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Financial Mathematics with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


A level

C,C,C

Overall: CCC We do not include General Studies or Critical Thinking in our offers. Required Subjects: Mathematics grade C and Physics or Chemistry.

Access to HE Diploma

D:21,M:3,P:21

Overall: QAA recognised Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits overall including 21 at Distinction, 3 at Merit and and 21 at Pass Required Subjects: Maths and Physics or Chemistry GCSE or Equivalent: Inclusion of GCSE English and Mathematics equivalent within Access programme

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English Language at Grade C(4) and Mathematics at Grade C(4).

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

29

Overall: 29 Required Subjects: Maths and Physics or Chemistry GCSE or Equivalent: English, HL4/SL4 (including MYP). Maths, HL4/SL4 (including MYP). Maths Studies, SL4.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

MMM

Overall: MMM, with an additional A Level Mathematics, grade C Required Subjects: Maths and Physics or Chemistry

Scottish Advanced Higher

C,C,C

Overall: CCC Required Subjects: Maths grade C and Physics or Chemistry GCSE or Equivalent: English Language: Scottish National 5 - C. Maths : Scottish National 5 - C

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,C,C

Overall: BBBCC Required Subjects: Maths and Physics or Chemistry GCSE or Equivalent: English Language: Scottish National 5 - C. Maths : Scottish National 5 - C

Overall: Pass overall with CCC from a combination of the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate and two A-levels. Applicants taking an A-level science subject with the Science Practical Endorsement are required to pass the practical element. Required Subjects: Mathematics grade C and Physics or Chemistry

UCAS Tariff

96-123

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

5years

Sandwich including foundation year | 2024

Subjects

Finance

Mathematics

**Foundation courses**
A foundation year can develop your skills and make it easier to get started at university. It is an extra year of study at the start of your course that leads in to a full degree programme. It’s a great option if:

You don’t have the grades for a full degree course
You have non-traditional qualifications or experience
You’re starting university after some time away from education
You’re looking for more support during the transition into university study.

**Life as a foundation year student**
During a foundation year you’ll learn about your chosen subject, develop your study skills and get used to university life. On successful completion of your foundation year, you’ll be ready to progress to the first year of your degree course.

As a foundation year student, you’ll be a full student of the University and part of our community. You’ll have access to all our campus facilities and support.

**Why choose this course**
Providing the ideal preparation for a career in finance, our course offers a broad range of modules across mathematics, statistics, economics and finance.

It enables you to develop skills such as creative problem-solving and logical reasoning, which are in great demand in a wide range of sectors.

As a mathematics undergraduate at Surrey, you’ll be part of a vibrant and friendly community. You’ll benefit from a personal tutor, small group teaching, and a lively, research-active learning environment.

Our course has achieved a 100 per cent rating of overall satisfaction from our mathematics students in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2022.

You can also take part in our award-winning Professional Training placements scheme, which prepare students for roles in various sectors.

**What you will study**
Our unique course is approximately one-third core statistics, one-third mathematics, and one-third economics and finance.

You’ll study topics such as analysis of shares, equities, cash flows and interest rates, and the principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, while gaining a strong foundation across the fundamentals of mathematics. In Year 1, you will also develop mathematical programming skills using Python, which will be further developed in Year 2, and gain experience with R programming.

In Year 3, you can choose from a broad range of optional modules in topics such as derivatives markets, game theory, mathematical theory of data science and Bayesian statistics.

Since our world-leading research directly informs our teaching, you’ll also learn from academics who are leading their way in their fields.

**Customise your course**
There are plenty of opportunities to expand your learning experience during your degree. You may decide to:

Complete a Professional Training placement in industry
Spend time studying at a university overseas
Get involved in research through a summer internship within the Department of Mathematics.

Modules

To see the full range of modules for this course please visit our website – the link is under the Course contact details. You will also find full details of the programme, including programme structure and Graduate prospects etc.

Extra funding

The University of Surrey offers a range of scholarships and bursaries to support our students, please visit https://www.surrey.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/scholarships-and-bursaries for more details.

The Uni


Course location:

Stag Hill

Department:

FEPS - Department of Mathematics

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.

84%
Finance
75%
Mathematics

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.

Finance

Teaching and learning

73%
Staff make the subject interesting
91%
Staff are good at explaining things
82%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
77%
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

86%
Library resources
91%
IT resources
90%
Course specific equipment and facilities
82%
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?

83%
UK students
17%
International students
72%
Male students
28%
Female students
70%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
B

Mathematics

Teaching and learning

64%
Staff make the subject interesting
82%
Staff are good at explaining things
65%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
64%
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

81%
Library resources
70%
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?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
68%
Male students
32%
Female students
80%
2:1 or above
23%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
A
B

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.

Finance

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.

£26,000
high
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
82%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

32%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
19%
Business, research and administrative professionals
16%
Administrative occupations: finance

Over 2,000 students graduated with a degree in finance in 2015, and a sign of the strength of the finance industry, numbers are on the up. Over half of finance graduates go into the finance industry, with accountancy and financial advice roles particularly popular. It's also quite common for finance graduates to go into jobs which require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications — finance graduates who take further study are more likely to be studying accountancy than finance. About a third of graduates start their careers in London - but Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham are other popular locations for finance graduates to work.

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.

£27,300
high
Average annual salary
90%
low
Employed or in further education
72%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

28%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
15%
Business, research and administrative professionals
10%
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.

What about your long term prospects?

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

Finance

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

£22k

£22k

£31k

£31k

£35k

£35k

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.

£27k

£27k

£34k

£34k

£44k

£44k

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.

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Nearby University
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Higher entry requirements
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Same University
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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