Is college seen as inferior to sixth form

[freezingone]

DH says it is. I don't get it. If they offer same courses & have same success rates... do universities view the college route as inferior?? I've never heard of this but he's adamant..?!

Unis don't care it's based on grades and UCAS points generally in the required subjects

Where I grew up, the only sixth forms were at private schools. Everyone else, including me, went to college. I turned down LSE, I interviewed at Oxbridge (but they weren't able to offer the subject combination I wanted), now I earn 6 figures in the City. At no point has going to college rather than sixth form EVER come up.

The sixth form my kids attend/attended, which is part of their school, calls itself a sixth form college.

There’s no difference.

6th form is a school with post-16 education.

6th form college is a school with no pre-16 education.

both teach exactly the same thing, a’levels, BTEC, gcse resits etc.

some will be good, some outstanding, some bad. Same as any school.

universities don’t care where your a’levels were done, just the grades.

There are two types of colleges: Further Education (FE) colleges and Sixth Form Colleges. Sixth Form Colleges are equivalent to, and sometimes superior to school sixth forms. Hills Road College, Cambridge, for example, is one of the highest performing state Sixth Form Colleges in the country and gets more students into Oxbridge than many private schools.

FE colleges are a different kettle of fish entirely.

Where I grew up there werent many sixth forms at all!

College was great!

One of the 6th form college within striking distance is one of the best in the country. The local college is split into two - one is purely 6th form and teaches A levels, and the other is a further education college and teaches vocational courses. It also offers GCSE resits.

Our county has no state sixth forms except 2 grammar school sixth forms..

Depends on the area. Around here there is only one six form to three colleges, one of which is extremely high achieving.

This has changed hugely since we were young. I think college suits children who are done with some of the formality of school, but in my experience these are not children who are less able - often quite the reverse.
Our local sixth form college has the most amazing courses. So whilst at the school sixth form you can study art A level, at the college you can study graphics, specialise in animation, do a T level in textiles, do a range of different photography options. For some children who know already what direction they are aiming in, these courses are so much more appealing than rather tired A levels.
Universities look at the UCAS points and you can get just as many of these at college.
Also the children I know who did 6th form college are very well set up for Uni which lets face it is sometimes a very difficult step from a protective school environment.
Take DH along to see one - he will soon change his (old fashioned) mind!

Maybe it's different now (I'm in my 40s) but that's exactly how my sixth form was?

No.

Here in Hants it's all colleges.

Universities will look at your predicted grades not whether it is a 6th form or college. I guess at most they'll know if the institution has a habit of over predicting.

Colleges are not 'lesser' and in fact act as a good stepping stone to university.

Not all areas have school based sixth forms.
In our city, one side of the city - most schools have a sixth form attached.
The other side - seems mainly sixth form colleges.
Then there is also a technical college that covers sixth form.
And then the city college which covers sixth form age and beyond.

In different areas the 'better' option will vary in terms of what they offer, performance of the setting, and individual grades for different student types.

It also depends on what the pupil/student wants to do at 16-18y. And what they want to do post 18y.

Round here the normal college would generally be seen as a less good option for A level provision leading to university application, but depending on which side of the city you are then a sixth form college may be considered a better option than a school based sixth form.

No. My school had no sixth form and neither did the next town's school. We all went to the college for A Levels etc. They could offer a much larger range of courses and qualifications.

It depends on the college. My DD went to a 6th form college because they offered A levels her school didn't. As they specialise in 6th form, she got better results then she would have at school (she was mainly grade 6/7 at GCSE and got A* A B at college) she found it good prep for uni making new friends and being more independent and the college gets a lot of students into prestigious unis and courses.