Thread 53 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Happy New Year 2025 to our fab young people

[Delphigirl]

New thread! Looking forward to traversing 2025 with this fantastic group 🎉😘

Talking of decisions, what are people’s views on taking PPE or Economics and Politics at say UEA/Leicester/Swansea vs trying to get a ‘better uni’ (prob Nottingham/Loughborough) via a less popular course like Ancient History or Philosophy/Theology? Ds is fixated on Economics being good for employability but he also wants the best uni (per league tables!) he can get so we’re going round in circles! I started a thread but it got rather dominated by particular posters…

You're very gracious @Piggywaspushed and I'm glad DS is upbeat about his choice, that's always a very good sign.

@crazycrofter You're DS's conundrum sounds very similar to my DS when he was deciding what to study.

None of the universities you mentioned for PPE/Economics are ranked low. They are all solid, good universities.

'Economics' can be very broad in terms of its employability both in skill and sector. I'm guessing he probably doesn't know EXACTLY what he wants to do with it yet?
Going to a 'next level up' uni like Notts or Lough to study Philosophy/theology may open doors that studying Philosophy./Theology at the aforementioned unis wouldn't (not that you've said he wants to do this). What I'm trying to say is the top employers would recruit someone from Notts. regardless of degree subject, and perhaps Loughborough too. so he could still end up in his chosen career if he takes up an offer from those two.

I'm unsure to what extent a degree from Notts/Lough will open these doors over the others......
There's also the risk of what happens in the scenario where the degree in Philosophy/Theology does not open the doors hoped for, he is now stuck with a degree he is not interested in.

You mentioned he is 'very' passionate about Economics. I don't think a BSc in Economics from Leicester, UEA etc is bad at all.

If he wants one of a higher up uni, What about the BSc in Industrial Economics at Notts? that seems less competitive and I think I've seen it in Clearing before.
Lough. has a very good Management school with various combinations of 'Management', which I feel leans more towards Economics. They do Econs & Management also, not Maths A'Level required i don't know what your DS is studying but it was one of DS2 choices (No Maths A'Level) and he got an offer.

Thanks @shimy, that's helpful. To clarify, his grades are BBC so we think he likely wouldn't get any course which includes Economics in clearing - except possibly PPE at Lancaster. Economics type courses are very popular. So the only way to 'upgrade' uni would be to take a less popular subject. Which ordinarily I wouldn't recommend (you need to take your favourite subject) but ds is actually a Philosophy/History/Politics type so i know he'd enjoy those courses. But he wants to spend his money wisely so he thinks Economics will help with employability - and he also really likes the challenge of doing a hard subject (and he is very numerate).

I know employers tend to target unis like Nottingham and Birmingham, but I wonder how much difference it makes in reality? And then there's all those employers that do uni blind recruitment!

PS he already has his grades!

Crazy, I saw your other thread. Do tell DS to bear in mind how much economics has become a branch of maths. He had a maths GCSE grade 7 and economics A level at A star and hated the economics at Birmingham, even though they say you don't need maths. He had to attend extra lessons and do homework and his dad (a maths teacher!) had to help him. It's one of the major reasons he dropped that course.

PS - one of the currently unemployed people I know (well, he works in Tescos warehouse) has an economics degree!

As it becomes more popular there are now a glut of them. I think the high earners with the crack jobs are honestly all from quite a select cluster of unis and are pushing those average earnings up a lot.

Oh God @Comefromawaythat sounds fab. Can't we all f**k off to Paris for a couple of weeks?

Thanks @Piggywaspushed ! He knows about the maths and it's an attraction for him 🤔because he likes a challenge. But I don't know how well he's thought it through.... I know for sure that he would enjoy Philosophy, Politics, Theology, History because he talks and thinks about those topics all the time! I guess he could hope to change course early on like your ds did, if need be....

me & Dh are tempted! But we wouldn’t see much of Ds as he will be working quite long days in the run up to the show opening.

@crazycrofter Why doesn't he combine the two? eg Reading does history with economics requiring BBB so if that went into clearing? A friend of mine did such a degree elsewhere 30 years ago and went on to become a tax & trusts specialist.

@crazycrofter PPE at Lancaster will be fab! 'Reading' is another good one, I know their Economics was in Clearing 2yrs ago, a young church member got in through that. I know someone who studied Economics at Swansea and is doing very well.

Just to add, he should check out Uni of Liverpool and Cardiff uni too. Liverpool has a whole raft of economics-type degrees e.g Business Economics, Politics and Economics combined with something and their entry grades are lower than the other RGs (if that's what he prefers), which might be within his reach. Liverpool uni does PPE and I've seen in uniguide that most got in with BBB even though entry grades are AAB.
They are also very likely to be in Clearing for some of those combined honours.

Thanks @EwwSprouts and @shimy - I will definitely check out Cardiff. I'd been hopeful about Liverpool as it's known for taking lower grades but they want A Level Maths which he doesn't have. Unfortunately ds has already discarded Reading (he thinks it's a boring town, having been there once!). He did mention combining something like History with Economics though when we last spoke so I'll keep searching...

Ooh, if anyone is interested, it's still possible to view all the courses in clearing at Nottingham uni last year - many at CCC! I've discovered that Politics and Economics was there at BCC so there's hope for ds... Although they might have changed their admissions strategy this year to avoid the same!

Gosh! How is that data still there? what a find! i hope you copied and pasted it all across incase it suddenly vanishes , that's very good news and hope it happens again this yr. Wishing him good luck, fingers crossed for him.

How do you find it? I’d love to see grades last year for course in clearing.

Yes, please take a picture!
Is that unusual that it's still there, do other unusual do that?

Clearing - Important notice - Home students

That’s interesting because aerospace engineering is on there in a few different courses but at the offer holder day a couple of weeks ago they said that it was only in clearing last year for international students. I thought I’d seen it last year!

DS wouldn't have got on to his course through clearing last year 😱 It's listed as A*,AA in clearing but they were only asking for AAA this year. Having said that, according to Student Room, applicants with AAA predictions have been offered criminology instead of law. It will be interesting to see if it's in clearing again this year.

That's a great list. Most of those courses will go in a flash on results day so make sure you have phones on the ready, numbers all programmed in. Infact, i trust that anyone on this thread will be more than ready.

I think it’s tough with clearing and results day - I don’t want ds to think I don’t have faith in him to get the results he needs!
DD had a contextual offer so we were a lot more confident that she would get her grades - which she did with ease.

@NCTDN I had lists and phone numbers spread out on the dining table when DS got his results. It wasn't that I didn't have faith in him but..... he hadn't exactly worked hard. We were both shocked and relieved that he got the results he needed and took great pleasure in throwing it all in the recycling. I didn't bother a year later for DD as her offer was much more achievable.

Well if Ds had taken up the invitation to get involved with the choir he could have been on Britain’s Got Talent. Several of his friends were tonight (including the girl he performed with at a big outdoor gig last year. )

but he had too many other commitments that clashed

Someone started a thread about clearing last week and was (predictably) told that she should leave it entirely to her DC who clearly wasn't capable enough to go to uni if she couldn't do it 100% by herself 🙄

DD is stuck waiting to hear from Southampton. At the moment she is thinking Royal Holloway firm and Lincoln as backup but is wavering towards Lincoln again (only downside is distance, we are in Hampshire). But if she gets an offer from Soton it could all change again. RHUL is quite a high offer but should be achievable. Lincoln is easily achievable but I still think DD should have some clearing options on the table in case she misses RHUL and Lincoln is too far. We are going to go to RHUL by public transport and do a self guided tour next week.