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Btechs and University?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I've just started my A-levels and I've chosen to do;
History, English Literature, Psychology and Business Studies...
However I want to drop Psychology and thought about doing a Btech instead...
But I'm really worried if this will affect my chance of going to university.
I'm going to drop Psychology whatever I do but I want to pick up a fourth - and just think at this stage a Btech would be best for me?
History, English Literature, Psychology and Business Studies...
However I want to drop Psychology and thought about doing a Btech instead...
But I'm really worried if this will affect my chance of going to university.
I'm going to drop Psychology whatever I do but I want to pick up a fourth - and just think at this stage a Btech would be best for me?
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments
What makes you think a BTEC would suit you?
Do you think you could bear to stick out Psychology AS and then drop it? Most people do 4 AS and 3 A Levels.
If you were to take up another A Level instead of psychology, what would you do? What do you want to do at uni, and where?
I spoke to head of sixth form about dropping Psychology (which was his subject.. awkward!) And he said there was no point doing a Btech and just to focus on the 3 subjects I've got now and to also pick up a extended project (Which contributes towards UCAS)
I was a bit iffy about that idea because I wanted to do 4 subjects then drop 1 next year.. But somehow he managed to convince me to do 3 so I'm no longer going to do a btech anymore.
I suppose it makes sense as there isn't really any point me doing an extra a level if I dont want to do it, espcially a btech.
I wanted to do a Btech because it is the easier option and there isn't a exam so there wouldn't be the extra pressure of an exam.
I wanted to study Sports Media and Plymouth University College
- Thanks for the replies
In terms of university applications, it depends where you want to go and what you want to study. You can look up on the UCAS website what any qualification is worth on the UCAS tariff scale. However, being honest, academic universities won't accept students with vocational qualifications on to their courses.
The problem with picking up another course is that there isn't anything else I can do, well there isn't anything I'd like to do, theres only;
Chemistry, Biology, Food Technology, Product Design, Maths, Sociology... Thats pretty much it along with the btechs - Perfoming arts, T&T, Health & Social care and Science.
I did really well in Geography GCSE so I would do that, but they're not running the course and the only reason I did well was because I had an awesome teacher but she's left now.
But 3 A levels would be OK for uni wouldn't it? Surely if I got say.. 3 As, that'd be better then say 4 Bs? I just want the best chance for uni and I'm worried 3 won't be enough..
I was in a similar position in year 12 (I did the IB, so slightly complicated, but basically I wanted to do easy Maths, whereas teachers etc were telling me I had to either do normal Maths or hard Maths
Just for the OP here, moreso in the interest of anyone else that might read this, seeing as your circumstances have changed: BTEC National Diplomas (or higher) are widely accepted into most universities, including many red bricks like Manchester, Liverpool, etc. and if you go on TSR you'll see that quite a few BTEC students have got places in good universities and even their own websites, you'll see you can definitely get into uni with a BTEC. In fact I know of someone who was recently accepted into Cambridge with a BTEC for Engineering, albeit with the addition of A-level Maths (anecdotal, I know).
It does definitely depend on the course you're doing, though. I think Law and definitely Medicine and other highly competitive/academic courses would prefer you to do A-levels or the IB or at least your BTEC with an additional A-level in a science/maths/foreign language.
By the way, don't think of them as "easy" or "back door" routes. Its people with that mentality that tend to flunk whatever they study, be it BTEC, A-level, Access, or whatever, because I can tell you from a BTEC Level 2 course in Science, which is only GCSE level, I did last year, they're not as easy as you think. I was flooded with assignments week after week after week, the Pass criteria is easy, but the Distinction criteria was way harder than anything I did in Double Award GCSE Science at school, and I got a BB in that (before you ask why I did it, I did it to fill time in and I missed the enrolment to resit my A-levels because I was in hospital) . According to my tutor, they've bumped up the academic rigour in some BTECs because of the criticism from the government, media, etc for being "too easy".
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