Economics Applicant Thread UCAS 2012

Guys, I am thinking of applying to bath, I have 4 A*'s at A2 in maths, chemistry, physic, and econ and will do FM in gap year. Do you think that bath would be "safe" for me, I know its competitive, they had 1800 applicants for 150 places last year but would it be considered safe for me ?

Secondly, the Gaurdian ranks bath as 27th on the economics table. I knew different tables differed slightly over some uni's but 27th is quite low. What do you all think ?

You have a good chance, what more is there to say? Nowhere in the top 10 is safe.

The guardian league tables are the biggest load of "nonsense" I have ever seen, steer clear and use the entry requirements and competitiveness as a fairly good indicator (Also, the placement year they offer is invaluable)

You have a good chance, what more is there to say? Nowhere in the top 10 is safe.

The guardian league tables are the biggest load of "nonsense" I have ever seen, steer clear and use the entry requirements and competitiveness as a fairly good indicator (Also, the placement year they offer is invaluable)

I agree with this. Although league tables in general aren't good indicators, The Times' guides are much better.

This. Another good table

No, only for the AS you are intending on dropping- this is what our school says at least. We declare no AS grades unless its the one being dropped

The whole point of UMS is it's not easier in any subject It's 'easy' to get high UMS in subjects you are good at. Yes it may be more difficult to get 100% raw marks in arts but raw marks mean nothing for comparison!

If UMS were an even indicator across subjects. Would you say 90 UMS in Media studies was as good as 90 in History?

Some subjects are harder than others, and I don't think there's any objective measure of measuring how hard a subject is relative to others. It's merely my personal opinion that sciences are easier to score higher in due to the disambiguiety in the mark schemes. There is usually only one right answer. Where as in the arts the marking is subject and up to the markers discretion. This disparity is why I personally feel it's harder to get higher marks in certain arts subjects. Feel free to disagree.

I agree they are easier to get higher raw marks in, but surely UMS evens it out?

I haven't seen any figures but I don't think it does. In Maths and the Sciences, strict mark schemes ensure that a high number get the top marks, whereas in Arts subjects the marking is much more subjective and so there is variance that prevents so many getting the top marks. Another way of looking at it: imagine the distribution of ability/aptitude of candidates in both 'Arts' and 'Sciences' to be the same. Now the top (say) 10% in the 'Sciences' subjects will almost always get (say) 95-100% in the exams. But the top 10% in the 'Arts' subjects may instead get (say) 85-100% due to the subjectivity of the marking. Of course that means the next decile have a chance of doing better, but even if the distribution is of a linear fashion it wouldn't cancel out due to the 100% upper limit (you can't do better than 100%, even if they wanted to give the Arts students 85-110% to account for the variance and centre on the same mean).

I haven't seen any figures but I don't think it does. In Maths and the Sciences, strict mark schemes ensure that a high number get the top marks, whereas in Arts subjects the marking is much more subjective and so there is variance that prevents so many getting the top marks. Another way of looking at it: imagine the distribution of ability/aptitude of candidates in both 'Arts' and 'Sciences' to be the same. Now the top (say) 10% in the 'Sciences' subjects will almost always get (say) 95-100% in the exams. But the top 10% in the 'Arts' subjects may instead get (say) 85-100% due to the subjectivity of the marking. Of course that means the next decile have a chance of doing better, but even if the distribution is of a linear fashion it wouldn't cancel out due to the 100% upper limit (you can't do better than 100%, even if they wanted to give the Arts students 85-110% to account for the variance and centre on the same mean).

Hmm that's interesting, thanks

Anyone else considering Pembroke College, Cambridge? I completely fell in love with the college after visiting it on one of the open days. The only thing putting me off slightly is the fact that there are so few places available (4-6 apparently).

Anyone else considering Pembroke College, Cambridge? I completely fell in love with the college after visiting it on one of the open days. The only thing putting me off slightly is the fact that there are so few places available (4-6 apparently).

Yup, he said it better than I ever could

I just graduated from there - it's amazing.

My personal statement reads like a man banging his head on a wall -_-

At least you have something written .