access to he or a-levels?

Hi Before I start for some reference, I’m a mature student (21) and i studied BTEC health and social care in college. I have taken a few years out of education to decide what career i would like to pursue and have decided on optometry. I have been looking into ways i can get into this degree and i’m considering doing an access to HE in science.
Most unis ask for all one or two science alevels which i would struggle to afford at the moment. So i’m just wondering that when considering applications, do the admissions team prefer alevels to access courses? Would i be better studying alevels instead so that i have a higher chance of getting a place.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

Hi there, if you can't afford A-level access course would be a better choice. The Access to Higher Education Diploma is a qualification which prepares people without qualifications for study at university. Also if you don't have GCSEs you can do them alongside the course. They are equivalent to A-level so I think the university will accept them. Before you start access course see your uni entry requirements. Also, many people say that A level is harder than access course. I have never done an access course I just heard people saying that. Anyway, you said you have BTEC which level you did? It is level 2 or level 3? If you have done BTEC level 3 and it's not expired yet you can go to university with that.

Hi, thanks for your reply!
The BTEC was level 3 but i can’t get onto optometry alone with that qualification, it requires a science a-level too.
I’m pretty sure access courses are easier and that’s why i’m worried admissions may not care for them as much as alevels.

Hi, thanks for your reply!
The BTEC was level 3 but i can’t get onto optometry alone with that qualification, it requires a science a-level too.
I’m pretty sure access courses are easier and that’s why i’m worried admissions may not care for them as much as alevels.

You need to check the entry requirements for each uni/course in which you're interested. They will vary.

Most unis will accept access courses, I was just wondering if anyone knew if a-levels were preferred more so than access courses by the admissions team

Hi Before I start for some reference, I’m a mature student (21) and i studied BTEC health and social care in college. I have taken a few years out of education to decide what career i would like to pursue and have decided on optometry. I have been looking into ways i can get into this degree and i’m considering doing an access to HE in science.
Most unis ask for all one or two science alevels which i would struggle to afford at the moment. So i’m just wondering that when considering applications, do the admissions team prefer alevels to access courses? Would i be better studying alevels instead so that i have a higher chance of getting a place.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

Hi Before I start for some reference, I’m a mature student (21) and i studied BTEC health and social care in college. I have taken a few years out of education to decide what career i would like to pursue and have decided on optometry. I have been looking into ways i can get into this degree and i’m considering doing an access to HE in science.
Most unis ask for all one or two science alevels which i would struggle to afford at the moment. So i’m just wondering that when considering applications, do the admissions team prefer alevels to access courses? Would i be better studying alevels instead so that i have a higher chance of getting a place.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

Hi Before I start for some reference, I’m a mature student (21) and i studied BTEC health and social care in college. I have taken a few years out of education to decide what career i would like to pursue and have decided on optometry. I have been looking into ways i can get into this degree and i’m considering doing an access to HE in science.
Most unis ask for all one or two science alevels which i would struggle to afford at the moment. So i’m just wondering that when considering applications, do the admissions team prefer alevels to access courses? Would i be better studying alevels instead so that i have a higher chance of getting a place.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

Hi Before I start for some reference, I’m a mature student (21) and i studied BTEC health and social care in college. I have taken a few years out of education to decide what career i would like to pursue and have decided on optometry. I have been looking into ways i can get into this degree and i’m considering doing an access to HE in science.
Most unis ask for all one or two science alevels which i would struggle to afford at the moment. So i’m just wondering that when considering applications, do the admissions team prefer alevels to access courses? Would i be better studying alevels instead so that i have a higher chance of getting a place.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

Hiya 🙂

I'm doing the Access to Life Science course and have received 2 offers for Optometry at Uni so far for 2024

I would definitely recommend it for mature students because of the price and the fact that its only 1 year.

It is super intense, but defo worth it.

As for my background. I have a degree in humanities and decided I wanted to study Optometry 5 years after graduating Uni

Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂

Thanks for your reply
Just wondering if you applied for manchester uni and if so have you heard anything back from them?
My aim is to study at manchester but i’m unsure of how they feel about access courses
Thank you 😊

Hiya

I'm hesitant to tell you because it wasn't good news for me 😭

I did apply to Manchester. I got rejected very quickly lol
Though I wasn't surprised because when I went to the open day, I got the impression that they were looking for the traditional 18-year-old with A*AA a-levels. It was very much russel-group vibes.

The rejection only had one line as an explanation which was 'your grades/ predicted grades do not meet our requirements'

However, I meet the gcse requirements and have a First Class degree too 🤷

Only thing I could think of were my a-level results which were BCC and 10 years ago. However, when I went to the open day , they said that they would consider my degree as it was a higher qualification.

So not sure what happened there 🤷

But please don't take my word as gospel. You may have a different experience!

I thought that might be the case 😭
Thank you for telling me. Sorry if i’m prying too much but were your predicted grades in the access course DDD like they’re asking for?
I don’t know how difficult that is to achieve obviously as i’ve never done one before. Just trying to see if I have any chance at all.

Hi! Would Bradford uni be one of your options to study Optometry?
They have a sort-of-partnership with Bradford college's access to HE science course. There is an online option to the access course which is hundreds of times better than the in-person course in my opinion. More than 55% of this year's placeholders for the course came from access courses and the uni offer a Progression Scheme where you can get a 16-point reduction from the entry requirements if you fit the criteria (I think you fit this because you're an adult learner but all the details can be found on their website)!