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Worried about Doing a Computer Techology "Foundation Year" at Uni

I am looking at doing Computer Technology Degree, but I don't really think I have the skills needed right away for direct to Level 4, as all my prior qualifications are in a different A-Level and BTEC non-techy subjects. I see that a Foundation year is at Level 3, which is fine as I feel it would be beneficial but I also am thinking if the Computer Technology degree is not for me at the end of the year, does anybody know if in general they are seen as a qualification at Level 3 in its own right? I am assuming I would be issued a transcript though. Thanks.

Reply 1

winterscoming

What are the entry requirements for the degree, and do your grades meet those? (i.e. A-Level/BTEC or UCAS points). As long as you meet the university entry criteria for the degree then it's not a problem and you'd probably be wasting your time by doing a foundation year (The foundation year is a way of getting into university when you don't meet the normal entry criteria for some reason). You generally don't need to have studied any Computing-related subject before because universities nearly always teach everything from basic principles - the first year would usually repeat all of the GCSE and A-Level computer science content.

The top-ranked universities often ask for A-Level maths (and a few such as Oxbridge/Imperial have a preference toward Further Maths), otherwise most will only ask for A-Level/BTEC grades in 'any' subject (they might ask for one or two STEM subjects but not always), as well as a grade B or C at GCSE Maths.

Here's just a few of the higher-ranked universities which don't ask for A-Level Maths: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5007920
(and not included in that list are a lot of the lower/mid-ranked universities and ex-polytechnics who usually have no specific A-Level subject requirements)