Studying Economics without Further Maths

i’m supposed to be applying for universities this upcoming school year, and i have just learnt that to study economics in LSE, i should have taken further maths. My current subjects are maths economics and politics, and i’m confident i can meet the requirements of A*AA. Is it still worthwhile to apply? Also, are any other top universities secretly looking for further maths? I know that Oxford does not mention it in their entry requirements but i was wondering whether they secretly need it to.

Reply 1

lalexm

16

Original post by roddyritch

i’m supposed to be applying for universities this upcoming school year, and i have just learnt that to study economics in LSE, i should have taken further maths. My current subjects are maths economics and politics, and i’m confident i can meet the requirements of A*AA. Is it still worthwhile to apply? Also, are any other top universities secretly looking for further maths? I know that Oxford does not mention it in their entry requirements but i was wondering whether they secretly need it to.

Don't apply to LSE economics as you won't get in without FM. On the plus side though, I believe the only other uni that requires FM for Economics is Cambridge. There are no secret lists. Uni's have to be very transparent. If they don't state that a particular subject is required/desirable, then it isn't.

Please note though, whether you have FM or not, and even if you have all A*s, Economics is very competitive, so don't just apply to the to the top 5 or so top ranked economics degrees in the country, as you would run the risk of not getting any offers. You need 1 or 2 safeties.

Reply 2

lanky_giraffe

15

Rankings unis in terms of competitiveness for economics:
-Oxford
-Cambridge
-LSE
-Imperial
-UCL
-Warwick
-Durham
-St Andrews
-Bath (increasingly so)

Only apply to 3 of these (max 4) if your stats are super good. I would recommend only applying to 2 of the top 5

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 3

roddyritch

OP

2

Original post by lanky_giraffe

Rankings unis in terms of competitiveness for economics:
-Oxford
-Cambridge
-LSE
-Imperial
-UCL
-Warwick
-Durham
-St Andrews
-Bath (increasingly so)
Only apply to 3 of these (max 4) if your stats are super good. I would recommend only applying to 2 of the top 5

do you know whether the rest of these universities regard further maths as a necessary subject (to the same extent LSE holds it) when applying for an economics course.

Reply 4

lanky_giraffe

15

Original post by roddyritch

do you know whether the rest of these universities regard further maths as a necessary subject (to the same extent LSE holds it) when applying for an economics course.

Warwick don’t care ‘Further Maths and Economics are not essential, although they are fine subject choices for a student considering Economics at degree level. We treat them as any other strong A level subject: they have no special status.’.

But they may not see politics as a strong a level subject.

Imperial say that economics and FM are helpful but not required so I would say that FM probably doesn’t give you an edge. I do know people that got an offer without FM. You also need an A* in maths

But for Warwick and imperial they do ask for you to sit the tmua and FM is helpful for that. But if you score really highly on the tmua through practice you should be fine.

UCL don’t mention anything but they are super weird with admissions so I just wouldn’t recommend applying to It. You would also need an A* in maths if you do decide to apply.

Don’t apply to Cambridge or LSE. Unless you couldn’t study FM at your school.

Oxford don’t say anything so I don’t think they care. But I don’t think they like politics a level.

Durham don’t mention anything.

Bath say ‘You will need a strong performance in Mathematics as part of your entry qualifications.’. So as long as you show you are very good at maths despite not taking FM you will be fine (olympiads etc).

St Andrews idk it’s not clear.

Reply 5

roddyritch

OP

2

Original post by lanky_giraffe

Warwick don’t care ‘Further Maths and Economics are not essential, although they are fine subject choices for a student considering Economics at degree level. We treat them as any other strong A level subject: they have no special status.’.
But they may not see politics as a strong a level subject.
Imperial say that economics and FM are helpful but not required so I would say that FM probably doesn’t give you an edge. I do know people that got an offer without FM. You also need an A* in maths
But for Warwick and imperial they do ask for you to sit the tmua and FM is helpful for that. But if you score really highly on the tmua through practice you should be fine.
UCL don’t mention anything but they are super weird with admissions so I just wouldn’t recommend applying to It. You would also need an A* in maths if you do decide to apply.
Don’t apply to Cambridge or LSE. Unless you couldn’t study FM at your school.
Oxford don’t say anything so I don’t think they care. But I don’t think they like politics a level.
Durham don’t mention anything.
Bath say ‘You will need a strong performance in Mathematics as part of your entry qualifications.’. So as long as you show you are very good at maths despite not taking FM you will be fine (olympiads etc).
St Andrews idk it’s not clear.

Thank you for the reply it’s super helpful haha. Just one last thing, do you have any idea as to why they may not like politics as an A-Level? Most of the universities above and others that are not included have posted lists of A-Level subjects that can be paired with Mathematics and if I’m not mistaken, i believe Politics came up in all of them. This may have been a while ago though so i am not sure.

Reply 6

lalexm

16

Original post by roddyritch

Thank you for the reply it’s super helpful haha. Just one last thing, do you have any idea as to why they may not like politics as an A-Level? Most of the universities above and others that are not included have posted lists of A-Level subjects that can be paired with Mathematics and if I’m not mistaken, i believe Politics came up in all of them. This may have been a while ago though so i am not sure.

Politics is fine - it's a traditional academic subject, it pairs very well with Economics, and it is also very much an essay subject so shows that you have good writing skills.

Reply 7

lanky_giraffe

15

Original post by roddyritch

Thank you for the reply it’s super helpful haha. Just one last thing, do you have any idea as to why they may not like politics as an A-Level? Most of the universities above and others that are not included have posted lists of A-Level subjects that can be paired with Mathematics and if I’m not mistaken, i believe Politics came up in all of them. This may have been a while ago though so i am not sure.

So I mean if you want to apply to top unis for economics I would apply to: Oxford (if you know you will do well in the TSA if not then probably would for Imperial as a reach), Warwick, Bath/durham, and then 2 safeties.

Have you thought about applying for PPE? It’s easier to get into compared to economics and your subject choices are perfect. You can also pick mainly economics options as well if you don’t like philosophy and politics. I believe in year 2 for Oxford you only pick 2 out of the 3 anyways and you can really just pick loads of economics modules and some politics ones as I’m assuming you like politics to some extent as you did pick it for AL.

Sorry, maybe they do like politics. I mean it probably has some links to economics and I guess I’m assuming it can be quite analytical.

Studying Economics without Further Maths

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