Not sure what to do after not so good GCSE results

Hi, so my GCSE results are not great and it’s not just down to not revising enough/being lazy etc. And doing A levels are out of the question as I don’t meet the criteria and I don’t want to spend another year redoing my GCSES unless I have to.

I’m 16 and really want to go to university but this now seems unlikely unless I go on a BTEC level 2 course and spend 3 years getting the level 3 extended diploma or retaking my GCSES and then doing my A Levels which would still take 3 years.

But I’ve recently found out that my college does access to higher education courses but they’re usually designed for ‘mature’ students even though the college doesn’t state a specific age you need to be for this course but it’s for 1 year and it’s a level 3 and equivalent to 3 A levels.

I have been out of education for about 5 months due to personal problems but I did take my GCSEs I just didn’t get the right grades and I read the access course is for people who has taken a gap in education.

So if I did take this access course and applied for university would they still accept my application even though I would be just under 18 by the time I applied for the course? I’ve also read most universities actually prefer access course than BTEC diplomas but I’m unsure if this is true or not. Sorry if this is long but I really need some advice! Thanks.