Would I stand a chance for economics?

Basically I've had my heart set on studying Economics at a top university to reach my IB dream. I'm currently in year 12 and just sat my AS exams and I'm confident that I've done well. I'm aiming for A*A*AA in maths, economics, further maths and physics respectively next year.

Recently I've been noticing how people on here have been saying how important GCSEs are when applying for Economics at top universities. How if you have less than 8A*s you are likely to not even have your application looked at.
This has been worrying me greatly seeing as my GCSEs were extremely poor compared to standards on here (1A*, 5As, 5Bs, 1C). I went to a very poor comprehensive secondary school which fails to get 60% of students 5A*-C grades.

I know how important it is to go to a target university for IB so seeing as how low my GCSEs are, would it be worth maybe taking a year out after my A2s and completing some GCSEs again to try and bag some more A*s?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 1

RowanL

8

Top universities operate with a system for identifying students with extenuating factors, because obviously if you achieve good results having come from a very poor school then it is a marker of your potential. I think with a good personal statement and reference from your teachers you stand a fine chance of getting into a top university for economics. If you don't get the offers you are looking for you could always then withdraw from ucas and take the year out to retake those GCSE if you so chose.

Reply 2

Goods

16

Original post by Bloxorus

Basically I've had my heart set on studying Economics at a top university to reach my IB dream. I'm currently in year 12 and just sat my AS exams and I'm confident that I've done well. I'm aiming for A*A*AA in maths, economics, further maths and physics respectively next year.

Recently I've been noticing how people on here have been saying how important GCSEs are when applying for Economics at top universities. How if you have less than 8A*s you are likely to not even have your application looked at.
This has been worrying me greatly seeing as my GCSEs were extremely poor compared to standards on here (1A*, 5As, 5Bs, 1C). I went to a very poor comprehensive secondary school which fails to get 60% of students 5A*-C grades.

I know how important it is to go to a target university for IB so seeing as how low my GCSEs are, would it be worth maybe taking a year out after my A2s and completing some GCSEs again to try and bag some more A*s?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Why is IB your dream? If its the money then i would have to say you wouldn't stand out academically, believe me A*A*AA is fantastic but for such competitive graduate schemes it will be pretty run of the mill when it gets to applying. If you are truly interested in economics, quantitative finance and they study and extrapolating of social behaviour and events and their effects of the financial systems then you have as good a chance and anyone passionate about their subject. You need a strong enough academic record (which provided you get Very High to High UMS at AS they won't look as much at your GCSE's) to prove that you can survive an intensive course, but they really want people who are engrossed in their field.

Reply 3

Extricated

17

Going to sound harsh but is 100% truthful :

Cambridge - Yes if you get 95%+ at AS level to discount poor GCSEs (even then, 95% is pretty run of the mill for Cambridge econ)
Oxford - No
Warwick - No
LSE - No
Durham - Possible
Nottingham - Possible
Bristol - Possible

You also know that you don't have to do economics to get into banking, you can do anything pretty much at a good university (unless you want to become a quant etc which requires maths/mathematical economics/engineering/physics)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

MagicNMedicine

20

You are not going to enhance your application by getting extra GCSEs after doing your A2 levels. If universities are not happy with your GCSEs now they will not view you any differently by the fact that you went and owned some more GCSEs after getting A levels, anybody could go back after studying A levels and do much better in GCSEs.

If you don't get in the universities you want to then I would suggest just go to one you can get in and get a 1st, then you could think of doing an MSc at a 'target' university down the line.

All you can do at this stage is apply and give it a go.

Reply 5

iPixelBlue

9

Original post by Bloxorus

Basically I've had my heart set on studying Economics at a top university to reach my IB dream. I'm currently in year 12 and just sat my AS exams and I'm confident that I've done well. I'm aiming for A*A*AA in maths, economics, further maths and physics respectively next year.

Recently I've been noticing how people on here have been saying how important GCSEs are when applying for Economics at top universities. How if you have less than 8A*s you are likely to not even have your application looked at.
This has been worrying me greatly seeing as my GCSEs were extremely poor compared to standards on here (1A*, 5As, 5Bs, 1C). I went to a very poor comprehensive secondary school which fails to get 60% of students 5A*-C grades.

I know how important it is to go to a target university for IB so seeing as how low my GCSEs are, would it be worth maybe taking a year out after my A2s and completing some GCSEs again to try and bag some more A*s?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Please don't think i'm being mean.
I am on track for A*A*A*A* at a2 level (maths, further maths, economics, chemistry), but I got 5A* at GCSE. I spoke to an LSE admissions tutor and he said that my gcses were too low for me to apply. Yes, even though i have 96 UMS overall.
Cambridge say that if you achieve near full UMS overall (95+) you would stand a decent chance.

Unfortunately you dont seem to be getting 90+ UMS predictions, or good enough GCSEs. ( they're good, but not by picky LSE's standards)
But don't be disheartened, other excellent unis like Bristol should defo give you and offer, as well as Nottingham.
I still think you should try for atleast one of your dream unis...otherwise you'll end up regretting not doing it.

(edited 10 years ago)

Would I stand a chance for economics?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you