Cambridge Economics Students and Applicants

I would have loved more maths in my interview; all I got was some lousy S1 question.

Were you only asked one mathematical question out of all of your interviews?

Yes. That being said; I know someone who had an entire interview devoted to maths (Downing) and someone else who had no maths whatsoever (Clare).

What college did you apply to? And do think that there are any differences (even if its quite small) of how Economics is taught in the different colleges?

I applied to St.Catharine's; I was pooled to Homerton on the same day I received my pooling letter from Catz

I'm unsure as to whether or not there are any noticeable disparities between the quality of supervisions at different colleges, you'll have to consult a current student for that. However, I've heard there's no correlation between the a colleges "prestige" and the quality of its teaching.

P.S. We have the same GCSE grades, and I did Edexcel Italian Unification too

On the Cambridge website, they include details of which specific colleges would prefer Further Maths - so i have a feeling that these colleges may perhaps ask more maths questions that may also be more challenging.

Also, the same GCSE grades and the fact that you did Italian Unification as well is quite comforting as I hope i can get into Cambridge . Also, may I ask what AS levels you did?

Perhaps, but you can never really be sure, unless the college explicitly states that the interview will be mathematical in nature, as - for example - Downing does.

I'm doing Maths, Further Maths, Economics and History, though I did maths a year early. Your main focus at the moment should be on securing the highest possible UMS marks you're capable of. High UMS marks tend to negate most of your other academic flaws, though only with regard to your paper application - the interview is another ballgame

Would you say high UMS marks (which is perhaps 90%+ according to my school) is required over all four AS Levels or would three be fine?
Also, if three is fine, can you still get in with AAAB in your AS Levels?

You can still get in with AAAB, if you manage to impress at interview. High UMS marks are obviously preferred in all subjects, but they're only really important in the three subjects most relevant to your course. For example, if you take: Maths, Further Maths, Economics and History, scoring under 90% in History wouldn't affect your application to too large a degree.

These questions are better asked once you have some firm results, though.

I would also think - with limited number of places - the quality of other applicants matter too. If others have AAAA with very high UMS then AAAB applicant will have some disadvantage. Provided other attributes are in par. so relative standing with other applicants in a given year is important.

I agree with you; I was just saying that one bad-ish grade in a unrelated AS-Level can be made up for with a good interview performance, which you've taken as a constant.

I think it is too difficult to find that magic equation - other then to do the best in all components of the application process. Grades, Interview, PS, reference, test etc and hope for the best. I also think each year passing - it will only get more and more difficult.

Yeah, I agree. All this analysis is purely academic, we can't really rate an applicants chances with only their paper application to refer to.

With regards to competitiveness, it's getting crazy, especially for economics! I wouldn't be surprised if the number who applied this year turns out to be close to 1500.

I am ******** in my pants. I thought all the credit crunch, bank closings will lead to less competion.

just wondering, how many hours of lectures do economists get per week on average?

http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/prospect/ba/outlines.html

This page will reveal all.

Are you applying next year? I wouldn't worry too much; an unbelievably large proportion of those who apply are the - and I hate this phrase - "wannabe" types. Those who believe they're good at Economics because they got 100 in C1 and did well in AS-Level Economics. I personally know around 15 people (in real life) that applied, but who weren't actually any good at economics - and I'm not exactly a socialite.

The people who do well at interviews and get in are normally the ones who are well read (such as reading broadsheets at least once a week, read books that portray different economic ideas, etc) aren't they?