Can't decide between Maths or Journalism

[KingCatMeowInSpace]

DS is considering applying for courses in multimedia journalism as likes idea of presenting or social media type jobs but school think he should be applying for something more traditional at an RG uni as he always gets in the 90% in tests/exams in maths, physics, history,English. Not sure what to advise him - are the school right or does he apply for a more practical course at a non RG Uni? Any advice?

Ohh interesting- thanks. Could see him in PR when older - things like Social media posting to get people talking about a brand or something specific or doing market research to understand audiences, press releases, managing any negative fallout ?

My dd did crap degree at rubbish uni.

Then did MA in journalism.

Wotks for some of the big national digital press from home. It was the MA that secured it all.

To assist with the side debate between @clary and @user1497207191, whilst 90%+ of Maths entrants at the likes of Camb, Ox, Warwick, Imperial, Durham and Bath have Further Maths A-level, only 50-60% do so at the likes of Manchester, Lancaster, Leeds, L'boro, Birmingham, Southampton and Exeter; even fewer if doing combined Maths& courses (source: SACU student).

On a wider note, OP's DC is hopefully aware that the kinds of research, interviewing, content creation/transmission activities they say they like are also evident in many corporate communications and general marketing roles, so they should think more broadly and this might be another reason to consider a more general first degree to keep options open and not think simply in terms of external media. Also building up domain knowledge in a specific area and then applying communication skills is another route to consider.

Numerate graduates never seem to struggle to find work...

@KingCatMeowInSpace the world needs more journalists with maths degrees, so they understand how to communicate stats accurately. 🙂

Also, maths is much better for general employability.

💯💯💯💯💯

Do maths

I would say avoid journalism like the plague( am married to one). Long hours, crap pay, shiftwork. Think of your future partner and do maths!😁

Curious if there’s a reason you’ve grouped ‘the likes of’ Durham and Bath together with Oxbridge other than the higher intake of entrants with FM?

Manchester, Leeds and Lancaster (for example) all rank higher than Durham and Bath.

@Fynetanksfather, the post was in response to @clary's musing that, whilst many unis might not require FM, in reality perhaps most students joining maths courses will have it. I simply shared data to show that many competitive RG+ unis have upwards to 40-50% of students starting maths degrees without FM. If you look at CUG rankings for maths, you will find Durham and Bath are very highly ranked for that subject and this is consistent with typical offers and typical A-level attainment on entry for those institutions.

These days, "doing market research to understand audiences" requires data science skills, i.e. maths! 😁

There's also something called "data journalism" which requires ... maths! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_journalism

Data journalism looks very interesting/ thanks for the link - like the idea of maths and journalism being used together

Maths all the way

I am in IT and headhunted much more than others with the same job on a weekly basis simply cause of my maths degree (even 25 years later)

apart from this, the opportunities are endless (engineering , IT, AI, science etc)

DH works in the media. He has a traditional degree in a subject he was interested in and got into journalism by working in the student newspaper.

Journalism as a profession is dying on its arse. Traditional print media is almost dead but even paid-for online media is really struggling. AI will reduce the number of actual paid journalists even further.

Maths opens a huge number of doors, including in data science/AI.

Right have taken all on board and it sounds like Maths (with post grad journalism if still interested) is the best way to go. You think straight maths degree or something more focussed like actuarial science or maths with accountancy or maths with statistics - there's a lot of different combinations at Glasgow and Edinburgh university. Glasgow also offer maths and politics as an option. Soooo much choice

I think that’s a question for your DS, OP. Maths is hard enough that he should do what interests him most, to have the greatest chance of thriving, which will help him to do his best.

He should do what he wants to do.

Maths and politics sounds great.

And do his student blogs and pidcasts on the side . Lots of post grad journalism and media courses look at westminster uni

The thing is that if he did a degree like economics is a good university then he would have something to say when he was a journalist. Universities have magazines etc that he could help to run and he would get experienced that way. Basically the better educated he is when he starts in journalism the better.

A bit late to the debate but…. The Guardian graduate trainee scheme ad used to be something along the lines of: “We are looking to recruit journalism trainees who speak a second language fluently- whether that is French, Russian, or the language of science, politics, film or music.”

It’s easy to train a science or MFL (or any other specialist graduate) to be a competent journalist in a few weeks on the job but you can’t train a journalism graduate to be a competent scientist or linguist.

To give a different view, I have read quite a few articles recently that suggest jobs which are maths related do not have much of a future as AI will rapidly take them over.

Who do you think will be writing the AI algorithms ... mathematicians! 🙄

AI writes its own algorithms.

I'd do maths. Journalist friends of mine tell me that these days they spend their lives just syndicating stories. Very few jobs for proper investigative journalists these days. He can always do a journalism post-grad or just start creating podcasts and online material. Talent for a well-researched, well told story will stand out.

Interesting- will need to look more into this.