Hi, graduate from Oxford E&M here.
Just wanted to clarify regarding the course structure - in first year you take three modules (Introductory Econ, General Management, Financial Management). Introductory Econ and Financial Management are majority maths-heavy, General Management is purely essay based. It's roughly a 50-60% maths and 40-50% essay split, and with some of the exams (e.g. Introductory Econ) you can choose whether you want to answer more maths-based problem questions or more essays. In second and third year, you have to study at least 2 Econ & 2 Management modules, but other than meeting pre-requisites for technical modules (e.g. can't study Econometrics in third year without taking Quantitative Economics in second year), you have a very flexible choice. I know plenty of E&Mers who have taken 5 or 6 Econ modules and only 2 or 3 Management modules (from my experience this is probably the most common choice), and the majority of Econ modules are maths-based, and even a few of the Management papers (Finance, E&I, etc) can have numerical components. In essence: if you love maths, you can very much tailor the course to suit your needs. The above info is correct at the time of writing, but E&M's course structure is continuously reviewed and improved, and so do check the Admissions website to confirm.
As
@BenRyan99 points out, Cambridge actually have more mandatory modules (and the requirement to do a dissertation), with less flexibility for studying optional papers. This is great if you want a well-rounded Economics education and the average Cambridge Economist will likely have studied more Economics than the average Oxford E&Mer, because E&M is a joint honours degree with fewer mandatory modules. Cambridge indeed has a strong reputation for technical Economics roles (Masters, Economic analysis/policy, etc) whilst Oxford E&M has a strong reputation for financial careers (consulting, banking, IB, etc). Ultimately, both courses can open the same doors - in Cambridge you can switch to Management, and even with a straight Economics degree you would be highly desirable for financial roles. Likewise, Oxford E&Mers who take the appropriate Economics modules are able to continue into Masters programmes at top Universities and remain in academia. Both are highly competitive to get into and have excellent prospects!
Personally for me, I love maths (and have always been stronger at it than essay subjects and I took Maths and FM as two of my A levels), but my favourite aspect is pure maths rather than statistics, and so I preferred the variety of Oxford's course rather than the higher mandatory emphasis on statistics that the Cambridge course has. I ended up actually taking more Management modules despite my love of maths, and the benefit of Oxford's course is that it is somewhat more 'applied' in the sense that Management focuses a bit more on real life examples and case studies, not just data and theory. Ultimately, both courses are fantastic and so I would encourage you to consider the course structure/available modules and also other differences such as e.g. the exam system - Oxford is more unforgiving as all your second and third year module exams are taken at the end of third year, over 2-3 weeks, and can be 100% exam based if you don't take one of the very few modules that has coursework (or do a dissertation).
As part of
@Oxford Mum's project 'Oxford Demystified' I discussed the E&M admissions process in more detail offering some guidance for applicants based on my experience:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6424980Hopefully this helps, and best of luck!