Economics Applicant Thread UCAS 2012

Yeah. At this stage, I'm completely put off SOAS and city, we had representatives in our college.. and I don't really want to go to a Uni like that.
I've been talking with my parents, they said it would be fine for me to apply out of London because they didn't like SOAS either.

So I'm left with three,
LSE, UCL and QM as an insurance, and probably Bath I think. I'm not sure. it's research time once my exams are done. Figure if I have to pay £9000 anyway, I might as well aim high.

Anyone with any questions about Bath economics, feel free to quote/PM me.

I'm thinking of applying to Bath How quantitative would you say their course is?
Also, did you take further maths, and what sort of offer did you get?

Sorry for bombarding you with these questions

Also, well done on getting in!!

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!

P.S. What are people's opinions on getting work experience in a bank or on a trading floor to enhance applications to university for Economics?

3. Back in '06 I got in with 3 A's (A*A*A equivalent now). My GCSE's were 5 A*s, 4A's and 2B's with Maths at A*.

Well that's me gone from GCSEs already :P

Hi Jamie,

No problem happy to help, I'll answer them in turn.

1. Very quantitative, I don't how quantitative in comparison to other courses out there but at a rough figure I'd say about 30% of my first year were unabashed maths units.

2. I didn't take further maths, but I wish I had done at least AS further maths, it would have definitely made 1st year life easier. Core/Stats units tend to be the most useful for economics/econometrics.

3. Back in '06 I got in with 3 A's (A*A*A equivalent now). My GCSE's were 5 A*s, 4A's and 2B's with Maths at A*.

I can't confirm, but I believe this means 7A* once adjusted for the strength of your school.



That's what the handbook refers to when talking about GCSE points, however there is no reference to this in the pooling decisions.

I wouldn't worry too much - they are not requirements for getting an interview, and as many people have said before, the weighting on GCSEs isn't that high. Being automatically pooled shouldn't be your aim anyway, it should be to impress them so much you get a place with no hesitation!

Yeah, I'm obviously not aiming to be pooled but it's better than a straight rejection :P All the economics courses are so competitive now it seems really unfair that brilliant applicants are still getting rejected

Isn't it ironic how Economics is mainly the study of scarcity.

I hear most universities aren't the slightest bit interested in work experience for an economics degree. Especially at a bank or trading floor as that's not entirley related to economics. However I would still go for work experience (I personally still am), if not for your university application then it should just be for jobs in general



That's exactly my GCSEs Very reassuring...

Would you recommend the course? What is the university like in general? Do you feel like you have good prospects? Sorry for all the questions, I really like the look of Bath!

Hi tateco,

Again answered in turn.

1. I'd recommend the course, but then I would as I did well!

I found a good majority of the lecturers were very motivated towards their teaching and the lectures were well structured and easy to follow. There were a couple of bad ones, but these tended to be the exception. The tutors were also highly motivated and put a lot of effort into preperation before the tutorials.

I think one of the more unique things about the Bath course is the number of units you do a year (9/10) compared to many other unis which tend to be around the 6 number? I guess if you like a wider variety of things to study that might be something to consider.

2. The University grounds are great, a lot of the buildings suffer from being built in the '60s, but there is a lot of development happening at the moment so hopefully they will be improved soon. In terms of the people, it's a bit of a mix between smart and sporty types. There's also a lot of international students and quite a few rah's (if you don't know what that is, you soon will when you get to uni). For the most part I find people at Bath to be easy going and definitely a better mix than the people at my school (Northern comp).

3. I don't feel going to Bath has held me back in any way. I got an interview with McKinsey (#1 management consulting firm) and have had no trouble getting interviews with any of the Big4 professional services firms. I put me not having a job down to learning how to interview rather than anything else.

It also depends what career you want to get into, it may put you at a slight disadvantage with regards to front office IB. I say this because most of the placement years in IB's tend to be back/middle office, although once you get that placement and you don't screw up, you're basically guaranteed a job from it.

4. Other bonuses for Bath is it really is a beautiful city and the crime rate is almost zero. The locals also tend to be very friendly too and you get free swimming at the campus swimming pool

Essay over!

Just booked a place on Cambridge's open day. Are any of you also limited to how many days off school you're allowed to see universities? I'm allowed three days, and I've already used one of them! It's ridiculous, considering most open days are on weekdays.

Just booked a place on Cambridge's open day. Are any of you also limited to how many days off school you're allowed to see universities? I'm allowed three days, and I've already used one of them! It's ridiculous, considering most open days are on weekdays.

It's not really ridiculous.... you don't need to go to every open day of the Universities you're considering: most information is online or you can just email them. Better to stay at school in my opinion.

I'm personally not planning on going to any open days this summer as all I need to know about the Universities I have found online. I'll probably only go to open days if I get offers to help me decide between them.