After some time out of studying, gaining valuable life lessons, I acknowledged the importance of education for my future prosperity.
I'm now studying Law & International Relations at the University of Surrey. The material during my first year at university was basically the same as my Access course content, with a bit more depth, so I had a very smooth transition into university level of learning and writing.
I was working in the retail sector but wanted to change my career to social work.
The teachers were very helpful and supportive and placed a lot of emphasis on promoting a high standard of education.
The course taught me to work with autonomy while using different sources towards writing on an academic level, this along with the emphasis on using accurate referencing, enabled me to continue to write at higher levels with ease.
I'm now studying a BA (Hons) degree in Social Work at Anglia Ruskin University Chelmsford Campus.
I chose to do an Access course, as although I had the required GCSE's for university, I did not have good enough A-Levels. I also wanted to use it as a stepping stone to university as it had been a long time since I last studied.
I chose USP from personal recommendations and due to it being local to me and the hours working around school runs etc.
The Access course has allowed me to brush up on skills that I have not used for years, essay writing and research for example. It has also taught me brand new skills, such as Harvard referencing and allowed me to work on my time management skills too.
I have gained a conditional offer to study Midwifery this September at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford.
I was working in North London for a private ambulance company doing hospital transfers, I began my Access course to enable me to study paramedic science at university. I initially failed the interview stage at university, but instead was employed and went through my training in house. This included one year at Anglia Ruskin, where I had to repeat the interview process and was accepted. Here, I was able to use the skills I learnt during the Access course, it took a lot of pressure off of me and gave me a head-start at university.
I would recommend studying at USP College, all lessons were taught to a very good standard and even if you struggled, you got the support you needed to improve. It was also a very nice environment, surrounded by helpful people and I never once felt out of my depth.
In January 2020, I decided to make a complete career change and become a primary school teacher. Since I didn’t have a degree and my schooling level from Canada didn’t reach Level 3, I researched at length how best to proceed. I eventually found the Access to HE courses and was pleased to find that a fairly local college, USP College, was offering this course in Teaching and Education. This allowed me to get a feel for the education field in advance of starting my degree.
The best thing about the Access course at USP is the support you get from the tutors. Sheniz and Tracey have been instrumental in my success so far. They have been supportive and motivating, as well making seminars interesting, despite most of them being online. With their help, I am now registered to the University of East London for September when I will begin my BA (Hons) in Primary Education with QTS.
I chose to study an Access to HE Diploma at USP College because it was the nearest college to me that offered a Humanities pathway and I was impressed by the wheelchair accessibility and the support available.
Studying an Access Diploma has given me a great grounding in a range of academic skills that will give me a head start when I move on to university in September.
I have also been really impressed by how easily the College has adapted to online learning. All my lessons have continued remotely throughout each lockdown, and all my tutors have been extremely supportive and willing to help in any way they can.