The Student Room Group

What degree should I pick?

Hello!
I am a current y12 student studying biology, maths, further maths and chemistry. So far, it is going well and I am predicted 3A*s (haven’t been given a grade for further maths yet). It is coming to the time where I need to decide what course I should do but I am very undecided. As for my career, I am leaning towards going into the finance/banking sector of life but I also want to keep a lot of doors open. My options are:
Biology/biochemistry (Oxford)
Natural sciences (Cambridge/durham/bath/UCL/imperial etc…)
Maths and statistics (Warwick, LSE, Durham etc…)
Chemical engineering (Bath, Imperial etc…)
Chemistry (Bath, imperial, St A’s, durham, UCL etc…)
Statistics (UCL, LSE, Bath, imperial etc…)
Chemistry and mathematics (UCL, St A’s etc..)
I know that’s a lot but here is my thought process: I am aware that there is no specific degree you need to go into banking but that certain banks have ‘target’ unis eg oxbridge, lse, imperial… so my best chance at going to oxbridge would either be natsci at cambridge or bio/biochem at oxford. However, I wouldn’t want to study bio at a different uni because i am scared that it won’t seem relavent/academic enough for banking. The same doesn’t necessarily apply to natsci because there is some maths involved in it and it might seem more impressive? So, doing bio at oxford would be the dream but risky because I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else and obviously there’s a high chance I won’t get in. NatSci at cambridge would be very cool but I’m not sure I would be able to get in - extremely competitive degree! So, I could go for a maths/stats degree at a good uni but would i be smart enough? Or, I could do chemistry but probs not at oxford so would it be impressive enough elsewhere? There’s also chemical engineering which looks fascinating but i don’t study physics so I might not be able to get into the best unis for it. Oh, and also just statistics on its own sounds good.
All these degrees I reckon I could be content doing for 3 years; I am just more worried about my career prospects afterwards. Doing a science degree at oxbridge would be best case scenario for me but has the highest risk of not getting in and I wouldn’t really want to do it elsewhere (I know I am being very picky). So, perhaps less risky to do a more numerical degree elsewhere because it is more relevant to banking?

Reply 1

Original post by open-air-steplad
Hello!
I am a current y12 student studying biology, maths, further maths and chemistry. So far, it is going well and I am predicted 3A*s (haven’t been given a grade for further maths yet). It is coming to the time where I need to decide what course I should do but I am very undecided. As for my career, I am leaning towards going into the finance/banking sector of life but I also want to keep a lot of doors open. My options are:
Biology/biochemistry (Oxford)
Natural sciences (Cambridge/durham/bath/UCL/imperial etc…)
Maths and statistics (Warwick, LSE, Durham etc…)
Chemical engineering (Bath, Imperial etc…)
Chemistry (Bath, imperial, St A’s, durham, UCL etc…)
Statistics (UCL, LSE, Bath, imperial etc…)
Chemistry and mathematics (UCL, St A’s etc..)
I know that’s a lot but here is my thought process: I am aware that there is no specific degree you need to go into banking but that certain banks have ‘target’ unis eg oxbridge, lse, imperial… so my best chance at going to oxbridge would either be natsci at cambridge or bio/biochem at oxford. However, I wouldn’t want to study bio at a different uni because i am scared that it won’t seem relavent/academic enough for banking. The same doesn’t necessarily apply to natsci because there is some maths involved in it and it might seem more impressive? So, doing bio at oxford would be the dream but risky because I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else and obviously there’s a high chance I won’t get in. NatSci at cambridge would be very cool but I’m not sure I would be able to get in - extremely competitive degree! So, I could go for a maths/stats degree at a good uni but would i be smart enough? Or, I could do chemistry but probs not at oxford so would it be impressive enough elsewhere? There’s also chemical engineering which looks fascinating but i don’t study physics so I might not be able to get into the best unis for it. Oh, and also just statistics on its own sounds good.
All these degrees I reckon I could be content doing for 3 years; I am just more worried about my career prospects afterwards. Doing a science degree at oxbridge would be best case scenario for me but has the highest risk of not getting in and I wouldn’t really want to do it elsewhere (I know I am being very picky). So, perhaps less risky to do a more numerical degree elsewhere because it is more relevant to banking?

Any degree in STEM from the target unis (Oxbridge, Imperial UCL LSE Warwick) and you will be fine. Just pick something you will enjoy but also take into account acceptance rates. As long as you get into one of those unis and get the grades you are on the right track.

Reply 2

Original post by an1342
Any degree in STEM from the target unis (Oxbridge, Imperial UCL LSE Warwick) and you will be fine. Just pick something you will enjoy but also take into account acceptance rates. As long as you get into one of those unis and get the grades you are on the right track.

Ok thank you!

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