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In all honesty, do people look down on BTECs?

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Reply 40
Avatar for yt7777
yt7777
18
They are, but mostly by A level students who dont really know what they're talking about and just looking for a way to feel superior.

They sre well recognised though by the people who actually matter, over 95% of UK universities accept BTEC now and that is rising each year, which although it is not at 100% is still really good for a relitively new qualification compared to A levels.

Employers prefer BTECs and this is where it really matters, for both graduates and non-graduates people who hold BTEC quailifications come out as more emplyable, for graduates holding a degree and a BTEC the employment rate is around 80% whereas with A levels + a degree is is around 73-74%, and for people who didnt go to university it is 49% vs 45% in favour of BTEC and this isnt just for any type of employment it relates specifically to Skilled, Professional and Managerial jobs.

I myself chose to do a BTEC because I knew completely what I wanted to do, I got D*D*D* in my computing based BTEC amd am now in the second year of my MSci Computer Science degree and have a placement at a good company secured, who at my interview saif that they preferred the computing BTEC over the A level.

Going back to the point about universities, people believe that is is a myth that BTEC students are able to get into highly ranked or more specifically russell group universities, this is really not the case, it is just as easy fo get an offer as it is if you have A levels, you just need to make sure you meet the minimum requirements, have a good PS and perform well at interview (if required, usually not), people from my old BTEC class got offers from the following: Manchester, Southampton, Kings College London, Royal Holloway, Surrey, Bath and Cardiff, these were all for Bsc/Msci Computer Science or ITMB, also I knew people from the Engineering and Business BTECs who went to York, Durham, Bristol and some other top universities and are doing well, the one from York is about to finish his 3rd year in Electronic Engineering and on track for a high first class.and also last year I read (i think on the Guardian) about a student who did a Health Science BTEC (which is part of the Health & Social Care range of BTECs and is the one people usually knock for being "stupid") who got into Oxford to study Experimental Psychology and apparently on their interview didnt even mention the fact that they did a BTEC over A level, show that just shows if you can demonstrate the ability there really are no limits

NOTE: Please ignore the poor spelling its late and I'm in bed on my phone
(edited 7 years ago)
There's nothing wrong with a BTEC but a lot of BTEC students are morons
Original post by yt7777
Plymouth, UEA, Keele and I think Nottingham accept (the last 3 for Medicine (6 years) )


Thanks. That's actually very interesting. Still, A Levels open more doors for medical degrees and a vast amount of positions in academia. Can't deny that.
Original post by Blue_Mason
Can you even fail a BTEC?


well yeah you can if you fail any unit you get nothing nothing at all unlike in A levels (not putting them down though)you can fail an exam and still have your other two qualifications so in some ways they are harder. But it is mostly course work based which removes the pressure of exams which is nice.
I'm going to have to look up Btecs now

Speaking as an American, it's a shame what's become of UK higher education.

Dumbing down of standards is happening everywhere in the western world

Compare the exercises in Bostock & Chandler to modern A level exams
Original post by yt7777
Plymouth, UEA, Keele and I think Nottingham accept (the last 3 for Medicine (6 years) )


Nope, that's rubbish. No med school accepts BTECHs
BTEC's are easy. I could do literally 50 BTEC's in the time it would take me to do a single A Level.
Yeah you basically have to do what the title of your assignment says and you pass and if you do every single one it's an easy distinction*
Reply 48
Avatar for yt7777
yt7777
18
Original post by Butternuts96
Nope, that's rubbish. No med school accepts BTECHs


Clearly.... maybe actually check before incorrectly saying someone is wrong?

https://www.keele.ac.uk/foundationcourses/healthfoundationyear/medicinealternativequalifications/

https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degree/detail/mbbs-medicine-with-a-foundation-year

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/bmbs-bachelor-of-medicine-bachelor-of-surgery

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/study/courses/info/foundation-in-clinical-sciences-medicine-bsc-4-years - think this one would require a transfer
Most universities accept BTECs and at the end of the day that's what really matters right now. However when compared with A-levels I do think that people tend to look down on BTEC since it's apparently easier and less stressful?
Original post by HOLA255
It's a working class/Chav Qualification

Muh prestige and high-class. Typical snob.
Original post by Lucasium
There's nothing wrong with a BTEC but a lot of BTEC students are morons

This is two years old but I'm just going to answer it anyway. You're correct, but this particular aspect of BTEC seems to really damage the self-esteem of normal students who have no choice but to study BTEC and are consequently assumed to be some the rotten apples of society that are said to do this qualification.

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