Some A-level A grades are more equal than others. Discerning observers may have already concluded that an A gained in travel and tourism might not measure up to an A in chemistry. But a group of universities has now made the distinction explicit. Would-be undergraduates applying to Cambridge, Manchester and the LSE are told: don’t even think about it if your qualifications are in home economics.

This is partly sensible. If the dream is Cambridge, general studies is unlikely to be the ticket. When a quarter of all A-level papers receive A grades, admissions tutors want something more substantial to chew over than health and social care, however impressive the grade looks.

Their bias is understandable. Most A levels that require a supplementary word to explain themselves — communication studies, music technology, critical thinking — suggest a pursuit or vocation trying, but failing, to be a subject. One trick is to take away the second half and see what is left. Leisure (studies) looks fun, sports (studies) likewise, though physical (education) sounds dangerously arduous.

But in puncturing some of the pap that passes for intellectual stimulation, the “top” universities also reveal their own anti-entrepreneurial prejudice against subjects such as accounting. The one exception to the above rule on clumsy nomenclature, for instance, is business studies. There is a profound irony in the elite looking down its nose at a business A level, with or without the “studies”, when ancient universities are desperate to attract money through their own comparatively new business schools. On this they buck the trend and score a mere C.