my sis wants to do her leaving, shes 21. need advice on school/college

jon1981

hi,

My little sis is 21 nearly 22 and is thinking of doing her leaving cert (she left to become a hairdresser and no longer feels she wants to do it). The thing is she doesnt really have the money to go to Ashfield or the institute and she has her heart set on getting her leaving.

Im nervous for her and really hopes she can manage it. Does anyone know of a place on the southside of Dublin that would be a good environment for her? be it part time or full time? Has anyone been in her situation?

i was thinking Crumlin college...any thoughts?


cheers

PurpleFistMixer

Could she not just wait till she's 23 and apply as a mature student? .. Think it's 23. Something like that.

jon1981

i wasnt aware you could take the mature student route for your leaving cert, i must look into that

DonkeyStyle \o/

It might be worth approaching FÁS to see if they have any options... actually it'd be a good idea in general with career advise.

spurious

jon1981 wrote:

i was thinking Crumlin college...any thoughts?

I'm not sure Crumlin College do the Leaving (AFAIK it's mainly PLC courses there), but Pearse College do. They've had adult students for years and have an excellent support service.

http://www.pearsecollege.ie/cms/

They also have FETAC courses afterwards, should she be interested in them, including courses designed for accessing university. Any students I have sent to Pearse always did really well, though adult students tend to be very motivated.

jon1981

spurious wrote:

I'm not sure Crumlin College do the Leaving (AFAIK it's mainly PLC courses there), but Pearse College do. They've had adult students for years and have an excellent support service.

http://www.pearsecollege.ie/cms/

They also have FETAC courses afterwards, should she be interested in them, including courses designed for accessing university. Any students I have sent to Pearse always did really well, though adult students tend to be very motivated.

thanks for that, ill look into it

jon1981

jon1981 wrote:

i wasnt aware you could take the mature student route for your leaving cert, i must look into that

think what purplefistmixer was saying was just to skip the leaving cert part and go straight to college as a mature student. you don't need a leaving cert to get in as a mature student afaik

philologos

citizensinformation.ie wrote:

Generally, you will need to have completed your Leaving Certificate. However, if you are applying for a place as a mature student, you will not be asked to meet the usual entry requirements. Different courses operate different entry procedures, but, in general, the colleges will take into account your educational background, work history, community involvement and other achievements and interests. This system is known as the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL). It is useful to find out whether the college of your choice uses the APEL system before you apply.

In some cases, you may be asked to take an entrance exam.

Apparently a Leaving Cert is expected but it's not a be all and endall for getting a mature student place.
Taken from http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/education/third-level-education/applying-to-college/third_level_courses_for_mature_students

Diggins

lucan cbs im repeating there at the moment and it is a good place to repeat. the ages range from 17 to around 28 with most people between 18-20

Steez

Definately take a look at Rathmines College of Further Education. Was going to repeat there but went elsewhere, mainly because i'd have to rent a flat etc. etc.

Spunge

I was doing a PLC in rathmines college last year, its a nice place.

I had some friends repeating the leaving there, it sounded very good, if i was going to repeat anywhere it would have been there.They seem to do a lot of subjects even classics which i wouldnt have thought. And i think it only costs something like 100 euro for the year.

There's a few other colleges like that around dublin too.