Are all Economics undergrads career-hungry and centred on making money?

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A lot of them are but why is that a bad thing?

I read somewhere that only about 10-15% of Economics graduates go onto further study AND that includes those studying for exams to become accountants. How many actual Economics undergraduates go into economics because they want to study the field? I know this is a generalisation but out of most courses, Economics seems to bring in people who view university as a means to an end for employment.

Largely but it's the same for many degrees i.e Law, Medicine etc.

Then again i did meet a lot of idealistic lefties on economics. But it's a great subject to understand well, since money controls everything.

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Bill y'all

I have to agree with you on this one. Econ at the holy 5 (Oxbridge/LSE/UCL/Warwick) is seen as a ticket to a city job by prospective applicants - hence the insane competition for places; Law suffers the same fate too. When in reality, no matter which top programme you go to, if you aren't cut out for a top job you aren't getting it. Just causay browsing my Linkedin network I've seen countless econ grads from top universities graduate without a job or plan lined up - the majority of these people fell into the trap of thinking their degree was a free ticket. Most of these jobs don't care what degree you graduate with as long as you're intelligent; it's not an auto-ride from Econ at top 5 uni to M&A Analyst at Goldman

It's quite rare for Econ grads to actually want to become economists or researchers, in fact, I'd say modern day econ students use the degree as a de facto business school network of sorts, setting their sights on consulting/law/investment banking/investing jobs with a bunch of other people in the same boat and alumni that were in the same position as well. I think the universities themselves promote these attitudes by appeasing to top employers for sponsorship money or to have their university's brand connected with 'success'. There's less emphasis on development economics (i.e. working for NGOs, the UN etc), politics, central banking etc all key areas that need a strong supply of top talent.

This mostly my opinion based on observing/being in acquaintance with a lot of Econ grads/students.

I did Econ at one of top 5 you mentioned.

when I was at uni, development economics was for women and homosexuals.

if you werent about the Goldman Sachs then we didnt speak your language

I read somewhere that only about 10-15% of Economics graduates go onto further study AND that includes those studying for exams to become accountants. How many actual Economics undergraduates go into economics because they want to study the field? I know this is a generalisation but out of most courses, Economics seems to bring in people who view university as a means to an end for employment.

Agree with Law, but definitely disagree on medicine. If you're focused on making money, there's tons of different easier alternatives than studying for 5 years, then a further 2 years, then working at the bottom of the barrel for a further few more years. For medicine, you have to love it or have some idealistic view of the world in order to even sustain your motivation over 5 years.

To a certain extent yes but being asian i know more than enough kids being pushed into medicine for the prestige and ££££. I also agree loads of ways to make easier money. The ones who are only in it for money don't go far.

I read somewhere that only about 10-15% of Economics graduates go onto further study AND that includes those studying for exams to become accountants. How many actual Economics undergraduates go into economics because they want to study the field? I know this is a generalisation but out of most courses, Economics seems to bring in people who view university as a means to an end for employment.

I chose economics because the of the questions it looks to consider, most particularly, the implications of its theory on optimal government/central bank policy (e.g. taxation and fiscal expenditure and their impact on growth, unemployment, wealth and income distribution). Before starting university I had thought that many others would be like-minded, turns out your 'generalisation' is actually pretty apt, OP, most people on my course are focused on the end goal of a lucrative career and that's pretty much it.

I went to one Goldman presentation and was like 'yep, no, this is not for me', but it was the best attended careers presentation I've been to yet.

If young metro don't trust you...

That's a shame. Hopefully you'll be one of the few that actually use economics and perhaps even further the study!

I'd love to, however my grades have taken a turn for the worst recently (2nd year - averaging just under a 2.1), my maths isn't my strongest quality and, as per the request of our course's graduate employers (a lot of finance-type organisations), our course is heavily maths based. I am looking at doing a masters so long as I can get a 2.1 (which I should be able to do by the end of third year), but I don't want to do straight econ as an MSc for the sheer quantity of maths I know it entails. Something at least a little bit normative (but built on well-grounded reasoning) and a little bit applied would be right up my street - currently considering Political Economy MA and Economic History MSc (I think).

Career-wise I'm on placement at an Economics research consultancy next year, which I hope will be fascinating. I'm looking to work in that sort of field as a graduate; either private sector research consultancy or in a government or central bank department/division as an economist. Money-wise I want to be comfortable, but I think that comfort also entails having some downtime and a life outside of work - which to me wasn't what finance offered, but there are a whole host of other reasons I don't think I'd be suited to finance, and I'm not knocking it for those who do have the right fit.