Get into uni with 2 a levels?

[PurpleDinosaur]

That is the biggest load of tripe ever lol. Media is a perfectly acceptable course.

I am currently doing Broadcasting at uni and without my A in that i wouldnt have got in at all!

Yep, Media Studies is a perfectly acceptable course for people who want to go on to university to do one of the courses that has been made into a full degree for little reason.

 

[Zefan]

People are placing value in degrees in very different places here.

Some people want the qualification at the end, to prove that they know their subject area and that they can be trained to a high level.

Some people want to be taught skills that they can use themselves to build up their expertise in an area they need a portfolio for.

Media, Film Studies, Drama and Art are all examples of courses that are suited to the latter.

There's no doubt that some universities make mickey mouse courses purely to grab numbers, but that doesn't mean they won't be useful in some way to someone and certainly doesn't give you a right to tell them that what they're doing is a waste of time. To reach that conclusion you need to know their aims and the path they wish to take.

 

[Tefal]

certainly doesn't give you a right to tell them that what they're doing is a waste of time.

Of course it isn't a waste of time, without people studying subject which uses only a tiny amount of the money it generates, where would they get the money for the multi million pound equipment those of us on real courses need

 

[alexakasloth]

but one of my A levels is media! !! thats a "useless" subject apparently and no one will accept you if you have that

I've thought that myself, but I have interviews to do Film and Video at Newport, and Television Production at Bournemouth (a very hard course to get onto). My A level results were Media studies - B, Film studies - B, Gen studies - C and a C in AS classics.
However, Westminster rejected me and processed my application for another course with lower entry requirements because I did not meet the academic requirements for their Film Production course, even though I have had some experience in this field since leaving college :/

People are placing value in degrees in very different places here.

Some people want the qualification at the end, to prove that they know their subject area and that they can be trained to a high level.

Some people want to be taught skills that they can use themselves to build up their expertise in an area they need a portfolio for.

Media, Film Studies, Drama and Art are all examples of courses that are suited to the latter.

Thank you Zefan, I am glad that some people like yourself can understand the difference between these courses.

 

[PurpleDinosaur]

There's no doubt that some universities make mickey mouse courses purely to grab numbers, but that doesn't mean they won't be useful in some way to someone and certainly doesn't give you a right to tell them that what they're doing is a waste of time. To reach that conclusion you need to know their aims and the path they wish to take.

I'm not saying anything is a waste of time, I'm just suggesting perhaps some subjects should just be kept as college courses rather than be given the degree tag for the sake of it. Having a degree used to be an academic achievement, now anyone can do it because the difficulty of certain courses at certain universities struggles to rival that of A levels.

 

[EffBee]

May I inject a note of sanity here.

A University "education" is very very expensive these days. You are buying a product. You will go into debt for many many years to pay for "Uni". The question you need to ask yourself is whether that "Uni" product is anything even vaguely useful to you.

If not, for god's sake don't go!

Make a business decision. Don't treat it as a hand wringing "oohhh should I go to Uni and will anyone take me on any course whatsoever with these grades".

A university course should not be though of as an excuse to not go out to work for a few more years.

 

[Dark_Injection]

I've thought that myself, but I have interviews to do Film and Video at Newport, and Television Production at Bournemouth (a very hard course to get onto). My A level results were Media studies - B, Film studies - B, Gen studies - C and a C in AS classics.
However, Westminster rejected me and processed my application for another course with lower entry requirements because I did not meet the academic requirements for their Film Production course, even though I have had some experience in this field since leaving college :/

Ye the Bournemouth course is the best in the country for it, i passed all of my interviews and got in the top 80, just needed the grades to get in and i got a B instead of an A in media, which they wanted me to.

Ah well, i am now at Falmouth on Broadcasting which is an EXTREMELY helpfull course. - I have always wanted to edit and make films/programs/radio. I am not even guaranteed anything at the end of my degree, i know this for a fact. I am taught how to use EVERYTHING to the fullest, and how to make new ideas and concepts, even a lot of my work now is internet based. Not everyday you can learn how to use a 20K pound camera and walk around with it, even in the first year. But without people like me studying the new technologies that are going to be in your future life you pretty much have no form of entertainment, and you can sit with your being degrees being bored ****less everynight

And btw, can i just laugh at the comment

Of course it isn't a waste of time, without people studying subject which uses only a tiny amount of the money it generates, where would they get the money for the multi million pound equipment those of us on real courses need

I could bet my bottom dollar you have no idea how much money i use on a daily basis lol

 

[Mat]

Well I ended up with a 2:1 Hons in Environmental Biology, loved the course, thoroughly enjoyed my time, met loads of great people and ended up with a decent job.

Sometimes, you just have to make the best of what you have, which I did.

OP: you may not get into a 'red-brick' university but you should still be able to continue your education somewhere.

 

[daz]

Media is perfectly legitimate imo, it requires as much work as English Literature, History, Physics, and Chemistry.

Watching a few popular classic movies (and usually modern classics at that... Fight Club et al) and writing about them is not as difficult as understanding Chaucer, nor is it as difficult as classical mechanics... I'm not saying that media is rubbish at all, but to say it is on the same level as Physics, Chemistry, English Literature is a little bit far-fetched.

 

[Dark_Injection]

Watching a few popular classic movies (and usually modern classics at that... Fight Club et al) and writing about them is not as difficult as understanding Chaucer, nor is it as difficult as classical mechanics... I'm not saying that media is rubbish at all, but to say it is on the same level as Physics, Chemistry, English Literature is a little bit far-fetched.

Ye, all i do at uni is watch films :S (To be fair my flat mate does and he does Film), but on my course i dont watch films.

Nearly all of my work is aduptations from written texts, so we need to understand them in a film based form and how to create different ideas. So for me i still have to understand written texts, but just in a different way, on how to turn it into my own work. It is pretty interesting though.

 

[daz]

Well I did them all at a level, so I have first hand experience

Why not go and do a physics, maths or chemistry degree then - and earn far more (on average) than you would doing media or film?

 

[PureAppleJuice]

Media is perfectly legitimate imo, it requires as much work as English Literature, History, Physics, and Chemistry. Hey ho, I guess it's easy to lambast something that you know nothing about, happy days.

Hahahahaha, hahahahaa, haha. Hah.

No.

 

[daz]

Law is the way forward

I'm not saying media is as hard as the other subjects I mentioned at uni, I'm just saying that at a level English, physics, chemistry etc aren't harder/much harder. People slate media at a level but it's perfectly legitimate imo.

I'm not saying it's rubbish at all but there's a reason why universities (especially the likes of Oxbridge and the Russell Group universities) attach special significance to certain subjects at A-level.

 

[Nullvoid]

I'm not saying it's rubbish at all but there's a reason why universities (especially the likes of Oxbridge and the Russell Group universities) attach special significance to certain subjects at A-level.

A reason that has rather a lot to do with the deeply-ingrained snobbery that accompanies tertiary education in the UK. Woe betide those who don't study "real" subjects to get onto "real" courses at "real" universities!

 

[daz]

A reason that has rather a lot to do with the deeply-ingrained snobbery that accompanies tertiary education in the UK. Woe betide those who don't study "real" subjects to get onto "real" courses at "real" universities!

Believe what you want lol... the market will decide itself - the private sector can judge whether candidates coming fom certain universities with certain degrees have the skills/knowledge/aptitude necessary to perform a certain role.

Which uni did you go to and what did you study?

 

[peetee]

Believe what you want lol... the market will decide itself - the private sector can judge whether candidates coming fom certain universities with certain degrees have the skills/knowledge/aptitude necessary to perform a certain role.

Which uni did you go to and what did you study?

you do know a hell of a lot of jobs and employers dont care what degree you have, its all about whether you A) have one
B) what classification you get

Not everyone gets a degree in the subject they wish to have a career in.
You may think this is stupid, but it isnt really, as careers are not really set in stone, and it just offers more options for things.
If you are like me and cant be bothered doing a degree at the subject you are good at(because i just am not motivated enough and the type of people iv come across in those subjects are not my type of people) you may aswell do something you think could be enjoyable, aswell as easy, and come away with a 2.1 or 1.1.
Having a 2.1 or 1.1 in a random degree isnt exactly going to look bad, iv got friends who are RAF pilots with 1.1s in art degrees from universitys that snobs and the like would shun as pointless.

Whole point in me being at uni to get a degree = pay rise in whatever career i opt for, most likely armed forces, as a result of having degree it means officer becomes easier rank to ascend to.
Not so stupid after all really is it, degrees can reflect peoples motivation, ability to learn new skills, and capacity to excel at these skills, hence why the MAJORITY of employers find applicants with ANY degree attractive.

 

[daz]

you do know a hell of a lot of jobs and employers dont care what degree you have, its all about whether you A) have one
B) what classification you get

----------
Not so stupid after all really is it, degrees can reflect peoples motivation, ability to learn new skills, and capacity to excel at these skills, hence why the MAJORITY of employers find applicants with ANY degree attractive.

That's cool, like I said the market decides.

Some jobs don't worry about the degree at all, some are incredibly picky.

 

[Kemik]

All depends on the course you want to do.

For a business course with your grades, you're much better getting an internship or job at a civil service (such as inland revenue) and work your way up. There's loads of people who left college and got a job there and are now on £30k plus. A fair amount of the time they'll pay for you to go on management courses and things like that.

I just personally don't see the point in going to a bottom of the list uni for a 3rd level degree. You need to compare work to the amount of fast track you'll get from a degree. No offence to anyone who's doing this, but I don't see the point in going to some crappy "university" for media when you could be out there doing an internship on a soap or in a theater and build your way up.

Employers are only really gonna be impressed if you show them a degree at decent uni, doing a decent course. Examples: Sciences (inc social sciences such as business), Law, Maths, etc. I think that covers a fair amount of professions. Most things like architecture, high level technology, etc can be included some where in sciences.

Peetee is correct in some ways. You don't have to get a degree in the career you want, but it certainly helps. I know people who have secured jobs with big four accounting firms and banks with a Biology degree but they're gonna have a hard time learning all the stuff that someone who done an Accounting degree already knows.