Applying to University? Don’t Get Caught Out!

Selecting your A-Levels, choosing which course to do or which university to apply to? It’s a big decision to make to decide a big part of your life – but don’t panic, you can alter it if you change your mind or find what you’ve chosen to study or where you’re studying isn’t for you.

There is often one key factor that people don’t realise about their degree or course until they’re at university and potentially struggling. Although it may not say so on the course outline or degree site on the university’s webpage, maths is often something you’ll find you have to come across during your time studying. This is already probably pretty obvious to those pursuing any form of medicine, business or economics but it’ll likely surprise you how many courses incorporate the subject.

A common use of maths outside of the obvious subjects is to enable you to analyse results from studies in social sciences, geography, fieldwork, geology and further areas. And while I’d love to tell you it’s just working out the mean, median and mode which you probably studied in year eight, It’s more complicated than that. Statistical means of analysis are used, which some of us struggle to get our heads around!

While these subjects and courses will quite likely not ask for a maths A-Level, it’s worth considering taking it to A-Level if a career or course you’re considering is likely to involve statistical analyses of studies or experiments. Maths is one of the few subjects, like English, which is used in almost every walk of life and most employers will look for good grades in both disciplines. So make sure you’re prepared and, if necessary, scrub up on your maths while you can!