Can I do a Physics degree without Further Maths?

I've recently finished my AS exams, and I'm expecting an A in each of my subjects: Maths, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science.

I'm planning on dropping Chemistry next year, and I don't really have the time over summer to self-teach Further Maths AS. I'll most likely mention in my personal statement though that I'm going to self-teach more advanced Maths - I plan to read "Mathematics for Physicists" over summer amongst other books.

I've been looking into universities and I was wondering if I'm at a disadvantage because I didn't take Further Maths. I'm not aiming for Oxbridge or anything like that. My choices are probably going to be St. Andrews, Edinburgh, York, King's, and Loughborough, where I'm applying for an MPhys degree in each. Each uni doesn't explicitly state that Further Maths is required, but most do say Further Maths can be helpful.

So my question is, if I'm not applying to the absolute top universities for Physics (Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL), will I be at a significant disadvantage in the admissions process for not studying Further Maths?

Yes. Even for Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL you'd be able to get in without Further Maths (although you'd find it more difficult) but for other universities, you definitely can. The good thing is that you've now realised how important Maths is for physics (which a lot of applicants don't seem to understand...) so you'll be able to prepare adequately for it. If you do have time to go over Further Maths units though, particularly stuff like calculus, vectors and matrices, it would be worth it.

Thank you very much for the response. Things are starting to look a lot more positive now. One more question sorry, York is the only university I'm applying to that interviews. If they were to ask why I didn't take Further Maths, what would a good response be? I honestly don't know why I didn't. My college offered it, and I found GCSE Maths piss easy so I really don't know why I didn't take it.

I don't think it's particularly likely they'd ask you that but if they do, just be honest. You clearly realise that it was a mistake now so as long as you demonstrate that you've now got an appreciation for how maths intensive physics is, I don't think it's going to cause you too many problems. Universities understand that picking the right A levels can be difficult.

I wouldn't worry about not doing further maths, all the essential stuff you'd have learnt from it will be covered in first year and it won't be as hard as it is in further maths.

Thank you very much for the response. Things are starting to look a lot more positive now. One more question sorry, York is the only university I'm applying to that interviews. If they were to ask why I didn't take Further Maths, what would a good response be? I honestly don't know why I didn't. My college offered it, and I found GCSE Maths piss easy so I really don't know why I didn't take it.

Yeah Further Maths is definitely not a prerequisite. You can afford to be honest about why you didn't do Further Maths given your appreciation of the importance of Maths in Physics.

Can you not pick up AS further maths next year in your college? It will be better than not doing it at all

Posted from TSR Mobile

I probably can, and I know it sounds lazy but I really don't want to spread myself too thin. I'm expecting a (low) A in Maths AS but I'm far from a Maths genius, so I don't really think I could handle the workload. I feel it will have a negative impact on my A-levels. Thanks for the suggestion though.