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r/unitedkingdom•
CharlieFlags

A-Level Results Day Advice Thread

It's results day! Congratulations to everyone getting results today - it's an exciting time.

I've worked in student recruitment at a university for the past four years, and i've given advice to hundreds of people about their university choices. I'd like to help out anyone here who's unsure on what to do or needs help with anything at all. (I'm happy to send proof of this to the mods if they like)!

Obviously i'm not speaking on behalf of my university, nor will i be saying what it is - you'll likely be able to guess if you trawl hard enough but being anonymous means i can be far more free with my answers rather than being attached to a particular university.

These threads have been really good in the past (see here and here), so i'm hoping this year will be good too. I'm around all morning so i'm happy to keep answering questions as and when.

Do be aware that when it comes to university admissions, not everyone is the same. Some people might get lower offers because of their circumstances, some people might get benefits from extra-curricular schemes, etc. If you're unsure, get in touch with the university in question.

Finally: it's likely that most of the advice given will be phone the university you're applying to. Every university is different, but everywhere will have big phone banks on the go to answer questions from applicants.

Okay - please feel free to ask away. Best of luck!

Posted Aug 18, 2016, 9:27 AM UTC

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FineusBirmingham, formerly a Southern Pansy•

Good advice and good on you for doing this :)

Best of luck, results people.

As a non-Uni recruiter (I work in IT)...

Keep in mind that your University choice does matter and more so than simply where you go drinking on nights out. Take it seriously and make sure you go somewhere that you're happy with and that will do a good job of furthering your education if that's the route you'd like to go down.

We're finding that hiring companies certainly do pay attention to what Uni you go to and the results you get from it.

I'm not saying that to worry anyone, but it does matter. Take it seriously. This is the part where you start to become independent and an adult.

Heavy stuff out of the way - good luck again!

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Flabby-Nonsense•

Can I just ask you what your experience is with foundation years? I need to research them a bit more and I was just wondering what your thoughts were on them, if they're a good idea that sort of thing.

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CheeseMakerThingKenilworth•

Not a first hand account but my mate did one. Foundation years are a good option, if you're happy to have an extra year in education then I'd say go for it. They tend to be quite broad so you can go into something else if you change your mind and they aren't particularly stressful. One massive benfit is that if you don't like the university you're at you can use your foundation year and move for the full course if you can get into somewhere better or you don't like the city. They can also be a good taste of what you will spend the next 3 or 4 years doing, in terms of how to do assignments, time management and budgeting, which will give you a massive advantage over everyone else (first year I was knackered half the time but my mate was breezing through it, and had more money left).

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Tempthrow17381•

First hand account I did one. Was a foundation year which would allow me to go into biomedical science many years ago (was from a uni right at the bottom of the uni league table). Didn't have any science related a levels. Near the end of the year I applied to a few unis including russel groups. Got in. And from there you can do what ever you want.

Just remember for tuition fees you are only funded for 3 years (for now, see STEM 2017 funding) however a foundation year counts as a +1 so all in all you'll be taking out 4 years of tuition fee loans (1 year foundation +3 years undergraduate). And you will be able to get maintanence loans etc as per normal during the foundation year.

For medicine I believe there are a few unis that have an access year (which kinda acts like a foundation year to a 3 year undergrad but just for medicine) if you didn't do to well in your A levels.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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ninety2wo•

I took a Science & Engineering foundation (SEFs) year at Loughborough University back in 2011 before going on to attain a technology degree. It allowed me to get into my first choice without having to retake any A Levels. I would highly recommend it. You get a really broad overview of all the different courses that you could go on to apply to (I actually switched prospective courses during the year).

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CharlieFlagsOPHappy Results Day!•

Foundation years seem like a great idea to me. At my university, they've only been running a couple of years, and have some very stringent requirements to get in (proximity to the uni, below certain a-level grades, first in the family to go to uni, etc.), so i'm not the most well versed on the topic. This said, from what i've seen, they're a brilliant stepping stone for those who want to go on to further study but are lacking the A-levels to get in to certain universities, or if you took the wrong a-levels for a certain course, or something like that. I'd definitely recommend doing some research and finding out if they're right for you - they tend to be very different from university to university - and see if you fit the bill. Give me a shout if you need to know anything more or have any other specific questions!

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zephyrthewonderdogLancashire•

Would the cost of a foundation year be the same cost as a 'normal' year at university? If so would it not make better economic sense to do a 12 month BTEC course to gain more UCAS points? This seems to me a way that universities are getting another year's money by changing a three year degree into a four year one? Not trying to be negative (honest) what are the advantages of the foundation year vs other routes?

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Tempthrow17381•

When I did mine it was pre-2012 and it cost the maximum a uni could charge for a normal course (£3200ish). When I went through UCAS again to apply for other unis my offer was to get a minimum certain percentage per module and overall. With no reference of my previous A-levels. I believe ucas points at that moment had no effect.

Negative point now would be the 9k + what ever maintanence loan one would take out. Could well run into 15k+.

Unfortunately I can't give info of other routes as I have absolutely no knowledge of them.

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CharlieFlagsOPHappy Results Day!•

A lot of universities don't actually charge the full fee for the foundation year - for example, my university charges £4,600 for a humanities foundation year, which then guarantees you entry onto one of our BA courses. In comparison, if you were just to apply to say, History, through UCAS, you would need A*AA and you're competing against about 8 applicants per place.

You're right in that it might make economic sense to do BTECs, but you'll find that a majority of top-ranked universities won't take BTECs, or they'll prioritise those with A-Levels. Foundation years really work for those who want to go to a high-ranking uni, but underperformed at a-level. It's also great if you're a mature student, or if you want to study part time.

So basically, if you can do those other routes (get good a-levels and apply that way) then you should do that. If you've got lower a-level grades, or you fit any of those other criteria, then foundation years are the way to go.

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