Is it better to apply for Uni...

[MerryMarigold]

... whilst still at school. And then defer a year?

DS wants to get an apprenticeship but realistically very difficult/ don't exist in automotive design. There are a very few really good uni courses which would suit him and his Product Design skills. My plan is that he'll have a year off, work a low skilled job while applying for apprenticeships - and then maybe realise Uni's a better route for his skillset.

I'm wondering if it's better/ easier to apply whilst he's still at school so they can support the process. And then defer for a year. Is that possible? How hard is it to apply 'on your own' in a gap year?

Long time since I went to uni but i didn’t really know what i wanted to do. In the end I was encouraged to apply for deferred entry which I think worked out well.
Took the pressure off me and I had my gap year, but was treated as a “fall back”…when it came to it I was ready and excited to go

So yes school supported my application in answer to your question.

Why isn't he looking for a sponsorship instead?

What is a sponsorship? He probably doesn't have good enough grades (currently on B,D,E - hoping to get that to A,C,C - it's the Maths and Physics he insisted in doing which are letting him down) . The few design courses available don't seem too hung up on grades and more on passion/ talent and he is pretty good that the PD.

Yes, apply while at school for a deferred place. Then when results come in, you will know what you have to fall back on if you don't get the apprenticeship.

Apply for the apprenticeships during your gap year and if successful, turn down your uni place.

Have you seen this:

careers.rolls-royce.com/united-kingdom/students-and-graduates/apprenticeships-and-school-leavers

Would the school not support his application next year? My daughter is doing Art Foundation and the school says they will help anyone who is doing this or taking a gap year and haven't done UCAS (though the Foundation course will also help with ucas).
I think it's better to apply with grades in hand so offers can be unconditional.

Also give him the chance to resit if need be.

Apply Autumn year 13 (2023?) for a deferred place (to start 2025). If he meets his offer then he has the year to find an apprenticeship with the uni place as back up. If he doesn't meet his offer he can apply again in the Autumn after he got his results (2024) as a normal cycle applicant looking to start in 2025, and still then spend the year finding apprenticeships.

Thanks. Will definitely be applying for things along these lines, although they are more engineering and less design-focussed. They are incredibly competitive though. My friend's son didn't get onto Ford with 2 A star, 2A and he had his own (successful) business at the same time!

@MerryMarigold yes, schools & colleges do help support pupils taking gap years.

Have you & your son seen this course at Coventry? BA (Hons) Automotive and Transport Design | Coventry University

Against these arguments for applying to defer, here is one for waiting. As youvknow, OP, the current A level grades at which your DS is working could be better. If those become his PGs, his options this round will be limited. If he improves and implies with better grades in hand, he will have better — perhaps much better — options.

Of course he can risk it now and try again later, but it could be demoralising

DD1 knew she wanted a gap year, so she was going to just apply post A-level, but the school advised her to apply in y13 for deferred entry on the grounds that if that didn’t work out, she could always reapply the next year anyway, so that’s what she did. (As it turned out she didn’t get any offers so did have to reapply, but that’s a different story).

I do get Poetryandwine’s argument that his predicted grades might limit him, but bear in mind the reverse could also be true, in that if his actual grades end up worse than his predicted ones he would be stuck with them.

Either way, he can still apply for apprenticeships alongside uni application, and his school should still support him post A-level - at DD’s school they do up until the Christmas after their A-levels.

Yes. I love that course. I'd like to do it! There is one other at Swansea. Only 2 around though there are other purely design based courses.

I know schools will support the gap year but do they support if he applied the year after he's left? (If he's not getting anywhere with apprenticeships).