best economics unis

that don't require an A* in A levels?

The fact that you've said no A* rules out most of the top unis for economics.
I think Manchester would be your best bet with AAA, and maybe Loughborough as well. After that, any mediocre Russell group uni would be considered the 'best with no A*'.

As the above poster suggested, no A* rules out all of the top 10 UK unis for a BSc Economics. Only way to get into one of these unis for economics without an A* is to try to find a joint honours econ degree at one, but there are few of these. Only ones I've really heard of have been the Econ + Language courses at Warwick which only require AAB (pretty good considering Warwick is a top5 econ uni).

Outside of this option (option probably not available to most as most don't do a language), you're looking at courses at places like Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Loughborough, Newcastle, Glasgow, Southampton, Cardiff, etc. Manchester is by far the best course here, especially the BSc, lots of rigorous optional modules. Outside of possibly Manchester (but maybe even Manc), these econ degrees are standard and can be enough if you get good internship/placement experience and are a strong candidate overall, but the degree itself isn' not going to impress anyone if you're looking to become an economist or work in the desirable finance roles once you graduate.

that don't require an A* in A levels?

Have you considered studying Economics at the University of Sheffield?

Both our BA and BSc courses require AAB for entry or ABB + B in a relevant EPQ.

We also have a scheme called Access Sheffield, where if you meet certain requirements, you may be eligible for a reduced grade offer - https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/access

BA economics does not require an a level in Maths, specialising in modern economic theory and policy modules where as BSc economics allows you to specialise in methodological modules.

The Department of Economics was ranked number 1 for student satisfaction in the Russel Group in the National Student Survey (2021), as well as ranking highly for academic support so I would highly recommend checking out our courses and what Sheffield has to offer!

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/news/economics-university-sheffield-ranked-top-russell-group-student-satisfaction

Have you considered studying Economics at the University of Sheffield?

Both our BA and BSc courses require AAB for entry or ABB + B in a relevant EPQ.

We also have a scheme called Access Sheffield, where if you meet certain requirements, you may be eligible for a reduced grade offer - https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/access

BA economics does not require an a level in Maths, specialising in modern economic theory and policy modules where as BSc economics allows you to specialise in methodological modules.

The Department of Economics was ranked number 1 for student satisfaction in the Russel Group in the National Student Survey (2021), as well as ranking highly for academic support so I would highly recommend checking out our courses and what Sheffield has to offer!

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/news/economics-university-sheffield-ranked-top-russell-group-student-satisfaction

so you need to do an EPQ to apply?

Am sure it's just me but I always find these official uni posts so fustrating lol. Just so vague, generic and written by someone without specific subject knowledge (or not allowed to write what they actually think)

Sheffield already mentioned and acknowledged in this thread anyway.

"Specialising in modern econ theory + policy, and methodological modules"? So the same as every other economics course in basically every uni in the whole developed world then, helpful to know...

Econ department ranking #1 for student satisfaction in 2021... Misleading in so many ways! Firstly, more rigorous degree courses typically have lower student satisfaction. Don't believe me, look at some of the rankings - e.g. complete uni guide for econ has top 10 based on satisfaction ratings being Stirling, East London, Hertfordshire, St Andrews (actually solid tbf), Aberystwyth University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, London Metropolitan University, Heriot-Watt University, University of Hull, University of Liverpool. Secondly, the survey results suffer from a massive conflict of interest, if satisfaction scores impact a course's ranking, why would a student give their course a bad rating (even if it was bad), it would only make their degree look less good to employers?


No you don't need an EPQ to apply, it's either AAB (if no EPQ) or if you happen to do an EPQ and get a B then they'll accept you on ABB.

I agree with you on how these uni posts can seem frustrating. You would want to hear the honest, no filter opinions of econ students at these unis for example. How would Manchester be looked at for employers, especially those in banking, finance & consulting?

Yeah haha, they're just so vague and meaningless really, beyond the basic utility of reminding someone that a course at a uni actually exists.

And nobody should use rankings to inform their decisions unless they've actually read the methodology on how the rankings are actually constructed. Otherwise you're trying to make inferences out of black box.

Manchester's BSc Economics course is actually very rigorous in my opinion. If you pick your options in a specific way then it's definitely more rigorous than unis that are typically better regarded for econ (e.g. Bristol, Durham, Bath, Notts, Edinburgh). The career outcomes from Manchester is always hard to assess imo, it's just such a big uni that it means there's so much heterogeneity in terms of how good graduates from there are. But overall, Manchester is very solid, it's not elite but it's still very good.

The top consulting firms (MBB) typically hire predominantly out of Oxbridge and LSE and Imperial. But a good candidate from manchester probably has a decent shot at the consulting firms below MBB and stuff like big4 consulting is more than fine from manchester.

With banking, same applies really, maybe 30-50% come from Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, Imperial and Warwick, then most of the rest will come from Bristol/Durham/Bath/Notts/Manchester/Kings type unis - odds at IB are low from any uni but strong candidates from manchester should be in with a chance, it certainly doesn't rule you out if that's what you mean. A manchester grad with a target master's (e.g. oxbridge, LSE, LBS and the like) would stand a good chance imo if you can't get in from undergrad. Then for other finance roles, well it sorta depends what you're talking about really, hedge funds rarely hire people straight out of uni and if they do they're either postgrad and/or from an elite uni, wealth managerment should be more than doable from manchester econ, acturarial same as wealth management with the added caveat that you need to be very strong at stats, asset management is somewhere between IB and wealth management in terms of difficulty but they hire less straight out of uni, real estate funds/investment firms are a bit easier than asset management. Econ consulting and Econ civil service grad schemes should be more than fine from manchester (maybe other than some of the more elite competition economics consultancy, these will be possible but hard from Manc).

Again, a lot of career outcomes will depend on you as an individual rather than your uni or course, but these are just my thoughts from observations about where people seem to end up on average. For example, Manc Econ grad could definitely do better than Oxbridge/LSE econ grad, just that this probably doesn't happen on average if that makes sense.

let's say you have top grades so could get into all the top econ unis, how much of a disadvantage is not doing a level further maths?

Defo a disadvantage if you want to go to LSE or Cambridge for pure Econ as they require further maths (unless your school doesn't offer it).
However, you could get into other top econ courses such as Warwick, UCL, Durham, Notts, Edin, Manchester etc without further maths.

Yeah haha, they're just so vague and meaningless really, beyond the basic utility of reminding someone that a course at a uni actually exists.
And nobody should use rankings to inform their decisions unless they've actually read the methodology on how the rankings are actually constructed. Otherwise you're trying to make inferences out of black box.
Manchester's BSc Economics course is actually very rigorous in my opinion. If you pick your options in a specific way then it's definitely more rigorous than unis that are typically better regarded for econ (e.g. Bristol, Durham, Bath, Notts, Edinburgh). The career outcomes from Manchester is always hard to assess imo, it's just such a big uni that it means there's so much heterogeneity in terms of how good graduates from there are. But overall, Manchester is very solid, it's not elite but it's still very good.
The top consulting firms (MBB) typically hire predominantly out of Oxbridge and LSE and Imperial. But a good candidate from manchester probably has a decent shot at the consulting firms below MBB and stuff like big4 consulting is more than fine from manchester.
With banking, same applies really, maybe 30-50% come from Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, Imperial and Warwick, then most of the rest will come from Bristol/Durham/Bath/Notts/Manchester/Kings type unis - odds at IB are low from any uni but strong candidates from manchester should be in with a chance, it certainly doesn't rule you out if that's what you mean. A manchester grad with a target master's (e.g. oxbridge, LSE, LBS and the like) would stand a good chance imo if you can't get in from undergrad. Then for other finance roles, well it sorta depends what you're talking about really, hedge funds rarely hire people straight out of uni and if they do they're either postgrad and/or from an elite uni, wealth managerment should be more than doable from manchester econ, acturarial same as wealth management with the added caveat that you need to be very strong at stats, asset management is somewhere between IB and wealth management in terms of difficulty but they hire less straight out of uni, real estate funds/investment firms are a bit easier than asset management. Econ consulting and Econ civil service grad schemes should be more than fine from manchester (maybe other than some of the more elite competition economics consultancy, these will be possible but hard from Manc).
Again, a lot of career outcomes will depend on you as an individual rather than your uni or course, but these are just my thoughts from observations about where people seem to end up on average. For example, Manc Econ grad could definitely do better than Oxbridge/LSE econ grad, just that this probably doesn't happen on average if that makes sense.