Mathematics with a Professional Placement Year (BSc)
- Subject area: Mathematics
- UCAS code: G105
- Next intake: September 2025
- Duration: 4 years
- Mode: Full time with sandwich year
Why study this course
This four-year degree features an employability-enhancing third year working in a paid mathematician or statistician role at an organisation of your choice.
Professional Placement Year
Spend your third year in paid work as a mathematician or statistician where you can gain valuable work experience and develop your professional skills. We have strong links with industry and a dedicated placements team to help you find a placement and support you during your time there.
Professional award consideration
If you complete the professional training period, you can be considered for the City and Guilds Senior Licentiateship Award (LCGI).
Flexible degree schemes
In most cases, you're free to switch between degrees at the end of year one if your interests change. You will also have the opportunity to complete a Professional Placement Year or a Year Abroad between years two and three. You don’t need to commit to either of these options until the start of the second year, so there’s plenty of time to decide.
Support services
Your personal tutor is there to offer advice, in confidence, on both academic and non-academic matters. You will also have access to weekly tutorials, supervised computer laboratories and daily drop-in sessions for one-to-one support.
Excellent facilities
You will be taught in Abacws, the new home for the School of Mathematics. This world-leading facility has been designed in collaboration with students and academic staff to create interdisciplinary, flexible and creative workspaces, with innovative teaching areas being a key feature, including a new simulated Trading Room for financial mathematics.
Gain valuable hands-on experience and develop your professional skills whilst delving deeper into the fascinating world of mathematics.
A mathematics qualification is well-respected by employers. The numerical, logical thinking and problem-solving skills that you’ll develop will enable you to tackle a wide variety of roles.
This four-year version of the degree includes a year of paid work in a mathematician and/or statistician role during year three. You will return to Cardiff following the successful completion of your work placement at the start of the autumn semester ready for your final year of studies.
In a competitive graduate job market, a placement can help you gain extra skills and experience to make you stand out from the crowd. It could help you secure a permanent role after you graduate, as well as providing real-world context to support your studies. If you're not sure what career path to follow, it's a great opportunity to explore your options and might even help you make those all-important decisions about your future.
Our strong links with industry give you a wide range of placement providers to choose from. Our students have completed exciting placements at organisations including:
- HM Revenue & Customs
- The Ministry of Defence
- NHS Wales
- Nationwide
- BAE Systems
- IBM
- Disney
Subject area: Mathematics
Entry requirements
We accept a combination of A-levels and other qualifications, as well as equivalent international qualifications subject to entry requirements. Typical offers are as follows:
A level
AAB-BBB. Must include Maths.
Extended/International Project Qualification: Applicants with grade A in the EPQ/IPQ will typically receive an offer one grade lower than the standard offer. Please note that any subject specific requirements must still be met.
- Our grade range covers our standard offer and contextual offer. We carefully consider the circumstances in which you've been studying (your contextual data) upon application. Eligible students will be given an offer that is lower than the standard offer (usually the middle or lower end of the advertised grade range).
- Where there is no grade range advertised and/or where there are selection processes in place (like an interview) you may receive additional consideration in the selection process.
Learn about eligible courses and how contextual data is applied.
International Baccalaureate
34-31 overall or 666-665 in 3 HL subjects. Must include grade 6 in HL Maths or Maths Analysis and Approaches.
Baccalaureate Wales
From September 2023, there will be a new qualification called the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales (level 3). This qualification will replace the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (Welsh Baccalaureate). The qualification will continue to be accepted in lieu of one A-Level (at the grades listed above), excluding any specified subjects.
Other essential requirements
You must have or be working towards:
- English language or Welsh language at GCSE grade C/4 or an equivalent (such as A-levels). If you require a Student visa, you must ensure your language qualification complies with UKVI requirements.
We do not accept Critical Thinking, General Studies, Citizenship Studies, or other similar equivalent subjects.
We will accept a combination of BTEC subjects, A-levels, and other qualifications, subject to the course specific grade and subject requirements.
English language requirements
GCSE
Grade C or grade 4 in GCSE English Language.
IELTS (academic)
At least 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each subskill.
TOEFL iBT
At least 90 overall with a minimum of 17 for writing, 17 for listening, 18 for reading, and 20 for speaking.
PTE Academic
At least 69 overall with a minimum of 59 in all communicative skills.
Trinity ISE II/III
II: at least two Distinctions and two Merits.
III: at least a Pass in all components.
Other accepted qualifications
Please visit our English Language requirements page for more information on our other accepted language qualifications.
Criminal convictions
You are not required to complete a DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) check or provide a Certificate of Good Conduct to study this course.
If you are currently subject to any licence condition or monitoring restriction that could affect your ability to successfully complete your studies, you will be required to disclose your criminal record. Conditions include, but are not limited to:
- access to computers or devices that can store images
- use of internet and communication tools/devices
- curfews
- freedom of movement, including the ability to travel to outside of the UK or to undertake a placement/studies outside of Cardiff University
- contact with people related to Cardiff University.
Other qualifications from inside the UK
Qualifications from outside the UK
Please see our admissions policies for more information about the application process.
Interview or selection process
There will be no interviews. Selection is based entirely on A level (or equivalent) performance. Contextual applicants will be guaranteed an offer and will be subject to additional consideration. All applicants will be invited to attend an Open day when they will visit the School of Mathematics and offers will be made to applicants who have the potential to satisfy the offer.
Tuition fees for 2025 entry
Your tuition fees and how you pay them will depend on your fee status. Your fee status could be home, island or overseas.
Learn how we decide your fee status
Fees for home status
The University reserves the right to increase tuition fees in the second and subsequent years of a course as permitted by law or Welsh Government policy. Where applicable we will notify you of any change in tuition fee by the end of June in the academic year before the one in which the fee will increase.
Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland
If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss national, your tuition fees for 2025/26 be in line with the overseas fees for international students, unless you qualify for home fee status. UKCISA have provided information about Brexit and tuition fees.
Fees for island status
Learn more about the undergraduate fees for students from the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
Fees for overseas status
Learn more about our tuition fees
Financial support
Financial support may be available to individuals who meet certain criteria. For more information visit our funding section. Please note that these sources of financial support are limited and therefore not everyone who meets the criteria are guaranteed to receive the support.
Costs for sandwich years
During a sandwich year (e.g. year in industry, placement year or year abroad) a lower fee will apply. Full details can be found on our fees pages.
Additional costs
Accommodation
We have a range of residences to suit your needs and budget. Find out more on our accommodation pages.
Living costs
We're based in one of the UK's most affordable cities. Find out more about living costs in Cardiff.
Careers and placements
Career prospects
You can use your BSc in Mathematics with a Professional Placement Year as a pathway to the workforce where you may meet our alumni working in traditional pursuits such as teaching, actuarial work, and accountancy through to IT, pharmaceutical research, engineering and more. Or, you might choose to widen your career options to include a range of related fields by completing postgraduate studies in the sciences, computing or engineering.
Maths careers support
In the spring semester of your first year, there are a range of masterclasses available to you to help support your future career prospects. The classes cover work experience, CV and covering letters, application forms, interview techniques, and an introduction to LinkedIn.
We have a regularly-updated student jobs board featuring a range of volunteering, internship, placement, and graduate opportunities. Plus, we organise a full programme of student and employer presentations every year with employers, such as Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, PwC, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Sainsburys, Network Rail, GSK, Office of National Statistics, Welsh Government, the MOD, Welsh Water, and the Met Office.
The School of Mathematics also has a Careers Management Skills Programme, presentations by students returning from industry and a range of sponsored prizes awarded for academic achievement.
Placements
A one year work placement is available on this programme, to be taken after you have completed year two.
You will have support to apply for placements that appeal to you from a wide range of industrial partners. Placements are available in Cardiff, across the UK and also internationally and most have competitive salaries.
Recent placement providers have included: CGI, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Goldman Sachs, Ministry of Defence, National Air Traffic Service and Walt Disney.
When you are on placement, your work will be directly supervised by your placement provider. You will be working on real problems and using mathematics to produce results. You will also have close contact with our placement coordinators so they can discuss your progress and ensure you get the most out of the year. This will include visits as well as regular email contact.
We will support you in preparing for your work placement through a range of skills development programmes.
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HESA Data: Copyright Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2021. The Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from its data. Data is from the latest Graduate Outcomes Survey 2019/20, published by HESA in June 2022.