What qualifications do you need to go to university?

[Rainbowskytoday]

I appreciate this will depend on University and courses; but in general what do you need to attend a reasonable good (not top) university in England? Specially if you have no clue what to study 😅

A levels or Btecs relevant to your preferred course but there is absolutely no point going to University unless you know what you want to study. If you don't know, you're far better off getting a job and not taking on £50k debts for no good reason.

It depends to some extent how old you are. Can you say some more?

You should spend an hour or two on the UCAS site, @Rainbowskytoday - comprehensive advice on every aspect of applying and preparing to apply:

https://www.ucas.com/

Oh - if you’re a mature student you also need the Mature Study and Retraining board, here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

Presuming this question is about you, why do you want to go to university?

As well as A levels or Btecs, you would also be expected to have at least five GCSEs at grade 4 or above (grade C in the former grading system), including English Language and maths.

You don't need anything if you are willing to use the Open University. On top of that if you choose and Open degree, you can let your path choose itself as you go along and find out what you find interesting or are good at.

I wouldn't go to uni if you have no clue what you want to study. It's too expensive now to just go for the sake of it. Take time first to figure out what interests you enough to spend 3 years studying it and potentially a career/lifetime in the field, then see what path makes best sense towards that. It could be anything from an access to HE course or a foundation year to building units on the OU or trad A-levels/Btec, but until you know what kind of subject it is, it's hard to pin down.

I am in year 11 and have to choose A levels in the next few months.

Thanks, will have a look.

So A levels or Btecs plus 5 GCSE at minimum 4 including English and Maths.

Your guidance teacher or career advisor at school should be able to help you. And yes, take a look at UCAS.

Are you being home schooled, @Rainbowskytoday?

I’d assume most school pupils have this information at their fingertips simply through conversation with older pupils and school staff?

What advice is available about A level choice at your school?

National Careers Service could be a useful site. It includes profiles in 1,000s of careers. Working backwards from careers that might interest you is one way to help with A level choice.

Thinking about what you enjoy most helps too - writing essays? investigating in a lab? analysing problems to find a solution?

If you have no clue what to study, don't go to university and waste everyone's time and your only shot at student finance. Postpone unless or until you develop a clear idea of what you want to study.

As others say @Rainbowskytoday are you in school? If so, then teachers or a careers adviser should be able to help.

In general, the advice is to choose the A levels that will lead to the career you want. If no specific career is in your mind, choose the ones you enjoy and will do well at. Ideally there will be a correlation anyway – as in, the chosen career will fit with the subjects you enjoy.

For example – if you want to be a doctor or a vet, choose biology and chemistry and any other. If you want to be an engineer, choose physics and maths.

If you love Eng lit or French or history or DT, choose those. It's important to consider future plans when choosing A level subjects; but for many 15yos there is no clear career in mind, understandably enough.

You can also pick A levels you have not studied before, such as (in many schools) psychology, sociology, philosophy, gov/politics, economics. IMHO it’s a good idea to look at the spec and talk to teachers before starting a totally new subject to make sure it is one you will enjoy and do well at. A lot of YP have a different idea of psych, for example, from the reality.

I just know my A level options will be important for university if I decide to go in s few years.

Choose something you can get consistently high marks in. I was told to choose something I enjoyed. Mistake! I could have done anything and I wish someone had been more brutal with me.

what subjects do you like? What kind of grades are you getting? Do you prefer exams or course work? This will help you decide whether to do A levels or BTECs.

You can always change your mind about what subjects you want to do during Y11. My eldest has just started Y12 and had about 6 different subjects she wanted to do over the course of Y11. You have to say which you want to do at 6th form, but there's normally quite a bit of flexibility to change. She ended up choosing the 4 she got the best marks in and then dropped the one she least liked after a month.

I guess for now you need to decide where you want to go for 6th form, either your existing school or somewhere else.

Surely your school will support you in your choices. Is there a 6th Form open evening where you can talk to subject teachers, my grandchildren had this.

So what subjects are you strongest at? If equally good at all, which do you enjoy? IMO if you don't like biology GCSE, even if you are on track for a grade 9, you are unlikely to enjoy a) the A level b) a med degree c) being a doctor.

OTOH if you love maths and physics, and are looking at grades 7-9, take those maybe with FM, and open lots of doors – doors to uni courses and careers which would interest you if you like those subjects.

I got an instant offer for my first choice uni at the age of 42. It was back in the 80s and they don't do that any more. I had no A levels and only 5 O levels (not including maths). However I did have professional qualifications and had published a book. I was also good at selling myself and had a really good personal statement and top quality references.

Posters who advise you to consider carefully and study the various options are correct. I spent a year on my uni application. There was no internet then so it was a bit of a slog. You went to the reference library, pulled out the various prospectuses and went through them, You attended interviews and looked around campuses.

If you are a mature student you will have a very different uni experience than a 20 year old. Intellectually older students bring many valuable skills from their previous work and life experience. They are more resilient, well organized and good time managers. Some older students find the social side more difficult because they have more in common with the lecturers than with their 18-20 year old fellow undergrads.

Specially if you have no clue what to study

If you have no clue what you want to study, you shouldn't go to university. Yet. You might ho sometime, when you know what you want to study.

The OP is only in Year 11 so not going yet, and plenty of time to decide 🙂

I did my degree (humanities subject) in central London straight after A levels. There were several mature students in my year. We 'babies' really appreciated how much the mature students brought to seminars. I've posted so you know you are appreciated!

Thank you. I will probably take a gap year; just wanted to know what I needed and how my choices at Sixth Form will impact my application. I will choose the subjects I am better at; hopefully things will become more clear in the next few years.