help choosing a suitable course/university

[happyharry89]

i have just recieved my AS results and got a,b,c,c,e (works out to be 210 ucas points) and i am starting to feel bogged down by the idea of what to do next. i will more than likely go to university but take a gap year first then mayb go into teaching or advertising. i have tried to look through a few prospectuses/websites but none of its too clear and it all seems alot to get my head round. if i go to university i want to do something interesting for me this is things like sociology/philosophy/anthropology/crimimnology anything like that. Any help would be much appreciated thank you :)

[happyharry89]

and can you please tell me wat sort of universities those sort of grades are good enough for? thanks again

[Ava77]

210 points gets you a wide choice of universities, but it depends how many of your grades they will count. I know with A Levels they will only count your 3 highest grades, and won't add the points of the remaining results. I'm not quite sure for AS level, but the best way to find out is to talk to the Faculty office of the course you're interested in (you should be able to get the number of their office in either their prospectus or by calling their switchboard.

Failing that, have you tried talking to UCAS?

There are some universities that allow you take combination courses, such as Criminology & Psychology/Sociology together (I know UCE - University of Central England - is one of them - I used to work there).

Alternatively, have you thought about using your gap year to help you decide what you want to do? Perhaps go on a couple of voluntary projects overseas to give you an idea what you want, and then apply when you get back?

[happyharry89]

thank you
are you sure they dont include the points you get for the subjects you just take at AS, so if i drop the one i got a b in then i dont even get the 60 points, that cant be right then my AS in biology would have been pointless

[clarebear86]

I do Criminology with Sociology, I got an A,B,C at A-Level and at the univeristy I go to I needed a minimum of 240 ucas points but don't forget A-Levels are worth more points than your AS levels.

A-120 points
B- 100 points
C-80 points
D-60 ponits
E-40 points

Ava is right I did an AS level in psychology and this wasn't considered the offer I received was a minimum of 240 points from 3 A-Levels or equivelant e.g AVCE.

If i was you as mentioned I would ring the specific departments at the universities you are interested in and ask them to send you out an information pack on the course all the information should be in that regarding the grades they want and it will give you more information about the courses tell you what you will study in each year and look out for the open days thats your chance to have a look around the uni and ask any questions.

Good Luck
Clare

[xskababyx]

Hey,

This sounds really awful but I will warn you off 'Sociology' unless you want to be a social worker of something like that. I don't want to offend anyone but I have a friend who has a degree in Sociology and nobody really takes it very seriously when she applies for jobs! I did Sociology at A level, and it is interesting but I did feel after that I had wasted my time, and that I should have done 'Politics' or 'Criminology' or something as its kind of a naff version of that.

Also, I did a philosphy course in my first year at Uni and I absolutely hated it. Its really hard and I tended to think most of it was Bullsh*t. Also, there were a lot of people changing their degree course after the first year (you have the option to do this at Reading University, as long as you have taken modules in another subject (you are required to do this anyway) So I was doing an English degree, and because I took modules in Philosophy I could have changed my degree to this subject if I had wished)

Well, its a bit of a cynical view and I've probably offended a few people but I just wanted to warn you.