Land economy vs. Economics? Anyone with personal experience

Land economy is an absolute joke. I know a guy who studies it. I was inside my room for six weeks before exams; he was down the bar all term. In the daytime, too. Not doing anything.

He doesn't have a very impressive starting salary though. Cambridge prestige only goes so far; a serious degree like economics is going to impress any employer much more than a joke degree from an otherwise prestigious uni.

Disagree with this.

As with most arts subjects, relatively less work is required to get a 2:1, but getting a first is very hard. Land Ecs have a pretty easy first year compared to most, but their third year is still a lot of work.

As for jobs, they're very employable. I know land ec graduates working for investment banks, one of my good friends has a very good job lined up for next year. Actually thinking about it, the land ec graduates I knew in the year above all have starting salaries of around 40k.

As a current Land Economy student, I can say with confidence that it is not a joke subject at all. As for most arts subjects, it is almost impossible to fail and you can get a low 2.1. relatively easy. However, getting a First is as hard, if not harder, than in any other subject.

The course is intellectually challenging and gives you a very useful perspective as you are not only required to understand the economic and financial concepts, but also need to put them in the context of the wider legal, social and environmental framework. It is a very practical subject that can be applied in various fields. Employers know that, we are the most employable subject for a reason.

Don't listen to the persistent rumours about Land Economy, they are far from being true these days!

No problem!

You can tailor your papers up to a certain extent but not entirely. In your second year, for example, you are required to take at least one law paper (Private Law or Land Law) and some papers are split (e.g. Environmental Economics and Law). For the split papers, however, you can decide to focus on the economics part in the exam, only answering one law question out of four questions overall.

So in essence: yes, you can tailor your course but it will in no way be similar to the straight economics course. To give you an indication, I quite focused on economics in my second year and I did the following papers: Environmental Economics & Law, Finance, Regional economic theory and policy, Land & Urban Economics and Private Law.
Speaking from my experience, I very much enjoyed doing non-economics subjects, they very well complement the economics part of the course. They require you to analyse problems from different angles.

In terms of A-level subjects, I think Maths, Economics and Geography are quite useful, but I guess that you can also get in without having done those subjects if you can show sincere interest and a basic understanding of the main topics at hand. This will be reflected in your personal statement and in your interview.

In terms of work experience, I think any experience is valuable really. Of course, a placement in the environmental sector would underline your interest, but this is far from being necessary!

One hint: When you apply to a specific college, take into account that Land Economy Directors of Studies have different fields of specialisation and that their acceptance criteria and interview questions, although they follow an objective standard, will naturally reflect those areas (e.g. Magdalene College's DOS is specialising on Finance, Trinity's DOS is doing Environmental Economics and Law).

Here is a short video about the course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JaXPRS62CY

Hope that helps!