Maria completed the Access to Higher Education (HE) Diploma in Business at University College Birmingham (UCB), which helped her decide to study finance at university
I chose to take an Access to HE course to learn more about business while also gaining a qualification that could help me progress to university. It gave me the chance to explore different areas before deciding what I wanted to study next.
I decided on this institution to experience living away from home and to explore a new city. The teachers came highly recommended for this course as well, which made it much more appealing than other colleges or universities. I also liked that the course offered tutor support while helping students build the skills needed for university.
The course covered 15 modules, focusing on business topics such as:
These were combined with academic skills, including:
Assessment involved a range of realistic business scenarios, including two presentations.
The work was assessed by teachers at the school before being reviewed by an external moderator.
I had money saved up from my job, but my dad had very kindly offered to pay for my accommodation.
I enjoyed how close a lot of us were with our teachers and how we could all have good banter with them and each other. It made the class much more enjoyable and helped me learn more about different areas of business, including marketing, finance and management, which changed how I viewed certain companies.
I found it difficult to do two assignments at once at the start, especially as the course involved different types of work, from written assignments to presentations. With good time management, it worked out well in the end.
Some of the content was also a little tricky to work out, but the teacher was always there to help.
I found it entertaining; the teachers made class fun. I've always loved learning and trying new things, so I found it easy to come back to education.
I had a whiteboard and made myself a timetable for when and which parts of my assignment had to be done. I stuck to it like glue, and it always worked well for me as I was always on time.
It helped me gain useful insight into the business world and aided me in choosing what to do, as previously I was torn between what to pursue at university - business or finance. Studying topics such as finance, management, marketing and business strategy helped me understand what interested me most and made a finance degree feel like the right next step.
I wanted to pursue my love of maths and business, so finance let me combine the two.
After earning my degree, I will need to complete the remaining ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exams to become a fully qualified chartered accountant.
