Uni course help

I had my heart set on going to X uni but just realised their maths course is highly based on statistics but I hate statistics! it's soo bloody boring (easy but boring!)

So I've decided I'm not gonna apply to X uni but now I need a way to find out how much a Uni's course is based on Stats, Core and applied. I checked the course content but it doesn't help. Help plz!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

hemant1

not sure but Reading has more pure stuff I think

Bump~~~~~~~

By Core, do you mean pure? The only way to really check is to look at departmental websites.

In general, you can expect a big department to offer a first year consisting of roughly 60% pure (counting calculus as pure), 15% Stats & Mechanics each, and 10% miscellaneous stuff like software tutorials. Then in your second year there's the first opportunity for specialism, and by the third year there is usually an equal choice of stats/probability, Applied, and Pure options.

On the other hand, smaller departments have a tendency to lean one way or another in terms of how much you can specialize and what options you can choose in the third and fourth years: for instance, Lancaster leans in the direction of pure and statistics, UEA towards Pure and Applied, and Kent towards Statistics and Financial mathematics with a bit of pure foundations.

Reply 4

shamika

Its hard to help when you don't mention the university course you had your heart set on. Very few courses will force you to do more than a couple of courses in probability and statistics. The other thing to note is that probability and statistics at university is very different to the stuff taught at A-Level/GCSE in a maths department, so you can't really know whether you like it or not until you get to university.

If you tell us what uni X is we can tell you whether it has more or less stats content than usual

Reply 5

POWW!

Original post by MrShifty

Yh I've had a look at the bigger Uni's and seen that they do offer alot more variety but the thing is the entry requirements are a bit to high for me. Like UEA is looking rlly good but the entry requirement is like AAB at max the highest I can get is AAC (provided I work like a lot harder then I did at As which is what I am doing at the moment)/ABB They do decrease the offer for people with FM but I don't have that.
I had a look at Reading and the course looks really really good for me and I'm going to the open day on like the 8th.
Do you know of any other Universities that are more purely based but have like an entry requirement of like 320 ucas points? (I know I will gain an A in maths)

Original post by shamika

It was a sandwich course at Kent I really liked the idea of a year in industry :frown:

Thanks for helping guys

Reply 6

MrShifty

Depends on how happy you are moving around the country. Assuming their website is up to date, Liverpool's offer is ABB (A in mathematics) and they have a pretty nice largish department with a good range of options which deal in some meaty pure topics.

I can't access the website, but if I remember correctly, Leeds made offers in that range as well and is similar to L'pool.

Reply 7

ellanachughtai

have you rang the unis in question and speaking to the lecturers or go to open days and ask them

Reply 8

shamika

Ouch - yeah Kent is very heavily stats focused. Why not contact these guys to see whether they can give you some advice? I did a google search and found Cardiff but they're asking for AAB too

Reply 9

POWW!

Original post by MrShifty

Thanks I'll check that I would be moving out if I went Kent :smile:

Just checked Leeds, they want A,A,B

Original post by ellanachughtai

have you rang the unis in question and speaking to the lecturers or go to open days and ask them

Yh I emailed them and still need to get a response but its not looking that good :l.

Original post by shamika

Ouch - yeah Kent is very heavily stats focused. Why not contact these guys to see whether they can give you some advice? I did a google search and found Cardiff but they're asking for AAB too

what should I say when I contact them?
Thanks again guys :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 10

shamika

Original post by POWW!

what should I say when I contact them?
Thanks again guys :smile:

Well it sounds like you've given this a lot of thought so why not tell them a bit about what you want and whether they can suggest suitable courses?

I'd also ask the AAB universities how strict they are on those requirements and whether they are willing to give someone with your grades in. The worst they'll say is no, they don't bite :smile:

Reply 11

MrShifty

Are you applying to four year MMath/MSci courses, or three year BSc courses? If the former, don't forget you can also sometimes apply for the three year BSc in mathematics, which usually has lower entry requirements, and then (pending satisfactory performance) transfer up to the four year MMath/MSci. Of course you should check with individual universities beforehand to make sure there wouldn't be any complications, but it's a possible option.

Also, shamika is correct. There's absolutely no harm in asking around and using up a place on your application form on somewhere that asks for a little higher than you'll get. Entry requirements aren't always writ in stone, and they can deviate from whatever the website states depending on factors such as how popular the course is that year and how the A-Levels of all the other applicants stack up.