why do A-Level Students Look Down on BTEC's?

Ahh, that explains why it's lower. Average is more £38-42k nowadays.

Yeah, banks pay above most other industries, high salaries aren't surprising.

Rigorous academic qualifications? You mean like that C you got in GCSE English Language?

Hahah clearly, because you know I am right, there is no delusion, you are the one who is deluded you little child, have fun when you get experience in the real world and realise that your A levels mean **** all, also how isnt a degree in Computer Science "academically rigorous"? - you're an idiot :P

btw they are both working in Technical roles, focussing on Cyber Security and Software Engineering - hardly HR or admin

As long as it takes you to University, I don't see why people would try to look down on it. For example, I got an offer from Lancaster, East Anglia and Kent which are three very good universities to study Law. A lot of the people that went to do a levels actually repeated and I'm going to University this September/October. People should be more humble and less jealous of other people.

Firstly, list what uni's they study at.
There's no point getting a 1st class degree in CS if you only studied at say, London Metropolitan University. Secondly, you assume that all A-level candidates are only academically focused and nothing else, for instance, I have done a work exp placement at the department of finance at the House of Lords, a 3 week placement at EY, and in this coming Easter, I will complete my EPQ, DofE expedition and have attained a 4 week internship placement at J.P Morgan during next summer. These are just some of the extracurricular activities and outside work I have done, yet you make judgments that A-level students have no experience. You're a joke, have fun living on 30k a year for the rest of your life, when your competitors graduate from Russel group universities and land well paid jobs.

May you kindly post your GCSE results and A-Levels before saying such moronic comments. I'd have you know I got 3A's and a B in my recent mock exam results for A-level, including Maths, Economics, Physics and Chemistry. Maybe if your incompetent brain could handle A-levels, you wouldn't be complaining.

Firstly, list what uni's they study at.
There's no point getting a 1st class degree in CS if you only studied at say, London Metropolitan University. Secondly, you assume that all A-level candidates are only academically focused and nothing else, for instance, I have done a work exp placement at the department of finance at the House of Lords, a 3 week placement at EY, and in this coming Easter, I will complete my EPQ, DofE expedition and have attained a 4 week internship placement at J.P Morgan during next summer. These are just some of the extracurricular activities and outside work I have done, yet you make judgments that A-level students have no experience. You're a joke, have fun living on 30k a year for the rest of your life, when your competitors graduate from Russel group universities and land well paid jobs.

How did you get the 3 week EY placement? And the JP Morgan one?

I don't see how in any way A levels are superior. If anything, A levels can only take you to University while a Btec can take you to university and it's an actual course that can get you a job.

They look down at them because they are stuck up

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JPM is probs through the social mobility foundation scheme probs - you have to meet the reqs (free school meals, low progression area etc) for it though... Pretty sure applications have closed.

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A levels are more academically rigorous and pretty much all the high achieving students do them. It's hard to get into many universities with a Btec as they don't prepare you sufficiently for university studies. Besides, the jobs that you can just get with a btec aren't exactly going to pay very well.

How is it a delusion?

For people with a graduates who did a BTEC 80% are in employment whereas those who did A levels and a degree its only at 74%.

Also for those who didnt go to university, but are employed in skilled, professional or managerial jobs it is 49% vs 45% in favour of BTECs

What makes A levels employable? they are purely to get into university and mostly dont offer many actual tangible skills relating to a specific industry, and thats fine because they're not intended for that, BTECs directly related to what you need to know to work in a particular sector and are more valued in industry, thats a fact.

As I said before I have secured placement at a really good company and one of the interviewers said that they were impressed by the amount of content that was covered on my BTEC and that it was a good decision that I made to take it instead of A levels as real world practical skills are more valued (after they asked why i did it instead) - thats coming from someone who works in industry (Cyber/Engineering)

I have also heard the same at a previous placement that I did, where I overheard one of the higher managers talking to my line manager asking about my background and whether training me was going to utilise too much of their time, and my line manager replied "its okay, he has a BTEC" - subsequently that manager offered me a permanent job (part-time around my studies) on my second day there - this was also in an IT related role

So they are preferred by employers. I have a friend who got an apprenticeship as a Software Engineer and the first part of the apprenticeship included doing a BTEC level 3 which he already had and got to progress and advance with the job a lot quicker than the people with A levels who spent the first year of their apprenticeship doing the BTEC that they could have done instead of their A levels which were pretty useless as all the initial skills they needed were covered on the BTEC that they could have already done 2+ years previous.

Im guessing you're still at school? typical opinion of someone who hasnt got any real world experience.


Sources for the statistics at the start:

http://www.teachingtimes.com/articles/graduates-vocational-course.htm

http://uk.pearson.com/home/news/2013/may/graduates-are-more-likely-to-be-employed--and-as-likely-to-succe.html

http://www.stanmore.ac.uk/about-the-college/education-sector-latest-info/item/29-comparing-btecs-and-a-levels-in-terms-of-employment-prospects

That's the thing with statistics eh, 80% employed seems impressive but considering that a lot less people do BTECS as compared to a levels it isn't that impressive isn't it.

Eg 5 people doing BTECS in a school and 25 doing a levels

80% BTECS are employed but only 74% who did a levels employed. You see what I mean? Statistics out of context is VERY misleading.

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Your example seems quite drastic in terms of the split, you're saying 83.33% of people do A level and 16.67% of people do BTEC, I think its a lot higher than this.

Take from it what you will but does it not show you? that 4/5 BTEC graduates are in work whereas 3.7/5 of Alevel graduates are, I understand where you are coming from but I'm sure this would scale if the numbers were increased, purely because employers want experience, even for graduate entry level jobs, and with BTEc not only are you doing a whole qualification directly related to work but you also get a placement which as I have said previously automatically gives you relevant experience to put on your CV

Yeah, that sounds about right. Most people do A levels as opposed to BTECs. *And what sort of experience is important. Surely they aren't going to give you a very good job straight out of BTECs, it'll definitely be menial so that is irrelevant.