Ya I think I'm cooked

2

I'm in year 12 and I want to do economics at a top uni (Oxbridge LSE warwick UCL....) but I think the games gone. I do 4 a levels (econ geo maths history) but my school is very tight on predicted. At this rate, if I try very hard I'll be looking at an a star a star a (a in econ, a star maths and a star in history or geo). I wanted to take further maths but I lowk missed a grade 8 by like 2 marks so I couldn't. On that point, I mainly got 7s in GCSEs, a few sixes. Furthermore I go to a grammar school so my grades will be contextualised. I've come to peace that I will likely not be able to go to lse for pure Econ or Oxbridge in general (unless I take a gap year which I'm very reluctant to do) so I've been aiming to apply to Econ and history at LSE and Econ at Warwick, ucl and kcl (also considering efds at imperial and e and m at Warwick). But I was looking at UCL's acceptance data and only 8 percent of people got in with 2 a stars and an a (could change with Tmua requirements now). My super curriculars are looking alright ( I'm finance director for my young enterprise team and have my own economics blog) but I want to do summer internships but they are honestly so hard to break into. I also didn't get accepted into my skls epq programme. I understand there are still options to go to semi target/low target unis (qmul, Bristol, nottingham) but i really want to go to one of the targets to maximise my employability and my earning potential, I've also been looking at consultant and ib degree apprenticeships but that's a whole other mess! Idk man I js wanted to rant and hopefully find some help in order to get a finance degree apprenticeship at a big firm or Econ at UCL/Warwick by year 13. 🙏🙏🙏

Reply 1

thaiiboyphysical

OP

2

Also I do gold dofe but I'm just yapping atp

Reply 2

lusty-gambler

4

Original post

by thaiiboyphysical

I'm in year 12 and I want to do economics at a top uni (Oxbridge LSE warwick UCL....) but I think the games gone. I do 4 a levels (econ geo maths history) but my school is very tight on predicted. At this rate, if I try very hard I'll be looking at an a star a star a (a in econ, a star maths and a star in history or geo). I wanted to take further maths but I lowk missed a grade 8 by like 2 marks so I couldn't. On that point, I mainly got 7s in GCSEs, a few sixes. Furthermore I go to a grammar school so my grades will be contextualised. I've come to peace that I will likely not be able to go to lse for pure Econ or Oxbridge in general (unless I take a gap year which I'm very reluctant to do) so I've been aiming to apply to Econ and history at LSE and Econ at Warwick, ucl and kcl (also considering efds at imperial and e and m at Warwick). But I was looking at UCL's acceptance data and only 8 percent of people got in with 2 a stars and an a (could change with Tmua requirements now). My super curriculars are looking alright ( I'm finance director for my young enterprise team and have my own economics blog) but I want to do summer internships but they are honestly so hard to break into. I also didn't get accepted into my skls epq programme. I understand there are still options to go to semi target/low target unis (qmul, Bristol, nottingham) but i really want to go to one of the targets to maximise my employability and my earning potential, I've also been looking at consultant and ib degree apprenticeships but that's a whole other mess! Idk man I js wanted to rant and hopefully find some help in order to get a finance degree apprenticeship at a big firm or Econ at UCL/Warwick by year 13. 🙏🙏🙏

In my opinion I think you have a good profile and should aim to be aspirational. LSE and Imperial are quite difficult as they very selective but your application is still reasonable enough to apply. UCL prioritise students predicted A*A*A or A*A*A* rather than gcse(better gcse still obviously make you a better applicant) but from there its about maximising the rest of your the rest of your application. Warwick I believe is your most convincing shot they tend to be a bit generous with there offers, only slight worry is that for economics they specifically ask for majority grades 7-9 but honestly your 7s should be fine if you have a lot and a good TMUA score would help overcome that if you do it. KCL I consider a semi target and your competitive enough to be considered for an offer but once again the course is very selective. If I was you I would probably choose LSE, UCL Warwick KCL and then one semi target like Bristol.

Reply 3

PreciousDiamond

10

i dont think u r fully cooked yet, there is still hope...
ur gcse grades are fine, but the 7 in maths not looking good... u can defo get into others if u meet requirements...what were ur other gcses?
7 in maths is quite indicative that u would struggle with maths a level if u dont put in the work.
also, why r u doing 4 a levels? just drop history...
ur a levels dont really match with each other. economics and maths is good, but other subject can be fm, but since u cant get in to it, do physics or chem... geo and history ? u r just wasting time atp.
tmua and stuff r most important given u have majority predicted as A*s
i would consider applying to unis that dont place much emphasis on ur gcses.
rules out oxbridge, ucl, kcl and lse... since economics is competitive.
id apply for contextual outreach programmes from these unis though if u r eligible...
id recommened applying for warwick, bristol, nottingham, bath. + another RG uni that is local and u know that u would 100% get in...
also what makes u think these unis are bad compared to others?
all of the rgs are prestigious by employers and some of the top in the world... the career potential and salary will be mostly determined by the work u put in at uni, side projects, interviews, etc for ur cv. name of uni ? most employers dont care if ur cv is strong... ive seen people working at top companies without degrees

Reply 4

kk1805

6

Best of luck with degree apprenticeships, they are super competitive but fantastic (provided it's a good firm).

My advice would be to not apply for straight econ. If you go to any of those unis you mentioned, there is absolutely 0 difference in career outcomes.

Geog+Econ, even Geog with econ is great for LSE, idk what the equivalent is at warwick but it's a great uni too (and having gone through internship apps this year, Warwick seems to be consistently similar in terms of outcomes to Oxbridge, LSE and UCL), could even consider Land Economy at Cambridge as it's still less competitive.

So I think you've still got decent chances provided you do not apply for straight econ, and write a really good personal statement.

Also, I can understand if you don't want to do a gap year for financial reasons, but otherwise I really strongly would suggest it (provided you don't get a good offer). All of the people I know had a really productive time and got into better unis - you need to just make sure you smash your A levels too.

Happy to answer any more questions if you have them, and also anything specific about LSE, and also careers (you mentioned consulting which I know a lot more about, I know a bit about IB).

Reply 5

Moonshyne

10

Hey! Good luck with your A Levels! Really try your best but remember it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get into those specific unis. You can still get into IB and consultancy at other lower target unis and even non russ unis. I did an IB internship at at HSBC and now work at Deloitte. I did psychology at uni of Leicester lool, I’m sure you’ll be fine. The main thing is stacking up work experience and getting at LEAST a 2:1 at uni.

Ya I think I'm cooked

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