ICT in Education, Course advice! :)

[heza121]

Hello everyone, this is a strange post to have on here, but i'm trying to get as many suggestions/advice/viewpoints as possible to help me make my decision.
Ok so here it is, I am looking to take ICT at college next year, however I am unsure on which course I should take. They offer three different courses, all of which are level three courses, so i think they are the equivalent of each other?
1) Computing - A Level.
2) Information and Communication Technology -A level
3) Extended Diploma in ICT - BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma. (If I choose this course It will be the equivalent of 3 or 3.5 A levels, and therefore takes up all my timetable, meaning this is the only course I could take.) (Which does sound a lot like heaven hahaha!!! )

Do Universities look down on BTEC's or prefer A level to them or anything?

I am looking to take IT at uni after college and hopefully get a job in the world of IT!!

FYI - The teacher said that 3 of the students that took the BTEC and achieved Distinction (top marks) were picked up and funded by either Microsoft or IBM and after attending university offered a job with them! - Im really undecided, any advice?? Thanks!!

 

[Wozza63]

what specifically do you want to do in IT, you should read the descriptions on the college website to see which is most appropriate, my college offers Double IT which is the best course for programming in the area which is what i want to do in IT, if you are doing programming, its best to do A-level maths, i think there are other IT bits that recommend maths

 

[heza121]

I have looked at the college websites and been to the open days and spoken to teachers and current IT students. The reaction I got from them is ICT at A level is mainly using MS whilst Computing is.. computing and yeah they do prefer you to take maths (Maths is not my strongest point im about a "B" at Gcse) whilst the BTEC is everything, they cover: programming, hardware, software, i think it was 18 different units in the two years which works out at around one a month or there about.

I am tempted by the Level 3 BTEC as it sounds like fun (And the 18hrs a week of IT at college does sound great!!) but I feel i would be happy doing it, however if i took A level computing and had to take maths, im not sure i would enjoy having to do maths each day :S

Thanks for your advice and thoughts!!!

Oh and Wozza365, i LOVE your pic!! haha DD

 

[heza121]

Oh and as for working in ICT, really im not sure haha but here are a few that would be great! Software designer/developer, Data analyst (at mi5 obviously hahaha XD) someone that designs operating systems like Win 8 haha! Im really not too sure yet. Thanks.

 

[Corfate]

Not sure if this is true, but i've been told by some teachers at my school that Uni's don't value BTEC's, so individual A-Levels are better. Like i said, not sure if this is true, but it's food for thought

Wish i'd taken ICT as an A-Level, too late now

 

[heza121]

I did think this as well, so I went along to the college and asked them that exact question, they told me they were equivalents and that universities class them as beeing the same. I hope they weren't lying to me! haha XD

 

[Corfate]

Hmm, lets hope so!

 

[Wozza63]

they do not value them as equivalents at all, its all about UCAS points, thats where they get the 3x better thing from, you get 100 UCAS points from an A Level, you get 300 UCAS points from the BTEC but the BTEC course may not actually be worthy of what you want to take at college and therefore worth nothing, whereas you go to uni and do IT the A level IT may be exactly what they are looking for and therefore they usually count it for more, so the one A level may be worth more UCAS points to your course than the equivalent of 3 A levels

Sorry this is probably confusing, i remember talking to my sister about it and how her friend did a BTEC IT course and was rejected for uni because the BTEC course didnt do anything they wanted from it

I see you are from London where abouts? and what college were you thinking of, i dont know if youve ever heard of palmers, but thats where i plan to go

 

[heza121]

Oh so, its if the BTEC covers the right units that the university are looking for, not the actual qualification itself? It is quit confusing, however I think you have done a better job at conveying it than the teachers did at college haha. Well they told me that the BTEC covers 18 different units including, and i quote "Computing, Networking, It systems, Business System Management, e-commerce, Database, multimedia and IT Hardware." So hopefully this would cover all the relevant units that a university would be looking for? :S

I'm just south west of london, and im looking to go to Alton College.

Thanks!!

 

[Wozza63]

i would consider thinking about what yo want to do in the future, ive decided so i knew which IT course was best and you should try do the same, do some research into some possible career choices, what you need to get there in college/uni

ive already decided on a way that should get my right into a game developing company as a programmer, its perfect

 

[heza121]

Ah yeah! Good idea! I will look into possible career choices in IT, as i agree that would help me choose my choice!

Game developing, sounds really awesome dude!!!!!!

And thanks again for all your help!! On this and on my spec thread!!!

 

[Wozza63]

no problem glad i could help someone in a similar situation

 

[Pete]

I didn't know BTEC's were still going, anyhow all those years also i left school to do a BTEC Computer Studies at college which as you say is all you need to head off to uni. for me i know it was the best thing to prepare me for uni, more dossing about in school with their lame IT equipment and staff wouldn't have cut it.

and to be honest in every area i felt a step ahead of all my mates on the degree, programming, networking.... everything except maths, when i had my first maths lecture i was like "Fu...." and i would have failed miserably but you find you help each other out on the degree, so it worked out fine, even aced my last maths exam too.

but everyone is different and you have to do what works for you.

also it's been 10 years, a decade since i was in uni; how the hell did that happen ?! no doubt things have changed a lot (except i bet the students union still has blumin' Fosters)

good luck ! oh and another word of advice; don't let your mates in uni get a photo of you throwing up or anything else too embarrasing as they'll hold onto that forever.

 

[heza121]

Hahaha, sounds like you had a good time then? Thanks for the advice mate!

 

[anothernameillforget]

One thing that might be worthwhile is phoning up/emailing the either admissions or the specific department of a university you're interested in studying at, and asking them.
At worst, they'll tell you to call someone else, so you stand to lose nothing from a couple of minutes time invested.

 

[Frenchy]

So coming from someone who spent 8 years doing two degrees, id say it makes very little difference what BTEC / A-levels you actually do. Just make sure you get good grades, more than anything thats the most important thing. Computer sceince at uni isnt as strict on entrance subjects as other disciplines because many different people aquire the skills needed in different ways.

I did computer science at university and got a high 1st, I was also nominated for the european engineering student of the year award, I didnt do Computing at A-level though. My subjects at A-Level were maths, further maths and physics. The think the universities want to see more than anything is your are capable of learning and enthusiastic about the subject. My first degree was in aeronautical engineering, I needed three A's at A-Level to get in, I was short by one grade but they still let me in. Now I know they had other students waiting in line who had the grades they needed but I showed more enthusiasm and so they gave me the place instead.

Anyway my point is, I know its an important decision, but you should do the subject you think you will enjoy the most, the more you enjoy a subject the more likley you are to do well in it. No matter which of those three you choose, universities will look at a good grade in some related subject and say to themselves, yeah, this is potentially a good student, someone who knows what he wants to do and does well at it.

I have a few contacts within admissions at a few universities and they all seem to suggest (not sure if this is the general view though) that BTEC and A-level are looked at equally, in other words, one isnt treated unfairly against the other. Admissions tutors know there are many different options for students of your age and they will take these into account, just make sure you impress them at interview, thats the single most important thing (apart from a really good personal statement).

 

[DanteWilhelm]

Not sure if this is true, but i've been told by some teachers at my school that Uni's don't value BTEC's, so individual A-Levels are better. Like i said, not sure if this is true, but it's food for thought

Wish i'd taken ICT as an A-Level, too late now

Wrong, so wrong it's unreal.


BTEC/A level = level 3 qualification

 

[DanteWilhelm]

To the person who created this thread, here is another route.



I.T apprenticeship, condensed, accelerated course.

I'm going to be starting one with Zenos in January of next year. You study at the academy for 5 months, after that you receive on-the-job training from a host employer.

I am doing this to earn


Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

Microsoft Technology Associate
(“Networking Fundamentals” and “Windows 7”)

CompTIA A+

IT Advanced Apprenticeship

Level 3 Extended Diploma in ICT
Systems and Principles (part of the
Advanced IT Apprenticeship)




So yes, you can go to college, but you can also do courses like that one which should (do?) allow you to get into University. It's for I.T support so you could be a helpdesk assistant, support engineer, not 100% sure on job titles but I know what they would entail/ You also learn how to fix computers, you do a bit on systems analysis, installing networks etc.



After this you could do MCTIP (microsoft certified IT professional) to become an MCP (Microsoft certified partner).


Getting something like that could allow you to migrate to say, the US. I've looked up how to do it and it's entirely feasible.


I don't know if you want to migrate but getting internationally recognised qualifications is always a good idea, it's best to know EXACTLY what you can and can't do with the qualifications you earn.


The other most important thing is nothing where it can get you, what can you go onto? Can you get to where you want or do you have to do extra training?


After I get MTA, MCTS, I'm going to go for MCTIP and eventually become a network admin, systems analyst, not 100% sure.



So best of luck, there's a few options out there, some take a while, some don't. Just plot your course, know what you have to go on to do etc

 

[DanteWilhelm]

I haven't started the course yet, so I'm doing as much research on I.T jobs etc as I can.


If I'm wrong on anything, please, put me right, by all means.


I try my best to not give misleading information.

 

[Frenchy]

While your aproach is good DanteWilhelm it is really for a different sector.

From the OP's posts it seems rather than IT he means computer science. IT is a rather misused term, its often used to mean software development aswell as hardware etc. Really IT leans towards hardware, obviously with software involved, however computer science is the science behind it, for example developing the software, creating the middleware etc.

While I fully appreciate apprenticeships and the deffinate advantages to them in certain situations, I have to say, as a software developer a purely academic route is preferable. This is obviously only my opinion, however I really think you need the academic skills behind you for programming rather than technical skills to dow ith building a computer or helping fix OS's / networks etc.