Science education in England
For the ages of 16, 17 and 18 (and older for those that remain in education below university-level), students in England do what is sometimes loosely called ‘key stage 5’ or KS5; it has no legal meaning (unlike the other key stages). And unlike KS1–4 in which the levels of complexity of topics learnt at each stage are prescribed within relatively narrow limits, at KS5, the levels of complexity of topics cover a wide range, although the highest level of complexity at KS5 is RQF level 3. Whether or not a student actually studies at this level of complexity in KS5 depends on his/her GCSE results—crucially on what subjects the student obtained passes at RQF level 2 standard (including mathematics and English) as well as the actual grades themselves. In other words, unlike KS1–4, where a specific student studies at one RQF level, at KS5, a specific student may be studying at several RQF levels depending on what s/he obtained at GCSEs. Regardless of the RQF-level mix, a KS5 student can do his/her post-16 study in one of the following:
California State University, Monterey Bay
The student body is made up of 63% females and 37% males. As of fall 2018, 35% of students enrolled were under 21 years of age, 44% between 21 and 24, 14% between 25 and 30, 7% over the age of 31. The most common majors were business administration (12%), psychology (10%), biology (8%), kinesiology (8%) and Computer Science (8%). 40% of students came from Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties (all California counties) while 58% came from other parts of California, 2% from other U.S. states and 3% from outside the U.S. One third of students were low-income and a little over half (51%) were first-generation college students. Students are distributed across class levels; 20% being freshmen, 11% sophomores, 24% juniors and 34% seniors as CSU Monterey Bay serves a large proportion of transfer students. Graduate students make up 9%, 2% were seeking credentials and 1% were post-baccalaureate students.