Can i study economics at university without A Level Mathematics?

I am Currently Studying Economics, Computer Science and Business Studies and looking to study Economics at a university such as LSE or UCL, to go on and obtain a career of Investment Banking.
I have currently taken 3 assessments for all three subjects and Achieved Straight Bs for All of the following subjects BBB,BBB,BBB. Will i be able to study Economics Bsc at University without mathematics A Level with these results?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Not at LSE or UCL, with or without Mathematics at 3 Bs, realistically. Additionally LSE doesn't generally accept the combination of Economics and Business Studies without a fourth A-level. In general the vast majority of universities require Mathematics for Economics courses. There are a few which do not (Goldsmiths' I believe doesn't...Political Economy at KCL might not. I'd note you are still very low on the grade spectrum for either, although closer for Goldsmiths' at least) but they are by far and away exceptions.

This is due to the fact university level economics is necessarily mathematical, and even if you don't have A-level Mathematics now, they will need to teach you the majority of the content of the A-level for you to reasonable pursue that. That is even more true for the "top" courses (e.g. LSE, Warwick, Oxbridge, possibly UCL) where they even bring in some abstract mathematics (i.e. Mathematics as maths degree students study) for some of the courses.

I'd note the majority of universities that don't require A-level Mathematics for Economics are not considered "target" universities by investment banks. While one does not, by any stretch of the imagination, need to study Economics to go into IBanking, and any university subject is normally suitable (except for a few very technical roles that aren't really general "investment banking" :wink:

, it is worth noting the majority of "target" universities for Banks require AAB-ABB even for just contextual offers at the very low or sometimes semi-target end. Most of the main target universities will look for AAA or higher, and receive a great number of applications every year, especially in any subject vaguely related to banking (business, economics, maths and stats etc) and candidates frequently need to do much better than the stated entry criteria.

I think you need to reflect on your ambitions and expectations, and consider whether that is both necessarily the direction you want to pursue and whether it is realistic to do so. While people can and do get into investment banks from semi-target and non-target universities, they would need to go far above and beyond to distinguish themselves, and may well have to spend several years applying to roles and taking on low/non paying internships (for example at boutique banks and/or in less "preferred" areas of finance) before getting a "break" in IBanking. Similarly they may well go to another university then get a masters degree from one of the universities mentioned - however this route generally the expectation would be that your masters would be in something vaguely related to IBanking, and such masters courses normally charge a premium on tuition fees as they know they will get many applicants and easily fill the number of places. As such, again, you may need to work several years in other areas just to save up for such a masters before continuing down the route.

There are plenty of other fulfilling careers which can support you as an individual and, potentially, a family, other than banking (even within the financial services sector - for example accountancy). There are of course many other careers outside of that sector which can be pursued to the same (or a similar) end...

As a general suggestion, based on your background/subjects, you may want to look into e.g. ITMB type courses (IT management in business) which I believe less often require Mathematics and which would continue to a large extent the subject areas you're currently studying. There is a perpetual need for sysadmins, general software/web developers and IT managers in businesses of any scale, and this is likely to at least stay relatively static in the future I believe, if not grow somewhat...it seems a good fit to your background, and a good sector to go into. You could well go on to go into banking in some capacity, either directly via a masters route as described above or in another manner.

UCL does offer a course in this area, although I think this would be a "stretch" goal if you think you can get some As out of your current set, and Southampton also offers a course in the area which is fairly well regarded I believe. I believe Exeter at least had a course in this realm, although it may have been consumed by the FCH programme. Additionally, Exeter tend to be relatively flexible in setting offers so you may well get a lower offer than otherwise published by them...if you add a couple of "safety" options to this you would have a fairly good range of choices to apply through UCAS with.

Can i study economics at university without A Level Mathematics?

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