What would be some realistic universities for me?

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

Is there a reason you didn't do maths A level? It's required for econ/finance at many RGs. Did a quick google search and from your list you'd only meet the entry requirements for Reading (for BA econ, not the BSc). Nottingham, Birmingham, and Royal Holloway all want a grade 7 in maths GCSE and the others want A level maths. If you look for unis that offer BA Econ rather than BSc, they are usually less demanding on the maths requirements. Not sure about accounting degrees, but they are a lot less mathematical than econ degrees so you'd probably have more options when applying to those. I don't think any from your list require maths A level for accounting, just a GCSE grade 6 which you have (although you may want to check yourself since I searched it very quickly).
If you wanted to do econ, you could have a look at these:
Manchester BA Econ - https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2025/05134/baecon-economics/entry-requirements/#a-level
Sheffield BA Econ - https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/2026/economics-ba#entryreqs
Lancaster BA Econ (not a RG but still a good uni) - https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/economics-ba-hons-l110/2026/

You need to visit each web site and check the entry requirements for your chosen courses. For example Economics at Durham is a non-starter as the require A level Mathematics (see here). The same is true of Economics at Liverpool (see here), and Economics at Exeter (see here).
It's a bit tedious to check them all one by one, but I'd expect that your lack of Mathematics at A level will rule-out many of your target uni / course combinations, I'm afraid.

thank you for your reply! for the universities i listed, i meant accounting and finance degrees whoops i should have mentioned that. i am very passionate about economics but only discovered this after taking it as an alevel and i half-suck at maths so i didnt pick it. do you think that an accounting degree would be worth it? im only picking the degree since i dont really have a preference of degree and haven't cleared it up yet, and i think id get a good shot at a rg uni with it.

thank you for your reply! for the universities i listed, i meant accounting and finance degrees whoops i should have mentioned that. i am very passionate about economics but only discovered this after taking it as an alevel and i half-suck at maths so i didnt pick it. do you think that an accounting degree would be worth it? im only picking the degree since i dont really have a preference of degree and haven't cleared it up yet, and i think id get a good shot at a rg uni with it.

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

Hi 2nd year banking and finance student here. Basically the advice that has already been given is ok, but not great (no offence) especially from a “clearing advisor”. Econ especially at most Russel groups do prefer you to take “a level maths” however, it’s definitely not a deciding factor if you demonstrate already that you do “accounting or finance” or even Econ at a levels. This is what they fail to mention here and why ur case is slightly different to others without A level maths. Doesn’t mean that A level maths wouldnt significantly help you with an Econ degree if u was to choose it (highly advise u not to take it if you didn’t get A or higher in GCSE). Bsc Econ at Bangor for example doesn’t require A level maths, UWE doesn’t require A level maths (when I applied anyways). Not top universities by any means but to generalise it as outright A level maths is such a myth, it’s down to an individual assessment and alongside your other grades as well. However, I would stay far away from anything accounting even if it’s (Bsc Accounting and finance) purely because it will be heavily weighted in accounting and u won’t be a qualified accountant try to get an apprenticeship for this if possible. If so your options are also “Bsc finance, Bsc banking and finance, Bsc finance and law etc” if you want more in depth information about what’s is like (I studied econ 1st year but dropped it, btw didn’t take A level maths, but was one of the reason why I dropped it etc) then don’t be afraid to ask. Best of luck

I would like to add here when I said that when I say it’s not a “deciding factor” I mean most universities, when they say they require “A level maths” sometimes normally state that they would take economics as a substitute. Not all do this! But I know some RG’s that do, can’t name them off the top of my head but there was quite a few when I applied that would take that substitute depending on “grade” and all the other “grades alongside it” obviously don’t be stupid and apply to Bath, LSE etc they won’t normally do this. But some lower ranked RG’s definitely do (if u wanted to go down this route)

Put it this way too Rgs such as “Cambridge, Oxford, LSE etc” you will normally have to have A-A* in practically English language, Maths, science. Also you will also have to get A-A*s as well at A level. For mid Rg universities, maybe AAB will do it if you have strong GCSEs or A levels (more focused on A levels for mid Rgs). For lower Rgs maybe you can get away with BBB or something similar (depends case by case). For things such as law, maths, finance, medicine they are less likely to be more forgiving. However, like I said before RGs (including top Rgs such as St Joseph) vs Non rgs typically depends on how you learn. Btw just a heads up, law isn’t just “essays” it’s vigorous work between case law, common law, law of Tort. You will have to remember case laws off by heart for the exams (there are many). Not to put u off it but it’s definitely more than just essays. I wish you all the best! Good luck

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!

I got GCSE grades 877666664 (6 in maths, 8 in English language). I am studying the A-Levels Art, Economics and English literature currently, and I want to do either an economics degree or an accounting/ accounting and finance degree. I have only just decided recently that I want to do accounting or banking in the future. When I do pick unis, I'm considering Nottingham, Liverpool, Durham, Exeter, Royal Holloway, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and then Reading as a safe university since I've done a scholarship scheme and would be guaranteed a place there. I really do hope that I will have offers from RG unis this time next year! I was wondering how realistic it would be for me to get a place at any of these universities considering my grades and subjects, and what my 5 choices could be for safe but great offers? Thank you so much!!