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

I did business studies and PE gcse.

i studied economics at Cambridge.

a levels are much more important.

My daughter did Business Studies, it was her easiest subject but gave her a rest. She is now at Durham.

@clary

You can be sceptical, and we all can be exasperated at things that don't make sense to us - but reality is Uni admissions these days is that they are very competitive. And specifically - as OP mentioned Economics - it's SUPER competitive.
Unis that count numbers of GSCEs and put a significance to number of top marks for a 8-9-10 GCESs - do that in order to sort through a huge number of applicants. And - they design the system that makes sense to them.

I have no reason to make thigs up. And neither is the person upthread that confirmed that Business Studies do not count as a GSCE at his Russel Group Uni for applications to Economics. (and I presume for any other competitive subject).

I do not know if PE GSCE counts - if it were my kid - I'd call the admissions Dept of a few Unis to confirm. Most Unis don't have a comprehensive list of what counts and what does not. Some would say - No General Studies, etc.

In the case of my DC's GCSEs - they took school's GSCE courses that they didn't realise would not be counted. And only found out when it was too late. It was for a different uber-competitive degrees at Russel group too.

Generally - I'd say Business Studies at GSCEs level are not useful at all. Teaching business to teenagers before they have any/much experience of real world - or understanding of basic economics is not really possible. Hence - whoever created this qualification had to make it so watered down as to not be challenging/academic enough for Russel group unis to consider them comparable to the traditional GSCEs.
Traditional subjects/sciences give kids the tools and building blocks to go to Uni and study applied subjects like, say, economics or business.

I’m not too sure about that. The Computer Science GCSE is about to be completely replaced and updated so those choosing it now will end up with a defunct GCSE. It’s the reason I took it off the table for DS.

It would be one of 10 gcses . It wont matter

Yes my sister did eco omics degree as LSE. She didn't do it at A level or GCSE though

Why is this? I didn't know that unis were that interested in GCSE subjects

Don't try to cajole him into CS or a MFL if he doesn't actually want to do those. They're unlikely to offer him any significant advantage and are more likely to distract from his other subjects and use up the finite amount of "this is rubbish but I have to force myself to do it" energy he has available.

Unis factor in the top 8 GCSEs and ignore the rest - at worst some unis will automatically toss business studies into the ignore pile. But the GCSE average just isn't that significant in comparison to A levels, so I would preserve his positive-attitude towards school over the possibility that if really pressured he could force himself to get a slightly better grade on CS or MFL than English.

why isn’t architecture AI proof?

I have to say this is what I advised for my dc too. I wanted them to first half enjoy what they were studying and if they were decent at the subject they had a better chance of passing with a good grade.
Although one dc did choose a subject because she knew what she wanted to do but the others had no real idea and what they thought they wanted to do at 13/14 charged by the time they were doing ucas. Ds is doing economics at uni now but it wasn’t something he had thought about doing four years earlier

I had no idea about this before either. My daughter has a GCSE and a L3 BTC in Business
She did her yr13 exams last year and now has the hard task of choosing which unconditional Uni offer to take at either Durham or Exeter Uni for their business schools.
She's been working in her gap year with her own groom business (horses) and she has a camp america placement working with horses also so she must of got something out of it all.

If he were my child - I'd advise him not to take a GSCE that is not going to be accepted by Unis as a "proper" GCSE. Last year - a few of my child's friends were affected by similar issue - they took GSCE's that were not counted by the degree/uni they applied to.

@Sashya I am quoting you above – which GCSEs and which unis and which degrees? I am sorry but I am really sceptical about this. I'd love as I say to see a link to the uni page that says this.

Those saying PE is no use as a GCSE – but if a YP will get a grade 8 or 9 and is looking at unis that count those GCSE grades it will be a much better shout than a grade 5 in Spanish.

@Y9Options I agree with @titchy – for certain unis or certain courses he may need a 6 in English lang so that would be a good focus.

Agree maths and FM at A level are a good shout for econ, and art or DT (or both) at A level would be good for architecture (tho IIRC from recent research it is not essential to take both). If he is not keen on art then architecture is probably a poor choice for him.

A bit left field but has he looked at product design/ engineering at decent unis? If he likes design/ engineering? Places like Loughborough ?

Yes I agree! I was quoting @Ragdoll77 who was expressing surprise after reading posts by the OP and I think one other poster.

Just back to your OP the Edexcel Computer Science GCSE is very good and likely to helpful with further study of most science subjects by giving a grounding in computing and problem solving.

GCSE PE is a valid choice for a kid that enjoys sports. Why should he dump it?

My ds has picked his GCSEs too and noone of us have given a thought about suitability for university in 4/5 years time just what he enjoys/is showing strength in.

They're 13 or 14 isn't this all a bit premature?
I have a degree and post grad qualification and had no idea at even 16/17 what I wanted to do

Genuine question as I went to school in Scotland and pretty ignorant on how it works in England.

Some people spout some shit on these threads don’t they?

@Y9Options I suggest you talk to the head of sixth form who will have the latest info on entry requirements and more importantly know what the school’s previous cohorts got into to secure places on Economics and Architecture courses.

surely business studies is a really useful choice and might help with actual working life? As an employer I’d be happy to see it on a cv. Art too if an architect - surely the most inspiring architects need an artistic brain not just a maths one.

@Y9Options In your place - I'd also look at Uni's recommended A-levels, not just UCAS.
For example - for Architecture (despite your architect friend) - your DC would need either Art at A-levels (and hence GCSE). Or DT.
In addition to maths, and physics he already has.

If he wants to study economics - he'll need Maths and Further Maths at A-levels. Business studies, or even economics A-level are not required.

If he were my child - I'd advise him not to take a GSCE that is not going to be accepted by Unis as a "proper" GCSE. Last year - a few of my child's friends were affected by similar issue - they took GSCE's that were not counted by the degree/uni they applied to. As a result of not having the required number of 8/9s for the number of GCSEs that mattered for those specific degrees they missed out on a chance at their 1st choice unis.

Your DC is young, and Uni applications are far in the future. I'd talk to him about picking GCSEs that keep as many doors open for his future choices.

...If he wants to keep architecture as an option - he must have EITHER Art or DT.
..If he wants to keep Economics - he'll need to keep up his maths and take Ad Maths/Further Maths if his school offers it. He will certainly need Maths and Further Maths at A-levels - as this is what the top UK unis require for Economics degrees. (They don't actually require Economics A-level. A few of friend's kids were caught out by that - and realised too late that taking Maths, Economics and History (or Physics) A-levels - for e.g. gives them no chance of gaining acceptance for Economics degrees at Russel Group Unis)

Also - you DS would need to make sure he has top grades in GSCEs as Economics is a very competitive subject. So it makes sense to take GCSEs that actually count - and try to maximise the grades.

As to the Languages GSCEs - even if you DC checked out in Y9 in Spanish - there is plenty of time to catch up in Y10/11 and get a good grade that would give him an option of counting.

As to PE at GCSE - I'd only keep it if he seriously is considering applying for a related field in Uni. Otherwise - it's not that useful for any other academic degree.

Lots of students get caught out by GCSE English and Maths entry requirements for degree courses in both Economics and Business courses. Lots have entry requirements of 5 and higher.

OP - BS is fine. Let him do it. A poor English grade will be a much bigger barrier. I’m not sure when your architect friend did their degree but requirements may well have changed a lot - and I’d strongly suggest Art, if only to see what the workload is like, and prepare for Art AL if architecture continues to be an interest.

That’s bloody rubbish. Of course it’s a recognised qualification

No subjects are excluded at GCSE. The ones he has chosen are great. Maths & English grade 4 is essential for all university courses & some may ask for higher than 4’s. It’s A levels that really matter.

Dump PE take GCSE Business. Year 2 business has a nice intro to Economics.

Take GCSE art for architecture. Lots of students heading for architecture will have a maths, physics arts mix at A Level.

Economics will have Maths, Economics plus Further Maths / Geography/ Politcs type combo