Advice for mature applicant - (Econ/Comp Sci)

Hi!

I'm 23 (about to turn 24) and am looking to head back to uni to Study a BSc in either Econ and Philosophy or Computer science.

Back when I was in 6th form I had a pretty rough time health wise, and as a result I do not have strong A levels. I managed to scrape into a physics BSc, I passed first year of the BSc, after which I had to leave suddenly for health reasons.

Long story short I'm healthy now and am looking to head back to uni for 2022 enrolment, so I'm looking to do an Access course, I've also been self-studying the new A-level maths curriculum (and quite enjoying it).

I'd like to head to a top 15 uni, and was looking for some advice (or to be frank, some encouragement).

Although I like the idea of studying Econ, Philosophy and Psychology (EPP) at Warwick, I'm currently leaning towards Computer science. I've been accepted into an Access to HE course for Science beginning this September, and was wondering if anyone else had gone down this route.

After speaking to Bristol uni, they recommended I complete the Access Science course (45 distinctions), along with achieving an A in A level maths should I wish to study Econ and philosophy there (I feel this is definitely achievable). The Comp Sci route seems to be a bit more specific, requesting certain graded maths modules for their Access applicants, as well as an A at A-level. The only access courses around me do not offer graded maths modules. Most other high ranking uni's require a certain amount of graded maths modules during the Access course.

Are there any mature students here that have completed an access course in Science and gone on to study Comp Sci at a high ranking uni? Will I need to take extra maths modules (is this even an option if my Access course doesn't offer it?) or should the A-level Maths suffice?

Appreciate any advice I get, cheers!

That's kind of funny. I did an Econ related degree, but now I'm going back to go into physical sciences.

I've did the Access for Science course with straight distinctions, but it didn't have enough maths credit, so I'm doing the A Level to supplement the application. The only cases where I seen diplomas where there are at least 15 credits in maths are usually in offline colleges either up North or one that is online (there is literally just one online course that has this). In all cases, it seems you're better off doing the A Level with an online college.

After a lot of thorough questioning, the high ranking universities can't reject your application just because you did an Access course and did an A Level maths to supplement it. They follow their policies to the T, and if they say they accept those qualifications on the course page, they will accept them when you apply.

As with any Access course, you should check with the university of your choice to see if the A Level alone should be enough. I can't see why they would say it wouldn't, but it's always safer to check.

My question to you would be why do you want to do a degree in Comp Sci? I have my opinions on it, but I'm curious to know why you want to do the degree.

Didn't particularly enjoy physics at uni, don't get me wrong it wasn't the worst thing in the world, and there was some aspects (astrophysics) I really enjoyed, but I didn't enjoy the labs, plus, since it was the only course I could really scrape into at the time, it felt like I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

As for the degree in comp sci, I quite liked matlab programming at uni, I'm currently trying to teach myself javascript and enjoying it so far, not to mention the graduate market is pretty diverse for comp-sci grads.

It depends What you want to do I study EPP

Hi!

I'm 23 (about to turn 24) and am looking to head back to uni to Study a BSc in either Econ and Philosophy or Computer science.

Back when I was in 6th form I had a pretty rough time health wise, and as a result I do not have strong A levels. I managed to scrape into a physics BSc, I passed first year of the BSc, after which I had to leave suddenly for health reasons.

Long story short I'm healthy now and am looking to head back to uni for 2022 enrolment, so I'm looking to do an Access course, I've also been self-studying the new A-level maths curriculum (and quite enjoying it).

I'd like to head to a top 15 uni, and was looking for some advice (or to be frank, some encouragement).

Although I like the idea of studying Econ, Philosophy and Psychology (EPP) at Warwick, I'm currently leaning towards Computer science. I've been accepted into an Access to HE course for Science beginning this September, and was wondering if anyone else had gone down this route.

After speaking to Bristol uni, they recommended I complete the Access Science course (45 distinctions), along with achieving an A in A level maths should I wish to study Econ and philosophy there (I feel this is definitely achievable). The Comp Sci route seems to be a bit more specific, requesting certain graded maths modules for their Access applicants, as well as an A at A-level. The only access courses around me do not offer graded maths modules. Most other high ranking uni's require a certain amount of graded maths modules during the Access course.

Are there any mature students here that have completed an access course in Science and gone on to study Comp Sci at a high ranking uni? Will I need to take extra maths modules (is this even an option if my Access course doesn't offer it?) or should the A-level Maths suffice?

Appreciate any advice I get, cheers!

Happy to reply if it's of any help! An access course in something humanities or social sciences related plus A level maths is a good foundation for Economics at Cambridge and a access course in computer science plus A level maths would be sufficient for our Computer Science course. Our typical offer for the Access course would be the same as Bristol, 45 level 3 credits at distinction.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask

Not sure where you live but Newham College in London has an access course in computer science and maths which is pretty much identical to A level maths with some computing modules sprinkled in. They also have one called engineering science and maths which is pretty much the same but with engineering instead of computing.

(Original post by mark_9517)Hi!

I'm 23 (about to turn 24) and am looking to head back to uni to Study a BSc in either Econ and Philosophy or Computer science.

Back when I was in 6th form I had a pretty rough time health wise, and as a result I do not have strong A levels. I managed to scrape into a physics BSc, I passed first year of the BSc, after which I had to leave suddenly for health reasons.

Long story short I'm healthy now and am looking to head back to uni for 2022 enrolment, so I'm looking to do an Access course, I've also been self-studying the new A-level maths curriculum (and quite enjoying it).

I'd like to head to a top 15 uni, and was looking for some advice (or to be frank, some encouragement).

Although I like the idea of studying Econ, Philosophy and Psychology (EPP) at Warwick, I'm currently leaning towards Computer science. I've been accepted into an Access to HE course for Science beginning this September, and was wondering if anyone else had gone down this route.

After speaking to Bristol uni, they recommended I complete the Access Science course (45 distinctions), along with achieving an A in A level maths should I wish to study Econ and philosophy there (I feel this is definitely achievable). The Comp Sci route seems to be a bit more specific, requesting certain graded maths modules for their Access applicants, as well as an A at A-level. The only access courses around me do not offer graded maths modules. Most other high ranking uni's require a certain amount of graded maths modules during the Access course.

Are there any mature students here that have completed an access course in Science and gone on to study Comp Sci at a high ranking uni? Will I need to take extra maths modules (is this even an option if my Access course doesn't offer it?) or should the A-level Maths suffice?

Appreciate any advice I get, cheers!

I studied A levels then took a couple of years out, in terms of the course the way it was described was to apply to it if you want to study economics but have an interest in psychology and philosophy, looking at the 2nd year modules they look very interesting and the psychology modules are linked to economics. The structure is very good in 2nd year you can specialise in a subject and take 80% of your modules from it, you're also taught by the Warwick business school which have academic as part of the course since behavioural economics is a massive industry especially at places like google and Facebook. Warwick is in the top 5 universities for econ so the teaching is to a high standard. To be honest I was concerned about the idea of a campus but after joining you get a community feel where everyone on campus is a student so you can get to know anyone and then you have cafes and bars on campus as well as banks and a pharmacy, the sports centre is also very good. In 2nd year you can move out to Leamington which is a nice town with lots to do or even a bus to Birmingham/London. The age doesn't matter at all in my first year there was lots of gap year students a 26 year old student and it was never even mentioned, we all got along the same.

No problem, I had to decide between computer science and econ too