Which access course and should I retake GCSE?

Still waiting to hear which grad jobs you've applied for?
Still waiting for you to tell me which of those didn't care about your GCSEs?

If youre going to accuse someone of 'chatting breeze' then at least have a decent counter argument. Currently yours seems to be 'perhaps in a situation something might happen that you don't even know about'. Thats not a strong counter argument.

Im being relevant and helpful. Ive done an access course. Ive done an undergraduate degree and a masters degree. Ive applied to many graduate schemes and Im about to start one in September.

LOL

You said general employment... And no, you weren't being helpful. You were a sea of negativity. He doesn't need retaken GCSEs to apply to Uni, sigh.

Im going to disagree with what has been said, and suggest retaking GCSEs.

Having just gone through a full round of grad job applications, you will be asked your GCSE results almost every time. Ive experienced a few rejections (possibly) due to not meeting GCSE requirements, even though I exceed all the requirements else where. You might also want to check out this thread - https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4832706

When it comes to the jobs market, its very competitive. Its easy to think 'well I've got a degree so I'm just as qualified as everyone else'. But when it comes down to it, HR teams have to make a decision. Yes you may have a degree, but so does everyone else applying. But they have A-Levels (which are seemingly preferred to Access by employers). And they also have GCSEs. In the early rounds when its all about cutting numbers, you can see why having no GCSEs would be an issue.

I don't know if you've looked in to what it takes to become a clinical psychologist. Its tough. I have a friend currently studying for a doctorate of clinical psychology. She has excellent GCSEs, A-Levels, first class undergrad in psychology, masters in neuroscience, relevant experience in the field and it still took her 3 rounds of applications to get a place on the doctorate. Thats not uncommon. You have a very long road if thats the route you would want to take, and it would be terrible to get so close and then regret not having done some GCSEs and that hold you back..

I said that in the long run, employers will ask about GCSEs

What cobblers. Nobody cares about GCSEs post-university (least of all PhD admission tutors). Some graduate schemes may use GCSE grades as a way to filter applications, but this is becoming increasingly uncommon. Redoing GCSEs would be a total waste of time.

Well there we go then...Nobody cares about GCSEs, except for those companies that care about GCSEs. If OP wants to rule himself out of however many graduate schemes that filter by GCSE, then he shouldn't retake GCSEs.

Im just giving my perspective, having recently gone through the application cycle, in a fairly similar position to what the OP may find themselves in.

I don't know of any graduate schemes that use GCSEs to filter applicants, there may be some, but I suspect their number is small.

That's fine, but you don't know that you didn't get the position because of your GCSEs, its all speculation.

Do you mean academically or in regard to sorting myself out? I had a dramatic change to Engineering now I've accepted myself lol. Doing that now. Back then I got in for English and Philosophy. If the latter, I'm transgender. I can't function like this anymore, it crushes me whenever I try anything especially the anxiety from it. Rather start when I'm actually happy with myself.

I suppose i'm just getting too caught up with what younger students fresh out of school got at GCSE when it's a different ball game it seems for a mature student - life experience, maturity, giving up a full time job...etc. I did have a thought - I suppose the access course would take precedence over any GCSEs anyway, so doing a psychology GCSE (which is still a level 2 qualification whatever grade i got) would be pointless if I studied psychology modules at level 3 in the access course and got distinction. I'm sure if I perform strongly in the access course itself, it might open up more doors for me anyway - would you agree with that?

No, they won't.

When you do start uni, make sure you avail of every bit of help out there. There should be help at uni for students with disabilities (which includes anxiety/depression). I hope everything works out!



I just wanted to say that I know what it feels like to be a mature student. It seems daunting, but life experience and maturity will count for a lot. Psychology should have quite a few mature students as well

Heres how I see it. Once you have a degree, you can apply for jobs with the GCSEs you have. I have straight Cs in my GCSEs. There were some grad roles that I couldn't apply for, but not too many. I don't think your current GCSEs would hold you back too much in determining what you could and couldn't apply for. However, HR see applications all day long. From their point of view, where they are looking to cut numbers, an application with a big hole where GCSEs should be is easier to cut.

As such, Id probably look to do some GCSEs where I was confident of getting A*-B. Personally Id go for about 5-6. I think on an application form this looks like a reasonable number rather than looking like you've done the bare minimum to get on to Access course or in to uni. Something like maths, english, double science, psychology, sociology.

However, you could look at it in a completely different way.

I don't know how long those GCSEs would take to study. You could potentially start an Access course in September if you weren't doing GCSEs. Studying GCSEs may put you another year behind. You could go straight to the Access course and then consider using that year further down the line for some other CV boosting work. Studying a course with a year in industry or volunteering or something. There are loads of possibilities.

I dont know what kind of roles are out there for psychology graduates related to psychology itself. I only have the example of one person I know. They didn't go in to a graduate scheme, it was just a direct job hire (which then gave them experience to go on to DClinPsy). However, my experience applying to finance based grad schemes is that almost all of them asked for GCSE results. As such, I think the people telling you that employers don't care about GCSEs are wrong. If they didn't care, they wouldn't ask. Perhaps these people have experience in psychology roles and therefore know better than I do, but they haven't stated that.

Whether you upgrade your GCSEs or not, you'll be able to get on to an Access course, and that should lead to uni. I guess you need to weigh up the time, cost, effort and how much extra impact you think GCSEs will have. Whether you think that time could be better spent elsewhere etc.

I'm now thinking is it really necessary to do Psychology and Sociology at GCSE level? I was even thinking of retaking History GCSE which I failed, but now I'm actually considering just redoing my Maths, English and Double Award Science. I'm reading in a lot of places that A full handful of GCSEs isn't really necessary unless you want to go into medicine and this is even more so for a mature student. The fact that I'm willing to step away from full time work to retake my Maths, English and Science (which are the only relevant subjects in preparation for a psychology degree) should stand for a lot if I can't get employment in Psychology - It shows I was willing to retake them to get into better universities ... i.e., not take the lazy way out either way. Let's say I come away with A grades in all 3 subjects, coupled with strong performance in an access course, that would be good in my application to better universities.

Some universities require a B grade in GCSE maths, if you want to go to one of those universities then re-doing maths makes sense. Re-doing English, Science, Psychology and Sociology does not. Anyway, I've already said what I think, I will copy in some other people - hopefully they can convince you.

@Doonesbury do you look at a job applicant's GCSE grades?

@*Interrobang* will re-doing GCSEs help the OP become a clinical psychologist?

For the positions I would be recruiting for I would rarely be that interested in specific GCSEs. Sometimes I'd be interested in Maths, but the rest not so much. We use a simple maths test for graduate applicants anyway.

To the OP, so long as you meet the minimum stated GCSE requirements that is usually sufficient for universities.

I would agree with everything you both said in that as long as I meet the entry requirements for certain universities then i'd be accepted (currently I do meet the standard for some universities despite my AWFUL GCSEs lol. I have C's in English and Maths), but I would like to make another suggestion to the both of you. As you're aware, this is a big commitment from me as an adult where I can't accept anything less than a 2:1 for clinical psychologist doctorate purposes. What I would say is that this is surely more likely if I got accepted into a better university? I've looked at Russell Group universities and from the ones I've spoken to so far, they require grade B's in both English and Maths even if I did an access course. OK granted, the science isn't necessary, but i'd only be doing that out of better preparation for my studies and for peace of mind.

So no, your university barely matters when applying for a postgrad.

For example, I have a dataset of recent Cambridge master's applications and offer rates... Cambridge have an average 40%+ offer rate for MPhil Psychology, with offers received by applicants from non-RGs such as Manchester Met, LJM and Dundee.

There might be a case to resit Maths & English if only for your own piece of mind, but nothing else. You will need to focus on your Access course without being distracted by loads of GCSE resits.

If I was to resit maths and English, would this be possible or feasible alongside an access course? Obviously I may need to work 10 hours a week or so too in order to pay basic bills such as phone and to save for a car

Some universities require a B grade in GCSE maths, if you want to go to one of those universities then re-doing maths makes sense. Re-doing English, Science, Psychology and Sociology does not. Anyway, I've already said what I think, I will copy in some other people - hopefully they can convince you.

@Doonesbury do you look at a job applicant's GCSE grades?

@*Interrobang* will re-doing GCSEs help the OP become a clinical psychologist?

Ive told you what my opinion is based on. Experience. I don't know where youre getting your information because it doesnt appear to be backed up with any real experience or knowledge of the jobs market.