UCL or lesser RG uni

[Confusedmum2001]

DS offered a place in the subject he applied for at a solid RG uni but rejected from course he applied for at UCL, although they suggested he apply to a less vocational/more fluffy course at UCL instead. Does UCL always trump lesser RG unis or is the course more important when applying for graduate jobs? He’s considering management consultancy as a career.

in the Guardian rankings UCL came 24th for Economics and LSE came 25th.

Employers wanting to hire specialist economists would place both over, say, Portsmouth - which came 9th

That’s because the Guardian doesn’t include research rankings in its league tables. For really “top” courses reputationally you need to look for the top research departments. They take the cleverest students and push them hard.

The Guardian rankings are so far removed from anything else that it is easiest to dismiss them.

Those of you with dc who have studied or are applying for Economics - what subjects did they do for A Level?

Decorhate - our DCs didn’t do A levels. However, if you wish to study Economics, it’s best to love maths and to have done as much maths as possible in preparation.

As much maths as you can! There will be courses that will accept students without single maths, but your choices are limited. Double maths are an advantage for the courses I mentioned. Many will have them and the last thing you need in your first year is to be playing catch up. But also read individual course requirements as some may feel that double maths plus only one other subject is too narrow.

DS took double maths, history and economics, and a fifth, slightly random, one.

Thanks. Ds is doing Economics for GCSEs & really enjoying it so starting to think about taking it further. He will definitely be a double maths student. But probably won't be keen on any essay based subjects.

I work in management consulting and we don't care about what degree you have. I have seen graduates come in with zoology, life sciences, maths, psychology whatever degree.

It's important to get a 2.1 and you have to show that you are keen and capable, well rounded person.

We recruit heavily at UCL and other RG unis

Very surprised at some of the comments on here about necessity of Maths/Economics/Computing for Management Consultancy. This is not my experience, which is much more in line with happy. Consultancy firms are indeed partnering with computing expertise but that ought to mean they are recruiting complementary rather than overlapping skills for their in-house teams.

The ability to step back from the numbers is the most important skill to do the job well and too much mathematical modelling tends to diminish it.

Came on to say I would recommend using an accountancy qualification rather than a post grad masters as a stepping stone.

Agree with comments about institution being important.

The ability to step back from the numbers is the most important skill to do the job well

Perhaps, but best to be able to properly understand those numbers and then 'step back', surely.

Understanding the internal mechanics of a mathematical model is a very different skill from standing back and asking what the underlying assumptions are, why are they as they are, what are the key drivers and sensitivities in the model, what are the exogenous risk factors.

Mathematical modelling works very well for incremental prediction. It is not so good at assessing the impact of transformational change. As a management consultant you are being asked to come in as a fresh pair of eyes and so ask the big questions. The in-house team would always be expected to be the ones with the handle on the details of the internal modelling. You need to know how to detect BS but not try to do their jobs for them.

First there are all sorts of consultancy, including plenty where accountancy is a better foundation than maths. DS' mathmatically competent peers tended to go to small specialist consultancies, but at very good starting salaries.

Decorate, your DS dislike of essays sounds familiar. Mine was concerned at how he would find the step up to A level in both history and FM. In the event FM was much more fun than GCSE and history was a struggle. Oversubscribed economics courses like UCL may like humanities. It would be worth reading through entry requirements for LSE's variations on Economics: perhaps Maths and Economics, or Maths with Economics, and see what they want as opposed to straight Economics. (The big advantage of being in Economics is that you have a wide range of options, whereas if you are within the maths department you are effectively forced to take the maths options.) If he likes the idea of mathematical economics and this allows him to take the A levels that suit him, he could look for that sort of course. Note some maths courses also allow a focus on financial maths.