i believe that college courses are now run on the basis that everyone must pass..which is not altogether a good thing....in my group we had old ladies doing the course for something to do and having weeks off for thier holidays they still passed without doing half the course and other people with obviously no talent for floristry and they still passed....fill the courses get thier money.of course there were still people who did have a great talent and did win big competitions.
experience counts for alot but you have to have the opportunity to obtain the experience i have learnt so much since finishing my courses and working in a florist.......but i still would love to do more courses just to refresh and learn more about the art