Degree ideas

[chopc]

My DS is in year 12 and is doing IB and his higher level subjects are Maths, Chemistry and History

He has no idea what career he would like to do. I would imagine his future career will
Involve numbers but HL IB Maths has taken its toll and he doesn't want to do a Maths related degree

I know he can study his favourite subject at Uni which is History but I have heard from many sources that a Maths/ Science related degree will have better employment prospects.

It wouldn't matter so much if he knew what he wanted to do but as he doesn't, I am wondering if you could suggest some degree subjects and I will then look it up

The careers service at school
were useless as they said anything relating to maths, chemistry or history would be for him but we knew that anyway

Is it worth your DS reflecting on why maths has currently lost its sparkle? It might be he doesn't like a specific aspect (eg pure vs stats vs mechanics).

This might simply be temporary (a function of needing time to consolidate) or might mean he is still interested in certain aspects and is happy to take those forward at degree level. Econ can be maths heavy but that is more on the stats side.

DC are not necessarily fully at cruising altitude with a subject in Y12. One of my DC took a while to really get into their Maths A-level but really picked up momentum in Y13 as their confidence grew.

That may be so, but it's a bit more nuanced than that. I wouldn't use it as a basis to tell people to choose history degrees.

As a traditional academic subject, History doesn't build any special skills when compared to its counterparts like Politics, English Literature, Philosophy, Linguistics.

However - it is a proof of raw academic ability. Which graduates need in order to pass very challenging professional exams while working. Courses that are largely 'project' or 'assessment' based might not yield the best candidates.

Again, everyone has to pass the same online screenings so it doesn't matter. But that is what they're trying to say. Not that history is inherently more employable than all the other subjects I mentioned.

Beats me. Maybe because it's not 'academic'?
Then again even the LSE has Management degrees.
I do have to admit though it's one of those that's easy to fudge by taking a significant number of 'easier' modules. Those with group projects, or a high mark given with pop quizzes.
In real life if someone didn't do their work you CC in their boss. At university the lecturer tells you to deal with it. They have peer reviews but don't usually punish slackers, so a lot of room for coasting.

That may be so, but it's a bit more nuanced than that. I wouldn't use it as a basis to tell people to choose history degrees.

I didn't say it wasn't nuanced. I responded to someone (I think the OP) being concerned about the prospects of a history graduate. I was simply pointing out the history graduates are considered highly employable particularly in certain sectors.
I'm not telling anyone to study any particular subject.

I have considerable experience recruiting for a top accountancy firm and can confirm that they would not choose to take anyone with an accounting or business degree. Obviously more modern algorithms have largely removed the bias but assuming there isn't any bias against business degrees is definitely daft!

@Easterbunnywashere I'm married to an accountant and 50% of our circle are accountants - all accounting and business degrees and now at FD level / big 4 firms/ big 4 banks. Husband recruits finance grads for a big 4 bank and previously an investment bank and this is certainly not an issue there. Whilst I am sure some employers will have gone through a phase of this as you say - with blind recruiting this is now less likely. It just sounds like a ridiculous form of snobbery to me.
If you are that way inclined (husband and friends are pure accounting geeks and all they ever wanted to do) why would you study something else? I understand if you don't know what you want to do... but if you do?
Husband had maximum exemption from CIMA and qualified in less than 18 months - sounds like a much cheaper bet to employer training budgets to my mind.

Archaeology would be fun! Combines history and science.

@Pearfacebananapoop I was working for big 4 a few years ago. The general opinion in our slightly specialist field was that we didn't want the accountancy type 'geeks'. We wanted those who came fresh to the subject without preconceived ideas and didn't think they already knew it all. I also agree with someone up thread that mentioned that business and management degrees were less exam focused. We were training them for ACA so needed recruits that had proved themselves in rafts of tough technical exams.

Oh the poor accountancy geeks 🤣 - they have such passion!

So funny. I've never known such a group for spreadsheets and modelling ones life. And the banter between ACCA and CIMA crew within. ACCA - "well obviously we're better because we're ACCA" CIMA "piss off and do your own work and stop checking on everyone else's" I never knew such fractions existed or such a thing. Then I started working with surveyors which is a whole other level of disdain between the different groups!

Thank you for more great ideas and options!

Dc2 at LSE considered the politics and history degree. On their website it mentions maths skills desirable

Economics seems like an obvious route. Perhaps as joint honours with history?

Archaeology might interest him. He could potentially use his chemistry here.

@chopc
What might be want to do afterwards? Would he wish to earn well or doesn’t he mind? Archaeology is vastly different to maths heavy economics! Vastly different earnings potential!

Also, not that it matters, but History grads, when IFS looked at salaries, did way better than English grads. It seems they do get better paying jobs! The other degrees mentioned sit in the middle. You really should do physics for civil engineering. You are not particularly competitive at the best unis if you don’t have it.

@TizerorFizz if he knew what he wanted to do afterwards it would make it much easier to work backwards. He does want money. I thought there may be careers we haven't thought of so don't want to limit him to think about the obvious ones such as banking or accountancy.

DS didn't do physics and is studying engineering. I think you need it for Warwick and a couple of others but there are still good engineering courses out there where you don't need physics.

Chem Eng is maths heavy, so I think he’d have to enjoy maths and problem solving.

Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences?

Anthropology / Archaeology / Ancient History?

Environmental / Engineering Geoscience?

Environment and Sustainability?

PPE?

Materials science?

It might help going to uni open days as soon as they start and going to talks on two/three subjects. There was an early one at our local uni, which helped DD eliminate one of her choices immediately (in terms of subject and uni!).

I agree with Pearfacebananapoop suggestion about surveying. that's my field of practice, and we're involved in so many areas of the development process. And we're crying out for graduates, so finding employment won't be an issue

Chemistry and maths - things like pharmacology, medical science, medical physiology maybe. Lots of job opportunities around drug discovery/clinical trials/pharma industry and further.
Can't help with the history part though!

Thanks all for taking your time to respond . I appreciate it

Economic History combines both and allows modules from varied subjects.

Agree with @PerpetualOptimist that his current experience with IB higher maths should not necessarily put him off degrees with a quantitative methods component.
From my understanding IB higher maths is much harder than maths A level and harder to get a top mark in than Further maths A level. He is lucky in that he is an all rounder.

I know many history grads who have done very well for themselves. Accountants, teachers, journalists all with history degrees.

It's a good classic.

This is a good idea.
Also OP given that he wants money his degree subject isn't the most important - getting into a good uni (with lots of exposure to career opportunities) and focusing on throughout his degree should be a priority.

A good university will have regular career fairs with varied employers, panel talks, etc. If he wants money then he should aim for a spring week with a major bank, see whether he likes it. This is the easiest way to get in because it leads to an internship, then graduate job with less effort. Less competition too, because only the clued up people apply that early. Everyone else is busy behaving like a normal first year.

In second year there will be internships, insight days, etc.

Also make friends with seniors, have a look at where they go, add them on LinkedIn etc.

There are lots of posts here from PP whose children have left it until AFTER graduation to start thinking about their career. It's a bit too late by then. Unless you live near your university and can still go on campus for everything going on. And a lot of 'insight' events are only open to students, not graduates.

Btw by 'good' university RG, is the 'standard' (just a marketing tool, but still). There are others, like Bath which are also well regarded but not on there.

Thank you for all that have posted and all the useful info.

I think the economic , politics and history degree at UCL will be something he will enjoy but he doesn't want a London Uni

A lot of others do history and economics so that is a good one

I will put all the ideas mentioned on here to him and we will see what he chooses