Hello
My ds is still very young (year 8 ) and does not need to be thinking about uni at all. However he has been insistent for about 4 or 5 years that he is going to go to university in Europe (and for even longer than that, he has been determined that he is going to live in a particular N European mainland country for the rest of his life - we don't know where this passion has come from but he is very certain about it).
I totally appreciate that all this could change in the next few years and nothing is set in stone but I do like to help manage his expectations because he is the sort of child who thinks that just because this is what he wants to do, it will happen. (I hope he's right!)
I have a couple of questions.
Do we know what Brexit will do in terms of affecting British students who want to attend a European university? At the moment the websites are still encouraging UK applicants but we are still in the EU. I know the Erasmus programme says it will continue but that's different from what ds would like to do.
Also (and I don't really expect anyone to know the answer, but if anyone does they'll probably be on this forum ) he really wants to do PPE which is available at the university he wants to go to. But they say on their website that "at least" Maths AS level is required. Obviously going forward, most schools are not going to be doing AS levels and reducing from 4 to 3 A levels too. I find it difficult to imagine that they would want Maths A level (as one of three) but do other similar courses here require Maths? That may well be a game changer because he really does not want to Maths (and is already expecting to do a MFL that he does not love just for the end-game) so to do another A level he won't enjoy much would not be sensible.
Thank you!

The 'E' of PPE is why Maths is needed - AS does still exist but as a stand alone qualification. Who knows what might be required in 5 or 6 years time?
If he does not enjoy Maths then I would be concerned that this degree won't be enjoyable. Many economics degrees do require Maths - in fact that A level ahead of Economics.
Have a look here:
https://university.which.co.uk/search/c ... 5Bq%5D=PPE

Thank you. I'll have a look at that link.
He was thinking Politics, History, French but maybe he should then focus on a more humanities degree. He doesn't dislike maths but it certainly wouldn't (at this stage) be an A level contender because he is certain about the Politics and History.
He is starting to think about GCSEs and economics is an option for him there. Maybe that would be worth it to see whether he likes it enough...

As far as I know, any decent Economics course, whether here or abroad, is going to want Maths A level. One of my sons flirted with PPE for a while and the idea of Maths put him off. Agree with G55 - if that puts him off then maybe PPE not for him.

ETA - Economics not a great GCSE tbh...but if he needs a taster then perhaps worthwhile.

Guest is right...Economics at degree level does have a high mathematical element, so Maths or Statistics are most likely to be required at A level - certainly any “good” university will. Personally I wouldn’t recommend Economics GCSE at the expense of another more useful subject.

As for the situation post Brexit, unfortunately no-one knows....certainly not government ministers or University Admissions tutors, sadly.

My DD is very keen on studying in Europe too. She has recently done 'Student for the day' at a Leiden university in The Hague. She loved it and is keener than ever. I would be interested to hear about any experiences of studying in the Netherlands. Her school is not keen but for reasons that are ill-informed (Eg. Dutch universities are very low down in the World Rankings and rank below all Russell Group universities. That was said by the careers/UCAS lead teacher)

Loobylou, The University of Amsterdam offers PPLE. It requires maths A level.

http://pple.uva.nl/how-to-apply/entry-r ... ments.html

Completely agree about the Maths, Economics GCSE and A level are no preparation for the subject at degree level, for which a strong Maths A level tends to be required and, if during pure economics Further Maths (currently) is desired (and certainly hugely useful, several of DD1's class mates had to spend substantial time doing catch up classes in the 1st year in order to be ready for Y2 as they had not done Further Maths. PPE will be less maths heavy but a pain if maths was a challenge and/or not a joy. Caveat added of course that this is now not in years to come.

One of DD2's best friends is at Uni in The Netherlands and one of DD1's on a year out at a Uni there. Their experiences have been hugely positive, more contact time, more group work and, in their opinions, a broader and more enriching experience overall. Again this is now, not in the future, but based on what they have said I would be very encouraging if I had a young one interested in this.

As for Brexit, who knows? Can't imagine it will makes things anything other than more difficult though...

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mad?

That is good to hear, mad?. I heard they had more contact time too (20 hours a week on the course DD is looking at) and fewer holidays. 2 weeks off at Christmas and 3 days for Easter!

Thank you. This is all very interesting. I don't think he really honestly cares that much about the economics; I think he sees that as an opportunity to do more politics so he probably just needs to understand more about the different courses (and he's a bit young for that much detail at the moment).
He's been looking at Utrecht university. But that "Student for the Day" opportunity sounds amazing; I'll definitely look that up again in a few years!

We visited Utrecht University College a couple of years back when DD was thinking about Liberal Arts degrees. We were made very welcome when we just turned up on the off chance. We spoke to some freshers and were shown round the college campus. It had a lovely feel to it and the students very multi-national.