FAQs - Courses
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It would be good for you to attend university open days so that you can find out more about the courses you are thinking of and ask any questions to the staff or students on that course. You could also try and get some work experience in a couple of areas to see if that is the kind of job you would enjoy doing and want to study as a course. If you are still unsure when you are applying, you could apply to one subject area at university using your 5 choices on UCAS, and another subject area at college where you can submit another application and write a different personal statement.
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You have a couple of options to get into teaching. There are a few direct university courses into teaching which you can study for 4 years to qualify as a teacher as soon as your graduate. But if you are unsure, you could study a degree in any relevant subject area that you are interested in, and then after you graduate you could complete an additional one-year PGDE course. This route would be one year longer at university, but it would keep more options open for you after you finish your undergraduate degree if you are unsure about teaching.
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This is a personal preference and could depend on the course of choice you are applying to, and your preferred way of learning and teaching. College is more like school with smaller classes and more emphasis on practical work, whereas university is usually more theory-based with a large emphasis on independent study. Think about the course you are applying for and if it is an option at both college and university, and then consider what style of learning you would prefer. Remember you have the option to go from school to college and then into university after that if you don’t want to go to university straight after secondary school.
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Yes, your university and college applications are separate.
You have 5 choices through UCAS for university, but you can then additionally apply to college courses which will not affect your 5 university choices.
There is no centralised application portal for college applications so each of these applications would not have an impact on your other choices at separate institutions.
As a result, you will submit one university application with one personal statement for all five of your choices but can submit multiple college applications with separate personal statements if you choose to.
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Not necessarily, there is a route called articulation that you could do which would take the same amount of time in education as starting the degree at university straight after school. Some courses offer articulation which means you could study at college for 1or 2 years doing a HNC or HND and jump straight into the university for 2nd or 3rd year to complete the degree.