Huge amounts of advice needed!

[PatrickW]

Hello! I've been a member of this site for a month or so now and have learnt a lot so firstly thanks for all the advice given to others as it has helped me too! I thought it was time to make my own thread and make a plea for advice really! I'm 17 and in my first year at Sixth Form college, I took Maths, Chemistry, Biology and History, thought they were a reasonable selection to keep my options open.
I've always wanted to go to sea, my grandfather was in the MN also. I've been predicted an A in Maths, A in History, B in Biology and a C in Chemistry (Just to give you an idea of my qualifications....or what I'm supposed to get!) My GCSEs were A*/A's and some B's and I took separate science courses so I did GCSE Physics to a higher level than normal dual sciences, thought that might help me somewhere. I'm also taking part in the tall ships races this year, thought that might help me a bit too!
Basically my college starts the wonderful UCAS process very very early and so wondered what I should be doing, I'll be applying for 2013 September courses so is it to early to start getting in touch with cadetship providers? Any insight into how the industry is doing, do you think the prospects for getting a job after training are looking good? So basically a plea for some pointers on where to get started! Sorry for the essay!
Thanks very much, Patrick

[ETwhat?]

As far as im aware the standard UCAS system wont work for a cadetship, basically you have to have a sponsor and they will have a place, otherwise you could get people going through the college phases independantly. (might be worth checking that) if im right then the ucas system is a fall back for if you dont get a cadetship or change your mind.

Cadetships are going to continue but the exact form and package is likely to change in the next few years as cuts to spending come through, however its still a good deal and at worst would mean less college places for the same demand at the end.

Your really early for applying for 2013 but you cna always contact companies and ask questions etc. doesnt do any harm and then you can be ready for as soon as they are.
I'm amazed your college is predicting results so early aswell. as they must be basing it on such a small amount of 6th form level work, but hey ho.

[PatrickW]

Thanks for the reply, was aware that it wasn't UCAS based but its just the college has everyone drawing up personal statements and selecting courses and what not, so I will probably apply for a Maths course at a University in case. We are a very small college compared to most so were always being quite closely monitored, and there is a daft number students at mine who apply for medicine and dentistry and similar things, hence the early UCAS start.
We had our first round of AS exams in January and got our results last month so the predictions are based on that as well as our college work, got what I was predicted, but yes very loose predictions as you say!
I'll start maybe after my final AS exams in six weeks, getting in touch with various companies to get some info.
P.S I put Aspiring Deck Cadet......not quite sure on that either yet, hows being an ET cadet?

[ETwhat?]

cool, to be fair its a long time ago since i didnt do a levels that my mind is a bit misty on thos ethings. its good to have another option and aprt from anything its good to be able to say that in an interview, rather than'ive put everything in this basket'

ET stuff is interesting ive always really enjoyed it and have come to the cadetship after being mate on superyachts, as it was where i could see the demand for skills.

[EFC92]

Yes I have to agree with whats been said here. I "wasted" two of my UCAS choices applying for the cadetship via UCAS. Mainly because there were actually options for it via the UCAS application I assumed that was the method for applying. I think its very misleading.

For all potential applicants reading this my advice is this:
Even if the colleges and universities are advertised on UCAS, and there is an option to apply via UCAS then don't. Make your enquiries outside the UCAS system as you then have the 5 choices to fall back on.

The cadet course i'm on I applied through UCAS because I didn't know any better. A certain other college which was advertising on UCAS, I applied to them through the system and was waiting ages for a reply so I pressured them for an answer and they withdrew the UCAS offer altogether. You can imagine I was royally p*ssed off given that at the time I had not got a cadetship offer, had wasted a choice and was left without explanation.

Unless your hoping to go to JMU or Plymouth then I would stay clear of the UCAS system, and even then I would make an external application anyway and by-pass the UCAS altogether. There is talk of my uni removing themselves from the UCAS process for this course.

If there is an article on the application process I think this should be a noteworthy addition, as I nearly got stung for being misinformed of the application process. Apply to the companies not UCAS.