Careers Advice

UCAS & Careers Advice

Help with filling in UCAS/University applications and independent careers advice are just two aspects of the support on offer to students at Brampton College.  If a student needs information about a particular degree or university, our careers advisers can help them with their research.  Similarly, if a student wants to know about different routes into a profession, the careers advisers can help with the best approach.  The college uses Google Classroom, with a comprehensive careers section.

Please see here for UCAS’s Parent Guide.

Qualified Higher Education Advisers

Our careers advisors are highly qualified ‘higher education advisers’, trained with post graduate qualifications in careers guidance and to a much higher level than most schools’ standard careers advisers. They are also registered with the Career Development Institute. Their qualifications mean that in addition to being able to advise on all progression routes for students of different levels, looking at subject choices and pathways into different careers, they also have:

  • Specialised knowledge of how to manage UCAS applications, writing personal statements and academic references.
  • Specialised knowledge of different academic courses and their entry requirements e.g. for Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary and Oxbridge.
  • An understanding of how to approach applications for overseas universities, and applications that include extenuating circumstances.

We ensure that our advisers are able to respond to students in the way that makes them feel most comfortable, be it face to face or via email. They are available four days a week in the Autumn and Spring terms, and students can book appointments as often as they like.

They follow the professional ethics of the Careers Development Institute, which includes making the student’s career agenda a priority, as well as adhering to safeguarding, confidentiality and impartiality.

Specialist Advice

Our careers advisers have experience in discussing a number of career paths with our students. These typically include: Architecture, Art and Design, Banking, Business, Classical Civilisation, Economics, English Literature, Geography, History, Languages, Mathematics, Optometry, Philosophy and Politics, Photography, Sociology, STEM careers, Theology.

UCAS and Overseas Universities

Students in their last year at Brampton College make university applications, and the vast majority of these are through UCAS for UK universities.  We believe that all students should leave Brampton College confident that they have a progression route that suits them, including those considering a gap year or alternative to university. We are proud of our proven track record, which shows that the majority of our students obtain and go on to take up a place at their  chosen university.

All students are supported by our career advisers at every step of their journey with us, with a comprehensive programme of appointments and talks.

One-to-One Appointments and Talks

Second Year and One year A level Students

Autumn Term: Careers advisers guide students towards making informed university degree choices, looking at league tables, writing personal statements and university application form-filling. Feedback from subject teachers and predicted grades are all taken into account.

Spring Term: Careers advisers help students make final decisions on either unconditional, firm or insurance choices.  Help with interviews, and advice on student finance.

Summer Term: Further appointments for students who may need extra guidance with their university application.

Internal Talks: How to fill in the UCAS application form; Writing the personal statement.

First Year A level Students

Autumn Term:  Students are encouraged to book one-to-one appointments with careers advisers. The majority of this term is taken up with helping final year students through UCAS.

Spring Term: Careers advisers discuss degree options with students and encourage them to apply for taster courses, open days and work experience.

Summer Term: Further appointments available for students, who wish to discuss any aspect of university/degree choices and work experience.

Guest Speakers: Open Days & Taster Courses, Student Finance, Guest speakers from university departments and business specialists.

GCSE Students

Spring Term: One-to-one appointments with careers advisers, which take place following a talk on options after their GCSEs at Brampton College.

Talk: GCSE students attend an informative talk early in the term to discuss the different options for their future. The talk includes a discussion on how to choose appropriate A levels, according to subject preference and performance.

Work Experience

Our careers advisers are able to give advice on CV writing, applying to Higher Apprenticeships and routes into different professions. These include helping students research salary expectations and different job sectors. We encourage students to start filling their CVs with voluntary and paid work experience during the holidays so that they can develop their transferable skills.

Internships for Undergraduates

Along with good results at undergraduate level, the more work experience a student is able to build into his/her CV, the more they are able to compete for placements.  Long gone are the days when graduates could apply for competitive positions without work experience.  Internships for undergraduates are the recruiting ground for the 70%-80% of graduates taken on by large corporations.

Higher Apprenticeships

Some school leavers want to side-step the university route, and apply for Higher Apprenticeships, where they receive professional training and achieve qualifications. Typically the big four: Deloitte, KMPG, PWC and EY offer these opportunities. However, the higher apprenticeship schemes are now being organised by some (but not all) well-known organisations such as Barclays Bank and John Lewis. If students are interested in these schemes, they should research the companies they are interested in, and follow the on-line application process. They can ask careers advisers for help with their applications.

Sponsored Degrees

If students want to apply for a sponsored degree, they need to register their interest (usually at the end of the summer term), and then complete and succeed in their online applications. This will mean they are fully enrolled for the tests and interviews which take place in the autumn term.  For example KPMG sponsor an Audit degree at both Birmingham and Durham universities. The cost of the three year degree is covered, and this counts towards the five year training that students would be expected to complete in order to obtain their full accountancy qualifications. There is a four-stage application procedure:  i) Online application; ii) Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT); If successful with i & ii, proceed to iii) Interview and exercise at an assessment centre;  iv) Final interview with KPMG partner.