The Student Room Group

Need advice on a foundation degree

Hi, so my results were not very good, i just passed my btec that i did(with PPP), wasn't originally planning on going to uni/further education but some things have changed which has also changed my mind.

I was accepted to do a foundation degree..which is 2 years with the posibility of doing a 3rd at a uni and making it a honours degree. I'm curious if i do the honours degree after completing the 2 years foundation degree, does it give me a full bcs (hons) in the subject i choose or is it another type of degree?

Also, the foundation degree is run in a college...which worries me. I would need to relocate to do this. I would live in student accommodation like a uni student, except i am in college? The college is city college, plymouth and it sais it's partnered with the university, i'm wondering if it is going to just be like going back to college like before when i did the btec or if it's different in some way, if someone who has any experience of this could shed some light on how it is/was for them i would appreciate it.

Bit of a ramble but any advice/clearing up on some things i said here would be much appreciated,

Thanks
Original post by nelskomi
Hi, so my results were not very good, i just passed my btec that i did(with PPP), wasn't originally planning on going to uni/further education but some things have changed which has also changed my mind.

I was accepted to do a foundation degree..which is 2 years with the posibility of doing a 3rd at a uni and making it a honours degree. I'm curious if i do the honours degree after completing the 2 years foundation degree, does it give me a full bcs (hons) in the subject i choose or is it another type of degree?

Also, the foundation degree is run in a college...which worries me. I would need to relocate to do this. I would live in student accommodation like a uni student, except i am in college? The college is city college, plymouth and it sais it's partnered with the university, i'm wondering if it is going to just be like going back to college like before when i did the btec or if it's different in some way, if someone who has any experience of this could shed some light on how it is/was for them i would appreciate it.

Bit of a ramble but any advice/clearing up on some things i said here would be much appreciated,

Thanks
If you do the top up, it becomes a normal degree like any other. The college may or may not have accommodation of its own, or it may have links with the university halls and its students may be allowed to use them. You need to ask the accommodation office about this. I can't shed any light on what the college is like itself, I'm afraid, but there may well be a forum on it elsewhere on TSR.
Plymouth university may not be able to offer you accomadation in halls. In previous years it hasn't offered halls accomadation to students applying through clearing. However, Plymouth does have some private halls of residences which you would be eligable to live in. Is this something you have considered?

If you do the two years at college, plus the top up year, you would get a full BSc (hons) provided you got good enough grades.. However, I know a few people who followed this route (via a different partner college) and were only allowed entry into second year, rather than third as the university didn't feel the standard of work at the partner college was high enough. This means getting their BSc will take them 4 years. It's not a major issue, as you can still get student finance, but it means you won't get finance if you fail and need to repeat a year.

You would be doing university standard work, and it is likely you would follow a more "university" style of teaching, but because it is run in a college, it's likely that it will end up being a middle ground between being at college and doing a full degree. This may be a good thing for you, as during the first two years of your degree you would get a bit more support.
Reply 3
Original post by SlowlorisIncognito
Plymouth university may not be able to offer you accomadation in halls. In previous years it hasn't offered halls accomadation to students applying through clearing. However, Plymouth does have some private halls of residences which you would be eligable to live in. Is this something you have considered?

If you do the two years at college, plus the top up year, you would get a full BSc (hons) provided you got good enough grades.. However, I know a few people who followed this route (via a different partner college) and were only allowed entry into second year, rather than third as the university didn't feel the standard of work at the partner college was high enough. This means getting their BSc will take them 4 years. It's not a major issue, as you can still get student finance, but it means you won't get finance if you fail and need to repeat a year.

You would be doing university standard work, and it is likely you would follow a more "university" style of teaching, but because it is run in a college, it's likely that it will end up being a middle ground between being at college and doing a full degree. This may be a good thing for you, as during the first two years of your degree you would get a bit more support.


I would live in private halls which i've been checking out, they are pretty close and seem nice, i would go down for a viewing beforehand.

And this college is a partner of plymouth university so you are able to go directly into plymouth uni for the third year.

Thanks for answering both the replys have cleared up a lot for me much appreciate it.
Original post by nelskomi


And this college is a partner of plymouth university so you are able to go directly into plymouth uni for the third year.

.


Just to clarify the other college was also a partner of Plymouth university. Hopefully it won't affect you, but just be aware there would be a small possibility that you would have to go into second year instead. However, this shouldn't cause you too many problems, and if you are happy with the course on offer then you should go ahead and accept it.
Reply 5
I failed miserably at secondary because i was always bunking and generally being an idiot, so i had to spend 4 years in college working from my foundation course to advanced which took me 4 years, i finished in 2010 which is when i applied for computer forensics with cyber security with a foundation -year-, i would then do 3 years BSc course, once i started the foundation year in kingston college i got extremely depressed and demotivated as i was getting ready to go into uni environment but i found myself around 16-18 year olds, it caused me to drop out and now i'm trying to get into london met through clearing, only do it if it's really what you want to do.
Reply 6
Original post by AdamLDN
I failed miserably at secondary because i was always bunking and generally being an idiot, so i had to spend 4 years in college working from my foundation course to advanced which took me 4 years, i finished in 2010 which is when i applied for computer forensics with cyber security with a foundation -year-, i would then do 3 years BSc course, once i started the foundation year in kingston college i got extremely depressed and demotivated as i was getting ready to go into uni environment but i found myself around 16-18 year olds, it caused me to drop out and now i'm trying to get into london met through clearing, only do it if it's really what you want to do.


What i will be doing isn't a foundation year it's a foundation degree, so the minimum age is basically 19, i was also a bit worried about the entire college environment but it seems that this college does a lot of foundation degree and similar level courses so it should be ok!

I did kind of similar things since i left school, only recently started to realise how important education really is.
Reply 7
I was also looking at a computing foundation degree at london met if they won't accept my grades for the course i want! I'd be looking at topping it up to a full bsc after the 2 years is done! Good luck!
Reply 8
Original post by SlowlorisIncognito
Just to clarify the other college was also a partner of Plymouth university. Hopefully it won't affect you, but just be aware there would be a small possibility that you would have to go into second year instead. However, this shouldn't cause you too many problems, and if you are happy with the course on offer then you should go ahead and accept it.


Ah ok i see, well i can hope for the best, thanks for the reply
Reply 9
Original post by AdamLDN
I was also looking at a computing foundation degree at london met if they won't accept my grades for the course i want! I'd be looking at topping it up to a full bsc after the 2 years is done! Good luck!


Thanks and good luck to you too!

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