No, I never meant it like that at all. My point was that A-Levels show a far greater level of commitment, independence and motivation compared to vocational courses.

You may class it as snobbery, but it's a fact unfortunately. The majority of job interviewers or university staff would hold three or four good A-Levels superior to a BTEC.


When I was at college, I know from first-hand experience that BTECs are much easier than proper A-Levels. With no offence intended whatsoever, some of the most unintelligent people I know got a BTEC Distinction when I know they would have failed A-Levels due to the workload involved.

Peter.

rather than assuming that, go to oxford and cambridge mate, ask them what you'd need to do to have a chance of gettign in, the info you will gain cannot be anything other than positive, all the hurdles are in your head (in my case, i'm glad i didn't go, my work-ethic was the wrong side of totally apathetic at the time)

And yet, I suspect that some who excelled at an A level would struggle with the requirements of a BTEC.
Different strokes to move the world, Peter.

OT even further, I'm doing an NCFE qualification at the moment, and it's equivalent to a GCSE. And it's doing my head in because we're taking forever to do practically no work. I'm not used to it at all, and it's making me lazy. I could potentially fail as a result. Yet I hold an HND with Merit and a 2:1, with the joint highest scoring final project of my year.



Definitely - my sister turned down Cambridge, as the course at Exeter was better.

I see your point, but it's the reason why the different candidates struggle is the clue. As you have found first-hand with your NCFE qualification, an A-Level student may struggle with a BTEC due to the simplicity involved.

Peter.

Once again, thanks! Really!

Thing is, what I'd like to know is why you've also labelled me under 'unintelligent', which you pretty much have done. And easier? Really? I found some of the As-Level law I studied for a while easier than this. And you go on about workload? Really? Don't make me laugh.

There's laws to stop people discriminating against sex, sexual preference etc, maybe there should be one for qualifications......maybe, or I might just not be clever enough...

Both paths show a good level of commitment, and even if they aren't equal in the eyes of an employer (not saying their not), they are equal in teh eyes of UCAS and as such are equal in the eyes of universities, which is what mbm is really wanting, so it doesn't really matter

I know a lot of dossers who went off to do BTECs, but I know a fair amount of dossers who did A-levels too, those that didn't commit to either/or now have crappy jobs, those who did went to uni. The first year does a lot of filtering, about 20%-30% of my first year dropped out (either completely of dropped back a year), and I reckon a further 5%-10% did the same at the end of the second year...

I never suggested that you, or indeed the common BTEC candidate, was "Unintelligent". I was just speaking from my experience when I some of my somewhat unintelligent managed to get a BTEC qualification. They seriously struggled to string together a sentence so I doubt they could have got decent grades at A-Level.


You studied the first module of an AS-Level subject and you're comparing it to a full BTEC which is apparently equivalent to an A-Level. I think you'll find that's why your Law qualification seemed easier and had less work.


Of course employers can discriminate on the grounds of qualifications. They're not going to give a director's job at a successful company to someone without a single qualification to their name.

Peter.

That's simply not true. At all. If you look at university requirements, then yes it's true that the older universities don't recognise diplomas, but the vast majority of universities do. Those that do ask for exactly the same number of UCAS points from those with A-levels as those with diplomas. I don't think you know what you're talking about.



Oh, so you've done a diploma then?

There's a guy at uni who yes, achieves top of the class, and once scoffed at me because I had only done double science at GCSE...He has the brains to be top of the class, I have the brains to be kinda average. He has the social capacity of a sugar spoon while I can happily talk to most people.
Who is more employable?


Depends what the job is!

What if I was to say comparing it to the first year of my ND to the first year of my As?



I'm referring to my position you tit. Really.

I'm almost done with this now, congratulation Peter, you almost destroyed the ambition I had. But nah, I'm far too stupid to think it through, so I'll go ahead. Like I said a few posts back. GTFO.

Oh, and thanks Nick

Just because two things are equal on the UCAS tariff does not mean they are equal in the real world. Would a university accept three 'C' grades at AS-Level as being equal to one 'A' grade at A-Level? I suspect not.


I have done, yes, and I have also assisted with teaching parts of the course. Trust me, A-Levels are certainly much harder.


There is a huge difference between the amount of work in AS-Level and in A-Level. Therefore, a lot of people find the first year easy but really struggle with the second year.


I'm almost sorry I mentioned this, because I never aimed to destroy any of your ambition. Whilst I believe BTECs are not equivalent to A-Levels in my opinion, it is still a very good qualification to have.

Peter.

Dude dude dude...

Pg, stop being a [LIFTED], all Uni's for computer course want Cicso BTEC over most A-levels.

Now run along.

Only in relative terms, like primary school GCSEs are harder than SATs, they are, but when you get to GCSEs you don't suddenly draw the comparison. Personally I've not really found uni much harder than my A-levels, which weren't much different to my AS-levels or my GCSEs...I'd go as far as saying the my GCSEs were more challenging to me actually. The second year of uni stretched me somewhat, it was a bigger jump than I was used to.

I doubt I could do a BTEC, the sheer amount of work my Mum did when she did hers, I cowered at the thought of doing that much work on a single subject...

I wish you were fully sorry. And you didn't destroy them, read what I said.

Anyway, I've had a few more recomedations, so it's all good so far, I'll have a look at getting a few of the prospectus' from them tomorrow, too late now.

That depends on the university. Some would do, yes.



What course was that, then? I've got to say, I'm sceptical. I remember when you were at college, I'm not convinced there has been enough time for you to go through uni, graduate and then get a job. Unless of course you mean being some sort of teachers bum buddy and printing lab-sheets or something.

If you have managed to go through uni etc and get a job teaching a diploma then whoever employed you made a big mistake, didn't they?



I don't trust you. Not at all.



Well at least the people who matter seem to value diplomas as equal.



I basically cruised through my GCSEs. I didn't really care or bother but got the grades I needed. I just dossed around the whole time. I worked pretty hard at college, and I've now finished my first year at uni (you have done second year too, right?) which I found quite easy in comparison to college, where I did a diploma in IT. This was because I've had a massive head start on other students. I'll have to wait and see how next year pans out.

Of course, the odds are that I'll find it hard because all those lecturers on diploma courses try to make their students feel their qualifications are valued when we all know they clearly aren't, and anyone who has done one is an unintelligent dummy who won't ever get a job in their chosen industry, because other candidates will have 3 better qualifications in irrelevant and unimportant subjects. Photography, media and critical thinking FTW!! No diploma student would ever stand a chance in an A-level critical thinking, photography, or media studies class. They probably couldn't even string a sentance together.


No worries lol, I've done a diploma myself.

If you would like to know what my first year of uni was like having done a ND for IT practitioners, send me a PM. And don't worry about PG, he's being a prick.