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Careers & UCAS Points

El Guepardo

El Guepardo

Rafael Van Der Vaart
Any idea how to get around having brick UCAS points? I flunked my A-Levels because at the time I wasn't focused towards studying, I didn't appreciate the level of importance behind A-Levels and thought of them only as a means to an end rather than pushing myself to be as successful as I could have been.

Now, I sit here with 2 degrees, an LLB Bachelor of Law Degree and an BA Business Administration (Honours) degree, which I graduated from at end of March this year, and instead of believing that I have strong chance of success for employment, I'm being knocked down over having poor A-Level grades. Surely that I have an additional degree should carry some weight but nope. As it is I only have 160 UCAS points.

What am I expected to do? Surely I cant be far wrong in believing that having an extra degree should carry some weight behind it?
 
EL G - I had the same issues. 160 UCAS points and at the time didnt give a brick about studies.

I found it a struggle to get a job. I gotin simply by working in a small practice for 10k a year for eight months before moving to the big four (who nine months earlier rejected me for havin brick A Lvels).

I suppose the only way is to write with a covering letter and a CV saying that you want to work there etc and although you may lack some of the exam success you would like an opportunity to meet them etc etc etc

Its all about trying to be creative and to a certain extent maybe offering to work for free. There is no substitute for experience and once you get that experience under your belt your A Levels will become a distant memory.
 
I think some of my problem is that I'm not a typical graduate either. UCAS points are used to separate new graduates who each have the 1 degree and yet here I am 10 years older with 2 but answering the same formulaic questions.

I get stumped too when asked about references from my education, not sure how the Open University would know me well enough to confirm what kind of person I am. :/

Why don't UCAS offer points totals for a second degree, hardly like it's straightforward to get a degree, is it? Even if some thin degrees are easy, they still take years to study for!

I think a lot of what you've said is true about experience though. I'm at the point where I'm desperate to be successful with my career, feel like its now or never.
 
Depends how old you are and what work history you have I guess. I'm only 28 and have had 2 jobs since uni so I'd probably need to put them there for the next job but after that can probably just state I have some.

What sort of field are you looking to go into?
 
Once you've had a few jobs though then its more about experience than qualifications a decade ago
 
Most companies place importance on A Levels as evidence that they can pass exams - after all a company doesnt want to recruit someone who wont study etc considering the company will invest time and money and effort.

But as you have your professional qualification it shouldnt be an issue but employers are so selective now
 
But I fudged my career up. I left Uni with a 2:1 Business Degree that I didn't know what I wanted to do with and then promptly stumbled along in dead end jobs until I took up law degree. I have now qualified from that & thinking what to do next, think need either fast track programme or graduate programme to save my career. And that's when I fall in to the UCAS trap :(
 
I have very good A levels but no degree, I dropped out of uni after a year. In the IT world it means nothing at all, you need the skill to do the job or you know the right people, that is it.
 
Yep. But ICT quals are a biggy as well. If you are 18 and want to go into IT fudge Uni off. Spend £10k on CCNA, VCP and other quals.
 
LutonSpurs said:
I have very good A levels but no degree, I dropped out of uni after a year. In the IT world it means nothing at all, you need the skill to do the job or you know the right people, that is it.
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Funny you should say that. I was applying for jobs last year with a bachelors in Computer Science and a Masters in Network Security, applied for a graduate Network Security job and received a phone call (i believe from a recruitment agent) asking about my A levels. I told them I got CDD and they said they were looking for people with ABB. The biggest joke I've ever heard of, I've got a Masters in the subject and my D in Product Design when I was 18 somehow negates that?
 
Exactly my point Richie, surely they should see that what you have achieved most recently is both a higher level qualification and also more recent but NO! It's stupid!! It's a joke! They have no clues as to what should really be significant.
 
Richie said:
Funny you should say that. I was applying for jobs last year with a bachelors in Computer Science and a Masters in Network Security, applied for a graduate Network Security job and received a phone call (i believe from a recruitment agent) asking about my A levels. I told them I got CDD and they said they were looking for people with ABB. The biggest joke I've ever heard of, I've got a Masters in the subject and my D in Product Design when I was 18 somehow negates that?
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A professional qualification should supersede any exams beforehand like A Levels and GCSE.

The way I see it GCSE and A Levels should be used to get into university and determines whether it is a red brick uni or a former polytechnic and then from then on its the degree and any postgraduate education and qualification that should determine the job nothing beforehand.
 
Richie said:
Funny you should say that. I was applying for jobs last year with a bachelors in Computer Science and a Masters in Network Security, applied for a graduate Network Security job and received a phone call (i believe from a recruitment agent) asking about my A levels. I told them I got CDD and they said they were looking for people with ABB. The biggest joke I've ever heard of, I've got a Masters in the subject and my D in Product Design when I was 18 somehow negates that?
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fudging ridiculous.
 
El Guepardo said:
Exactly my point Richie, surely they should see that what you have achieved most recently is both a higher level qualification and also more recent but NO! It's stupid!! It's a joke! They have no clues as to what should really be significant.
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The fact is you are a very different person at 25 than you are at 18!! Most blokes are immature and I believe the current education system disadvantages boys over girls as the exams come 2 years too early.
 
i wouldnt aim to work in any industry where you can have a masters and be held back by a bad a-level from a decade ago. they clearly are over subscribed.

there shoud be alot more attention paid to actual job creation, and telling kids at 16 which industries are likely to need staffing in the next 10 years. telling everyone to do computing or business is fine until theres 1 job to 100 applicants and 10 years of hard work go down the toilet.
 
Howard Webb said:
i wouldnt aim to work in any industry where you can have a masters and be held back by a bad a-level from a decade ago. they clearly are over subscribed.

there shoud be alot more attention paid to actual job creation, and telling kids at 16 which industries are likely to need staffing in the next 10 years. telling everyone to do computing or business is fine until theres 1 job to 100 applicants and 10 years of hard work go down the toilet.
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16 is too late, by then they've made their bad choices at GCSE level (the "I'm doing Media 'cos my mates are doing it" attitude) and find they then can't do the A levels they need to take the next step towards a career, there needs to be much more guidance at 13/14 as to where they can go.
 
camspur said:
16 is too late, by then they've made their bad choices at GCSE level (the "I'm doing Media 'cos my mates are doing it" attitude) and find they then can't do the A levels they need to take the next step towards a career, there needs to be much more guidance at 13/14 as to where they can go.
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Thoroughly agree. I wasn't overly sure what I wanted to do but really felt like I fancied a career in physiotherapy or within a Sports science environment. I was pretty good all areas of Science at GCSE level and thought it was exactly what i wanted to do but never really got much advice or interaction in terms of finding where my real talents were.

Did A-levels that were geared towards doing a Degree in Sports Science and found it pretty difficult although nothing prepared me for what it was like at degree level. Long story short, ended up leaving my degree course 18 months in because I found it so tough going and the depth of knowledge and study involved became such a slog that I found my learning not to be flowing how it should be, probably because I had no enjoyment anymore.

I think had teachers and careers advisers taken more time and liaised with one another to see where other strengths were in my education then I probably would have made better choices. at 29, I look back now and realise that I had an enjoyment for writing and would have loved going into Journalism at uni or History and English combined which would actually been more suited to my core abilities and opened my life up to a number of different employment opportunities as opposed to the limitations of almost deciding at 14-16 what a future career plan would be with little or no help from professional people in the know.
 
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