAS (like, do a UCAS search for the course and then onto the uni's UCAS page) it'll say "Entry Qualifications" and somewhere on there it'll have them. Usually underneath A-Levels. If it doesn't list them, it likely won't take then.

The A-Levels-then-BTEC was a personal choice. I performed reasonably successfully in my A-Levels (BBD), but at the time my mother was very sick, and I didn't feel like I could have left her at that point. (I've always wanted to go to a uni quite far from home to remove that 'safety net' of if-it-all-goes-wrong-I-can-just-go-home). Added to that, I felt I didn't have the experience I wanted before applying for teaching. So I went back to a different college and did a BTEC.