Economics undergrad - Southampton or East Anglia?

Got offer from both, they seem good. Complete university guide ranks Southampton 20th for economics and 19th for East Anglia. Would like some information on which to firm and insure.

Reply 1

gr8wizard10

What sort of career are you aspiring to enter and what are your other choices?

Reply 2

sceptical

Original post by Anonynous

What sort of career are you aspiring to enter and what are your other choices?

Currency trading. Kent and Essex but I don't plan on going there. Was told to put them as insurance choices. Aspirational choice is Nottingham but they haven't replied back yet

Reply 3

gr8wizard10

Original post by sceptical

Currency trading. Kent and Essex but I don't plan on going there. Was told to put them as insurance choices. Aspirational choice is Nottingham but they haven't replied back yet

Notts/Southampton

Reply 4

sceptical

Original post by Anonynous

Notts/Southampton

Why southampton?

Reply 5

gr8wizard10

Original post by sceptical

Why southampton?

Better brand name than UAE. But Notts much better.

Reply 6

.ACS.

Have you visited both? Have you thought about the modules on offer, the societies available to you, or the atmosphere of each?

This is a response I gave to someone regarding Southampton comparing Southampton and Leeds:

Southampton, on the other hand, offers no policy modules and hardly any applied modules. You're taught the theories, the maths, etc. and then it's up to you in your own time apply the theories if you wish. The Southampton course, I'd argue, is primarily aimed at those wanting to go do an MSc and potentially a PhD after their BSc. You're exposed to very simple DSGE modelling in your third year, there is a much stronger focus on intertemporal choice even in micro theory modules from the earlier stages while third year micro is purely abstract game theory, and you're able to take econometrics modules where the core textbook is Econometric Analysis by Greene.

Is any course better than the other? No. They're just very different.

Also visit each and think about the atmosphere, location, etc. The city of Southampton puts a lot of people off, so this is something to think about. (It's important to remember that entry requirements are about supply/demand. Some people are put off Southampton due to location. Equally, Southampton is trying to almost double its student accommodation availability as the government has removed quotas on the number of students a university can take with a certain level of grades.)

As for your aspiration to go into currency trading, all I can say is I know a couple of people from Southampton who have done economics and gone into trading. So it does happen, although I suppose it is a lot more down to you (hardly anyone I met at Southampton was that into investment banking/trading, etc.).

Also, I would not worry too much about league tables. They fluctuate so much from year to year because the weighting to each factor changes each year, and also the data is never up to date (there's always a lag of a few years). So it's essentially a "reflection" of how a university ranked previously, conditional on you agreeing with the weightings given to each factor (which is why you have so many different league tables- some emphasise student satisfaction, others research, others entry requirements, etc., but who is to say which weighting is "better"?).