University of Exeter

I'm at Exeter for economics, I'm just finishing my first year. It's the only Russell Group University to offer Economics without having maths as a pre-req so for me it was perfect. The lecturers are all good, the course is very thorough, and there are a lot of really fantastic opportunities here as well as an incredible careers team.

I agree that it is second tier- not Oxbridge but certainly spillover. We have a lot of international students, as it is really an excellent university. We are first for student satisfaction according to UCAS and we are tenth in the UK (as mentioned).

I particularly like how thorough the course is. We do macro and micro, but we also do history of economics and statistics in our first term, and we do maths for economists in the second term which is very useful as the course is very heavily maths based in every module. (There is plenty of help with maths - I didn't do a-level maths but I'm managing well.) Lots of universities don't offer the history, and many less academic universities don't do much maths, which is essential for research and post-grad.

Exeter is also based 20 minutes from the city centre, and half an hour from the Quayside, it's a small city near the seaside, and has a really comfortable feel. There's no pressure to drink or go clubbing, but there is plenty of chances to if you want. There's lots of good shops- from high end (think House of Fraser and L'occitane) to your standard discount shops, and supermarkets galore.

I would certainly recommend it, and I know that lots of people are very happy here. Certainly there's advantages and disadvantages to every university, but I think Exeter is easily one of the best.