Bachelor of...

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

How many graduates out there wish they'd studied something else in their university years?

Not me, I enjoyed my BA so much I went on to do an MA in the same subject and university, and I would still like to go back and take it further!

[Occasional Fan]

Good for you, Alison! I think I might have felt similarly if I had studied a degree course for the love of the subject itself rather than as a stepping stone into my working life. It is the repetition of so much of the university course material when I started employment after graduating that I find regrettable. I missed an opportunity in my university years, and, as they say, we pass this way but once ...

[Alison]

Well, I actually chose my degree course under what I felt, and still feel, to be 'instruction from above', rather than career choice or even love of the subject. Originally I wasn't going to go to university at all, or at least not straight from school, but I pretty much got told to go and study Theology and thoroughly enjoyed it. It will actually stand me in very good stead for what I feel I am likely to end up doing.

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by Statto

Ive got my GCSEs, am in the middle of my ASs now (first year A-Level) and hope to go on to do Maths at Cambridge.

Tough to get on that course. A guy from my school who got 5 As at A-level and is a really sharp guy still got turned down to do Maths at Cambridge. Still, he went to Warwick in the end (must be 3rd or 4th for Maths assuming Oxford and Imperial are better... not sure if they are) and he got a first and is now an Actuary...

[Trescothick]

Yep.. A near impossible task but good luck.

You must get four A's at AS level (incl two A's for Maths and Further Maths) and then also Four A's at A Level again. Plus do the step paper and get the according marks they request, which is very high and pass the interview very well.

My friend tried to apply getting all of the things I listed EXCEPT her step paper wasnb't up to scratch so was rejected! Its tough!

I study at Brunel doing Finance and Accountancy..

[Milo]

I studied English to be a journalist. When I graduated years later, I would have been in a better position if I'd have left school at 16 and done some mickey mouse media studies/journalism HND. Like you OF, I picked a subject to read as a way of mapping out a career and it just didn't work.

An English degree sends you straight into the graduate management path at Tescos, TSB, Whitbrad etc - or you can always try and do accountancy exams then. Never read English unless you want to be a teacher - do it as a hobby in your spare time.

I now have an MSc in publishing - that immediatley gave me 10 jobs a week to apply for, and if I had wanted it - a career.

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by Trescothick

My friend tried to apply getting all of the things I listed EXCEPT her step paper wasnb't up to scratch so was rejected! Its tough!

I'd forgot about the STEP paper. My mate even got that and was still rejected!! It is bloody tough to get on, but they must admit some people so maybe Statto will make it. If not, Warwick is a good alternative.

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

...Warwick is a good alternative.

I went to look at Warwick and didn't at all like it (this was to do Physics and Maths). They showed us all loads of league tables that they said they "objected to the inpection criteria but agreed with the results". They were really up themselves and tried to convince me they were as good as Cambridge. As well as that, it was a complete eye-sore, all the building were concrete.

Cambridge is blatently the best place to study Mathematics, it always has been and always will be. From what I hear Oxford is not really that good and places such as Nottingham, Bath and Birmingham are better, but obviously without the name attached.

[Andy Mellon]

Ha! That's really funny! My girlfriend studied Physics at Warwick, I did some courses in Physics as part of my degree and didn't find that at all. Warwick is only to some tastes as it is all a bit of a bubble, and it is definately middle class (I mean, its in Coventry, not Warwick). I think that the Maths department is very sure of themselves as its very well respected and could be 2nd behind Cambridge (it was at one point, not sure if it still is) which might explain their arrogance. Physics, however, was quite different and more similar to Chemistry in that they are begging you to come and fill their vacancies otherwise there'll be empty spaces on their courses.

The place that didn't appeal to me was Imperial. Went for an interview there and there were 15 of us in a waiting room, and to break the ice, we played a few games of cards. No betting or anything, just friendly. Then one of the interviewers came in and said "We don't expect that sort of thing from people who want to come to Imperial" and that set me up on the wrong foot.

[Lemming]

Obvioulsy I was only there for a day. We got pushed onto some art student who had a really quiet voice and she took us around the campus showing us really rubbish pieces of art. The campus was dull I thought, not as nice as Birmingham where I am at now. I just got a really bad impression over the course of the day, but obviously there are hundreds of worse universities.