What is a foundation degree, and do I need A levels?

Hey, So in short I feel I've made a mess of my A Levels by picking the wrong choices and am therefore not performing to my best ability because I'm not enjoying what I've chosen.
My friend told me breifly about foundation degrees?
What are they and what do I need to get into one?

A foundation degree is usually for people who havent done as well as they wanted in their A-levels, changed their mind about what they wanted to do, or older people without appropriate qualifications to get straight onto a degree (this is what i found when i did one anyway).

i did a science foundation degree which brought me up to the same level as those who had A-levels, and it let me apply to most science subjects at the same uni (we were basically guaranteed a place as long as we passed the foundation year, although that might just be the uni i went to).

you just apply as usual through ucas, but id explain why you didnt do as well as you wanted to/picked the wrong subjects. i found it helpful because i knew i wanted to do a science degree, but i wasnt sure which one and i also didnt have the right qualifications. i found the extra year helpful as it let me consider which would be the best choice.

i think its well worth considering, but think about it properly before you jump in as its putting you back an extra year and also costing you more.

If i were you i would just re-chose all my A Levels and start again, thats what my brother did, he was in his A2 year and hated every course he did (Spanish, Latin, Geography) so he finished A2 (Grades CCD) and then just re-chose his A Levels (Media, French, Maths) and got grade ABB!

Op there are 2 different but similarly named types of course.
Foundation Degree and Foundation Course/year.

A Foundation Degree is roughly equivalent to the first 2 years of a 3 year honours degree course (england and wales) and you could progress to a full honours degree with 1 year additional study.

Otoh

Foundation Course/year is one year and qualifies you to enter a degree course at year 1.

Thanks for the info, would you mind naming me a university which does either a degree or course?

You could always look into doing a BTEC? I totally flunked my AS's and I was fed up of being in school and getting treated like a child so I left and went to college and now I'm in my second year of a BTEC extended diploma in forensic science. Apparently sometimes people with A-levels have to do foundation years whereas people with a relevant BTEC wouldn't because BTECs are all about practical applications, you don't learn half as much useless bs as you do doing A-levels and they provide much more practical experience.

If you have a good reason for not doing well as you wanted to, then surely this counts as mitigating circumstances and would allow for consideration on the straight science course without an additional foundation year. But if it isn't a good reason, I can't quite imagine what one would put as their explanation for why they didn't do as well (to gain entrance for the straight degrees), i.e should someone really put something like: I was lazy during my studies/didn't listen in class.

Hey, So in short I feel I've made a mess of my A Levels by picking the wrong choices and am therefore not performing to my best ability because I'm not enjoying what I've chosen.
My friend told me breifly about foundation degrees?
What are they and what do I need to get into one?

Fair point... just saying it worked for my brother :L

Hey guys,

I need urgent help.

Right now I am trying to find a university which offers foundation courses with no entry requirements or only wants GCSE's to enter the foundation course because I haven't done A-Levels and I have no intention of doing it as many students who did advised me not to take A-Levels.

Well I would be more than happy and well appreciate if you guys helped me out to find universities in London offering GCSE entry for foundation. I am interested in Business, Media and Marketing, I can't decide. I am 16 years old and I have 6A's and 2B's in my GCSE's.

I have had a lot of problems trying to find out universities with this specification as many need A-Levels, thanks to all those who gave info on A-Levels and BTEC's, and diff between foundation degrees and courses, it has really helped.

I really hope to hear from you guys soon,

Thank You,
Marlonne Mendonca

I think you've been misadvised, you need level 3 qualifications of some sort to start a foundation course and GCSEs are level 2.

also worth noting that you'll build up student debt doing a foundation course whereas you could probably get A levels or Btec for free.

Yeah probably because from where I lived before, after GCSE's most of my classmates directly enrolled onto foundation years in English universities, so I always had that in mind but now I realise things work differently in UK.

Thanks for your reply, though, what would you recommend ? Because I really have no intention on joining A-Levels at all, and i was looking at Ealing, Hammersmith West London College on their courses and I don't know what I should do, are a year of BTEC's enough to get me to University ?

level 3 btecs are 2 years long afaik with less prospect of finishing early due to all the coursework involved.

what's the problem with just doing A levels?