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University of Essex

UCAS Code: GN1H | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

B,B,B

Offers will be made in the range of BBB to BBC or 120-112 UCAS tariff points from a minimum of the equivalent of 2 full A-levels Including Mathematics or Further Mathematics. Please note we are unable to accept A-level Use of Mathematics in place of A-level Mathematics. For A-level Maths or Further Maths, we also accept Pure Maths or Maths (Pure) and Statistics (joint A-level).

Access to HE Diploma

D:6,M:39

Only in conjunction with A-level Mathematics. We can only accept QAA approved Access to HE Diplomas

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

29-30

Or three Higher Level certificates with 555-554. Either must include Higher Level Mathematics grade 5. We are happy to consider a combination of separate IB Diploma Programmes at both Higher and Standard Level. Exact offer levels will vary depending on the range of subjects being taken at higher and standard level, and the course applied for. Please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for more information.

UCAS Tariff

112-120

Offers will be made from a minimum of the equivalent of 2 full A-levels

About this course

Course option

4years

Full-time | 2025

Subjects

Accounting

Mathematics

Economics

Through developing expert abilities in mathematics and discovering how these can be applied to financial situations, you will improve your capacity to make successful financial decisions and understand how you can turn risk into opportunity.

Our BSc Finance and Mathematics course offers you modules in mathematics, accounting, economics and actuarial science. Our business-focused course equips you with the knowledge and skills that are in demand by employers, and in particular in financial markets or corporate careers that involve financial decision-making and problem-solving.

You gain a thorough grounding in both finance and mathematics, investigating topics including:

- Corporate finance

- Portfolio management

- Applying mathematical, statistical and probabilistic techniques

- Programming and computation in languages such as Matlab and R

- Micro- and macro-economics

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year abroad or employed on a placement abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course. Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. If you spend a full year abroad you'll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won't pay any tuition fees to your host university.

As part of our Department of Mathematical Sciences, you’re a member of an inclusive and approachable research community which allows you to explore topics in pure, high-level mathematics and applied mathematics.

Modules

Many of our courses offer a choice of optional modules to tailor your learning experience. More information about these can be found on the University of Essex website.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£21,525
per year
International
£21,525
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni

Course location:

Colchester Campus

Department:

Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science

Read full university profile

What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

75%
Accounting
81%
Mathematics
84%
Economics

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Accounting

Teaching and learning

61%
Staff make the subject interesting
81%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
73%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

83%
Library resources
85%
IT resources
82%
Course specific equipment and facilities
72%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

64%
UK students
36%
International students
62%
Male students
38%
Female students
78%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
D
C

Mathematics

Teaching and learning

69%
Staff make the subject interesting
82%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
81%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

90%
Library resources
82%
IT resources
89%
Course specific equipment and facilities
66%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

69%
UK students
31%
International students
69%
Male students
31%
Female students
74%
2:1 or above
17%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
E
B

Economics

Teaching and learning

70%
Staff make the subject interesting
83%
Staff are good at explaining things
82%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
73%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

85%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
79%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

72%
UK students
28%
International students
72%
Male students
28%
Female students
95%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Accounting

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,500
med
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education
78%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

27%
Administrative occupations: finance
23%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
21%
Business, research and administrative professionals

You don't have to be an accountant if you take this degree, but over half of graduates take a look at the rewards on offer for accountancy trainees and go into the job. Many others go into other parts of the finance industry as advisors or book-keepers, and some go into management or marketing. London is very popular for accountancy graduates going into their first job, but it's also quite common to work in Scotland, with Glasgow a perennial hotbed of Scottish accountancy recruitment. If you want to find a job in finance as an accountancy graduates, recruitment agencies were particularly important last year, so try to get in touch with one as soon as you can to improve your chances.

Mathematics

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£24,000
med
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education
66%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

33%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
8%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
7%
Teaching and educational professionals

Want to feel needed? This is one of the most flexible degrees of all and with so much of modern work being based on data, there are options everywhere for maths graduates. With all that training in handling figures, it's hardly surprising that a lot of maths graduates go into well-paid jobs in the IT or finance industries, and last year, a maths graduate in London could expect a very respectable average starting salary of £27k. And we're always short of teachers in maths, so that is an excellent option for anyone wanting to help the next generation. And if you want a research job, you'll want a doctorate — and a really good maths doctorate will get you all sorts of interest from academia and finance — and might secure some of the highest salaries going for new leavers from university.

Economics

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£22,500
med
Average annual salary
90%
low
Employed or in further education
58%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

24%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
15%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
14%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

This is a degree in demand, as business increasingly needs workers who can examine and explain complex data. And yet the number of economics graduates fell by nearly 10% last year, which means demand is even greater. As so many economic grads go into banking and finance, it's not surprising that over half of all 2015's economics graduates who did go into work were working in London. And don't think it's just the finance industry that's interested in these graduates - there's a significant number who enter the IT industry to work with data as analysts and consultants. It's quite common for economics graduates to go into jobs such as accountancy and management consultancy which may require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications - so don’t assume you won’t have to take any more exams once you leave uni. And the incentive to take them, of course, is better pay, which will be on top of an already healthy average starting salary of over £30,000 for graduates working in the capital.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Accounting

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£21k

£21k

£27k

£27k

£31k

£31k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Mathematics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£24k

£24k

£30k

£30k

£39k

£39k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Economics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£23k

£23k

£30k

£30k

£37k

£37k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here