Access to higher education

[Anniiee24]

Hi all,

I am wanting to do an access course from home

Are there any websites you are aware of that are legit and have experience with?

I am looking into doing access to medicine/dentistry or science

You could try an OU course

Unfortunately they don't have anything that would confirm attendance to medicine

Would you not be better doing it via a local college? There are practical elements.

I’m thinking about doing a science course but I’m a bit put off that everyone will be a lot younger than me

I’ve done 2 years with OU but I’ve no practical experience

The only online provider of a recognised Access diploma for medicine currently is www.distancelearningcentre.com. (Not an advert: I don't have any connection with them.)

Please be aware that many medical & dental schools don't accept students via Access to HE. Of those that do, many will only accept diplomas that are compliant with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)'s subject descriptor for medicine. These subject descriptors are going to become more common: there is one for nursing being piloted in 2023-24. Be aware, also, that not every medical school that accepts Access will accept distance-learning diplomas. You'll need to research this very carefully.

For science there will be more flexibility. But doing a science Access diploma or a non-subject-descriptor-compliant medicine one will shut you out of medicine.

Sorry, this is a more helpful URL:

https://www.distancelearningcentre.com/course/access-to-he-diploma/

Note the key statement, "Meets the requirement of QAA's Subject Descriptor for Medicine developed with Medical Schools."

As has been said above - Be very careful of Access to Med/ Dentistry courses as many do not get students into these courses as they just aren’t equal to A Levels. Med / Dentistry schools that do are very particular about which Access courses they will accept ( look on Med / Dentistry schools entry requirements - at GCSE and Level 3 courses accepted ) You would also have to do face to face to do the lab work required for Chemistry elements .