Cambridge Economics Students and Applicants

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I find it interesting that there are instances of people that aren't really interested in Economics actually getting in.

Well, they are interested insofar as it will help them get the job they want afterwards. As has already been mentioned, that can itself be very motivating.

Reply 1241

Blutooth

Original post by alex_hk90

I agree with the last sentence, and should also clarify. The work is not easy, it requires you to have a wide variety of skills: conceptual understanding, processing of large amounts of information, rote learning of facts, etc. But my point was that it is not the hardest in any individual one of these skills - there are subjects which are more conceptually difficult, require more reading, and have more things to remember. What is likely to be true though is that there isn't a subject that is more difficult in all of these things together, and maybe not even in more than one of them.

That probably wasn't best explained so as an illustrative example, if the above-mentioned 3 are the measures of difficulty, then if Economics rates as 8-8-8, then there are subjects that could be 10-5-5 / 5-10-5 / 5-5-10, but no subjects would be 9-9-8 or similar.

I guess being around other 'smart' people might be an incentive, though how 'smart' bankers really are (apart from in maximising their own personal profit) is rather questionable.

ermm, what about maths and philosophy, physics and philosophy or comp-sci and philosophy. I'd wager that all 3 aforementioned subjects are conceptually more challenging, require as much reading on the philosophy side and require decent processing speed, but not as much as economics. Also lots of facts, case studies and broad areas of philosophy and science to rote learn. Overall, I'd give these subjects maybe a 10-7-10 or 10-6-10. in the order in which you've mentioned the categories.

You have also missed out factors such as brute problem solving, essay writing, forming cogent structured essays etc.

Economics might not deserve an 8 for conceptual ability at ugrad level though, maybe a 7 or a 6, but I'd have to dock it points because you don't have to be so good at problem solving and the theory is often loosely connected, disparate and conflicting. This makes economics more like a humanities where subjective view-points matters more than fact. For rote learning facts , and analysing information quickly I'd give it an 8 and 9 respectively.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1242

alex_hk90

Original post by Blutooth

My example was illustrative, and the categories of 'difficulty' arbitrarily chosen - they were not meant to be representative nor exhaustive.

Reply 1243

soempty

Anyone can recommend a good book to read? Preferebly more hardcore technical book(not too deep though, i am an a-level student anyway), popular economics seem to be too boring for me.

Also do they care if i choose a really old book to read? For example "The Wealth of Nations" or "Capital:Critique of Political Economy" ? Someone was saying to me that they dislike books which are not linked to current situation of economy and current economical theory...

Reply 1244

alex_hk90

Original post by soempty

Anyone can recommend a good book to read? Preferebly more hardcore technical book(not too deep though, i am an a-level student anyway), popular economics seem to be too boring for me.

What topic?

Original post by soempty

Also do they care if i choose a really old book to read? For example "The Wealth of Nations" or "Capital:Critique of Political Economy" ? Someone was saying to me that they dislike books which are not linked to current situation of economy and current economical theory...

I wouldn't write about The Wealth of Nations as too many people do it and very few have actually read it (I tried to but it's got some really dry sections like a whole chapter on gold which I just got bored trying to read). But there's nothing intrinsically wrong with reading an old book, no.

Reply 1245

soempty

Original post by alex_hk90

What topic?

I wouldn't write about The Wealth of Nations as too many people do it and very few have actually read it (I tried to but it's got some really dry sections like a whole chapter on gold which I just got bored trying to read). But there's nothing intrinsically wrong with reading an old book, no.

I quite like keynesian economics, but i've read some books about it already. I want some game theory book mixed with economics as much as possible.

So would capital make me stand out if i read it? Should i mention it?

How many books should i mention in my ps?

Reply 1246

Blutooth

Original post by alex_hk90

My example was illustrative, and the categories of 'difficulty' arbitrarily chosen - they were not meant to be representative nor exhaustive.

And a rather sketchy one at that. :wink:

Reply 1247

zxh800

Original post by soempty

There's no golden rule. However, if you mention a book say something meaningful about it. Avoid just listing a couple of books by famous economists whilst saying nothing about why you would be a good candidate to study Economics. I personally only wrote about one book, and about one chapter in that said book at that (Heck, I didn't even finish the book). But, I gave my thoughts on the book and the idea from that particular chapter and expanded on why I'm interested in Economics.

Reply 1248

Blutooth

Original post by soempty

For general economic theories, how about Capital and freedom or free to choose by Milton Friedman. Also I enjoyed the Bottom Billion by Paul Collier, which is good for development economics. Verdict on the crash from the IEA was also quite good. Most of these give you a conceptual frame work for theories in economics but don't delve to deeply into the maths.

Reply 1249

alex_hk90

Original post by soempty

If you're really interested in game theory you might want to look at one of the introductory texts for undergrad, they're not that difficult conceptually and often quite interesting.

As for 'making you stand out' or 'number of books you should mention', I wouldn't approach it like that. The easiest way to write a decent PS is to find topics you are interested in, read around about that and then discuss some specific points in your PS using information from the books to help you do so.

Original post by Blutooth

And a rather sketchy one at that. :wink:

Agreed.

Reply 1250

soempty

Original post by alex_hk90

I just read quite a few of them and i don't know which to mention, and there is no point just picking one randomly imo... I need to put one which will enhance my chances the most, each book has something that interests me.

Reply 1251

alex_hk90

Original post by soempty

Then mention the parts from each book that interest you, it is possible to include a few if written correctly (for help with that you could submit your PS to the TSR PS Helper service - we can advise on the style and appropriateness).

Reply 1252

Acerbic

Original post by soempty

So would capital make me stand out if i read it? Should i mention it?

It's nearly 3000 pages, so a lot of work if it's only to make you 'stand out'. Maybe try reading some of Marx's economic manuscripts or the Grundrisse rather than Capital

Reply 1253

soempty

Original post by Acerbic

It's nearly 3000 pages, so a lot of work if it's only to make you 'stand out'. Maybe try reading some of Marx's economic manuscripts or the Grundrisse rather than Capital

Reading is not a problem for me... I would read that in about 10-15 days.

Reply 1254

Hashshashin

Original post by soempty

Reading is not a problem for me... I would read that in about 10-15 days.

You wouldn't take anything of value in that quickly though.

Reply 1255

soempty

Original post by Hashshashin

You wouldn't take anything of value in that quickly though.

This is true, but i don't think i am skim reading it. I was reading a lot when i was young (i read less now, but still) do and as a result of that i am at quite fast reading speeds.

Reply 1256

Acerbic

Original post by soempty

Reading is not a problem for me... I would read that in about 10-15 days.

Lol, you clearly haven't seen how dense Capital is, both linguistically and conceptually. If you storm through it then you'll understand nothing.

Reply 1257

soempty

Due to the amount of modules i would have done by the end of last year in school i would need to do D1 in order to get as grade for Add FM. Would it make my appication better if i had Add FM AS grade (predicted one obviously) or would they not care at all? Is it worth doing?

Can i just tell my teacher that i intend to do D1 and get prediction on my application, but don't actually do the module because it is not going to be included in my offer anyway?

Reply 1258

Ray_Han

I would generally say ceteris paribus the more maths modules you take, especially pure and stats, the better, simply because it means you will be better prepared for the degree. I am not sure how much D1 will actually help you. I guess topics like linear programming might help you to understand optimisation and constraints, but you might as well take it as it isn't much work and you can get an extra qualification out of it.

Note that I am not necessarily saying that taking an AS in AFM will give you an advantage in the admissions process (I'm not an admissions tutor), but rather that it will help you out in terms of preparing for the course if you do get an offer.

Also, if you commit to doing a module, I would do so, even if it means turning up to the exam totally unprepared. They would have the right to rescind an offer if you drop any modules without their permission, and it's not going to make the best impression.