Actuarial Science Southampton or MORSE Warwick

What do you want to do afterwards?

If you want to go into actuarial science, then the southampton course is probably better as I recall it gives you a bunch of exemptions from the professional exams. The profession itself I don't think really cares where you graduated from.

If you wanted to go into investment banking or management consulting then Warwick is the much better option as its a target uni for those things.

For any other professional role (e.g. accountancy, law, the media, civil service etc) it won't really matter where you study so its up to you.

For academia debatable Warwick might be better for going into maths stuff, but you're also not going to be able to do as wide a range of maths as at soutampton so you have a narrower range of fields. Tbh I think you will be able to fare well enough pursuing academia with a 1st from either uni so it's probably 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

Consider also the living situation at each and the potential effect of losing your "gift" year from SFE if you do go to Warwick (as if you then have to repeat a year there you have to self fund tution fees for it).

In any event, you can accept the offer and go through your exams and make up your mind when you get your results in the summer. If you decide then you'd rather stay you can just let Warwick know you won't be taking up a place in the fall.

Thanks for the reply! Went away for a bit and didnt check the post.

I did the course with the initial goal of becoming an actuary but not a 100% sure of my goal. So I would like as wide a range of fields if possible.

What did you mean when you said "pursuing academia with a 1st from either uni so it's probably 6 of one and half a dozen of the other."?

The main thing I am bothered by is the fact that I would have to repeat a year, is it worth it to repeat a year just for the MORSE course in Warwick, Ive heard its great but is it that much of a difference if any for me to consider repeating a year.

The thing is that the Warwick course only really adds investment banking and management consulting as options - this may or may not be something you want to pursue.

Regarding the phrase, it's an idiom - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/six_of_one,_half_a_dozen_of_the_other Basically means the two options are more or less the same! i.e. for academia it probably doesn't really matter either way. Warwick is technically the stronger maths department, but stats is a separate department at Warwick I gather so you're technically a joint honours student, and once you add in the economics and OR options you may not end up doing that much from the maths department itself (as those are also from other departments I believe). So not really a major consideration in terms of academic strength, more really a choice for you dependent on which course better aligns to your academic interests as far as pursuing academia goes I think.

I think the difference will really be whether you are very focused on going into investment banking or management consulting - there is a big difference between the two unis for that. For anything else it'd really be your personal choice as I don't think the difference would be that big (it would still largely depend on your getting relevant internships, work experience etc for professional roles, or getting as involved in research as possible for academia).