Dear Members,

I am currently looking to enter university at degree level to study accounting and finance, possibly economics. Prior to that, my admissions officer advised me that I will need an AAT at lvl3 to be accepted onto my degree in february. Firstly a bit about myself.

I am a mature student, aged 22, I dont really have A levels seeing as I had a personal financial problems back when I was 17 (living away from home with no support from parents). I havent got any relevant financial or acocunting experience/knowledge, mainly because I was working in an entirely different field to support and maintain myself since the age of 16.

Right now I am looking for an accredited institution with a good reputation to study AAT lvl3. I am at full time employment, so financially speaking, I want a good solid start into educating myself. I am looking at recommendations, currently I have an eye out on Kaplan Financial and London SAM as those two are the closest institutions to me in London.

Also, I understand that qualifications such as ACCA, which I plan on eventually obtaining, require several years of field experience. In my opinion this will be my biggest drawback. I dont really know how I can go about obtaining such experience seeing as I dont have A Levels and no Professional Certification.Offcourse I am not in a rush to complete this, but I am currently looking to tie up all these loose ends by the age of 26/27.

I am interested, once I am qualified with an NVQ (as they call it) in AAT LVL3, how easy will it be for me to gain a job? Mainly I am getting AAT3 for entry to university, I believe my university will have 1 years field experience included in my study package. I would be wise to find myself a new job in the accounting field whilst I am going through my education , what kind of positions should I look for? - Is there a demand for a certain field of accountancy?

If anyone has had similar life experience, or anyone that can advise me on these topics, please do not hesitate to do so, remember I am new to this completely and every small detail could go a long way to aiding me.

Regards
Alex