Could I skip sixth form and attend a university instead?

Hi,

I'm sixteen and currently finishing my GCSEs.

I wish to attend Queens University in Belfast to study computing science in which I would prefer to complete a masters degree in the field also.

I would like to specialize in network security or digital forensics, cyber crime is what interests me the most as I have experience with ethical hacking.

A topic of conversation was brought up to me whilst with friends yesterday regarding their university applications, and I was told I should try to skip sixth form and go straight to university.

I was sceptical however with further research I am now brought to believe with an exceptional circumstance the university may allow me to study there, I believe it was a foundation degree, which I assume carries onto the normal degree after a specified period of time.

This has made me question whether sixth form is going to benefit me in any way except with A-Level qualifications, I have seen the standard of work in a lot of schools for A-Level students and if any IT literates are here, you would agree with me that it is quite mediocre, appalling and frustrating to sit through classes with such standard of work.

ICT is going to be my career, it has been my life and choice of career for as long as I can remember, I am a very intelligent person and I believe having alternative qualifications is a necessity especially in this day and age - However with my GCSEs which I plan to do well in during 2011, I would complete some equivalent qualifications throughout the years incase of a super society meltdown.

I would like to ask for your opinion and whether this is possible or not? I have emailed the university application staff and the department of computing science for further advice - I really believe I would benefit from the premature beginning to further education, especially with much more complex work which I would kill to have on a daily basis. I need to be challenged.

Thanks a lot,
Horrid :smile:

I don't think so...

no, you have to be a minimum age to apply. (majority of unis)

There is a girn in my year 13 form class who is a year younger that everybody else (Ske skilled a year in primary shool)
and she is forced to take a gap year because of this.

Reply 3

beefmaster

16

You say you know what you want to do when you are 16...but I would just give it a couple more years to decide and do the a-levels in this time. I thought I wanted to be something completely different to where I have ended up now when I was doing my GCSEs.

Reply 4

Dizmo

Original post by antipesto93

no, you have to be a minimum age to apply. (majority of unis)

There is a girn in my year 13 form class who is a year younger that everybody else (Ske skilled a year in primary shool)
and she is forced to take a gap year because of this.

This is rubbish, I was a year younger and it was no problem at all with any of my applications.

People as young as 10 (or 13? I forget) have gone to university.

Reply 5

Horrid_GUI

OP

Original post by beefmaster

You say you know what you want to do when you are 16...but I would just give it a couple more years to decide and do the a-levels in this time. I thought I wanted to be something completely different to where I have ended up now when I was doing my GCSEs.

Thank you for the post in which I assume you hoped to encourage me to wait and decide my career path in a few more years, however I have been focused on the same field pretty much for as long as I can remember.

Computing has been the biggest portion of my life up to now and I would like to advance my knowledge and experience to a much more intellectual level, some of the security concepts university students are taught are so interesting, I regularly read seminars from Stanfords' Security Lab website.

Reply 6

lovehearts_x

8

Go to sixth form; it's the ultimate pathway into university. & with all due respect, there are some ridiculously intelligent people in my sixth form who have no doubt benefited from further education. I honestly don't know anyone who could take on a degree straight after finishing their GCSE's.

Reply 7

HistoryRepeating

13

the simple answer is no:

Some people do skip conventional sixth form, but they have already achieved qualifications equivalent to A-levels by that age. You have not.

Furthermore, you probably dont have the emotional maturity and independance necessary for university living, and even if you do, why should a uni risk that?

Go to sixth form, do subjects that give you a broader education than just IT.

Reply 8

cottonheart

Slim chances, I'd say. I do want to say though, that doing A-Levels matured me so much in 2 years and it does so to many other people. While I'm sure that you're excellent at IT and that A Level will be quite mediocre to you (I mean, I wouldn't class myself as an expert but I've seen what the A Level IT expects and it is lame), you can use that to your advantage and get an excellent grade for applying to university whilst studying other subjects that may interest you (they don't have to be related to what you want to do as a career but they will open your mind).

Reply 9

Horrid_GUI

OP

Original post by HistoryRepeating

Go to sixth form, do subjects that give you a broader education than just IT.

If I am to continue into sixth form, I will only be studying IT, three A-Levels in computing sciences to be specific.

I know it is possible, I would just like advice and options, so thank you all for your opinions :smile:

Reply 10

Calian

Wouldn't admittance require qualifications from sixth form in the first place? The transition from GCSE to A-levels was murderous for me, I don't know how I would have survived university at 16, especially when I picked up so much of the basic grounding of my degree from A-levels.

Open University?

OP

Original post by Calian

Wouldn't admittance require qualifications from sixth form in the first place? The transition from GCSE to A-levels was murderous for me, I don't know how I would have survived university at 16, especially when I picked up so much of the basic grounding of my degree from A-levels.

Google has been quite helpful in me finding links which people have moved from doing GCSEs to a foundation degree.

I'm sure you must have done a much more complex degree, ICT at GCSE/A-Level and partially (or most of) university level is quite basic, depending on what specific component of computing science you study of course; I was just generalizing so apologise for my blandness :redface:

Reply 13

laeof

14

Original post by Horrid_GUI

If I am to continue into sixth form, I will only be studying IT, three A-Levels in computing sciences to be specific.

I know it is possible, I would just like advice and options, so thank you all for your opinions :smile:

Wouldnt advise that.
Maths is without doubt the most important A level for computing. After that further maths.

If i didnt take FM i'd be struggling quite a bit(I do CS). Let alone not doing maths.

I was programming at 13, running websites and all sorts of crap, love computing but didn't take it for A level. I didn't want to do an A level made redundant to my degree. I wasn't a bit more knowledge in other-fields.

Do your A levels imo and get to a top Computing Uni.

And as someone said, it's an extremely good stepping stone to Uni. Oh and 6th form is Fun :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 14

Sir Jonathan

I think A levels given the times nowadays with uni entrance. if it means a lot to you why not try an open university course in Computer Science and whatnot. order the prospectus and read Gavin's story.

dont worry there is no minimum age for university. you can do it and get all sorts.

Reply 15

laurenlodge

19

Think a lot of yourself, dontcha!?
To think that you could skip the stage which the majority of people require to actually cope with uni.
Besides, why would you want to go two years early? Surely it'd just ruin the experience.

Reply 16

Horrid_GUI

OP

Original post by lozz2601

Think a lot of yourself, dontcha!?
To think that you could skip the stage which the majority of people require to actually cope with uni.
Besides, why would you want to go two years early? Surely it'd just ruin the experience.

It may seem I am arrogant however I work on various popular projects such as a build of ChromiumOS which as of now we have over 300,000 devices around the world running the revision of the operating system along with our custom modifications, bugfixes and support for many, many popular notebook and netbook computers.

I just seek advice and I intend to cause no offence, I heard of Open University whilst searching, thanks for the reminder!

Reply 17

HistoryRepeating

13

Original post by Horrid_GUI

If I am to continue into sixth form, I will only be studying IT, three A-Levels in computing sciences to be specific.

I know it is possible, I would just like advice and options, so thank you all for your opinions :smile:

Its not about whether its possible, its about whether its a good idea.

Even if you do go into a career in ICT (lets say this is definite), both universities and employers will be unimpressed by 3 computer science A-levels - they will essentially think you are a 1-dimensional nerd.

No company employs people based on their skill in one very specific skill alone (even if it is the core business of that company), demonstrating breadth of intellect and a rounded personality are incredibly important.

By all means do 3 computer science a-levs, but do at least 2 unrelated subjects as well.

Otherwise you are crippling yourself intellectually and in terms of career.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 18

lorry:)

20

correct me if i am wrong but aren't foundation years for people who have A Levels just not necessarily the ones required for the dgree, so technically they are going straight from GCSE to degrees in that subject, but they have still benefitted from the experience of A Levels themselves

Reply 19

shadow99

14

Even if you could skip 6th form, why would you want do ?

Could I skip sixth form and attend a university instead?

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