Maths, Business and Theatre Studies - what degree?

[gardenhelpneeded]

My son’s A level choices. He has already said he doesn’t want to study pure maths at university. He’s enjoying the Drama (and doing Lamda) but doesn’t want to do it at university either. He is interested in business and quite entrepreneurial. He did mention marketing but seems a shame with his maths. His choice of course but thought I’d ask on here as the number of choices/courses is overwhelming! He sits his exams in 2023.

Business Psychology? I never knew this was a degree, but it sounds quite interesting.

With those A-levels and that temperament, has he considered one of the schemes where you do your degree whilst you work? Deloitte has one, as does PWC.

The apprenticeships mentioned above are super competitive. Have a go though.

@gardenhelpneededThere are quite a few options he could look at. There are Business and Management courses and places like Bath are excellent. I would not do Accountancy. I would keep the degree broad and narrow down for work. General management degrees could point him towards marketing, HR, sales, and other avenues. This presumably would suit as it’s close to his A levels. I would have a look at top business schools to see the breadth of options available and any links to business.

Then there is Psychology. I would guard against narrowing down to Business Psychology! If the poster hasn’t heard of it, no one else will have done either. Far too narrow for 3 years.

He hasn’t done Economics A level but that’s not always required by universities. They prefer maths. However if he didn’t choose it for A level, does it interest him sufficiently? It would be a good degree though.

My DD did LAMDA and is now a barrister. He could do Law at university. Many lawyers will have a strong essay A level like History or English but many Law courses won’t ask for any particular A levels. He could look at Criminology but jobs after might not be great and the same applies to drama . DD went to a school with a very strong Drama dept but none of her friends ever got jobs after their acting training. It’s hugely difficult.

There are tests like the Morrisby Test that look at possible careers. Having his likes and dislikes analysed and his skills and strengths might get him started in the right direction. You have to pay for it.

There are also subjects like International Relations, Sociology, Social Policy etc that don’t prescribe A levels of any type.

One last piece of advice: go to the best university he can get to.

A degree like this keeps options open for different business related careers
www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/business/businessman/

This is brilliantly helpful thank you!

Aberystwyth do a degree in Maths, Drama and Theatre Studies:
courses.aber.ac.uk/undergraduate/mathematics-and-drama-and-theatre-studies-degree/

@gardenhelpneeded
Also don’t forget that many unis will have drama clubs. So if he likes Drama, keep it up in a club. Not at degree level.

Thanks again. Yes he definitely doesn’t want to study drama. He does seem to be enjoying the A level and it’s a nice balance with the other two. Tiny class. He was keen to do Lamda when I told him about UCAS points . He did Lamda when he was younger but not for a few years. Hopefully he’ll get more into talking about it all when his peers start discussing it. I think at the moment he knows he’s got these exams and so is not wanting to think about life afterwards as that means thinking about the exams.

Lamda ucas points don’t help I’m afraid unless he applies to one of a very small number of organisations that offer on points or if he’s doing a drama/theatre studies degree. It’s a bit misleading

LAMDA is very good for confidence and projecting your voice to examiners or an audience. UCAS points are a bit misleading but the skills learnt are very good. When DD did training to be a barrister, her Inn of Court engaged a RADA tutor to help them gain confidence in public speaking. DD felt she was confident but many were not.

That’s annoying about UCAS. Oh well! Other benefits and something for his personal statement!

On the basis of your very helpful comments I’ve started to make a list to look at for business -sounds like a broad based course will be a good idea for him. So Bath (optimistic!), Lancaster, Newcastle, Surrey (they do a foundation year if it all goes wrong). I think AAB will be a stretch but who knows. GCSEs were not great (7-5s) due to Covid malaise and poor work ethic. The work ethic is still not great but is better. His sister is at Liverpool which she loves so he’s going for a visit at Easter, not sure about the course though. Any other options? He’s not really a country boy so I think he’d enjoy somewhere with a bit of buzz like Liverpool/Newcastle. Also do these courses come up in clearing? My eldest snapped up a great course through clearing that she was 2 grades off and is doing brilliantly.

@gardenhelpneeded Whether your son wanted to aim for University of Bath's management courses or otherwise, I think their website is helpful in explaining why they (and probably other business schools) value a mix of A level subjects; essentially they have 'numeric', 'essay-writing' and 'complementary' buckets. It seems to me his choices look good from that perspective. Lots of useful advice posted above. The only slightly left-field idea I would throw into the mix are ITMB courses - google the term (eg University of West of England 112 UCAS points); these are not computer science degrees but about managing the interface between IT and the rest of the business and are often very practical and commercial in outlook; they suit people with a mix of analytical and people skills. Even if this type of course is not for him, decision-making is about ruling things out as well as ruling them in! Best of luck as he works out the best path for him.

Lancaster and Surrey, whilst in cities, are not in very varied cities. My DDs wouldn’t have wanted that. They needed brighter lights. Location is always important and I certainly wouldn’t put him off the quality of, for example, Lancaster.

I would be very careful about clearing. Lots of universities don’t guarantee a hall of residence for clearing students. Some struggle with insurance choice students. It’s far better to be realistic over, say 3, choices. One for stretch, one a dead cert and three realistic ones in the middle. With the grades of A levels being higher and higher, more students are qualifying so clearing is definitely dodgy for accommodation.

Have you looked at Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Sussex, QMU London and Birmingham? I haven’t looked at their courses or tariffs but all might suit as locations if he likes cities.

Lancaster isn’t even vaguely buzzing city. It is the best university in the world (slightly biased ) but it’s a self contained campus outside of the “city” which is really more of a town than a city.

@TizerorFizz yes good point about the city. Funnily enough my daughter really lucked out went through clearing (adjustment as she did better than predictions) and got a university approved private hall. In with other LIverpool Uni freshers, some on the same course. During the pandemic they were much less draconian that the University halls about the rules. All her flatmates stayed on and they had a great old sociable time (all caught Covid!) there were definitely rules being broken but I just left them to it. Quite glad now given that bloody Downing Street were partying the night away

I will check all of those out. I think Leeds was AAA which is a big stretch. Although who knows. He is bright. But dyslexic and quite lazy.

If BBB type grades are more likely, Nottingham Trent might suit. It's a very popular student city and its business type courses are very good.

I did an accountancy degree. It includes law, marketing, strategy, planning, economics etc.

Made a good living, am now director level.

Don't base your opinion on monty python :)

@cheapskatemum

DS1 did very similar A levels & got into Cambridge Judge Business School to do Business Management. He hated it as he said that the vast majority of other students in his year were mature students 10-20 years older than him. Fair enough, they were in businesses & wanted to learn how to become a manager, or manage their own businesses. They tended to go home to their families after lectures, so he missed out on a typical undergraduate social life (this was before Covid). He left after 6 months & worked for the next 2 years, then applied to London South Bank University because their success rate in people getting employment after graduating there was (is?) so high. He studied Business Studies there and has had no problems getting a job subsequently. He's found his niche in recruitment.

You surprise me, @cheapskatemum, as I didn’t know you could do a whole degree at Cambridge in Business Management. This seems to say that you can only do Management Studies as one year of a three or four year course. All the other courses there are postgraduate ones.

Perhaps it’s something that was tried and not continued with?

I have a degree in Maths and like order and precision but have no interest in money. Do you need that to go into Accountancy?

Adding to @Piggywaspushed 's comment, Aston University and Manchester Met offer business management at BBB and 112 UCAS respectively. Both city-based obviously and good reputations for business-oriented courses.

@Piggywaspushed

If BBB type grades are more likely, Nottingham Trent might suit. It's a very popular student city and its business type courses are very good.

DD did her under-grad at Nottingham Trent and loved it there, @gardenhelpneeded, both the university and the city. She would highly recommend it.

Did her post-grad in London, now looking at Lancaster for next one so interested to hear how different it is!

I have a friends DS who did Business at Nottingham Trent. He did a year abroad in the USA. It looks a good shout for the below highly aspirational choice(s)!

Yes you are correct @Whatdayisitnow Cambridge do not offer the degree Cheapskate mentions. I only assume they did the one year tag on or applied for the Management masters which is often more mature students.

It’s easy to look at a list of subjects and not realise they are post grad.