Pathway options to becoming a Paramedic

[boredwithfoodprob]

My son is in Year 12 currently studying 3 A-Levels. He has expressed an interest in becoming a Paramedic. I think his personality type will mostly suit this kind of work - I have a close family member who is a paramedic and he agrees. However, I’m concerned about the high amount of points many (all?) Paramedic Science degrees require as he’s not on course to get super high A level results. Is there another pathway that doesn’t require such high results? Many of the universities we’ve looked at are asking for BBB, possibly BBC. One thing he does have on his side is that he works at a Care Home and they have given him loads of training - First Aid, safeguarding, manual handling etc etc.

Any ideas very welcome! 🙏

What grades is he currently working at?

Do you think that if he was accepted with lower grades, but the right work experience that he might struggle with the course?

With some trusts you can start as an ambulance technician and then after experience on the job, complete your paramedicine degree.

Foundation year could be an option

One of my daughters friends was determined to be a paramedic, was smart enough but no real interest in uni or academic study because they wanted more practical training in their early career

Applied to military first but got rejected on health grounds, but an excellent route if that works for you.

He was already volunteering as First Aider from about 16 years old and secured an apprenticeship because of that, FWIW the different Ambulance Services seem to advertise these and what is offered seems to vary a lot because of that

My daughter is a Technician with East Midland Ambulance Service. Whilst she can’t administer some/intravenous drugs etc her experience allows her to cope with most situations. To her it’s important that she’s been able to continue a life without the pressure of work AND study. And it pays well enough for her.
Other things to consider are whether your son could cope with rostering for 12 hour shifts, early starts or late finishes, working 3/4 out of 7 days, and being treated despicably by the odd person. She loves the job but it ain’t all roses out there.

Most paramedic science programmes go into Clearing, having already taken students who missed the conditions of their offers, so try not to get too hung up on the published entry requirements. If you go to https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/92738520-cf9f-a29a-8aaf-7fefbffe1e14?academicYearId=2024#entry-requirements, for example (I don't work at Wolverhampton: I just picked this as a fairly representative example), you'll see the standard offer is BBC but the most common entry grades are CCC and some students are accepted with CCD.

EDIT: as someone else has said, there is also the option of a foundation year. Many of these have no specific academic requirements (see, for example, https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/2a18b0b8-2cf0-4bcc-8a20-8eb01c3bdb59?academicYearId=2024#entry-requirements).

There are apprenticeship programmes, too, but the paramedics I've talked to have some concern about the quality at present. See https://www.wmas.nhs.uk/work-with-us/explore-roles/student-paramedic/ as an example of an ambulance trust's apprenticeship offering.

There are several post 92 unis offering paramedic science. With these unis offers will be UCAS points based rather than specific grades which gives more flexibility if your ds is strong in one or two subjects and weaker in the other. You can also count points from music exams at grade 6 or higher towards UCAS points based offers. I have not had a child doing paramedic science specifically but maybe look into foundation years or access to higher education courses as a back up if your ds doesn’t get the A level grades. However it would certainly be worth applying and seeing how your ds gets on. Just apply to a range of unis so that there are a couple of aspirational choices and at least three realistic ones.