21 years looking to start uni in Scotland

I'm 21 years old with basically no qualifications, nat 4s, looking to study software engineering.I've just been to the careers advisers and they basically told me my only option is to go through OU(i have no idea where to start they have so many comp sci courses). I was looking into taking my highers to enter uni that route but discovered i'd need nat 5s to sit them and i'd only be able to sit one at a time, for example maths and if i wanted to do english i'd need to go to a different college to do it. My situation seems hopeless right now so i'm wondering if anyone here could tell me a route to take to pursue my studies.

thanks

YAY careers advisors. I am 40 and have met ONE who was of any use.

Go look at the degree you are interested in. Check all University websites and look at wider access routes/entry requirements. Things like HNC and HND courses. They will tell you which HNC/HND courses they will accept. Then you need to find colleges near you that offer those and find out what entry requirements are needed to get on them. You are basically working backwards.

Degree
HNC/HND
NC/NQ's

My partner is just completing an NQ in Computing and IT (level 6...like a Higher). You can often get on level 6 course IF the college thinks you could cope with it. My partner was moved from a level 5 to a level 6 just on this basis. But it is up to the college. Always apply for all levels. If you have Nat 4's than a level 5 should be perfectly ok. They can only say no to the ones you won't get on. He will start his HND in August btw. He has only done a year at college with his NQ.

Same age as me but you seem to have a better understanding of these new qualifications. When I was applying for my access course I kept seeing Nat 5 and 6 and I had no idea what it referred to. I had to ask my mates daughter what Nat 5 was in real money lol

Yeah - when I started looking at going back into education I had an additional learning curve. I grew up in England. So I've had to translate my GCSE's into standard grades (which my eldest son was doing at the time). Then they brought in Nat 4's & 5's (what my eldest daughter did immediately after him). So I can fit all of them in now with the SCQF levels that we have here.