24 and restudying my GCSEs! Advice welcome!

Hello!

I am 24 years old and left school with no GCSEs after being bullied and the school not wanting to help me with home studies. I fell into a depression but eventually over came my problems and after that confidence knock I went straight into looking for a job.

Midwifery has always been at the top of my list for a career but after my confidence knock I've not done anything about it and just got comfortable at my job. I've spoken with a few advisers and finally enrolled at my local college to study my 3 core GCSEs (Maths, English and Science) and I am planning on studying an Access course alongside them.

I've been emailing universities (Manchester, Edge Hill, Salford and UCLAN)

Edge Hill said 3 GCSEs Grade C or above alongside an access course are all they require,

UCLAN said that Maths and English GCSEs Grade C or above alongside an access course are accepted.

Manchester want 5 GCSEs grade C or above alongside the access course

Salford want 5 GCSEs grade C or above alongside an access course

Admissions at Manchester have been so helpful and advised me to study my 3 GCSEs and an access course this year as some unis will accept that and if I wasn't successful with grades or if I didn't get an offer than 2 study a further 2 or 3 more GCSEs the following year to build up to the 5 GCSEs and then apply the year after.

I'm just worried because I obviously can't apply for uni this year if all went well I could be applying next year but Salford university have told me that their entry requirements for 2017 entries will be changing to 5 GCSEs at Grade B or above as the course is so popular, but all the other universities have told me that they only have the entry requirements for 2016 I've have to wait until next year to find out entry for 2017.

I feel in my self I can get C grades in my GCSEs but don't know if I'm B grade worthy and worried if it comes to time for me to apply for uni and everywhere changes their entry requirements to 5 GCSEs grade B or above that I'll be stuck but I of course will be studying my butt off to get the highest grades I can achieve.

I'm just looking for some advice would I be better off studying my 3 GCSEs and an access course this year? Or should I study 3 GCSEs at college and study a further 2 or 3 more with distance learning to get my 5 GCSEs for next year and study an access course next year?

Any advice is welcome!

Thank you!

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Reply 1

somethingbeautiful

I think you'd be better off doing 5 GCSEs at college and then doing the access course afterwards since an access course is quite time consuming and doing it alongside GCSEs would be tricky.

Reply 2

username1867425

Midwifery is an extremely popular course, hence the increase in the entry requirements. Would you not consider Nursing as a back-up? I don't think their entry requirements would go much up and there will a lot of Nursing courses which accept level 2 qualifications as substitutes (Functional Skills, Adult Numeracy, etc). Nursing is something which has a shortfall of candidates, as there are more jobs than nurses.

Reply 3

xDivax90x

Original post by bigsmoke

A few people have said this which is knocking me slightly, I wish I could say yes but I don't think I could think of nursing as a back up. Researching it I have no interest in it, I also think midwifery and nursing are 2 quite different career paths which is why I don't have an interest in nursing.

Reply 4

username1867425

Original post by xDivax90x

Yeah, if you don't have an interest in it then that's fine - you'll have to stick in to get those B's or find a University that will be offering it at grade C (or equivalents).

Best of luck!

P.S another career backup could be Social Work?

Reply 5

Loyale

Go and do it!!!
I believe you can do it, I've suffered from ocd and anxiety and I think you're awesome for kickstarting your life...you are A grade material, don't let doubts or negativity cloud your mind...enroll at a college or distance course

Reply 6

claireestelle

Original post by bigsmoke

They are gradually phasing out accepting the level 2 functional skills it seems , many of my cohort had that but then had to do the GCSE this year to get onto the course.

Reply 7

ironandbeer2

Well done you, best of luck

Reply 8

EllainKahlo

Don't have any advice, as I know next to nothing about midwifery, but I wish you luck.

Reply 9

MJlover

have u considered open uni? you don't need formal qualifications for that :smile:

Reply 10

username1867425

Original post by claireestelle

They are gradually phasing out accepting the level 2 functional skills it seems , many of my cohort had that but then had to do the GCSE this year to get onto the course.

Ah, that's no good! I've noticed some still seem to accept them for this year and next, though I hope I don't have to re-do it! Did they have to re-do it when they were already accepted onto the course? I'd have thought that they would keep it as flexible and open as possible due to the circumstances that nursing lies in career wise, i.e. trying to get more people to consider it as their are emergency-level shortages.

Thanks for your help though!

Reply 11

claireestelle

Original post by bigsmoke

They applied and were told they d need to do the GCSE to get an offer for the course basically. There's a 10 people per place when applying for nursing apparently so they can afford to be fussy if they want to really.

Reply 12

lilibet01

Original post by bigsmoke

There are way more candidates for nursing than places available. It's a very popular course with a lot of competition to get in. There's a current lack of nurses due to lack of training places not because people aren't willing to do it.
If you want to do midwifery, stick to your guns. You are only 24 so have years ahead of you to get where you want to be.
Good luck

Reply 13

xDivax90x

Thanks for the support everyone I appreciate it :smile:

I'm doing Maths, English and Science GCSE at my local college does any one have advice on whether I should study an access course this year alongside my 3 GCSEs or study 5 GCSEs this year and study my access course next year?

Reply 14

Skill Twix

Original post by Loyale

Fantastic motivation :smile:

Reply 15

xDivax90x

Original post by Loyale

Thank you!

Your kind words mean a lot to me :smile:

I really do appreciate it.

Reply 16

claireestelle

Original post by xDivax90x

Thanks for the support everyone I appreciate it :smile:

I d say 5 gcses would give you a better chance with your choices really, supposedly they will be increasing the nursing requirements to gcse only for maths,english and science from the next academic year (no functional skills or anything), an access course and gcses at the same time is a lot to take on and they've not got anything to go off grades wise if you apply before you have any gcses.

Reply 17

xDivax90x

Original post by claireestelle

Thank you

It's midwifery not nursing I'm wanting to apply for and if I did an access course alongside my gcses it would be with distance learning and they've said I don't need previous qualifications to study it.

Would studying 5 GCSEs in one year not be just as hard as studying the 3 with an access course? Or does an access course really need my full attention in a seprate year?

Thanks again :smile:

Reply 18

claireestelle

Original post by xDivax90x

5 GCSEs should be much easier than 3 with an access course, from what I ve heard access should need your full attention. With 3 GCSEs many applicants would be ahead of you for midwifery and you re going to need distinctions in your access to get into midwifery really

Reply 19

xDivax90x

Original post by claireestelle

Thank you very much.

You don't happen to know any decent distance learning providers for GCSEs do you? Because college only offer the 3 so I'd want to study another 3. So I'd have 6 GCSEs 1 as a back up in case I don't pass or get a lower mark on one of them.