Best degrees for a career in CS (Civil service)?

I was just wondering; I will be applying for university for university next year. (AS English, Government and Politics, Business Studies and Sociology)
I was thinking or reading International Relations and Politics. -- Any other degrees that would be beneficial? (On the civil service website they say they accept all 'discipline'/degrees)
So the people that got an offer or have been accepted in the CS Fast stream what degree do you have?
Oh yes before I 'sign-out' I was wondering what work experience would be good if you are thinking of joining the CS fast stream? I've applied to law firms but post 5weeks no reply. :frown:

Oh dear.

iheartmondays

Reply 1

iheartmondays

OP

10

iheartmondays

I was just wondering; I will be applying for university for university next year. (AS English, Government and Politics, Business Studies and Sociology)
I was thinking or reading International Relations and Politics. -- Any other degrees that would be beneficial? (On the civil service website they say they accept all 'discipline'/degrees)
So the people that got an offer or have been accepted in the CS Fast stream what degree do you have?
Oh yes before I 'sign-out' I was wondering what work experience would be good if you are thinking of joining the CS fast stream? I've applied to law firms but post 5weeks no reply. :frown:

Oh dear.

iheartmondays

anyone?

Reply 2

js374

12

For the CSFS they really do not care what degree you have. I have just been accepted on TiB and I am a chemist. Work-experience wise I do not think there is anything in particular will give you the edge for the FS per-se. The most important thing with any work experience you do is that it gives you things that you can talk about, ie: working under pressure, to tight deadlines and team-work etc. This goes for any job you may apply to.

One thing I would absolutely recommend would be choosing a degree which allows you to do a year in industry of some sort. In my interviews I spent probably seconds talking about my time at uni and the remaining 45 minutes talking about the placement. I think the experience is invaluable for showing something 'extra' over the average grad. I have many friends graduating this year and of those looking for a job almost all of those who did a placement year have one for next year. In contrast many of those that didn't do a placement have been unsuccessful in finding jobs (many of them with much better grades than me).

I somehow think you are over thinking this a little too much. It seems a little premature to go into uni with the express and sole purpose of getting onto the CSFS. You have a lot of time to decide what suits you best and it may turnout that this is not for you. Also if this matters so much I don't know how you would cope with the actual process. It is long, hard and stressful and if you are going to uni with the 'this is my destiny' outlook at the end of the day you might be sorely disappointed.

Reply 3

CMJBGBWC

11

PPE
Economics
Maths
Physics/Chemistry
Politics
History

Anything good?

Reply 4

Roobagnall

13

There are a lot of different jobs in the civil service.
Just do the degree that you'll enjoy the most and do best in. That honestly would be best.

Reply 5

Ellsbells3032

9

They don't really care. I came straight from uni. had a degree in Anthropology and my work experience was in banking, museums and child care. nothing remotely related.

As long as you can demonstrate your abilities and talk about your experiences it doesn't matter

Reply 6

DarkWhite

17

They don't really care what your degree's in, or where it came from. The only reason they really look for a degree is it typically shows a set of working skills which can be applied to their jobs, but the degree content itself, usually can't. There are a few exceptions, like applying for a Science and Engineering job in the service.

This is what they're looking for: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/FSACCandidateGuide_tcm6-34899.pdf

Oh, and meeting the nationality requirements ofc.

Reply 7

Focus08

16

DarkWhite

They don't really care what your degree's in, or where it came from. The only reason they really look for a degree is it typically shows a set of working skills which can be applied to their jobs, but the degree content itself, usually can't. There are a few exceptions, like applying for a Science and Engineering job in the service.

This is what they're looking for: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/FSACCandidateGuide_tcm6-34899.pdf

Oh, and meeting the nationality requirements ofc.

Too bad I'm not a UK citizen. :frown:

I guess it's "keep looking" for me...

Reply 8

DarkWhite

17

Focus08

Too bad I'm not a UK citizen. :frown:

I guess it's "keep looking" for me...

Their requirements aren't strictly UK citizens, but it does depend... http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/jobs/Background/Nationality-Requirements/Nationality-Requirements.aspx

Reply 9

Prince Rhyus

15

iheartmondays

I was just wondering; I will be applying for university for university next year. (AS English, Government and Politics, Business Studies and Sociology)
I was thinking or reading International Relations and Politics. -- Any other degrees that would be beneficial? (On the civil service website they say they accept all 'discipline'/degrees)
So the people that got an offer or have been accepted in the CS Fast stream what degree do you have?
Oh yes before I 'sign-out' I was wondering what work experience would be good if you are thinking of joining the CS fast stream? I've applied to law firms but post 5weeks no reply. :frown:

Oh dear.

iheartmondays

Please tell me you've read all the FAQs on www.faststream.gov.uk

Haven't I seen this thread before? :hmmm:

Unless you are applying for a specialist post (e.g. Statstician) it does not matter.
Sorry, had to put that in big letters because too many people ask that question.

As for work experience, get experience of working in deprived communities rather than in high-end firms. This is because in the civil service you will be working with people to solve society's problems amongst other things. If you've had next to no exposure to such problems (e.g. if you were educated at an expensive fee-paying school before going onto an elite university and on top of that did not mix with people from a wide variety of backgrounds other than those you were educated with), how are you going to know what the most appropriate solutions are going to be when tackling society's biggest problems?

Reply 10

Llamageddon

18

Original post by Prince Rhyus

As for work experience, get experience of working in deprived communities rather than in high-end firms. This is because in the civil service you will be working with people to solve society's problems amongst other things. If you've had next to no exposure to such problems (e.g. if you were educated at an expensive fee-paying school before going onto an elite university and on top of that did not mix with people from a wide variety of backgrounds other than those you were educated with), how are you going to know what the most appropriate solutions are going to be when tackling society's biggest problems?