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

[Y9Options]

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.

My son took it and found some of it to be a good grounding for further maths A level.

Learning is never wasted.

I tried to add a post earlier but couldn't for some reason.

So to sum up what I wrote – @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff thanks for the update. To me that significantly modifies what you said before – that business was on an "excluded" list but now it seems it is not. So tbh even if a YP is applying to your uni to study econ and has business GCSE, it’s not a given that that grade will not count towards their best eight.

There are a number of HE and secondary professionals on this thread, and none of them apart from JohhnyMcGrath have said the OP is right, that business is not counted by unis. We have two PPs who afaik are not involved in education (apols if I am wrong there) who are offering vague hearsay "a friend of my DC's said their GCSEs didn't count at the uni" – no details of which GCSE, which uni, which course have been given despite numerous requests for the info.

So I am taking that with a big pinch of salt.

@Y9Options I reckon your DS will be fine with business GCSE, especially if he will enjoy it more and get a better grade than if he does Spanish. All the best to him.

Yes its quite ironic, given its reputation for difficulty, that in certain exam boards if you choose the decision maths option, half of further maths A level can be a slightly duller and extended version of the Comp Sci GCSE!

(I say duller as you have to hand trace the algorithms you learn rather than writing the logic and getting the computer to execute the steps but I hope your son enjoyed it)

DS1 did GCSE Business Studies, also at A level, along with Economics and Geography, and is now at Leeds Uni studying BSc Economics

It’s not that deep. Seriously, calm down. Genuinely shocked parents act like this to be honest at what should be their child’s choice.

It is astonishing.

My son is about to do his business GCSE. He’s doing well in it. Doing economics at A-Level.

What exactly are you panicking for?

It makes me laugh how sniffy some people can be over GCSE's like business or religious studies, which are, of course, perfectly acceptable areas of study.

For what it's worth my DC owns a business and is in the top 5% percentile of earners in the country, I work at Oxbridge and am frankly nowhere near that.

Business is what fuels the economy so it's a good idea to have an understanding of how it works.

For the people saying that how business operates is irrelevant to teenagers I would argue the opposite. It's certainly no less abstract to them than learning to book a hotel room in French or learning about circle theorems for example.

GCSEs are a slog-put yourselves in your children's shoes. It's advisable to let them learn subjects that they are interested in, not only will it be less of a battle, they are likely to perform better.

I worked in admissions at a decent RG once upon a time, and since have spent 20 years as a university counsellor/advisor/coordinator in schools in the UK and around the world. Now I do it privately.
20ish years ago, there were lists of preferred or facilitating A Level subjects, and a list of 'vocational' or 'less rigorous' subjects, which were to be avoided if aspriations were high, or sometimes one was OK for the top unis if the other 2.5 (in the time of AS levels) were from the preferred list. Business, media, PE, psychology, sociology home languages etc were all on the second list. Those lists were scrapped about 15 years ago, and I've worked with 1000s of students who've gone on to great success at all the RGs, amazing non-RG options, etc with any subject combination, business included. Anyone saying otherwise has old information or, in the uni example above, has a vestige of that policy still at the back of their minds, even if its no longer enforced. Obviously, that doesn't mean that some admissions tutors won't also have that same old fashioned belief however, but this year I've worked with a student taking BM, history and french admitted to HSPS at Cambridge, another with business, maths, FM and geography to LSE, and another with sociology, psychology and history interviewed for law at Oxford (unsuccessful then though).

Proviso- LSE does warn against taking business and economics A Levels due to the overlap. I thought UCL did as well, but can't find it on the website.

What's really interesting is that today, I was checking the updated requirements at Imperial. For many of their engineering courses they now actively promote business, requiring Astar in chemistry, A in maths and A in bio/phys/FM/econ/business studies for chemical engineering for example. Screenshot below. How many students will that rule out because they've been told to do something 'more academic' as their third? Not loads as three sciences is most common for Imperial applicants, but some.

Finally, I wrote this whole comment about A Levels because ultimately, thats what unis care about beyond the already stated maths and English. When it says GCSE profile considered, it means how many 9/8/7/6 etc depending on the uni, and the occasional niche factor like someone taking art, DT, dance, drama and music but then appplying for a demanding STEM course.

Sorry, wall of text! One key thing is: YP should do GCSEs in things they're interested in and will do well in. That's the only advice!

I wouldn't worry too much about Business Studies GCSE affecting university choices the subjects universities flag as "non-preferred" are almost always at A-level, not GCSE. admissions tutors for Economics or Architecture are looking at GCSE grades as a measure of general academic ability, not subject selection. a strong grade in Business Studies will help his average just as much as anything else

that said, here's the honest picture for his likely uni routes

for Economics the GCSE choices matter very little — what will matter enormously is doing Maths A-level (ideally Further Maths for top universities) and getting a strong grade. his GCSE foundation in Maths is the thing to watch, not whether he picked Business or Spanish

for Architecture again A-level choices matter far more, and most architecture courses want to see Art or Design at A-level alongside something academic. his current GCSE list is actually very solid for this route

on the Business vs CS debate, given ADHD and the motivation factor, enjoyment genuinely matters a passionate student in Business will outperform a disengaged student in CS every time, and the grade difference will show. CS GCSE is notoriously hard to get top marks in without genuine interest

his current choices (English x2, Maths, triple science, History, Geography, PE) are already a very strong core. Business as the last option is perfectly fine

Also just in case it's useful when he gets to revision time Kingsbridge Education and Save My Exams are both really worth bookmarking. Kingsbridge in particular has great quality resources across most of his subjects including Business, History and the sciences, and their predicted papers are well reviewed. Save My Exams is excellent for topic-by-topic practice questions mapped to the exact spec. Both are much more focused and exam-relevant than just working through a textbook