Hey all! Yet another aspiring Deck cadet for you. Don't ask about the name, the song has been stuck in my head the last two days.
Anywho, I've been reading the forum the last few weeks, and after seeing the sticky about Warsash's open day I ended up attending.
My first thought when arriving was "Wow, there's a lot of young slightly uncomfortable looking kids here (I heard many a parent urging their children to "go on, get in there and introduce yourself!" etc)/GCSE students who almost seem to be eyeing everyone else as potential rivals to be beaten", I know I'm only 23, and of course many on this board are older/talk of older cadets, but the youth and amount of competition was rather offputting.
My second thought came after speaking to the woman from Bibby (I randomly chose it as my warm-up company), who very nearly laughed in my face when I mentioned I didn't have A-Level maths and told me that pretty much no one would want me. Naturally the ensuing thought was "I don't stand a chance". This feeling... never really left me during the course of the day.
So, my situation: Just turned 23, A-C GCSE's (the only C is in, you guessed it, Maths), National Diploma in the Uniformed Services instead of A-Levels, and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology.
A few companies were fine with the grades, when I mentioned I would be willing to re-take the GCSE BP especially were enthusiastic about my chances, however, BP and Anglo-Eastern (the only one to actually ask me for a CV) were the only two companies who said my degree wouldn't be an obstacle, every other company pretty much said that because I had a degree the funding wouldn't be there and my chances would either be seriously hurt, or said I didn't have a chance at all (a woman from Viking was happily laughing away and joking with me until I said "I have a degree", at which point here reaction was "HAHAHA... oh, sorry, we can't do anything for you, goodbye").
So all in all, left the Open Day feeling fairly battered; I know I have a few chances, particularly if I'm willing to re-do the GCSE, however, I can't help but feel the chances are now minimal. Did anyone else with a degree get this same reaction? Or has anyone with a degree had any problems applying? As imperfect as my qualifications are, they are easy to re-do, and I think my general level of confidence/life experience ought to help me against the hordes of GCSE and A-Level students; the degree, however, seems to really be going against me here. =/
Also (sorry for the long post btw), the (lovely) man from Clyde told me that, whilst they didn't put "A Level Maths" on their requirements, they were, unofficially, really only accepting A-Level Maths for the Foundation Degree. Again, I could easily take the A-Level, but would it be worth the extra cost and time over the GCSE? And would companies still have a problem with a C in GCSE even if I had the A-Level?
Again, sorry for the inordinately long post.
Anywho, I've been reading the forum the last few weeks, and after seeing the sticky about Warsash's open day I ended up attending.
My first thought when arriving was "Wow, there's a lot of young slightly uncomfortable looking kids here (I heard many a parent urging their children to "go on, get in there and introduce yourself!" etc)/GCSE students who almost seem to be eyeing everyone else as potential rivals to be beaten", I know I'm only 23, and of course many on this board are older/talk of older cadets, but the youth and amount of competition was rather offputting.
My second thought came after speaking to the woman from Bibby (I randomly chose it as my warm-up company), who very nearly laughed in my face when I mentioned I didn't have A-Level maths and told me that pretty much no one would want me. Naturally the ensuing thought was "I don't stand a chance". This feeling... never really left me during the course of the day.
So, my situation: Just turned 23, A-C GCSE's (the only C is in, you guessed it, Maths), National Diploma in the Uniformed Services instead of A-Levels, and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology.
A few companies were fine with the grades, when I mentioned I would be willing to re-take the GCSE BP especially were enthusiastic about my chances, however, BP and Anglo-Eastern (the only one to actually ask me for a CV) were the only two companies who said my degree wouldn't be an obstacle, every other company pretty much said that because I had a degree the funding wouldn't be there and my chances would either be seriously hurt, or said I didn't have a chance at all (a woman from Viking was happily laughing away and joking with me until I said "I have a degree", at which point here reaction was "HAHAHA... oh, sorry, we can't do anything for you, goodbye").
So all in all, left the Open Day feeling fairly battered; I know I have a few chances, particularly if I'm willing to re-do the GCSE, however, I can't help but feel the chances are now minimal. Did anyone else with a degree get this same reaction? Or has anyone with a degree had any problems applying? As imperfect as my qualifications are, they are easy to re-do, and I think my general level of confidence/life experience ought to help me against the hordes of GCSE and A-Level students; the degree, however, seems to really be going against me here. =/
Also (sorry for the long post btw), the (lovely) man from Clyde told me that, whilst they didn't put "A Level Maths" on their requirements, they were, unofficially, really only accepting A-Level Maths for the Foundation Degree. Again, I could easily take the A-Level, but would it be worth the extra cost and time over the GCSE? And would companies still have a problem with a C in GCSE even if I had the A-Level?
Again, sorry for the inordinately long post.
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