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

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DS has chosen his options for GCSE and I'm concerned the Business Studies GCSE is not accepted by some universities. When completing UCAS applications for my DD recently, some of her uni choices stated they didn't accept some subjects - things like Business Studies, Media Studies etc.

DS's GCSE choices so far are:

English Language
English Literature
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
History
Geography
PE
And the last option is yet to be decided.

DS wants to do Business Studies (Edexcel). He'd consider Computer Science (also Edexcel) but doesn't really enjoy it - and everything I've read online suggests it's dull and hard to get a high grade in.

I'd love him to continue with his MFL (Spanish), but he checked out mentally a while ago when he realised he wouldn't have to choose an MFL for GCSE. He has some dyslexia which affects his spelling and doesn't languages even though, he seems to be naturally pretty good at them when he tries. He also has ADHD (medicated) and is far more motivated in the subjects he enjoys.

Uni applications look at the average of your top 8 GCSE grades, so I'm thinking about his chances of getting the best grades he can. He wants to do something like Economics or Architecture at Uni.

Shouldn't art or design be in the mix if he wants to be an architect?

If he's considering an economics degree, business studies GCSE seems like an excellent choice.

If he wants to do economics degree, surely he would be looking to do an economics a level. And from having 2 children doing economics a-level, business studies is very useful!

Which universities didn’t accept business studies or media GCSE’s?? Are you sure it wasn’t A Levels? And even then it’d be a small pool.
Business studies GCSE will be absolutely fine (as would media studies). As long as they have maths, English, and the ones relevant to the A levels they want to do.
If he’s thinking about architecture, where is the creative choice?

OP, you’re really really off base here.
Universities don’t reject applicants because of GCSE options.
Are you perhaps thinking of the slightly outdated notion that Alevel Econ is preferred over Business?

The 8 GCSE average is for ultra competitive universities- doesn’t apply to most.
Incredibly silly to stop his academic exploration at GCSE level. Let him do what he enjoys.

Also- does he want to do a design subject? Is he creative?

For economics at university he would ideally do business studies at gcse and economics at a level.

Architecture would need some sort of deisgm/art gcse and a level

What course was yoru dd looking at because that probably explains more about why business studies wasnt a relevant gcse to have taken.

Hi OP, I work at a Russell Group university and our Economics dept has business studies as an excluded subject on their GCSE list like you said.

In some places Economics will be taught in the business school - I worked at a post 92 where that was the case - but in other places it is in Soc Sci.

It doesn't mean people with Bus Stud GCSE are banned, simply that they wouldn't take it into account as a qualification.

They would look for strong maths and traditional subjects, including sciences.

I also think you have got mixed up between GCSEs/A-levels.

YABU universities don’t specify GCSE subjects other than Maths and English and for some subject's science, but those are all core subjects anyway.

Sorry to be really clear - some places like mine will specify "x many" GCSEs and wouldn't count bus studs towards that. So it is not that if you have done bus studs you cannot get in, just, they don't look at it.

But as others have said it would often be a no-no at A level.

Excluded means little in practice - what happens to a kid with eight, nine, ten good GCSE grades one of which happens to be Business Studies?

Sorry to add to the negativity here but I would think long and hard before studying architecture. It’s not an AI-proof career and the degree is long and accordingly expensive.

Has he got any uni courses in mind?

Have you checked with them specifically?

I don't think (I'm not a careers advisor) that all uni courses depend on your top 8 GCSE grades - Im pretty sure this is only for certain very competitive courses at top universities. Im sure that only certain courses would discount business studies gcse, that's not a given across the board.

Does he have to do PE? If you're worried about business studies could he do that but then do something more useful than PE instead?

How is he coping generally academically? If he got ADHD it's especially important to focus on subjects he likes and will do well in. I think you're right to bin Spanish if he's not keen (my ds has ADHD school pushed him to do a language and it was an utter slog for him).

You're right to discourage him from comport science if he's not keen - it will be a slog if he hasn't got that kind of super logical brain. Its like maths in that if you're good at it, it's relatively easy to do well, but if you're not then it's a nightmare. There are no half measures.

Overall I know it's important to plan ahead, but he's got to get through his GCSEs and A levels first. Sticking to subjects he likes is going to give him the best chance of doing well in those, which in turn will give him better university choices.

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff thank you - I’ve been trying to find the source of my info on the UCAS website but can’t see it anywhere. Can you please tell me which other subjects are in the excluded list? For example, Art or PE?

@AstonScrapingsNameChange
PE is a useful subject

Surely art gcse wouldn't be excluded for an architecture degree?

He loves sport and is very good at it, so I think he’ll do well in GCSE PE. He finds English hardest, an favourite subjects are Physics, Chemistry and Maths.

I don’t think he’ll need GCSE Art for architecture? This was advice from an architect friend. He really enjoys building things and engineering. His school doesn’t offer Design Tech unfortunately.

I realise it can be, but not particularly for going on to study economics or architecture?

I guess I'm thinking if OP is concerned about business studies being excluded, surely a uni that excludes that subject would also exclude PE?

Like I said they just wouldn't count it.

Hi OP I will look tomorrow!

I wouldn't worry that much though. A level subjects are where genuinely hard and fast choices are made. Business Studs GCSE will be okay as long as he achieves in other subjs.

The maths is key though. We recently lowered the GCSE maths requirement and it was a proper stand up argument 😬 quite a lot of our social sciences folk would genuinely like to specify GCSE 9 as a must have. Not realistic though!

Now cannot find info on university or UCAS websites of the excluded subject lists, but I’m sure I saw it previously. For context I was looking at RG universities and Econ and Finance courses.

Is PE an excluded subject?

It doesn’t matter and it isn’t your place. Empower him to make his decision.

Cross post but thank you for checking, much appreciated.

DS isn’t likely to score highly in English and for that reason I don’t want to ‘waste’ any of his GCSE choices on subjects that won’t even be considered.

When completing UCAS applications for my DD recently, some of her uni choices stated they didn't accept some subjects - things like Business Studies, Media Studies

Which universities said that? And were they actually talking about GCSE?

LSE is not keen on some subjects at A level and that can include business (not studies btw). But as long as you have other subjects on its list it's all good. And it is talking about A level not GCSE. The same is true of Cambridge which does publish a list of recommended subjects for specific degrees. But even Cambs says business is "less helpful" – not that it doesn't accept it.

The only A levels not accepted as a rule are critical thinking and general studies, which very few sixth forms offer anyway.

Uni applications look at the average of your top 8 GCSE grades – again not all unis by any means, really only a few or if you are applying for certain subjects like medicine.

Your DS is fine to take GCSE business, and I cannot imagine it will exclude him from any universities. Subjects that interest you are the ones that you are likely to do well in. MFL is my subject and yet I recognise it is not for everyone. Forcing him to doSpanish is likely to end badly. My DS took PE GCSE (and PE A level shock horror) and despite this got offers from four RG unis and the fabulous non RG one he ended up at.

<reads thread> I see others say the same as me. @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff really? I guess you don't want to say which uni but I am really surprised to read that.

The ones I was looking at were Bristol, Bath, Warwick etc for Economics. There was definitely a section listing excluded subjects but I’ve been searching and can’t seem to find it now.