A level choice for banking/trading : help please

[Parsley1234]

Son 16 wants to go into banking specifically trading he is thinking of taking Economics Politics and TPE.

Followed by a Gap year then either applying to Sandhurst Officer training, Uni but what to study or would he be better doing an apprenticeship in banking.

Please can anyone give me some advice as normally he would be at school getting help but now obviously not. Also if anyone could give attributes desirable that would help too

Could he attend a college to study economics? They’d likely accept a lower grade.

Although to be honest if you’re unsure what grade profile he’s looking at because he hasn’t worked, it may be best to wait until results day to make decisions, rather than trying to decide now without information

If he’s thinking about an apprenticeship he should start to look now at whether an apprenticeship route exists into banking/trading and whether any of the companies he is interested in offer them.

Can he not go to a different college to do what he wants? Might be good for him if he's not putting the work in now, at least you won't be wasting your money if he doesn't show any interest.

A level is significantly harder than GCSE. I would wonder whether A levels are suitable if I'm honest if his best grades are likely to be 6/7. With those grades at GCSE you'd be looking at Cs for the average student. That won't get him into a good uni or a good apprenticeship. I would seriously consider BTECs or maybe 1 A level with BTECs

7s at Gcse are fine for A levels!

Op sorry, what is TPE?

Asking for a 9 to maths A level is bizarre unless v high achieving grammar; ds 2 is doing Maths a level, he got an 8 which after all = A*!
I think there were only a handful of maths 9s in his school.
Someone in his class got a 6 tho tbf they are struggling.

I agree, three A levels is fine, if he is bright he may get motivated to work harder in sixth form. What will he get in maths OP as I would advise minimum 7 for A level.

I work in this sector. Honestly - university prestige matters more than A-Level subjects. I had colleagues in my graduate program who’d done English, French, History, Law degrees with no maths since GCSEs. But they went to Oxbridge/LSE/Warwick/Durham. Even onto trading desks.

Networking and internships matter a lot, as do relevant societies/activities in uni.

TPE = theology philosophy & ethics possibly?

How did you suddenly find out that his grades are unlikely to be in line with your expectations? More importantly, what does he want to do next? If he has lacked motivation in his GCSEs, it would be a recipe for disaster to push him into a course he doesn't want to take in a 6th form he doesn't want to go to. However, if he wants to turn things around and has the potential, most 6th forms let you take A level maths with a grade 7 GCSE.

To be brutally honest, rethink the trading/banking career in finance/economics. Don’t get angry, he’s been lazy for a reason.

If he can’t get the grades but is not academically challenged, then he obviously is not very interested in maths or economics. Not interested enough to be in a career that uses those skills every day for forty years.

I’d look into him aiming for project management. This is the career field you need to be a senior manager in business, CEO, etc. It’s more people oriented and leading teams. You can go either apprenticeship with qualifications that count as much as a foundation year for a degree later if he feels like doing that or do it at university.

So, for A levels, he should take business, politics and a language (preferably one useful to global business like Mandarin or Arabic or if aiming for civil service like the UN, French would be alright.).

You know your child best, is he more a people person than a numbers counter? Is he a natural leader or does he prefer to sit on sideline? Is he good at creative problem solving? Is he extroverted or introverted?

a language (preferably one useful to global business like Mandarin or Arabic or if aiming for civil service like the UN, French would be alright.)

Ops son is doing Spanish gcse. Not sure how many schools offer Arabic or indeed how easy it would be to do without a gcse

@PlanDeRaccordement that sounds like a good idea for my son he definitely is more a people person thank you !
Thank you to all replies I’ve read them all and will get my son to read them too

DD's buddy got place to study finance at LSE last year with Alevels in math, economics & Spanish, I understand.

Yes, most U.K. secondary schools only offer the basic languages for GCSE. The more useful languages (for global business career), are not usually available until A level either as an A level or Enrichment.
If he can’t get one at A level if it’s a limited 6th form, keep doing Spanish at A level, but then see if you can also do Mandarin, Arabic or French independently as your Enrichment Project. It would be a big plus on a university or business school application to be bilingual in any language but also working on a third language which is a useful one. Much better than the usual arts and crafts project, research paper, or learning guitar.

Not just basic languages, but basic level as well. DD's OFSTED outstanding secondary school offered French or Spanish from year 7, with no option to switch, take a second language or even German, despite having several German language teachers. Around 40 of 250 in the year group took a language at GCSE. Only one is taking a language at A level.

As if you need 6 A levels!!! 🙄
Look at University requirements - they’ll ask for 3.
Perhaps Watermelon is confused with GCSES

Friend of DS's did Maths, Physics and Computer Science at A level, then Computer Science at a Russell Group uni and has just got a placement with Jane Street ( trading firm with a technology focus).

Why does he want to be a trader op?

Ops son is doing Spanish gcse. Not sure how many schools offer Arabic or indeed how easy it would be to do without a gcse

Arabic is something you can often take ab initio at university, though. DD looked at taking it as a second language in the Flexible Combined Honours degree at Exeter (but was put off by the requirement to spend the whole of one's year abroad in a country relevant to the ab initio language, rather than splitting it).

I'm intrigued by the GCSE requirement for A level Maths, as well - is the requirement to take FM an A^ in FM GCSE?