Many participants speak fondly of their time completing their DofE and some enjoy it so much that they go on to complete the Silver and Gold awards. They allow you to gain experience in a field of work which interests you, and give you the chance to either progress in that field of work, or go to university to further develop your skills. Does your child already have a full schedule, with other extracurricular activities and relevant work experience to the university course theyd like to apply for? As a Gold Award holder, I also recommend including details of your residential and explaining that you did not know anyone but still managed to complete the activities while challenging yourself, learning new skills and making new friends. However, some universities look at extracurricular activities favourably during the admission process. An EPQ gives you the opportunity to develop your skills in a subject of your choice. DofE is split into three different levels, which you can take at different ages and which differ in intensity and material required. I also think that DofE Gold helps prepare you for university life, by replicating university experiences. For those of you doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award for the purposes of university admissions, you should know that it doesn't actually give you UCAS points. As weve seen, accumulating extra UCAS points can involve saddling yourself with even more academic work, but it doesnt have to: you can have fun with more vocational qualifications and pick up UCAS points in the process. Silver is for people aged 15 and above and should take 52 weeks. in sixth form) and it will take you 78 weeks if you start from scratch. Maybe your child does not currently participate in any regular extracurricular activities. The lowest amount of UCAS points you can get for an A Level is 16 (grade E). Official: University of Sheffield A100 2023 entry, UCL postgraduate applicants thread 2023/2024, Barts and The London (QMUL) Dentistry 2023 Entry, hsbc work experience early careers programme stimulate assessment, Border Force Officer - Core and Mobile teams recruitment campaign September 2022. Over 20.000+ qualified tutors provide first-class tutoring in all school subjects. The International Baccalaureate is available to students aged 16-19 across the world. If your child would benefit from support in achieving the grades that they need to apply for university, contact a GoStudent tutor who can help them fulfil their potential. You can gain up to 50 extra UCAS points and help out a good cause by taking an ASDAN Community Volunteering Qualification. When recording your activity on eDofE you will have to provide the residential start and end date as well as the date you started planning it. Due to this, the accuracy of articles on this site cannot always be guaranteed. There are plenty of programmes that can count towards your Gold DofE residential. The Award is designed to test and improve all sorts of different non-academic skills and it is intended to get you contributing to your community through voluntary activities. It is often a good idea to consider which subject you want to take at University when you are choosing which A-Levels you should take. There are a number of different qualifications and courses which will help international students develop their English skills, however the main 2 qualifications which allow you to earn UCAS points are: Not only does this kind of qualification give you UCAS Points, but it also will benefit you greatly in the worlds of work and higher education if you are not a native English speaker. If you arent sure which subjects work well when combined, take a look at this useful article which lists some good A-Level combinations. It helps young people develop social and interpersonal skills as well as promoting confidence and self-esteem. Whats the Best Age to Start Swimming Lessons? A Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) Level 3 will get you 16 UCAS Points. It is aimed at students aged 16 and over to allow them to develop their employability skills. Through your DofE activities you may have already demonstrated an interest in your course subject. Note that this qualification will be withdrawn at the end of 2016, but you still have time to gain one before then. Would an academic institution care if school pupils had walked across Cornwall for three days? Does Gold DofE get UCAS points? If your child has an adventurous spirit, the time to spare and would enjoy the challenge then the DofE would certainly be worth it. In this case, the most recent qualification (and therefore the most relevant) is the one that gains you UCAS Points. The 10 Hardest A Level Subjects to Run Towards or Away From! You must volunteer in the community for at least 12 months and complete the physical and skill sections. Expedition participants must be unaccompanied and it needs to be completed without motorised transport. According to reports from UCAS, most business-related courses require BBB at A-Level which brings a total of 120 UCAS points. It has been designed to allow you hone your specific skillset and explore the topics that matter most to you. Check out my post Use DofE to make your CV and Personal Statement shine for the full rundown. So, if youve got the time, and you can afford to do so, I would wholeheartedly recommend DofE Gold. The platform that connects tutors and students. You can go on horse, on boat, on bike, or anything that isnt motorised. Students can take 3-4 of their courses at Higher Level (which comprises of around 240 teaching hours) and the remaining subjects at Standard Level (which is made up of around 150 hours of teaching). An Award of Personal Effectiveness (AoPE) from ASDAN will earn you 8 UCAS Points, and will take around 80 hours at Level 3. Youll probably know it as the extra-curricular activity par excellence, that shows practical skills alongside your academic excellence. Residentials are a great way to explore creative outlets and learn new skills e.g., taking part in a jewellery making course or trying a new sport. The DofE also demonstrates many soft skills that cannot be communicated through academic grades alone. If youre thinking of doing this, talk to the teachers at your school to find out what subjects would fit into your timetable. But of course, it changes with different qualifications - so if you get a triple distinction (DDD) for a BTEC diploma, you'll also get 144 points. There are 3 levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) and a number of sections to complete. Is there anything that the award shows that you can contribute to university life? Post-16 Qualifications A-levels, AS-levels, Advanced Highers, Certificates, Diplomas and Awards are all converted into UCAS points. They are one of the most challenging aspects as you are isolated from the outside world without mobiles or other devices. Aiming to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery, you have to plan, train for, and complete an adventurous journey somewhere in the UK or abroad. You would take these at Sixth Form instead of A-Levels. Cambridge ESOL Programmes are aimed at students who do not speak English as their first language, so if you are a native English speaker, unfortunately this is not a way that you can earn extra UCAS Points. These include an incredibly popular watersports week, first aid week and festive Halloween and Christmas specials. Of the 4 people I know at Oxford, only 1 has done DofE. What matters much more to universities is your academic commitment. Summer School 2023 is filling up fast. At the time of applying for university, I had achieved a Scouting equivalent to the DofE Silver Award and was working towards my Gold DofE and Queens Scout Award, so I covered everything I had done so far in these. Reach out to a GoStudent tutor to ensure that your child reaches their full potential on exam day. This is a good compromise for students who want to earn more UCAS Points, and increase their knowledge of more subjects, but who also perhaps feel that 4 full A-Levels is too much. This qualification is aimed to bridge the gap between GCSE and AS-Level, but does not mean that you have to take A-Level maths after you have done it. If you have done your Silver or Gold DofE, mention the skills, physical and volunteering sections too, as they indicate that you will follow commitments through even if it takes up your time which you may need for other activities. What Area Of Edinburgh Does J.K. Rowling Live? If yes, then the DofE could be a useful tool to display non-academic achievements in a UCAS university personal statement as well as being a beneficial experience overall. These include volunteering, physical activity, skills, expedition and a residential. I have also gained more understanding of others, as during my Residential I worked at a respite holiday care home for people with disabilities which helped me to become more aware of others in need. In this article, we look at the different ways in which you can raise your number of UCAS points to help the results part of your university application stand out from the crowd. Some of the subjects also offer one year courses (which could perhaps be compared to AS-Levels). Though this does not mean that it is limited to this group. You should join a DofE residential as an individual without meeting participants or leaders beforehand. All apprentices earn a specific minimum wage (details of which can be found here). Alternatively, you can create a product (such as an app or an artistic object), or a production (such as a charity event or fashion show) and write a 1,000 word essay to accompany it. The Modern Foreign Languages short courses (for which you can choose from Italian, French, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish and German) would be particularly useful in the long-term, as the ability to speak other languages has long been acknowledged as something that makes you more enjoyable. As well as benefiting local charities, these skills will be invaluable for your CV and will make you more attractive to potential employers, whether you want to end up working in the charity sector or not. It comprises of four sections for Bronze and Silver and 5 sections for Gold. 60. It is not only incredibly useful in terms of your University Application, but also in your future employment opportunities. This means that if you wanted to take a BTEC at Sixth Form, you would need to be more certain of the career path you wanted to take earlier on. The best Academic tutoring tutors available. They equate to half of an A-Level, as you only complete the first year of the course. Performance is a great confidence boost, too, thus extending your comfort zone and improving your ability to take on new challenges. For Bronze, the expedition has to be two days and one night, with six hours of activity on each day. You must be at least 16 years old. I have become more of a team player and will make sure everyones voice is heard as Course Representative. For example, a course in first aid would be appropriate. You can gain confidence in speaking, writing and listening, which will all be incredibly useful skills. Volunteering is not only a good way of adding to your UCAS Points, but it is also a wonderful addition to your CV. One of the benefits of these types of qualification is that you can go into a more specific field earlier on, which is great if you have an idea of what career path you want to take when you are 16. Benefits of DofE - The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Benefits to young people When your child does their DofE programme they'll develop the skills and attitudes they need to become more rounded, confident adults. The UCAS Points System can be confusing, and it is a useful thing to understand when applying to Universities. It does not serve any purpose on your UCAS form beyond the personal statement, where you are entitled to push it hard. 0. It is the volunteering itself which is the useful, transferrable skill especially if you are able to volunteer somewhere which relates to your dream career (for example at a Veterinary Practice if you wanted to be a Vet). The DofE residential must be completed as part of the Gold Award. It also gives you something to talk about on your personal statement (eg confidence). You might have guessed that you are awarded a certain number of these points for each of your A-levels, with a higher number of points for higher grades; but what you might not have known is that there are many more ways of boosting your number of UCAS points beyond simply completing your A-levels. If you want to earn extra UCAS Points, you can take an extra Cambridge Pre-U Qualification, so that you are studying 4 courses. There are a number of different Horse-Riding Qualifications which can earn you UCAS Points, and they are listed on the British Horse Society Website, alongside the number of points that they will earn you. There are many reasons to do DofE, in addition to the adventure of the expedition, the confidence building, learning new skills and volunteering. To count towards your Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award the residential must be away from home and last for at least 4 nights and 5 consecutive days. 2022 GCSE Grades Explained: All Your Questions Answered Here. There are plenty of opportunities to connect teamwork to the DofE, for example: To become a (enter job aspiration associated with course applied for here) cooperating in a team is of the utmost importance. does gold dofe give ucas points. So, no, you cant just do the expedition. After signing up with a local school or institution, progress is managed online in an eDofE account. The specification can be found here. If your childs school isnt licensed to run the DofE a local Youth Group may be. The difference is that Pre-U Qualifications give students more of an opportunity to work independently, so that they are more prepared for University study. They generally have a more vocational basis, which allows you to develop useful employability skills in the subject that you have chosen to study. Uni rejects application for something not mention in entry requirment, Any other good/free programs like Sutton trust or UNIQ. Your gold award in DofE isnt a golden ticket to any higher education institution that you fancy. You never know, it could make a difference in getting into your first-choice university and you never know where that could take you! Like the musical instrument exams, speech and drama exams earn UCAS points from Grade 6 upwards, with a maximum of 65 points for a distinction at Grade 8, or 90 for a PCertLAM (LAMDA Level 3 Certificate in Speech & Drama: Performance Studies). Horse-Riding is another fun way to earn UCAS Points, which does not have an especially academic basis. This section of the award must take place in an unfamiliar environment without friends or relatives, which encourages young people to move out of their comfort zone. The company contracts with institutions, including the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Yale, for the use of their facilities, and also contracts with tutors from those institutions, but does not operate under the aegis of the University of Oxford or those other institutions. At Award and Certificate level (Level 3), these qualifications give you 30 and 50 points respectively. For those of you doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award for the purposes of university admissions, you should know that it doesn't actually give you UCAS points. Silver DofE UCAS points also do not exist and so it will come as no surprise that the Bronze DofE follows the same pattern. There are lots of DofE residential providers across the UK offering a variety of activities. Actually, it aims to get you improving yourself in a whole myriad of ways. A young person can take a Grade 6 (sometimes as young as 13) and earn 12 UCAS points. Enjoy a fun-filled activity programme including coasteering, kayaking, climbing, abseiling and more. I mentioned that I had been part of Scouting since the age of 6 and had completed many challenges including trips to Germany, Estonia and Poland and hiking in the Peak District. You can do some in depth research about a subject that interests you, to then write a 5,000 word essay, which will answer a question that you have set yourself. Helping there strengthened my passion for working with animals and, due to this, I decided to study Animal Management at university. Leave a rating. Read the providers reviews and ensure they have appropriate accommodation and qualifications for the activities. Any course that you have the opportunity to do which provides recognition of the fact that you have employability skills should absolutely be taken advantage of. OK, its a bit more involved than simply going horse riding, but if youre a keen rider then you can use your equestrian skills to your advantage by taking qualifications from the British Horse Society. Has anybody accepted university offers so far in 2023? By continuing to use our website without changing the settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. This is through a programme called DofE Direct. While its standard to take three A-levels, many of the brightest students will be taking four or even five A-levels, or four A-levels with perhaps an extra AS-level on top of that. The Duke of Edinburgh Award started in 1956 as a project to attract schoolboys who were not enrolled in Scouts or a similar group, but it was soon extended to young women in the following year. But lets just say that the Duke of Edinburgh Award or DofE, as it is known perhaps doesnt help in the way that you think it does. . Employers and higher education establishments value the award and its an excellent talking point in interviews. 3 Is gold DofE good for Is Gold Dofe Worth Ucas Points? 6 years ago. Why Do I Have Mice In My House All Of A Sudden? AS-Levels are another great way to earn UCAS Points. Even better, they dont all involve devoting even more of your time to studying from textbooks. Dorset If you want to find out more about the types of apprenticeship that you can do, take a look at the UCAS Website. Obviously, the amount of UCAS Points you can gain varies based on whether you achieve a Pass, Merit or Distinction in your exam so it is really worth practicing hard in your preparation. The DofE is many things to many people, supporting generations to successfully navigate adult life. I was able to demonstrate my strong sense of teamwork under challenging circumstances while trekking Snowdonia this Summer with my Duke of Edinburgh expedition group. Diplomas, certificates and awards give you the opportunity to gain skills in a vocational subject that interests you. An Extended Project Qualification (or EPQ) is a great way of adding to your UCAS Points. It should be something you are interested in and be suitable for completing in wild country without external help. Participants may also find that they enjoy the experience more than they expected and acquire new skills to write about in their UCAS personal statement too. You can earn UCAS Points from Grade 6 Grade 8, in both instrumental and music theory exams. If you wish to report an article for misleading or false information, please click here. GoStudent is the #1 online tutoring platform for children. What are the Duke of Edinburgh Award UCAS application points? This is one of the best decisions I have ever made; the skills I gained at the stables are adaptable to other animals and my studies, and the course has given me so many opportunities I would not have had if I had not applied to university or taken up my offer. Personal development is the name of the game. Theyre not employers, Scouts leaders, or your mother so they might not be hugely impressed by your ability to read a map. Not at all, by all means do it if you have the time, but your exam results are far more important. We recommend speaking with your expedition provider. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. Many students consider taking more than the standard three AS/A-Levels, or they will take an A Level course on top of their core T-Level. Example aims include: create a piece of artwork inspired by the landscape, survey the landscape, create a nature guide. So perhaps your child has written in their UCAS Personal statement already about their interest in the course and their academic achievements, but theyd like to demonstrate their ability to, lets say, cooperate in a team. Lets take a closer look at how the Duke of Edinburgh Award can help your university admissions. UCAS points are the most important piece of information for universities considering new students. How to apply for Duke of Edinburgh award? BUT it may be beneficial when looking for your first job after university. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. A full degree would usually require 360 points: 120 at stage 1 (equivalent to the first year of a degree at a conventional university), 120 at stage 2 and 120 at stage 3. How did doing your DofE help prepare you for University life?