Sarah's story

Sarah has always enjoyed mathematics and, after her work experience in Year 10 at an accountancy firm, she knew she wanted to combine her interest with a career related to finance. She continued into the sixth form, opting for A levels in mathematics, psychology and chemistry and AS levels in Latin and further mathematics.

'When choosing your A levels, it is important to think about what you want to do with them afterwards. I knew I wanted to go on to study mathematics, so I used the Connexions Resource Centre at school and the internet to research the contents of degrees and their entry requirements, and checked whether I needed certain A level subjects to get in.'

Sarah is now finishing at university on a MORSE (Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics) degree. This allows her to continue with her interest in mathematics, but also keeps her career options open. The course also included business elements.

'Looking back, I was pleased that I had done further mathematics at AS level, as although it wasn't a requirement, I found it gave me a real head start in my first year at university.'

After a successful work placement during her summer break, Sarah is now heading towards a career to train as a chartered accountant once her exams are over.