After A Levels
Aims of this session What are the different options post-18? How do I get help /support / advice for those different routes? Sign up for a National Apprenticeship Account Set up a UCAS application
You can get a job Choose your preferred field. Tailor your CV and application Choose whether you want interview practice Choose whether you want advice from alumni or someone already working in the industry you are interested in. All this support is accessed through Nikki.
Plan a fantastic Gap Year Look through all the gap year providers listed in the LRC. Start an application. How are you going to finance it? Is there a charity element to it for which you could apply for funding? Are you going to want to apply to university or for a job or apprenticeship on your return? All this is coordinated through Nikki.
Apprenticeships / University Are you thinking about exploring whether there is an apprenticeship in the field you re interested in? Are you considering university? You can start applying for both of these options and that is where we are starting today.
Level of apprenticeships Different levels of apprenticeships available Intermediate apprenticeship Level 2 12-18 months Equivalent to 5 GCSEs A* - C Advanced apprenticeship Level 3 18-48 months Equivalent to 2 A-levels Higher & degree apprenticeships Levels 4,5,6,7 24 months+ Equivalent to foundation degree level+ Plus knowledge, competence, and employability skills 6 Presentation title National Apprenticeship Service
What is a higher & degree apprenticeship? A higher and degree apprenticeship is a way to earn while you learn in a real job, gaining a real qualification and a real future. A work-based learning programme with substantial training and the development of transferable skills. Available at level 4 and above, with level 4 and 5 being equivalent to a Higher Education Certificate/Diploma or a Foundation Degree, level 6 equivalent to a Bachelor degree and level 7 equivalent to a Master s degree. Degree apprenticeships are at level 6 and 7 and must include a Bachelors degree at level 6 and a Masters Degree at level 7 More of these specialised and highly skilled apprenticeships are being offered each year. 7 Presentation title National Apprenticeship Service
Some amazing facts about apprenticeships Over 500,000 apprenticeship starts in 2015/16 Advanced Level apprentices earn between 77,000 and 117,000 more over their lifetime than those with lower level qualifications; this rises to 150,000 for those doing Higher Apprenticeships. The highest starting salary that I have seen advertised for an apprenticeship vacancy is 32,000. After finishing, the majority of apprentices (90%) will stay in employment (including 2% self-employed) Nearly 25% of former apprentices had received a promotion within 12 months of finishing their apprenticeship 8 Presentation title National Apprenticeship Service
The Process 9 Presentation title 00/00/2013
Applying for an apprenticeship www.getingofar.gov.uk/apprenticeships 10 Presentation title National Apprenticeship Service
Apprenticeships You need to register with the National Apprenticeship Service and set up an account. Apprenticeships are released all the time, so you can set alerts and monitor what is there before starting applications next spring. 11 Presentation title 00/00/2013
UCAS Whatever you are interested in after A levels, the UCAS site has a huge amount of information. You now have ten minutes to log onto UCAS and start looking at what is there / create your NAS account. www.ucas.com. Start with the what are my options tab.
Degree Courses There are lots of different kinds of degrees: foundation / honours /masters. There are different methods of studying: exams, coursework, sandwich placements, year abroad. You don t need to decide now what you want, only that university is an option you would like to keep open at the moment. It is a long form with 6 sections (5 for you and one for me) so we start it early.
Setting up your UCAS account I am going to take you through the set up process for a UCAS account. This does not mean you are committing to anything at all. You can start the form and not finish and it will be deleted automatically next September. It will not cost you anything unless you choose to send the completed application off and apply to university.
First you need to register
Undergraduate registration
2018 entry
Register (this will be your log-in screen once you ve registered).
Click Next
Agree terms and conditions
Fill in your personal details. This is how universities will first meet you so remember capital letters!
Email address Recently a student contacted me with the following email address: Farting Fish thbaokhanh@gmail.com What does yours say about you?
Choose how they communicate with you
Set your password and remember it
Make a note of your username. You will need it to log in. Log in.
Select through school
Buzzword is FARMORS2018
Farmor s should pop up
Select your tutor group
Make a note of your ID number
All done. There are 5 sections to complete
What next? You can complete the personal section. You can research the UCAS site. Next week we will complete the education and finance sections.
UCAS session 2 Student Finance Education
First check your personal details section Have you completed everything? Any questions?
Student Finance Unless you are paying yourself of have a medical bursary choose this:
Disability and completion Don t be afraid of selecting a disability
Your completed sections show on the welcome page
Additional Information This is ethnicity and any summer schools or work placements you have attended. Much of this section is optional. If neither of your parents have been to university, you will have an advantage.
Student Finance: click yes, even if you re not sure. You can easily opt out later.
Three down, what s left? Choices: where you want to go. The session on the w/c 3 rd July will help with this. Education: we ll do that now Employment: you can fill in yourselves, if you ve had any jobs you want to record. Personal statement: draft done and will be finalised once you ve made your choices.
Education You have to record all your qualifications that you took at GCSE. You will have to record your AS results from this summer if you took any exams. You will have to put your current courses as pending. I will then fill in my section with your predicted grades. You can also record DofE, music exams above grade 5 etc.
Add your school If you have only studied at Farmor s then you only need to add that: start date and end date will be August 2018. If you studied GCSEs elsewhere, you need to enter that school as well as Farmor s. Get your dates right or you will not be able to add your qualifications.
Here s an example
And another example
Highest level of qualification Please don t put no qualifications!
Now to add qualifications
Start with your current A level courses I have created a short list for you
You do not need to add all the modules
Save and add similar is a neat shortcut It pre-populates some of the fields for you, but check they are right (e.g. exam board)
If you have taken AS courses add them the same way. You can go in and change the grade from pending to your result in September.
Core Maths & EPQ
Now all your GCSEs. Be careful. Is it a short course (SC) or a double award(cc) or a full course (FC)
You have a print out of your GCSE results from when you enrolled. Work through each one and enter it. Once complete you can then look at the list and add D of E and any other qualifications. If you took an IGCSE then it is this:
You should have something like this
Your tutor will check all your qualifications and I have to approve them
This is what I will see
My section is the reference and predicted grades
So you complete all your sections first Reference process: Each of your staff will write a short subject reference onto SIMS by 14 th July 2017. Your tutor will then put those together with what s/he knows of you from registration etc. to write 4000 characters. I will then check and upload the reference onto your form along with your predicted grades.
Sending the form The deadline is 15 th October for Oxbridge / medicine. The deadline for everyone else is 15 th January 2018 at 6pm. You pay and send (application fee of 13 for one course choice, or 24 for up to five course choices). Only after that can I approve it and send it on to UCAS. Last minute relies on other people being there waiting for you.
Next steps You now have all the information you need to complete all the sections already covered. Next week s session will be on choices: how do you choose a university? You will also be able to research your different options and choose your open days. The w/c 3 rd July will be on UCAS tariff and finalising personal statements.
Session 3: how do you choose a university course?
How do you choose a university or a course?
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! Consumer test: Name the crisp flavours. C - - - - - a - - O - - - - R - - - - S - - - - - S - - - a - - V - - - - - - P - - - - C - - - - - - - W - - - - - - - - S - - - - T - - - S - - - - C - - - -
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! Consumer test: Not all biscuits are equal! Rank them from 1 to 5 for popularity in the UK.
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! Consumer test: I would never buy a.... I would probably buy a..... Samsung Galaxy LG G5 Iphone 6s Motorola Moto G Lenovo A6000
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! Consumer test: How do you choose your mobile?? Got to look good O.S. only Capacity Take the shop assistant s advice Got to be the latest model Colour My friend s got one Online research Other things Features Android only
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! Consumer test: The Californian Jam experiment Table 1 24 different jars of jam available to taste. Discount voucher to buy after tasting. Table 2 6 different jars of jam available to taste. Discount voucher to buy after tasting..... but which result goes with which table?? 3% bought a jar after tasting 30% bought a jar after tasting
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! There is a tendency to give up when faced with too much choice. Daily Telegraph Thousands of students do not research university before applying The Guardian "Students base choice of university on prestige" Daily Telegraph Parental opinion holds sway over university choice
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! December 2015 Number of UK universities = 130 Number of possible courses = c700,000 Number of help websites = Gave up counting but here s a sample. http://russellgroup.ac.uk/ http://www.theguardian.com/education/universityguide http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/gug/ http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/03/14/the-top-10-universities-in-the-uk-2015/ http://university.which.co.uk/ https://www.ucas.com/ http://www.bestcourse4me.com/ http://coursefinder.telegraph.co.uk/ http://www.topuniversities.com/courses http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/content.php?r=3590-university http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/helping_choose_a_course_and_university/ http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/education-pathways/choosing-a-university/whatcourse-should-i-do-at-university https://unistats.direct.gov.uk/
Like it or not, you re a consumer!! www.howtochooseauni.org is another site you can use. It teaches you how to make intelligent use of the available wesbites. And there is you UNIFROG log-in which pulls all that information together for you too! And the SACU website. So get looking!
Session 4: UCAS Tariff & Offers Universities make offers based on several factors: 1. Your personal statement 2. Your reference 3. Your previous qualifications 4. Your predicted grades. 5. Your educational context (Farmor s Sixth Form; parental education level; any disability).
You can make five choices (four for medicine) You will get a range of replies to these by 31 st March 2018. You then select two from the offers you have and make one a FIRM choice and one an INSURANCE choice. You must reply by 1 st week of May or they will be lost.
Firm choice This means the place you really want to go to. You then pass the power to that university to have you or not on results day. You are locked in. You can still reject it in September, but you cannot go anywhere else.
Insurance Choice This is your second best. If you can t get into your firm choice, then you will go here. Usually the insurance choice has a lower entry requirement, but not always. If your firm rejects you on results day, your insurance choice can choose to have you or not.
Universities want your firm choice and will tempt you Unconditional offers Reduced offers.
What Offers Can they Make? Unconditional: If you put them first as firm choice.
Reduced offer
EPQ can be an asset too
So you can get grade offers. You can also get points offers.
A level points 112 points = BBC
AS Points (40% of full A Level) So 112 points from at least 2 A levels and a maximum of 20 points from AS could be: AS: DD (20) A level: A* B (56 + 40)
Core Maths (same as other AS qualifications)
EPQ Points (50% of full A level) 112 points: EPQ A (24) A levels BB (80) Core Maths D (10)
Other points
Music
Performing Arts & Sport
Moral: Points offers can be achieved in far more flexible ways. Know what your qualifications are worth and the range of points you could achieve.
Different courses are more popular than others. Universities can like you and offer a related course which is less oversubscribed.
The choice of where to apply is yours. We will help you make yourself as desirable as possible, but we will not artificially inflate your predicted grades in the hope you get an offer. An offer is not a place. That depends on results. Part of your educational context is that our predictions are within 1% tolerance. Universities look at where you come from. If we lie, that affects everyone because it affects our reputation as being accurate.
Health warning: there is no such thing as the best university. There is only the best university for YOU. If you really want to get into a uni that needs AAA and you re predicted BBC then stop and ask why you want to go there?
You will probably be unhappy there AAA unis tend to have high exam loads and lots of pressure. Is this what you want? Look at student employment afterwards; look at all the other stuff and don t be deluded that you will be worth nothing unless you get into Bath or Bristol or Durham Reflect on how you work, who you are, what your needs are in terms of lectures and tutorials.
What if you change your mind? Choose where you want to study. The first year is usually general and not counted in your final grade. You can often switch courses or specialise in Y2. You can also ring up universities and talk to admissions about changing your offer to another course or deferring.
And If in March when you have your offers, and you change your mind, you can use UCAS EXTRA to decline your offers and make ONE other application for a different course.
Which looks like this
You have from now until 15 th January You have lots of time for this decision. Go to open days Get the feel of universities. Make the best decision you can Aim to finish by December. Ask for help and advice. Be realistic.