DD is having a last-minute panic that economics is too competitive and she won’t get any offers. Can anyone help me per her off the ceiling?

[DelinquentSnails]

DD is all but ready to submit her university applications. She is very keen to do a BSc in economics but after a great big doom scrolling session last night is convinced that economics is far too competitive, even at mid-tier universities and she has no chance of getting an offer. Apparently even kids with 3A* get routinely rejected. Her second choice is actuarial science, but she loves economics.

She has GCSE grades 9(maths)88777665 (English lang, she’s dyslexic) and is predicted A* economics, A maths, A classics. EPQ around econometrics. She has done a week long economic summer school, a week of virtual work experience with one of the Big Four and has lots of extracurricular like choral singing, book club, volunteering.

She hoped to apply for BSc economics at RHUL, Southampton, Birmingham, York and UEA . How founded in reality might her concerns be? Are there any words (or preferably data) that might reassure her?

You can find the grades held by previously accepted students here by course, obviously not a guarantee by likely reassuring.

I think she’ll be fine.

Is she interested in becoming an actuary? My relative age 27 earns 130k now she’s passed all her exams.

She will absolutely get offers from some (all) of those with her Pgs. If she'd put Oxford, LSE, St A, Durham and Bath then you might have reason to worry. But if she's still worried, apply for 4 and leave a space free to add a lower tariff uni or course later in case the worst happens.

She will be absolutely fine.

It’s fine. Economics has exploded in popularity and she is very unlikely to be left without offers. The offers take a long time in Economics at many unis.

She will be fine. Ds also had this worry as he loves economics and knew it was a competitive course. As to 3 A stars routinely get rejected, let me put that into perspective for you. It isn't just about A level grades but what subjects they are taking. Plus their supercurriculars which your DD has and your DD has her EPQ in econometrics too. This all counts. I would make sure her dyslexia is on her application, her school should be putting it on there.

Ds is at Warwick studying economics. He was predicted 3 A stars and an A. He was rejected from one top tier uni and had offers from the other 4 all of whom wanted AAA or Astar AA. Warwick was his dream uni but wanted 2 x A stars and an A. Warwick like a lot of other top tier ones are maths heavy and Ds was doing maths and further maths. Ds had summer school courses plus a virtual online course with a big 4 company.

Yes people get rejections but also those places do get offered to applicants and someone has to take those places. She can only do so much and she has done loads. Best of luck to her.

I would be astounded if she doesnt get offers from all of them, but she will definitely get offers RHUL, Southampton and UEA with her background.

If she was applying for LSE, Warwick, Bristol it would be different of course.

It’s a bit like computer science or maths in that it is hugely competitive. So you apply accordingly. My son had 2 rejections and 3 offers. His grades were A star and 2 x A. He is very happy where he is.

For a bit of context, the elite universities would look for FM. However she’s not applying to them! They are maths heavy so no FM would be a disadvantage. The DS above at Warwick has 4 A levels and I bet one is FM so entirely different scenario.

Maths graduates go on to become actuaries. Yes, they are well paid. Actuarial science is not necessary as an undergrad degree though and is too narrow, in my view. What job afterwards if being an actuary doesn’t suit? DD we know is Cambridge maths grad. In your case, I might look at finance courses as a better alternative. This would be much easier to find too if no offers for economics - but she will get some! She’s looking at a very competitive area and hopefully she’s looked at modules too to make sure they appeal.

Her singing, volunteering and book club won’t count but anything in terms of getting an offer, but activities supporting economics will.

She'll be fine - remind her that the uni's need her ( and her money) as much as she needs them!

@Greedybilly Some might do for some subjects - Economics not so much unless dearth of international students. But - the RG unis will take from the tier below so RHUL and UEA might be the best bets if the others are too competitive.

Her choices sound fine for her predictions.

The 4 x A* students who tend not to get offers are usually those who apply only to the historic IB target 6 unis and assume they will get offers from all without realising they won't. Usually they get between 1 and 5 but on occasion one won't get any.

Thank you, everyone. This is very reassuring and I will feed the information back to her.

She would be really happy with an offer from any of the universities she has applied for. We have visited them all and she liked them a great deal, especially Royal Holloway and UEA which are probably the two least competitive on her list.

We were joking last night about the cohort of super confident high achieving boys in her classes who have only applied to top universities and who are working under the assumption that any university would be immensely lucky to have them. Good luck to them because most of them are absolutely brilliant kids, but I think they might have the opposite problem to poor old endlessly under confident DD.

My son applied for Economics last year with the same predictions as your daughter and no EPQ. He got offers for Manchester, Cardiff, Surrey and Sheffield, his decline was from Bath. So based on this, I would say she will definitely get offers and to just hold her nerve. My son got his Barh rejection at the last minute.

I always think it's best to be modest than over confident so she is definitely approaching in the right way. She will feel much more relaxed when the first offer comes in.

@bethanycarter He got into Economics with BDD? Where?

40% offer rate last year for RUK students at the mid tier uni my DD applied to so if all 5 choices are similar, chances of 0 out of 5 quite low.

@coolcahuna I think that’s a bit unfair on the boys. What are their parents like? Tiger parents where only high achieving will do? They don’t have much option but to go along with it and she’s just picking up on them because they are outwardly confident. Inside they might have doubts too. She could hang out with them and confidence might rub off. I guess you are paying for this school.

I think she'll get 4/5 offers at least - mine was predicted similar and got 5/5 - Leeds, Sheffield Bham - exon and PPE and UEA - just make sure she has something to say in her application about her love of econ - good luck

My DD has very quickly got offers this year from UEA, Sussex and Sheffield with no maths A level and much worse grades than your DD (AAB) albeit hers are grades in hand. I’m sure she’ll be absolutely fine.

You are quite right, we shouldn’t be unfair. But their resounding confidence has tickled us since the start of sixth form. They are lovely kids and several are DD’s friends.

It’s a non selective sixth form college, nothing private or posh about it. And her confidence is 1000% what it was so maybe the boys have been a good influence. It attracts some very able students from local grammars and private schools as it gets excellent results for no money (win-win)

I have to say OP that I was surprised to read her selection of unis. With her predictions and grades she should be aiming higher imo. She will be snapped up by that list!

If she gets no offers then she can try through clearing.

@1apenny2apenny Really? No FM that’s important if she aims higher. Where do you think she should have applied when managing her lack of confidence is already an issue?