Finance or Engineering at Uni - Help my son choose

[blueshoes]

Ds is in Y12 and doing Maths, Physics and Economics A level. He thinks he can get AAB (solid chance) or AAA* (aspirational, cough) if he finally knuckles down.

He finds Economics naturally easy. His fave subjects at GCSE are Physics and Maths but he is finding it hard work at A level and not getting the grades.

He is starting to think about his course and uni and veers between Finance and Engineering but does not know where to start. Not Oxbridge, he is not that material so probably more Russell Group. He definitely wants the university experience and not an apprenticeship.

Neither dh nor I are Science-y nor Finance-y, so not much use.

Any thoughts at all about Finance or Engineering as a career in terms of future prospects? Which uni or course is the best for either? Any other thing he could be doing that is all the rage?

Engineering and finance are both vulnerable to AI.

Do you have an understanding of the career paths that these degrees lead to?
IB (essentially a sales job) isn't going to go away with AI. Neither does design, or project management in engineering which both require human creativity, accountability and people skills.

What an inane comment.

i don’t understand what you mean by vulnerable? We are actively embracing it!! So far it’s meant we have fewer H&S incidents, increased the knowledge of our staff, made us more accurate and meant our staff can do what they are skilled at rather than boring admin. The number of staff on construction projects has increased year on year. We are unproductive. As an example, AI can help our grads do what they are trained for, and actively learn engineering, rather than being bogged down with site diaries etc. there are so many variables and problems you need to make a decision quickly on site. Nearly all of them involve knowledge of social interaction and building relationships. AI won’t be doing that anytime soon, and more importantly Clients don’t trust it.