AIBU to worry Business Studies GCSE may affect future university choices?

Indeed @titchy i think @Sashya is getting muddled between GCSEs & A levels. As we both know lots if unis have preferred A levels.

@Y9Options honestly his choices are great. Let him choose what he’ll enjoy and do the best with. He needs top grades ultimately. His maths and English grades really matter as do the GCSE’s he then wishes to take to A level. The ones you’ve listed are fine.

Congratulations to your daughter! You must have a really special DD.

I indeed have no knowledge as to alternative routes and qualifications. And I was not at all trying to comment on that.

I was only commenting as the OP mentioned potentially applying for Economics at Uni and going the regular route of GCSEs/Alevels. And on that - I have experience and knowledge.
I am sure there must be unconditional offers for Economics degrees somewhere. But it's not something one can count for.

I assume your dc did some level 2 GCSE equivalents - instrumental grade 4 or 5 for example. There is no GCSE that cannot be added to a UCAS form. Unless they ran out of space….

It’s already been acknowledged that a handful of unis’ courses take the grades of the top 8 GCSEs, as well as A levels, interviews and other admissions tests. But these WILL be explicitly on the website.

They are overhauling and updating the whole mfl syllabus this year. I am sure last years GCSEs still count!

@jsku were these ‘gcse’ that weren’t counted actual GCSEs? Was your DC at a school in England? I’m also perplexed & I’ve also never heard of GCSEs not counting and have had two apply to uni for competitive degrees (neither with business or PE but still…). I do think it’d be common knowledge if certain GCSEs were not counted esp very popular ones like PE & Business. Seems very bizarre. And incredibly unfair if it is indeed true and the universities aren’t transparent about it. Which I doubt!

To do econ at LSE you need a 6 in English and they don’t factor in English lit. So DS couldn’t apply there (and saved us money 😂!)

She's going to do Business and Management. Myself and her Dad are just waiting on the final uni decision, we both agree she needs to go and both schools offer a lot.
Taking a year out has been so helpful. She got a 4 in English and a 6 in maths, and lots of that was in covid. Like lots of kids she just did better at L3.

I think he'll be fine.

My DD did Music and Citizenship GCSEs alongside the academic stuff and Business Studies A Level and still managed to get into Uni of Bristol to study Law and is off to do her Masters at LSE in September.

I really don't think it matters that much if his other choices are 'traditional' and he does well in them.

DS does econ at Bath. He’s got PE gcse and a 5 in English (7 English lit). They focus on maths a-levels.

Can you provide a link then? I’m assuming you’re referring to ICL, UCL or KCL? Cant think of any other top RGs in the South that offer STEM. Except I can’t see where on their websites any of those say they don’t accept PE or BS at GCSE.

@Sashya You say... It's STEM subjects at top Russel Group Unis in the South of England. Schools that London private school kids would be applying to from schools don't offer PE as a GCSE option.

I’m with @clary and believe you’ve misunderstood something somewhere but given you’re convinced please link to the Russel Group Uni in the South of England that does not count GCSE PE or GCSE Business Studies for their STEM course.

I didn’t get that either. The majority of jobs/careers will be changed by AI, but it doesn’t mean they’ll disappear.

However, I wouldn’t recommend studying architecture unless very passionate about it. It’s a long and expensive degree (think study trips abroad, hundreds of £ in printing etc.) with little time for a PT job while studying. Then you’ve got another 1-2 years of studying and working in order to become registered.

From a financial point of view, the return on investment is pretty poor (long degree, most companies expect long working hours for a slightly above average salary, with minimal or non existent benefits).

If OP’s son is more inclined towards economics anyway, he’s better off doing that.

It doesn't work like this. It’t not a list that Unis publish.

For eg - my DC took 13 GCSEs in their school - some of which, as it turns out were ‘school directed’. Those couldn’t be uploaded directly to UCAS, only mentioned as something ‘additional’.
We had no idea, until my DC was filling out their UCAS form last year.

Their specific Uni course had a numerical score made up from additional Exams DC had to take; A-level predictions; GSCEs grades and interviews. DC was lucky to have enough GSCEs that counted as proper GSCEs, counting for that particular course.

🤷🏻‍♀️

If it’s one of many GCSEs business will be fine with a good mark. He should go for it if he enjoys it. For those optional subjects grade probably counts more than anything.
if he wants economics at uni, maths and (if he’s from a school where it’s offered) FM are the most important at A level.

I’m an academic at a Russell group and can confirm we do not give a flying fuck about GCSE results, I’m not even convinced anyone checks those. When you apply through UCAS they check level 3 results and that is all that matters. You could fail half of your GCSEs but get all A* in A level and be fine. Maybe not on a competitive course in Oxford but only because you’re against the best of the best.

Also just to confirm, we also don’t care what a 14 year old chooses to study for GCSE! It doesn’t matter at all. My DS wants to do economics at LSE or Oxford and he chose computer science and photography for GCSE because they were the best of the bunch. He has to do Spanish (everyone does) and he selected geography between that and history (couldn’t have both). A level he’s doing economics, maths, further maths and geography.

There’s no such thing as a defunct GCSE. If anyone is remotely interested in CS, maths is the key. It’s a straightforward GCSE for anyone with a modicum of interest in the subject but barely the beginning.
although I suspect we take very different approaches at home as my kids chose their own GCSEs. None were “off the table”.

I just want my kids to do things they are happy doing.
I also spent last weekend at Exeter uni where my daughter has an unconditional offer. The weekend before she was at Durham uni where she has another unconditional offer.
She also has her own limited company as a horse groom. Shock horror she also did the GCSE and L3 BTEC BS
Your probably someone I would not ask for advice because your advice sounds very limiting to alternate roots for kids who can't go down the normal roots.
Also just to horrify you more she has a grade 4 in English GCSE and has still been accepted in to top tier unis.

My nephew is at Cambridge and that was one of his GCSEs. His A levels were maths economics and politics.

looking at that list your son has enough solid subjects that a couple of fun ones won’t matter.

It's STEM subjects at top Russel Group Unis in the South of England. Schools that London private school kids would be applying to from schools don't offer PE as a GCSE option.

Can you link to any uni saying they don't count certain GCSEs? I've never come across this and no one on this thread so far has provided any actual examples.

As others ready said - one does NOT need to take Economics A-level to study Economics at Uni in the UK.
But - one stands NO chance at LSE, and most other top Unis in the UK - if they don’t have both Maths and Further Maths.
And many unis do also count number of top grades at GSCEs - for the courses they accept.

All traditional ‘classical’ subjects would count.
Certain applied subjects might not.

Op, gently, if he’s not likely to score high in English, the kind of universities who are not accepting business studies also would be looking at top GCSEs. I would suggest if he’s good at art, perhaps opt for that as it’s different and respected, and make sure he works hard on his English

So @Sashya which GCSEs and which courses and which unis? I am not exasperated just interested.

I know for sure that some unis for some courses look at best GCSE grades. In fact I said so. And I know enough YP who have applied to know that econ is very competitive esp at certain unis.

I can confirm to anyone who is concerned that PE GCSE counts at Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Loughborough.