econ without further maths

I'm in y13 currently and got offers from 4 of the unis you mentioned for pure econ without FM (Warwick, UCL, Bath, Bristol) and know others who have as well, so it definitely isn't a necessity. I also didn't do anywhere near as much supercurriculars as you and didn't get 11 9s at GCSE. I do art as a 3rd A level as well (usually a 'non-preferred' subject) so I really don't think they care about subjects as much as people think lol. Pretty sure only LSE and Cambridge wants FM so if you're not applying to these you'll be fine. Just do well and the TMUA (for UCL/Warwick) and you'll most likely get offers.
At the Warwick open day they said around 30% of econ students took FM, not sure about UCL (though I'd assume a higher percentage). imo you should drop FM if it starts to affect your other subjects because they only consider 3 grades, and most successful applicants will have 3 A* since econ is competitive.

Thank youu, that’s really reassuring to hear – and well done on the offers to you and your friends! Hopefully you get a place you’re happy with Out of interest, what other A-levels did you take? And which other unis did you apply to, and why?

Thanks . My other A levels are maths and econ, initially took FM as well but dropped it near the start of y12 as I quickly realised 4 A levels would be too much for me. The unis I applied to were the 4 I mentioned + Birmingham.
Admittedly I didn't really do much research into my choices because I left my UCAS application pretty late and had to rush it 😅. The first thing to consider is campus vs city uni, I didn't really have a preference when applying so I just chose a mix (3 campus + 2 city). I knew I was interested in more quantitative economics courses already so just had a quick look at some of the modules offered by different unis. Another thing to consider is if a placement year is important to you. For me I'd prefer to have one but it wasn't a massive deciding factor, so I applied to 2 unis that offer them (Bath and Warwick). One thing I wish I'd done is visit more open days in-person, because I feel like virtual open days and things like Unibuddy never really give you the full picture and only focus the good parts of the uni. I only had time to visit Warwick and Birmingham because I planned this too late, so I'd say start booking open days now as different unis do theres at different times of the year. And lastly, don't rely too much on rankings when making your decision. Actually try and research each city e.g. cost of living, societies, nightlife etc. depending on whats important to you. I made this mistake when applying to UCL and now that I've done more research, I realistically would never be able to afford to live in London and don't think I'd enjoy the student life there either so it was kinda a wasted choice 😭.
Sorry this turned out to be quite a lengthy post, but lmk if you have other questions

Ah no worries at all — this was actually super helpful, so thank you! And honestly, massive respect for still getting those offers even after dropping FM early on. That’s really reassuring to hear. Do you think there was anything specific in your application that helped you stand out?
I’ll definitely keep those points in mind, especially about placement years and actually visiting unis — hadn’t realised how different the vibes can be until people started mentioning it. And yeah, London living costs are no joke 😭 so I’m thinking seriously about that too.
Really appreciate you taking the time to explain all that! I might come back with more questions later if that’s okay 😅

Most people applying will have all the required grades, so the only thing you can really use to stand out is the personal statement. I wrote about a taster lecture I attended and 2 articles I read and explained my thoughts on what I read and linked it to why I wanted to study econ at uni. I think the personal statement is changing next year so it might be assessed differently, but you'd probably still need to write about similar things. If your course requires the TMUA (outside of Cambridge/LSE that would be Imperial/UCL/Warwick), a good score on that will also improve your application. For Warwick they give you reduced entry requirements if you get above a 4.0. Not sure how UCL assess it since they didn't require it this year but I'd assume anything above a 4 or a 5 would be considered a good score (probably the same for Imperial but I didn't apply there).
I'd be happy to try and answer other questions later on (if I remember)