Economics applicant thread UCAS 2013

How much would talking about investing in the stock market and getting a summer internship as a broker in my PS help my application?

How much would talking about investing in the stock market and getting a summer internship as a broker in my PS help my application?

What has brokering got to do with undergraduate economics?

I thought I could relate it with my interest in the stock market. Besides investing, I have also participated in a few stock market competitions and have obtained some good results.

Also, I remember Groat has talked about stock market in his PS.

My five applications will probably be:
Cambridge
LSE
UCL
Warwick
Birmingham

I haven't had any modules back but I'm set to complete ASs in Economics and Latin as well as the whole Maths A-Level this year.

Nice choices. For me I think it will be LSE, UCL, Warwick, Nottingham, insurance. Still debating LSE vs Oxbridge (won't apply to both).

Why?

Because my application would become even riskier than it already is. I'm doing the Romanian Baccalaureate, which has ridiculous high entry requirements. I really need Notts (they ask for 85% at the RB) and an insurance which asks for 80%. The other 3 choices will be very risky, I'll choose between Oxford/Cambridge, LSE, UCL and Warwick (the last 2 have a lot of Romanian students and I think I have a better chance to get in).

Ah okay, must be so annoying having an international qualification that universities don't fully understand.

Yeah, and I decided too late I want to go to uni in the UK, now I can't do A-levels/IB and the Romanian Baccalaureate at the same time, I preffer to give my best at the RB. For example, UCL Econ L100 asks for 95% overall with 100% in Maths M1 (the hardest Maths). Also, for LSE I'd have to take the Entrance Exam because they don't know the RB very well.

UCL asks for 100% in Maths? That's ridiculous...

I recently got feedback from Warwick after I asked why I was unsuccessful in my application, so if anyone is thinking about applying to Warwick, feel free to PM me so I can show you what they've said and hopefully you'll avoid making the mistakes I did and get an offer!

I recently got feedback from Warwick after I asked why I was unsuccessful in my application, so if anyone is thinking about applying to Warwick, feel free to PM me so I can show you what they've said and hopefully you'll avoid making the mistakes I did and get an offer!

I got feedback as well, can you PM me to see if we got the same feedback?

I haven't asked because I didn't know they did, pm me too

I think it's worth mentioning - since it wasn't really stressed enough to me - that if you want to apply to Cambridge for economics, really exceptional UMS scores will benefit you hugely. I know people might say 'Oh, but my friend got in with A*AA' or something else, and there's no denying that that must happen, but you have to realise that it's an intensely competitive subject and they ask for UMS scores for a reason. I think when people quote anecdotes like that they're trying to convince themselves that UMS scores aren't that important. You're competing against people from all over the world so of course the better your grades the better your chances. Other people will say 'The interview's also important', which it is, but if you want a really fair chance then you'll also need excellent grades.

It sounds really harsh for me to say all of this, but bear in mind that I was rejected this year after months of awful stress and anxiety about preparation and reading and applying to UCAS early, etc etc. I just wish now that I hadn't bothered, because it made my January modules suffer (not amazingly, but I stopped caring about work after doing so much for no reason, now I have to re-take them to keep my options open).

If I could go into the past I'd probably have applied to Oxford, if I wanted to apply to either of them. It seems a lot more laid back, you get several interviews so a catastrophe in one of them isn't as important, you don't tell them your UMS and you don't have to fill in the stupid SAQ (supplementary application questionnaire) which is a complete pain in the arse and you have to take pictures, give class sizes, and tell them topics you've done at A-level (even in subjects like English that are completely unrelated to economics). It took me weeks just to get round to doing that.

The conclusion of my rambling heap of prose? If your UMS aren't that amazing, apply to Oxford. If they are amazing, apply to Cambridge. Even though it's still possible at Cambridge with average UMS scores, you want to maximise your chances. Good luck guys.

EDIT: One last thing - think about all 5 choices really carefully if you're meeting the early deadline for Oxbridge. I ended up just sticking down some unis that now I don't really like the look of because I just wanted it all finished by the deadline (and my school's UCAS person was a right termagant). Remember that Oxbridge is always going to be a long shot and you need some other unis that you actually like.

And, for information, I was predicted A*A*A* with low 90s AS averages, and that was probably reasonable for Cambridge. I don't have statistics to reinforce that point but I know a lot of people had a lot better. And please don't take all of this in the wrong light - I just don't want people doing what I did and wasting months on Cambridge.

I'm thinking about studying Economics at Uni. How heavily do universities look at GCSE's?
l0l x