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Can I apply to University?

Sorry I have already posted this, but in the wrong forum.

Basically, I am really eager to start applying to Universities through UCAS now, like everyone else in Year 13. However, I am trying to go to Uni through an Access to HE course. I haven't started the course yet, because I am waiting for a grant towards the cost.

My question is: Am I allowed to apply through UCAS now even though I haven't started the course yet. I'm assuming that I would be able to since people who haven't completed their A-levels have started to apply but I'm not sure if it's different? Will they get a gauge for my "intelligence" through my GCSE results, work experience and personal statement and base the offer from that?

Can someone explain this please?

Thanks!!
(edited 6 years ago)

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No I'm pretty sure you cant do that because you haven't even started the access. The people in year 13 have already started the course and will be getting predicted grades based on their previous work in that course. There is no advantage to applying this early anyway - and courses do change from year to year. Also, deferred entry is different to directly applying to university for 2019. 2019 applications won't open until next September. Deferred entry is for guaranteeing a place in 2019 from the results you get in August next year, and you haven't even started the course!
Original post by marshalld67
No I'm pretty sure you cant do that because you haven't even started the access. The people in year 13 have already started the course and will be getting predicted grades based on their previous work in that course. There is no advantage to applying this early anyway - and courses do change from year to year. Also, deferred entry is different to directly applying to university for 2019. 2019 applications won't open until next September. Deferred entry is for guaranteeing a place in 2019 from the results you get in August next year, and you haven't even started the course!


I see where you're coming from but people who start an Access Course at college in September, apply for University the following year. Most of these students in Access Courses wouldn't have achieved their final grade or anything yet, and there wouldn't be many credits achieved within this course to give an accurate "prediction" of what they were going to achieve by the end of the year. It's all a bit confusing
Reply 4
Original post by anonygirl102
I see where you're coming from but people who start an Access Course at college in September, apply for University the following year. Most of these students in Access Courses wouldn't have achieved their final grade or anything yet, and there wouldn't be many credits achieved within this course to give an accurate "prediction" of what they were going to achieve by the end of the year. It's all a bit confusing


You need to include education information on UCAS. You haven't confirmed whether you'll take this course yet, so won't know whether to include it or not. You would also need predicted grades, which you don't have as you haven't started the course.

It's also unlikely that you would be able to start a course now and have completed it in time to start uni in September 2018.
Original post by Juno
You need to include education information on UCAS. You haven't confirmed whether you'll take this course yet, so won't know whether to include it or not. You would also need predicted grades, which you don't have as you haven't started the course.

It's also unlikely that you would be able to start a course now and have completed it in time to start uni in September 2018.


I am looking to start this course within the next week or two, so by then I should have access to predicted grades etc. I have confirmed with the course provider that I am able to complete the course by the end of next May, so I can start University next September.
Reply 6
Original post by anonygirl102
I am looking to start this course within the next week or two, so by then I should have access to predicted grades etc. I have confirmed with the course provider that I am able to complete the course by the end of next May, so I can start University next September.


Then you can apply after you've started, once you have discussed your predicted grades with the course provider (and decided who will write your reference).

But I would advise you to double check your dates, as yoou are claiming you can complete the course a lot quicker than most people are able to.
Original post by Juno
Then you can apply after you've started, once you have discussed your predicted grades with the course provider (and decided who will write your reference).

But I would advise you to double check your dates, as yoou are claiming you can complete the course a lot quicker than most people are able to.


The course provider has said this is doable, so long as I invest 20+ hours a week into my studies. I have no other commitments outside of this course, so my undivided attention will be paid to this course, do you think this sounds achievable?

I am extremely motivated to complete this within the given amount of time, and since I will have no other commitments, especially for the first 2/3 months, it sounds like this could be achieved?
Reply 8
Original post by anonygirl102
The course provider has said this is doable, so long as I invest 20+ hours a week into my studies. I have no other commitments outside of this course, so my undivided attention will be paid to this course, do you think this sounds achievable?

I am extremely motivated to complete this within the given amount of time, and since I will have no other commitments, especially for the first 2/3 months, it sounds like this could be achieved?


No, the more you post the more ridiculous this sounds.

Full time study is defined as 21 or more hours per week. So to finish your qualification by May, you'll have to study a hell of a lot more - you've missed at least 8 weeks of 21 hours, plus the hours you're intending to miss by finishing early. But the provider says that you need to put in (slightly) less hours to finish it. It doesn't add up at all.
Is it an online access course?, in theory it is possible. However you have to factor in feedback and marking time which isn't always speedy
Original post by Juno
No, the more you post the more ridiculous this sounds.

Full time study is defined as 21 or more hours per week. So to finish your qualification by May, you'll have to study a hell of a lot more - you've missed at least 8 weeks of 21 hours, plus the hours you're intending to miss by finishing early. But the provider says that you need to put in (slightly) less hours to finish it. It doesn't add up at all.


Ok, there is no need to be rude in your responses. I am simply asking you a question, I am not asking to be ridiculed.

It's 6 weeks behind and like I have said, I have no other commitments outside of this course, so the extra time is there to be spent catching up. I can see where you're coming from, so I will take this into consideration when deciding.

Thanks for your help.
Reply 11
Original post by anonygirl102
Ok, there is no need to be rude in your responses. I am simply asking you a question, I am not asking to be ridiculed.

It's 6 weeks behind and like I have said, I have no other commitments outside of this course, so the extra time is there to be spent catching up. I can see where you're coming from, so I will take this into consideration when deciding.

Thanks for your help.


If I was being rude, I'd be a lot more rude than that.
Original post by Juno
If I was being rude, I'd be a lot more rude than that.


Charming.

Ok, great. Nice to speak to you.
I don't understand - are you starting your course in the 17/18 academic year, or the 18/19?

You could only apply in the academic year, or after, you are attending your course in. If your course is for the 17/18 academic year but doesn't start until say, late October (for some reason) then certainly, although you wouldn't be able to apply to Medicine/Oxbridge, but since the deadline is Jan 15 otherwise it's fine.

If your Access course is for the 18/19 academic year and you want to apply in 2017 then no - you can only apply to start in the 18/19 academic year (which you wouldn't be able to due to not having the qualifications, and needing to study them in that year) and you wouldn't be able to apply for deferred entry as this does not permit study elsewhere, unless previously agreed upon with the university in question. I highly doubt a university is going to issue an acceptance to a student who won't even begin studying the relevant qualifications until the deferred year.

Now if you already had the relevant qualifications and were just taking the Access course for...fun, or whatever, then you could apply for deferred entry and provided the university making you an acceptance for deferred entry agrees to you doing so. Not telling them incidentally could be grounds for termination of the offer/acceptance so, I wouldn't recommend that.
Reply 14
Original post by artful_lounger
I don't understand - are you starting your course in the 17/18 academic year, or the 18/19?

You could only apply in the academic year, or after, you are attending your course in. If your course is for the 17/18 academic year but doesn't start until say, late October (for some reason) then certainly, although you wouldn't be able to apply to Medicine/Oxbridge, but since the deadline is Jan 15 otherwise it's fine.

If your Access course is for the 18/19 academic year and you want to apply in 2017 then no - you can only apply to start in the 18/19 academic year (which you wouldn't be able to due to not having the qualifications, and needing to study them in that year) and you wouldn't be able to apply for deferred entry as this does not permit study elsewhere, unless previously agreed upon with the university in question. I highly doubt a university is going to issue an acceptance to a student who won't even begin studying the relevant qualifications until the deferred year.

Now if you already had the relevant qualifications and were just taking the Access course for...fun, or whatever, then you could apply for deferred entry and provided the university making you an acceptance for deferred entry agrees to you doing so. Not telling them incidentally could be grounds for termination of the offer/acceptance so, I wouldn't recommend that.


No, she wants to cram a course into 3 months less than an academic year whilst working less than full time, and insulting anyone that tries to help.
People who study Access courses generally apply for university that year, like myself and my entire cohort did. My college aims to have all applications out before the Christmas holidays and that means at least one unit completed (possibly two) and each assignment being graded means that teachers can give a pretty accurate prediction. What my teachers gave me in terms of prediction for UCAS was 100% spot on.

That being said, there is absolutely no way you can do an Access course in such a short period of time. These 6-8 weeks you will miss are packed full of relevant and basic info getting everyone up to speed, plus you will have missed a few assignments already which then need to be done on top of doing the assignments you are already doing.

To put it into perspective, a friend of mine missed two weeks of their Access course, came back and felt like they were drowning they had so much work to do even with no external commitments. It is really really hard because it's so fast paced, my Access course was "busier" than my first year at university so far.

To boil it down a bit, my suggestion is to find something else to do until September next year where you can enter an Access course for the 18/19 year and apply to Uni for the 19/20 intake. Get relevant work experience, do some smaller courses, you could even part-time an A Level in a subject to keep you busy until next September. :smile:.
Original post by Paulington
People who study Access courses generally apply for university that year, like myself and my entire cohort did. My college aims to have all applications out before the Christmas holidays and that means at least one unit completed (possibly two) and each assignment being graded means that teachers can give a pretty accurate prediction. What my teachers gave me in terms of prediction for UCAS was 100% spot on.

That being said, there is absolutely no way you can do an Access course in such a short period of time. These 6-8 weeks you will miss are packed full of relevant and basic info getting everyone up to speed, plus you will have missed a few assignments already which then need to be done on top of doing the assignments you are already doing.

To put it into perspective, a friend of mine missed two weeks of their Access course, came back and felt like they were drowning they had so much work to do even with no external commitments. It is really really hard because it's so fast paced, my Access course was "busier" than my first year at university so far.

To boil it down a bit, my suggestion is to find something else to do until September next year where you can enter an Access course for the 18/19 year and apply to Uni for the 19/20 intake. Get relevant work experience, do some smaller courses, you could even part-time an A Level in a subject to keep you busy until next September. :smile:.


Hi,

Thanks for your response.

30 credits of my course is Biology. I have previous knowledge of Biology as I made a start on A-level Biology before, I feel like this would give me an advantage, since I do have prior knowledge of topics?

I am quite a strong student academically, nearly scoring straight A's at GCSE, securing the higher grades amongst my Science subjects. I know the step up from GCSE is huge, but I am not slow in terms of catching on to topics quickly. I am a very independent learner, and self taught most of my GCSE topics due to illness in Year 11.

I suffer from Anxiety at the moment, and I don't feel capable of seeking employment or anything at the moment. That's why doing this course is important to me.
Original post by anonygirl102
Hi,

Thanks for your response.

30 credits of my course is Biology. I have previous knowledge of Biology as I made a start on A-level Biology before, I feel like this would give me an advantage, since I do have prior knowledge of topics?

I am quite a strong student academically, nearly scoring straight A's at GCSE, securing the higher grades amongst my Science subjects. I know the step up from GCSE is huge, but I am not slow in terms of catching on to topics quickly. I am a very independent learner, and self taught most of my GCSE topics due to illness in Year 11.

I suffer from Anxiety at the moment, and I don't feel capable of seeking employment or anything at the moment. That's why doing this course is important to me.


As an example, by the time eight weeks had passed in my Access course (I studied Maths, Chemistry and Physics) I had already done about 1.5 units in each class with exams coming up and at least 4-5 assignments per class (some times you get an assignment per week).

Also, a bit of background knowledge is cool, but an Access course is teaching you how to learn and think academically, referencing, searching literature and such. In my course you had three full days of study per week and you probably needed double the time spent in class to actually learn everything and do assignments. So you're looking at around 30 hours per week just to keep up with the assignments and study you already need to do.

Doing a bit of simple maths, you will have missed ~120 hours of school time, then double that for revision/assignments/etc and that's 240 hours. Divide that by the time remaining in the course excluding holidays (around 30 weeks I'd expect) and you're looking at 35-40 hour weeks to catch up + do assignments + work on what you're actually trying to learn and remember your teachers will not have time to teach you this stuff in any real capacity, because they're already so rushed teaching what they are supposed to be doing at that specific time

If you are suffering from anxiety, you can study A Levels part-time at home, even if you only do one to keep you busy it'd at least be something. You just can't do a 9 month course in 6-7 months and you'd be hard pressed to find a college even willing to accept you now, not to mention it could easily be a waste of £3000 (or whatever the course costs now) because you might drop out or not get the grades you want due to not having the time you need.

Fundamentally, it's highly unlikely you would even be allowed to enrol now. Had you applied to start in September you could have started studying whilst you wait for an ALL (Advanced Learner Loan) to be approved and at least then you'd have started and got it going, as it stands right now it's just too late. You need to find something else to do until next September, sorry. :frown:.
Original post by anonygirl102
Sorry I have already posted this, but in the wrong forum.

Basically, I am really eager to start applying to Universities through UCAS now, like everyone else in Year 13. However, I am trying to go to Uni through an Access to HE course. I haven't started the course yet, because I am waiting for a grant towards the cost.

My question is: Am I allowed to apply through UCAS now even though I haven't started the course yet. I'm assuming that I would be able to since people who haven't completed their A-levels have started to apply but I'm not sure if it's different? Will they get a gauge for my "intelligence" through my GCSE results, work experience and personal statement and base the offer from that?

Can someone explain this please?

Thanks!!


Nope, I wouldn't think you could apply thru UCAS yet. Unless you applied as an independent student you could. With your instance you'd have to wait to be confirmed onto your access to HE course before you can sign up, the institution you do your access to HE course should have a 'buzzword' for you to put into your UCAS application to show which institution it is coming from. When you receive that buzzword from your institution you can sign up for UCAS! I would wait for you to start your access to HE course before doing it.
Original post by Paulington
As an example, by the time eight weeks had passed in my Access course (I studied Maths, Chemistry and Physics) I had already done about 1.5 units in each class with exams coming up and at least 4-5 assignments per class (some times you get an assignment per week).

Also, a bit of background knowledge is cool, but an Access course is teaching you how to learn and think academically, referencing, searching literature and such. In my course you had three full days of study per week and you probably needed double the time spent in class to actually learn everything and do assignments. So you're looking at around 30 hours per week just to keep up with the assignments and study you already need to do.

Doing a bit of simple maths, you will have missed ~120 hours of school time, then double that for revision/assignments/etc and that's 240 hours. Divide that by the time remaining in the course excluding holidays (around 30 weeks I'd expect) and you're looking at 35-40 hour weeks to catch up + do assignments + work on what you're actually trying to learn and remember your teachers will not have time to teach you this stuff in any real capacity, because they're already so rushed teaching what they are supposed to be doing at that specific time

If you are suffering from anxiety, you can study A Levels part-time at home, even if you only do one to keep you busy it'd at least be something. You just can't do a 9 month course in 6-7 months and you'd be hard pressed to find a college even willing to accept you now, not to mention it could easily be a waste of £3000 (or whatever the course costs now) because you might drop out or not get the grades you want due to not having the time you need.

Fundamentally, it's highly unlikely you would even be allowed to enrol now. Had you applied to start in September you could have started studying whilst you wait for an ALL (Advanced Learner Loan) to be approved and at least then you'd have started and got it going, as it stands right now it's just too late. You need to find something else to do until next September, sorry. :frown:.




Hi,

Sorry just to clarify, this course is going to be done via Distance Learning, online.

The restraints of holidays won't apply to this course as the idea of distance learning is that it's flexible to you and your time constraints. Many people who have done this course have managed to do so, whilst working full time etc.

The course I will be doing allows you to enrol at any time of the year, and you set your own targets and deadlines for when you want to complete it by.

I'm going to have a think about it, but I think even if I start now and don't finish it by the end of May, then it wouldn't be the end of the world, as it is more flexible than a traditional Access course that you would do in an FE college.

Thanks so much for your help.

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