To think DS should NOT do a foundation year when he's a straight A student?

[SilverEyes15]

DS is intelligent. Was expecting AAA for his A-Levels and was going to go to a good uni, unfortunately he didn't sit the A2 modules for one of his subjects due to anxiety. We tried our best for him to get the chance to sit it but we got no where. He has finished with A*A and an A in AS Level.

He tried contacting the uni as he got an A*, so may make up for it and they said no. He was offered the foundation year instead. He is taking it???

Before he fully enrols please tell me this is the best thing to do!? I though foundation years were for people not getting the grades!?

I should edit that to say - who cared less about A level results when the graduate had a good degree..

If it's medicine (only degree I can think of which needs high grades but has a foundation year for non-standard entrants), then go for it. It isn't looked down on (often mature students or people with excellent grades in the humanities do it), and in 15 years as a doctor I have never had anyone ask about A-levels. A medical degree is a medical degree, and as long as you've passed nobody cares what went before.

Which uni?

Which degree?

What subjects are his A levels in?

Have been looking at entry criteria for FY and surprised to see Loughborough, Nottingham, Durham all stipulation they will only take students with exceptional circumstances with evidence, not just anyone who may have missed their A’level grades. So even FY may not be accessible to many.

Just to add, which is why OP’s DS was offered a one. It’s really not for everyone who has missed their required grades.

Zombie thread

If your DS has anxiety anyway, a foundation year might be good for him anyway. It will give him a chance to settle in to university life and get used to a different way of studying and how the uni system works while the work will be (for him at least) relatively easy. I expect that if he does well in his degree nobody is ever going to care what A level grades/how many A levels he got.