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optometry -

im lost on what this means
- Aston website


External Foundation Programmes
We consider external foundation programmes for entry into our year 1 programmes on a case-by-case basis. We will always require applicants to have met the following criteria prior to application:

5 GCSE’s at grade C/4 or above including Maths (at grade B) and English.
ABB in any subjects OR
BBB where two subjects must be from Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics.
Any conditional offers made will be based on meeting a specific grade in your foundation programme. In order to be considered you will need to submit a UCAS application as we do not accept direct applications.
Original post by choutr
im lost on what this means
- Aston website


External Foundation Programmes
We consider external foundation programmes for entry into our year 1 programmes on a case-by-case basis. We will always require applicants to have met the following criteria prior to application:

5 GCSE’s at grade C/4 or above including Maths (at grade B) and English.
ABB in any subjects OR
BBB where two subjects must be from Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics.
Any conditional offers made will be based on meeting a specific grade in your foundation programme. In order to be considered you will need to submit a UCAS application as we do not accept direct applications.

They are referring to people who took foundation years from other universities. This is otherwise known as Year 0 or preliminary years. They're supposed to be the universities' equivalent of Level 3s (A Levels, IB, BTECs, Access, T Levels, etc.).
Foundation years are often for people who picked the wrong subjects for the course that they want to do or they didn't get the grades that they needed at A Level/IB/BTEC/etc.

If you're currently an A Level student, this doesn't apply to you (well not yet and hopefully it won't).

If you have done a Foundation Year from another university, you would still need 5 GCSEs at grade 4 including Maths at 5 and English Language (or English Language and Literature) at grade 4.
You would also need the equivalent of ABB in any A Level subjects or BBB if you have at least 2 "science" subjects.

If you do get a conditional offer, it would be based on the grade in your foundation year.
Even if you are doing a foundation year, you would still require to apply via UCAS and not send in a direct application to the uni.

Let me know if you need further clarification.
Lakeside residences
Aston University, Birmingham
Birmingham
Visit website
Reply 2
so say if i do a foundation year in huddersfield for optometry, will i then be able to transfer to aston for my 1styr in optometry, as long as i meet the gcse and alevel requirements for optometry aston external foundation programme
Original post by choutr
so say if i do a foundation year in huddersfield for optometry, will i then be able to transfer to aston for my 1styr in optometry, as long as i meet the gcse and alevel requirements for optometry aston external foundation programme

Yes, theoretically (don't know how well it pans out in practice). You might want to check with Aston and Huddersfield regarding this though to be sure.

Personally, I would opt for resitting A Levels or doing a suitable credible Level 3 alternative over doing a foundation year because:

You get more choices of universities than with a foundation year, which usually restricts you to the uni that you study it at

They're significantly cheaper - resitting A Levels can cost £250-£1000 (depending on circumstances), doing Access course can cost £1000-3500), whereas a foundation year costs £9250 (a year of uni) which you can take loans out

You don't have to specialise in a particular subject area since A Levels and Access courses allows you to pick other disciplines on top of the subject area you want e.g. optometry/life sciences/healthcare.

They can take roughly the same amount of time

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