Economics Applicant Thread UCAS 2012

I've already been to LSE's open day! I think I'll definitely apply to UCL, it's just a decision on which course to pick. My brain is telling me the sensible choice would be L100.



3A* 7A isn't an average set of GCSE grades! Be proud of what you have and stay motivated to do even better at AS-Level.

Why exactly do you want to do Economics with Econometrics? I can't imagine many people having a good perception of what Econometrics really is at this stage, but prove me wrong.

How far from London do you live? I would consider St. Andrews as it looks amazing but I feel Scotland's slightly too far to be a reasonable choice. Durham is my threshold.

It's quite below average for the likes of Cambridge! (unfortunately)!
I live in Manchester, so it's quite a trek but not too far..
Well, I really like maths and I enjoy the quantitive methods of Economics, so I thought Econometrics would kinda be my cup of tea!

If you keep up your AS module scores, you'll be fine. Are you on Edexcel for Maths, and OCR for Economics by any chance?

Bristol do economics with year in europe, and germany was one of them. Also I think the entrance requirements are lower than straight economics,

I wish more universities offered years studying in different countries, rather than work placements.

It's quite below average for the likes of Cambridge! (unfortunately)!
I live in Manchester, so it's quite a trek but not too far..
Well, I really like maths and I enjoy the quantitive methods of Economics, so I thought Econometrics would kinda be my cup of tea!

Oh that's good then I do really enjoy them too, just gotta knuckle down.

So do you think I'd need to do that? I know it's really lazy of me, but I think I want to drop English Lit next year. So I could pick up Further Maths I suppose. I enjoy Maths waaaaay more than English. But the grades will tell me I suppose!

Cambridge don't care about GCSEs At the conference I went to the admissions tutors say they place much less weighting on GCSEs and care a lot more about UMS modular scores (they use your top 3 subjects from AS, work out an average percentage which is weighted depending on the relative importance of your subjects and then decide whether or not to invite you for interview. But once you are in the interview stage, it means you have the grades so from then on it's about enthusiasm for the subject etc etc.)

I've just found the Admissions Handbook for 2010-2011. It's not clear about the weighting on GCSEs but they take the time to score them (1 for an A*, 0.6 for an A) and then add a score on depending on the school's average performance of each student's best 8 GCSEs. Short courses are excluded.

I sort of wish I hadn't seen it now. GCSEs are in the past and can't be changed, so I am trying not to worry about it!

Hehe, yes, I know about this one already but thanks! It's my target course, I would choose it over any offer from the top 5 (except possibly Warwick as they have an Erasmus link with Munich <3). Hopefully, I should stand a chance of getting a place as the applicant to place ratio is distinctly better than the L100 course.

*Fingers crossed for next year*

No the weighting is for AS levels. Ooh glad it's best 8. How did you do in your GCSEs? Don't worry about them! You have amazing subjects and you're on course for 100% in maths and economics, you'll be absolutely fine :L

Actually the points system has no cap. It's just the adjustment for how well other students at your school did that has the cap of 8 best applicants.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm sure we'll both be fine.

To be automatically pooled this year, you needed 7+ A* and 92%+ in each of the three relevant AS-Levels. That's some motivation for you!

If you would choose it over any of the top 5 are you still going to apply to them for the sake of it? Because if you'd choose Warwick or Bristol over Cambridge/LSE it seems stupid to apply there when you could be taking up an offer space you definitely aren't going to accept :P

I'm thinking not applying for Oxbridge, LSE or UCL. On the other hand, there's only 4 places I want to go which have a possible or definite year abroad (Warwick, Bristol, Edinburgh and Exeter). This leaves me with a spare 5th choice and people are suggesting I should apply for Cambridge.

I don't know what to do because if, somehow, I got an offer for Cambridge, how could I possibly bring myself to not accept it??? I'm pretty sure I'd receive pressure from my school and family to do so. Furthermore, Cambridge's name could possibly help me get employment in Germany, and the longer holidays could give me time to learn German. Also, I'll be missing out on the interview which could be an interesting experience...

What I'm secretly hoping is that my UMS scores this summer won't be good enough for Cambridge but will be all As so that's what other universities will see.

Seriously though, I don't know what to do with my 5th choice

Warwick, Bristol, Edinburgh and Exeter are all great universities with reputable Economics courses.

There are two routes you could take, in my opinion.

Pessimistic: those universities are all very competitive and you should apply for one with slightly lower requirements.

Optimistic: you'll definitely get an offer from one of those, so you may as well apply to something even higher.

I'd go for the optimistic road, there's no point thinking what-if in life. If you feel that you can work hard to get great UMS marks this summer, go for Cambridge! A Cambridge degree in Economics would give you a great opportunity to work for Deutsche Bank or any German firm.

No way would I go pessimistic for £9000 a year, I'd just reapply next year if I didn't get offers.

There's still the 'problem' of what I would do if I did get an offer. Perhaps it's worth not applying to Cambridge if the fact that my application is received after the Oxbridge deadline even has the smallest benefit to my Warwick and Bristol applications.

Royal Holloway (Univ of London) It ranks above City and SOAS for Economics, and it's in London.

I doubt it would. Plenty of schools have a standard of sending off all their UCAS applications for the Oxbridge deadline. Either way, I don't think Warwick and Bristol would reject you simply because they have suspicions that you applied to Cambridge - I'm pretty sure your application is more important.

Also, consider that Cambridge is renowned all over the world, and has one of the best Economics degrees in the country.