Good uni courses for economics plus French/politics

[Otherwisebaldandunconvincing]

Hi all.
DC is current year 12 doing Economics, Politics and French A levels.
They want to do a degree that is at least 50% economics but doesn't require Maths at A level.
They are open to the idea of either French or Politics with the Economics - they are quite focused on career in civil service or diplomacy. They care about a "good" course but not necessarily RG etc.
Predicted grades likely to be As throughout but possibly not As (maybe one Ain economics).
We will obviously do our own research as well but does anyone have any good suggestions of where to start looking?

Very limited without maths A level I fear. Politics with French would open up more choice at better universities. So many lesser universities are dropping MFLs now it might be Economics and French are difficult to find.

If he does Joint Honours it should be 50:50 for each subject. Politics with French could skew it towards Politics.

Fast track civil service is ultra competitive and recent research shows state school applicants don’t get as many places as independently educated dc. I feel they like Oxbridge too! So I would aim for the best possible university but be flexible in careers. Diplomatic service is ultra competitive. He would need to be outstanding.

Here’s the latest data on civil service applications.

Scottish unis generally don't require A level maths and will allow joint honours with either French or Politics. He could even study all 3 subjects in first year and make up his mind later. However some of the courses are still quite mathematical so he would need to be willing to catch up a bit on the maths side.

Manchester, (BAEcon) Economics and Politics:
AAB
Applicants must be studying at least one of the following A-level subjects: Accounting, Anthropology, Business Studies, Classics, Economics, English Language/Literature, Further Mathematics, Geography, History, Law, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Use of Mathematics and World Development.

So Maths A level not a requirement. It seems that the odd place has retained the study of Economics as a social science, as opposed to purely a branch of Mathematics.

Also, BA Modern Language and Business & Management (French). ABB. The Business & Management bit includes Economics modules, but again, Maths A level not a requirement.

Newcastle, Leeds, UEA, Nottingham all offer economics without maths - how about international relations instead.

Thanks everyone. Food for thought and lots of ideas for where to start looking.

Hi @Otherwisebaldandunconvincing!

I studied Maths and also Economics. I really cannot imagine Economics without mathematical thinking and modelling, really cannot.

My daughter has an Arts/Humanities degree. She did a long, fast track type Internship in the Civil Service, in two different departments. She discovered that a lot of the work benefits from economics knowledge and from mathematical thinking, something the senior people were all comfortable with, even those with English or Classics degrees. This wasn't for her so she decided against that career.

@Otherwisebaldandunconvincing my son has an offer for Bath for French and intetnational politics for ABB. He completed the Discover Bath summer school and got a reduced offer

There’s actually quite a few that offer economics without maths. I’ve a list as DD2 also considering this option.

1. Exeter BSc Bus Econ A*AA/AAA (EPQ/core maths drop)

1. Birmingham BSc Economics AAA (EPQ drop - not core)

1. Leeds BSc Econ AAA
2. Leeds BSc Bus Econ AAA

1. Sheffield BA Econ AAB (drop EPQ/Core maths)

1. Manchester BA Econ AAB

1. Newcastle BA Econ & Bus Manage AAB

1. Cardiff BSc Bus Econ AAB/ABB (drop EPQ)
2. Liverpool BA Econ ABB (ignore EPQ/core maths)

Several are business economics. Not straight economics. There are enough to choose from though.

Everyone does international relations and thinks they want to be diplomats. It’s so competitive. It’s often best to do the degree you want at the best university you can get to.

A number of BSc Economics degrees require maths A level as their modules are mathsy. But as you can see above both Birmingham & Leeds offer a BSc in Econ not requiring the A level. They still include mathsy modules though so I’d expect it to be tough going for non mathematicians. DD1 received a reduced offer (ABB) from Birmingham due to having A level maths.
When you look at degrees that mix in politics or business, even fewer require maths. There’s lots of choices.

I did Economics in a Scottish Uni many years ago - they offered a Maths for Economics course in the second year - admittedly many of the students without Maths struggled with this element of the course - to the extent that those of us who had advanced calculus ran informal maths tutorials to help the other students get through the course work, but I think the problem was that it wasn't as well taught at Uni as it was at school - they moved through the theory much too quickly - I'm sure it's doable if you were prepared to work at developing those skills.
Often student in joint honours will miss quite a bit of the mathematically heavy content. Psychology and Economics is a good combination if you are interested in the behavioural economics side of things, although I understand you don't specialise in that till you hit post grad studies.

Your DC could also look at Combined Honours Social Sciences degrees where you build your own degree for example Durham A*AA should be considered.

www.dur.ac.uk/chss/brief/#entry

The liverpool economics degree can be a percentage iirc.

Has your DC thought about PPE?

Not having maths A'Level does reduce the number of Unis you can apply to but he had offers from Warwick (where he is studying now), York, Exeter, Nottingham and Leeds.

Students without maths A'Level do a catch-up maths module alongside the other courses in their first year and I think it can limit which second and third year module choices.