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HELP

Hi
I'm applying for sixth form , which ik is quite late but im an female igcse student .
I'm not really 100% sure on what i wanna do (im kinda iffy about : medicine , it or finance/real estate fields)
So for A-levels I have decided on : Maths , Biochem , (ICT/comp sci ) , and ( Ecc/Business studies / Acc).
I have a few restriction : I live in South East London so the max commute I can do is an Hour , I also wish to go to a school that has a good acdemic performance and a semi-okay atleast experience .

Any recommendations?

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Bad-Karma

I'm going to throw a few spanners in the works for your subjects. (Sorry, don't know much about the 6th forms in London.)

If you go onto sites such as:
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/sectors
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles
...you would realise you don't need a degree in finance or real estate in order to get into those fields. You would need a degree in medicine to get into medicine (or do a medicine degree apprenticeship).

To get into finance, you would need the suitable professional finance qualification specific for the role that you want to apply for. A degree is not going to help, and those on finance graduate schemes would accept graduates from any background (not that you need to apply via graduate schemes only). For example, you cannot become a financial advisor with a qualification specifically for mortgage advisors; you would need a suitable qualification for financial advisors before you can act as one, at least in the UK.
Most of the finance qualifications don't usually require any prior qualifications i.e. you can do the qualifications with no iGCSEs or nothing at all.
The only professional qualification from I can tell that would require you to have an A Level in Maths is actuarial science (for the UK only - see IFoA). Whilst you can always do an actuarial science degree, you don't need to and you can always do an apprenticeship.
If you want to go into quants, the most popular qualification is CQF for the UK and that tend to ask for a quantitative background - most people who study it have a mathematical degree (e.g. engineering, physics, maths, etc.), but I am not sure it's strictly necessary.

Most areas of real estate won't require you to have specific qualifications. If you want to be a surveyor, it's helpful if you have a RICS qualification, and if you want to be an urban planner, it's helpful to have a suitable degree for it. Other than that, there aren't any specific requirements to go into the sector especially if you decide to take on an apprenticeship.
If you want to do something like architecture or civil/structural engineering, then you would need specific degrees. However, from the look of things, I don't think you intended to go itno architecture or engineering.

If you did want to do architecture, a number of RIBA accredited degrees accept 3 A Levels in any subject so long you have a good portfolio for your interview (otherwise you would look into an apprenticeship). If you wanted to do civil or structural engineering, you would need physics + maths for the degree (and possibly apprenticeship).

Further comments on your choices:
If you want to go into medicine, I would recommend both Biology and Chemistry so you would be able to apply for any medical school in the country. If you only had chemistry or biology, your choices are much fewer.
Maths is a required subject for degrees in finance, financial engineering, financial mathematics, and actuarial science, so I would very much doubt you would drop that. There would be some accounting and finance degrees that asks for Maths, but that's only because the finance modules are a lot more quantitative i.e. en par with the finance degrees.

ICT, comp sci, economics, business studies, and accounting are not required subjects.
Comp sci is useful for computer science degrees due to the programming content, but they tend to only ask for A Level Maths (some would accept 3 A Levels in any subject, but there would be a lot of mathematical content in the degree, and only a handful would not ask for A Level Maths).
ICT is not really a highly regarded subject, and you would very much be advised to take Comp Sci over ICT.
Economics is not a required subject, not even for economics degrees. Maths is the required subject with Further Maths being ideal if you intend to do the economics degree at a top end uni.
Business studies is not a required subject, not even for business degrees. If you intend to do business studies then a business degree, you would quickly notice that a lot of the material that you cover in the degree would be a repeat of what you did at A Level.
Accounting is probably the A Level that I have the worst gripe with. Accounting A Level doesn't offer you any exemptions for the professional accounting qualifications that you need to become an accountant or work in finance. Accounting A Level isn't even required for Accounting degrees, which accepts 3 A Levels in any subjects (except the handful of joint finance degrees that require A Level Maths - see above). The A Level can help with some of the course material in the degree, but I would doubt you want to do it purely because of that.

Personal recommendation: Maths, Bio, Chem. That way, you can get onto most degrees in medicine, maths, anything in life sciences, computer science, economics, business, and accounting. FM would be a nice edition, but that's if you really want the top end degrees in economics or finance.