This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Oxford or Cass?

Hi guys, right- well i guess i need some advice:

I have an offer from Cass to study Investment and Financial Risk Management, i need ABB, which i am predicted AAA from A level Business Studies and Double-Award AVCE ICT. However, if i do get 3 A's, or even ABB, i am thinking about doing a year at a public (asin private) school to do Maths and Physics in one year, then to reapply for Economics at Oxford or cambridge. Does this seem worth the year long wait, and would these subjects be a good combination? I would rather study quantitative subjects such as Maths and Physics, compared to qualititative subjects like history.
Cass has a good reputation in business- but.... well.... Oxford is oxford and cambridge is cambridge.....

I also have the idea of studying each A level in a whole term (yes apprently it is possible), then i oculd use my final term for work experience. At the end of all of this ammendment year, i would then apply to oxbridge (one, obviously), warwick, lse, mayb cass and university college london. I could not apply before because they all wanted maths.

Reply 1

H&E

3

faa

Hi guys, right- well i guess i need some advice:

I have an offer from Cass to study Investment and Financial Risk Management, i need ABB, which i am predicted AAA from A level Business Studies and Double-Award AVCE ICT. However, if i do get 3 A's, or even ABB, i am thinking about doing a year at a public (asin private) school to do Maths and Physics in one year, then to reapply for Economics at Oxford or cambridge. Does this seem worth the year long wait, and would these subjects be a good combination? I would rather study quantitative subjects such as Maths and Physics, compared to qualititative subjects like history.

Sounds extremely risky to me...remember roughly 85% of Economics applicants to Oxbridge are unsuccesful.

Reply 2

faa

OP

Hey, im glad someones up at this time of the night! lol

Well its just that Cass seems a bit like Marmite, people either love it or hate it. I mean, lots of people talk how badly its postgraduate degrees are, and then others say their good (yes- but i am doing undergraduate). But i am more bothered about what an employer would think, reading on my CV that i studied investment and financial risk management there....

Reply 3

tomcoolinguk

13

I disagree. I think that if you want to do a pure economics degree your year could be well placed. You need to do what Oxbridge dons refer to, though, as 'choosing your course, not your university'. Does economics really interest you or is it the nearest thing to your other interests with the Oxbridge label. You should definitely, however, contact the universities you are interested in.

The aforementioned statistic that 85% of Oxbridge applicants for Economics is completely untrue as it is a generalization made on the basis of E&M at Oxford only. Seeking rectification...

Reply 4

Wagamuffin

Well it seems to me like a good idea if you are financially secure for the moment and aren't in a hurry to get a job. After all, what is 1 year out of 80 from your life compared to the advantages of an Oxford degree in economics. You can always reapply to cass.

Reply 5

Wagamuffin

Oh and if it brings you any hope, my sister turned down her offer of BBB at edinburgh (having been rejected from Cambridge), and applied to Oxford the following year, resulting fortunately in acceptance. Her school report wasn't stellar either...

Good luck!

Reply 6

H&E

3

tomcoolinguk

I disagree. I think that if you want to do a pure economics degree your year could be well placed. You need to do what Oxbridge dons refer to, though, as 'choosing your course, not your university'. Does economics really interest you or is it the nearest thing to your other interests with the Oxbridge label. You should definitely, however, contact the universities you are interested in.

The aforementioned statistic that 85% of Oxbridge applicants for Economics is completely untrue as it is a generalization made on the basis of E&M at Oxford only. Seeking rectification...

That is the closest Oxford comes to an Economics course, which is what was referred to; it is generally what Economics applicants choose at Oxford, in my experience at least. At Cambridge the apps :redface:

ffers ratio is also about 6:1, i.e about 85%.

Reply 7

username9816

14

Maths and Further Maths would ideally be slightly better than Maths and Physics, although the place you plan to do these A-Levels in might not offer it, hence your decision, if that was the case.

Reply 8

faa

OP

thing is- my a levels are going to be better than my GCSE's, i only got 2 A's, 5 B's 4 C's and a D (German) cos we were made to do 12 GCSEs and i think it was pointless, so if i did go to this school, i could turn 3 of my C's into A's (I got C for all sciences). Would oxford look at my GCSE results, how much would they matter, say if i had A grades at A Level in Business Studies, ICTx2, Maths and Physics?

Reply 9

faa

OP

oh yeh- this might sound a lil silly- but i do have a Gold Certificate in the uk maths challenge, is that recognised my oxford? gold means (according to the cetificate- the top 3% of the 150,000 entrants???????

Reply 10

tomcoolinguk

13

Well depends how you mean recognised? As an extracurric, undoubtedly (and with the highest esteem I would imagine)... but probably not as a substitute for AL Maths

Reply 11

faa

OP

oh no, obviously not! lol. i dont think anything could replace that. Its just i am worried about Cass' reputation, it seems that you either love it or hate it!

Reply 12

Unregistered

I know of a girl who quit economics at Bath University after her first year, took a year out, applied to UCL, KCL, LSE, Oxford, and Kent to study law, and was rejected by all those institutions except Kent. Suffice to say she regrets her decision.

There's no guarantee that you'll be offered a place at Oxford\LSE. Whether you should reject your Cass place depends on whether you're prepared to accept the risk of being rejected by those institutions and thus having wasted a year out.

Reply 13

Brown Patrick Bateman

10

I don't really rate your chances to be honest. Whilst GCSEs don't really matter, pretty much everyone has at least 9 or so A*/A/B grades here. A Gold Maths certificate won't mean much as so many thousands get that. Oxford tend not to count AVCEs, and don't even regard Business Studies that highly. Is it worth spending another year studying when, as H&E says, there's only a 1 in 6 chance as it is of getting a place? Just go to CASS - it's a very good school and highly regarded by employers. If you're looking at a career in investment banking / risk management etc it'll be a lot more useful than E&M at Oxford.

Oxford or Cass?

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you