Business degree (without Maths A Level)?

[Africa2go]

Looking for some general advice please. DS (currently Yr 12) looking at Business degrees - loving Business Studies A Level (also doing English and Geography). Predicted A*AA.

Looking at the well regarded unis for business (research seems to point to Bath, Warwick etc) and whilst they say they don't require Maths A Level, they "ideally" want candidates to demonstrate both numerical & essay writing skills - numeracy demonstrated by Maths, a science, Psychology, Geology etc - none of which he has.

Its our first time as a family going through this - question is whether its a complete waste of an option to apply to the likes of (presumably fiercely competitive unis) when you don't have the "ideal" A level mix. He has a 7 in Maths at GCSE, mostly 8s and 9s and masses of relevant work experience / extra curricular stuff.

Following on from that - if its not worth applying to the likes of Bath / Warwick etc, is a general business degree worthwhile if its not from one of the "top" uni business schools?

All the best and positivity op,

I did a Business Degree and Maths A'level definitely not required. Most mathsy element is Statistics and that is not particularly mathematically challenging. Accounting and finance has adding up and taking away and a bit of timesing, percentages and ratios. Nothing very challenging.

@Lessofallthisunpleasantness i Think you will find accounting and finance at Warwick is more challenging than a bit of adding up….

Hi OP
My DS is in a similar position to your son, but one year ahead. He has been offered places to study Management at both Bath and Warwick without maths A level. DS has taken biology, psychology and English. At the open days both Universities emphasised they will support students who join without maths A level. In case it helps, DS also liked the look of Loughborough and Lancaster. Good luck to your DS.

Thank you @Spacerace - I think your son is at an advantage because he has Biology and Psychology - both of which I think are valued more than my DS' choices. Your son has done brilliantly to get offers from both! Thank you for your reply.

I have a Business and Finance degree and am a qualified Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ICAEW and I also have a number of Securities, Investment and Analysis qualifications and I honestly can assure you that the maths required and used is not advanced. A Maths GCSE will provide a sufficient maths background to cope with the level of maths used in finance and accounting. I promise you. A maths degree may be a nice to have as it demonstrates a rigour in maths but it would not be needed to get through that level of training or a career in Finance. Even Statistics and Modelling which will be included are easily understood by someone with a fairly analytical brain. The Maths A'level would not be needed. Finance education involves a lot of volume of information and an ordered brain but not advanced maths skills.

The issue isn’t what’s needed to get through the course, it’s what’s needed to get on the course in the first place! Everyone knows accountants come with all sorts of degrees. So as long as they have reasonable maths and analytical knowledge, they can get trained. However universities like Warwick, where an admissions team say they “strongly prefer” Maths A level, they mean it. It’s part of how they decide who gets on the course.

My DD has a Business Studies A level and a decent Maths Gcse. She would not consider her maths was in the same ball park as someone with maths A level. So I would take “strongly prefer” as meaning that snd have a go but be prepared for others being preferred if many applicants do have maths. They might be using Maths A level as a differentiator. Warwick and Bath can afford to be choosy for this subject and lecturers never going to say to a potential student that they are wasting their time! Admissions gave a much clearer steer. Maths is strongly preferred and that doesn’t seem ambivalent to me. It’s clear advice.

@TizerorFizz interestingly I went on a school tour a few weeks ago and expressed surprise that 50% of A-level students take maths (because so much higher than national average). The answer was pretty much along your lines - ie used as a differentiator by some of the more competitive universities.

My DD has a degree in Business from Bath and she although didn't do Maths A Level, she had Economics A Level. It's a fantastic business course with many different modules and options and the placement aspect of it was incredibly valuable and useful for her.

@PrisonerofZeroCovid
I think they have to sift somehow. Maths is the most popular A level so I think places like Warwick can confidently say they strongly prefer it. Also Economics is not the same as Business Studies when it comes to use of maths. As accountancy is not the same as Econometrics.

Hi, just to add a comment to this - certainly at Bath (we're yet to speak to the other universities) the "strongly prefer" comment was not just about Maths being preferred - apologies if I wasn't clear in my update - it was a conversation as to whether Business Studies (plus some other non-A Level experience/ qualification such as a MOOC in Maths) would be good enough to be considered, so the response that they "strongly prefer Maths" was in the context of Maths v Business Studies.

As the quote I referred to above, Maths is just one of the "numerical" A Levels they prefer candidates to have so they're not sifting by Maths (alone).

@OP my DS is holding offers from both Warwick and Bath for a business course and didn't do A'Level maths, he chose to do Core Maths instead a level 3 qualification 9half an A'level). Core Maths is ideally placed for a business course. He has done it in addition to his 3 A'Levels, however, you don't have to do Core Maths. It's not a requirement but Bath gives a lower offer if you do it.

@Africa2go these links are no longer valid but I’m hoping you’re able to summarise what they said please?

If your DS wants to do a BSc in business he will probably need high level maths but he could do a BA In Business which will not need it. Both courses are good but cover different aspects and therefore need different entry quals. I have a BA in business

@Africa2go - Blimey! That was 2 months ago. I can't remember what happened this morning.

Not sure why the links aren't working. I've accessed the stories today. Try these:

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/15/offer-rate-for-a-level-students-applying-to-top-universities-falls-to-55

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jun/11/first-post-covid-school-leavers-face-fight-for-fewer-university-places

Sorry, that should have tagged @NotDonna

Those links worked @NoNotHimTheOtherOne thank you!

@Africa2go you’ve mentioned he has tons of work experience - what type of thing please as this is where DD is seriously struggling!

@ComplexNeeds He's completed various online training / work experience with various companies - M&S, PwC, Siemens off the top of my head - some were just a day or two, one marketing opportunity was a day a week over 8 weeks I think (6 were in the summer holidays last year, he was allowed to miss school for the other 2 days). He's worked PT in a restaurant for about 6 months now, works PT as a children's sports coach once a week and volunteers for the British Heart Foundation on Saturday mornings - has done that for about a year. His school also insists they do a week's work experience at the end of Yr 12 - so he's just done a week in a marketing / data analytics company.

I did it without a maths a level. (and only a c grade at GCSE