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18yrs old & access course.. wondering if anyone can help!

Okay- I'll explain the situation first. I'm 18yrs old, upon leaving school I went to sixth form and stayed until jan however had to leave due to illness. The following september (this september just gone) I attempted to restart my first year (AS) however my illness became even worse and was forced to leave as I was admitted into hospital and am still there and will be for a few more weeks.

The thing is, I am desperate to go to university, however to restart my AS's next year I will be 19 and therefore unable to do so in a sixth form. I've looked into alternative routes and have found that my local college does access courses. The only access course they do to my knowledge is a social sciences course which is pretty much ideal as the a-levels I was studying were psychology, sociology and english lit. However, I have a few questions, and I was just wondering if there was any chance as to whether anyone could perhaps try and answer some;

1- Do you need to be 19 to BEGIN an access course? On enrolment to the course, I will be 18. The course is due to begin in early September and I am 19 at the end of September.

2-Can I go to uni with an access course UNDER the age of 21 (i.e the age of a mature student)?

3-If I do this course, does it limit me as to what degree I can apply for? I.e does it HAVE to be a social sciences degree or would I be able to, say, do a joint hons sociology and english lit degree?

4-The course details say it takes up 3 days per week so would I be able to study for a maths GCSE alongside this?

I have tried to email the admissions officer but have had no reply! Thanks a lot - appreciate any feedback!

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Reply 1
Thanks so much for the help. :smile: So I don't need to worry at ALL about gcse maths if I complete an access course?

Ha yes of course I will rep you! :smile:
Reply 2
Re: question #1 - In spite of the 19+ age requirement, there are three girls on my 'Access' course who are only 17 or 18 or something. I guess not every college would accept students who don't meet the age requirements, but some manifestly do, so you might just want to get in touch with them and ask.

And, yes, GCSE maths and English are optionally available.
Hey

There may be some leway(sp) with some colleges/universities.
Some will let you apply straight though them in what you want. Derby Uni if you come from an Access or Foundation degree you automatically providing it's not a 'competitive course' like Radiography/OT/Teaching/Social work etc. you are pretty much gaurtneed depending on which subjects you take. Some one in Study skills has applied for the law.

You can do English/Maths equilevents if you dont have them.

You can do Sociology and English Lit i cant see why you shouldnt be able to do this. You shouldnt discrimintated because you went though an Access course.

I cant see why you shouldnt be able to do your degree before your 21. You should let them know you would prefer do to a GCSE Maths though instead of a L2 Maths on the Access course.
There are a couple of people in my college 18 / 19 taking access courses and it hasn't stopped them applying to uni. Go for it. You would be able to do Sociology along with English Lit (assuming this is the degree you want to study) as Sociology is a key module in the humanities access course. As for taking a Maths GCSE, it would depend on your college timetable.

Hope that helps!
her-own-wings
Okay- I'll explain the situation first. I'm 18yrs old, upon leaving school I went to sixth form and stayed until jan however had to leave due to illness. The following september (this september just gone) I attempted to restart my first year (AS) however my illness became even worse and was forced to leave as I was admitted into hospital and am still there and will be for a few more weeks.

The thing is, I am desperate to go to university, however to restart my AS's next year I will be 19 and therefore unable to do so in a sixth form. I've looked into alternative routes and have found that my local college does access courses. The only access course they do to my knowledge is a social sciences course which is pretty much ideal as the a-levels I was studying were psychology, sociology and english lit. However, I have a few questions, and I was just wondering if there was any chance as to whether anyone could perhaps try and answer some;

1- Do you need to be 19 to BEGIN an access course? On enrolment to the course, I will be 18. The course is due to begin in early September and I am 19 at the end of September.

2-Can I go to uni with an access course UNDER the age of 21 (i.e the age of a mature student)?

3-If I do this course, does it limit me as to what degree I can apply for? I.e does it HAVE to be a social sciences degree or would I be able to, say, do a joint hons sociology and english lit degree?

4-The course details say it takes up 3 days per week so would I be able to study for a maths GCSE alongside this?

I have tried to email the admissions officer but have had no reply! Thanks a lot - appreciate any feedback!


Hi her-own-wings I try to answer any questions or concerns that you have concerning Access Courses,hope you find my following advice helpful:biggrin:

I did Access Social sciences course many years ago and the last one was a year ago in Sciences so i do have some experience with how they work and how universities consider them.



1)A access course is mainly for students who wish to get into university alot quicker than doing the standared As or A level route.They are normally one year Full-time Access or you even do it over 2 years part-time but would check this with the college that you want to do the Access Course at

2)Most universities will consider Access Applicants depending upon what particular Access Course route they follow

3)When i first went to university my Access Course was in Social sciences meaning Psychology,Sociology and English Literature and i am seem to remember i got 5 out of 6 offers from the universities i had applied to.

4)YES its is possiable to do three days a week per week and then do GCSE maths however you might have to be in a extra day to do your GCSE maths course

5)No it doesnt restrict you to do Joint honours degree as thats what i did.I would recommend that you e-mail the concerened universities concerned and asked them whether they would consider the Access Course that you had in mind.I wouldnt see a problem

6)From what i understand it anyone rather 19 or over is classed as a Mature student whether its at College or Universities these days

7)Can I go to uni with an access course UNDER the age of 21 (i.e the age of a mature student) Yes dont see why not

I hope this clarifies some things.
:yep: :biggrin:
Reply 6
The college I go to rquired everyone to be 19+ even if they turned 19 a month after the course begun they are still not accepted. As far as I'm aware it varies from college to college.
Reply 7
I'm 18 and I'm on an Access course, and there is even a 16 year old on the course! but she is doing it over 2 years part time. So it definately varies between colleges.
Reply 8
If the English is Level 3 and you achieve it, I'd imagine there'd be no problem with you doing Socio & English Lit as a degree.
Wow, I'm somewhat surprised. The Access course I'm on only allows people who are over 21, or who turn 21 that year. There's nobody on the course who's right now under 21 that I know of. I'm curious why they allowed a 16 year old to take one as I thought they were specifically aimed at mature students?

I can perfectly understand allowing 19 year olds to take it, if it's impossible for them to do A Levels. But sixteen?


Anyways, it won't limit what degree you apply for. I'm applying for Japanese, there's two or three applying to take History on my course, and one taking something to do with computer game design. There's also a few doing English Literature. All of us are getting offers in the courses we applied for but for the computing one, who dropped down to two years so hasn't applied yet. One girl the year before got into a law degree. They're just the ones I can think of off-hand that aren't doing nursing, teaching, or social science-based courses.
Reply 10
The european law making people (lol :tongue:) decided (either last yr or the yr before) that there could be no bottom age limit on access (accept school leaver age , i believe) becuase it went against the age discrimination act. So if you get refused on grounds of your age, nail 'em to the wall! lol xxx
Reply 11
Hiya Im 20, 21 this month, and went back to college at 19 after going performing arts college therefore not having a -levels.. I had two options to do a one year access course but you have to be 100% you wnat to go uni after or just normal college qualification a-levels or btec national diploma etc, I decided to do a btec national diploma in media production as I wasnt 100% at that time I was going to go to univeristy. So dont rule that out, Further education courses at college / 6th form are mainly for 16-19 year olds. Doing it over two years I found to be alot better as it allowed me to learn more about the subject, but if you know exactly what you wnat to do go for the access :-)
Reply 12
u have to be 19. im on the access course now (i just turned 22) and we have someine who is 18 on the course and the college may have to take her off because they cannot get government funding for her.
Reply 13
clair2901
u have to be 19. im on the access course now (i just turned 22) and we have someine who is 18 on the course and the college may have to take her off because they cannot get government funding for her.


The 18yo on ur access should tell them about the european age discrimination act. Then they should be fine. lol x
Reply 14
her-own-wings
Thanks so much for the help. :smile: So I don't need to worry at ALL about gcse maths if I complete an access course?

Ha yes of course I will rep you! :smile:


What I say is go for it!!!

I am at the other end of the scale doing an ACCESS Cse at City and Islington College - I am 38 and changing my career - I am becoming a Dentist - Conditional Offer from Bristol on passing the Cse - 60 Credits, including 45 at Level 3!!!!!!!

Good Luck - never take no for an answer - there is lots of good advice for you.
Reply 15
Frogpig - age discrimination has nothing to do with access courses. Generally 18 years olds are doing A levels etc. Access courses are usually for those over 21 who didn't go uni in the first place but need to refresh their skills. They have the age limit for a good reason.
Reply 16
luce20
Frogpig - age discrimination has nothing to do with access courses. Generally 18 years olds are doing A levels etc. Access courses are usually for those over 21 who didn't go uni in the first place but need to refresh their skills. They have the age limit for a good reason.



I had to look into it for my course. I don't know if its everywhere but the institution I attend lowerd thier age limits to come in line with age discrimination act.
Reply 17
frogpig
The 18yo on ur access should tell them about the european age discrimination act. Then they should be fine. lol x



lol. its only because m,y college as taken any "charges" off the course fees and its ony the registration fees we had to pay. She hasnt been taken off. the college lied and said she was 19
Reply 18
I'm thinking about doing an Access course but I'll only be 18 by September so I'm not sure if I'll count as a "mature student"
Reply 19
mature students are people over 21