Is anyone else doing BTEC and applied to Sussex?

Hi guys. I am a first year neuroscience student at the University of Sussex. I came here through clearing with the level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Applied Science (Medical) at grades DDM. This year Sussex have been quite lenient with their entry requirements, probably due to the government lifting the cap on the number of students they can take.

I will warn you though, many other universities do look down on the BTEC, ignore people that tell you that you are not at a disadvantage with the BTEC because the honest truth is that you are.
Ignore UCAS when they say that a BTEC at grade DDD is worth 360 UCAS points (3 A grades at A level) because the half decent universities have their own standards that they adhere to which rarely take UCAS points into consideration.

Other universities are extremely strict when it comes to BTEC, if they say they want DDD or DDD + A in A level biology, they mean it. Unlike with other level 3 qualifications, there is usually little leniency.
I called up many universities during the clearing process, the vast majority turned me down due to being one grade too low.

For anyone on the BTEC applied science course thinking of studying at Sussex, I have one big recommendation.
MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR CHEMISTRY. Don't just copy and paste your coursework from Wikipedia, make sure that you can actually perform basic calculations and have some knowledge of biochemistry concepts (organic wouldn't hurt either) otherwise you will find the first year quite hard as much of what you do in your first year of studying life sciences at the University of Sussex is biochemistry related in some way.

Anyway please don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

I'm doing a BTEC National Diploma plus an A level, but I've emailed twice and asked admissions and they've both said that they do equally consider these applicants. And it also states in the prospectus too what BTEC grades you'd need, so that was reassuring!! Bare in mind that Sussex isn't a Russell Group uni, isn't really within the top 10-15, and it's HUGE. So they have the flexibility to take in students like us. Have hope!!

I spoke to a few of my teachers about it and they said not to worry about doing a BTEC. Having to work consistently throughout the year is one advantage we have over. Plus I always revise over everything that we do in lessons anyway to make sure I know it!
My friends brother actually did the course I'm doing now and just graduated with a 2:1 in microbiology! There is hope haha! Good luck with your application! Let me know how you get on

Where else are you applying to? And thank you, you too!

Where else are you applying to? And thank you, you too!

Hey! Just had an unconditional from Salford! Clearly tutors think that people doing a BTEC are more than capable otherwise they wouldn't have offered me a place!

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Aaahh congratulations! May I ask what grades you received last year and what you're predicted to achieve this year?

Omg I'm so bad at using tsr on my mobile my reply didn't work correctly -.- but thank you! But i said I had DD last year and I'm predicted D*DD What's your predictions?

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have you gotten offer yet ? im worried about getting rejected even being predicted D*D*D*

Ended up getting a rejection from Sussex! gonna email them for feedback!

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I'm sorry to hear that I've got all 3 Sussex and Cardiff are yet to respond have any idea why they rejected you

Cardiff is my firm 👌
I've emailed about it but not a clue. They wanted DDD-DDM and I'm predicted D*DD so it must be my personal statement or reference. Not a clue!

Cardiff is my firm 👌
I've emailed about it but not a clue. They wanted DDD-DDM and I'm predicted D*DD so it must be my personal statement or reference. Not a clue!