as anticipated, I have had an Unconditional offer from UWS Hamilton , they do recommend chemistry summer school but it is not compulsory.

so now it's big decision time!

at the mo as it stands, first choice is Glasgow Caledonian with UWS Hamilton as insurance, all the Uni's have their pros and cons, but I think Glasgow just pips the others to the line.

Glasgow Caledonian -
Pros: bus straight up, access to DNA sequencer and world DNA expert, links to community, broad spectrum course covering all aspects of forensics making for better career prospects, highly acclaimed Uni with a very good reputation
Cons: don't really get into the Biology until 3rd year, very lab/chemistry based..

UWS Paisley -
Pros: more 'active' course - training in field work as well as lab work, workshops run by forensic scientists, choice of a year's placement
Cons: travel a bugger, less equipment than GCU, spending valuable Uni time training in field work which you don't need a uni degree to do, no DNA sequencer, no guarantee of where placement will be or what i'd be doing.

UWS Hamilton -
Pros: biology based course, recently refurbished labs with a lot of new equipment, very flexible course structure, 3 month placement in yr3
Cons: travel not as simple as to GCU, being biology based limits career prospects at the end, placement wouldn't be in forensics, no DNA sequencer

so so far, GCU is my first choice- who knows what aspect of forensics I'll really get into? and at GCU, they cover just about anything and everything lab based - guy at the open day already said you only need GCSE's to train to do field work so why spend valuable uni time studying something that you can pick up afterwards in a matter of weeks on the job training? field work really is just about collecting evidence and not much more... and the like with fingerprints, can be trained in that in a matter of weeks.

I know I mention the DNA sequencer a lot, but this is important to me because that's what I'm really interested in, seems to be one of the only Unis that actually has one! in the end, I want to have a broad spectrum course behind me so that I can be flexible in my career choice.