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Kings College London

Hello.I'm planning to apply for the Economics and Management course at KCL.It requires me to have an A in GCSE Maths and a B in GCSE English but I have an A in IGCSE First Language English and a B in Maths.It also requires me to study at least on social science or humanities subject for A-level but currently I'm studying 3.Can I still apply for the course?Thanks for your help.
I can't comment on your situation, but I'd strongly advise you against applying for this course if you want to learn proper economics at university. I've looked at this Econ/management course at KCL before and it's a complete joke. There's no A-level requirement for maths (something that any decent economics course should have) and they give you marks for literally turning up for class (this isn't America!!). Oh and did I mention that King's doesn't even have an economics department?! It's administered by their business or management department or whatever.
I would second that motion.

KCL never had a tradition in economics they seemed to have to have jumped on the bandwagon just 2 years ago
Reply 3
Original post by Chet96
Hello.I'm planning to apply for the Economics and Management course at KCL.It requires me to have an A in GCSE Maths and a B in GCSE English but I have an A in IGCSE First Language English and a B in Maths.It also requires me to study at least on social science or humanities subject for A-level but currently I'm studying 3.Can I still apply for the course?Thanks for your help.


Have you visited the university?
Have you looked at the modules on offer?
Which other universities/courses are you applying to?

I would ignore the two posts above. The Economics and Management course now provided by KCL is essentially a split from their previous Business Management course which had an economics pathway. Is it as mathematically proof based as other economics programmes? No, but you know that and you know what you’re getting yourself into. The course is more applied and is a strong mix of economics, finance and business, with the important aspects of statistics thrown in.

It’s important to realise that you will never need or use the heavy econometric theory or mathematics covered in a rigorous BSc Economics programme outside of academia.

Further, the fact the course is run by their Business School is for administration purposes only. Many economics departments are being swallowed up by business schools in the UK for administrative and funding purposes. This will make no difference to your university experience and shouldn’t really be factored in.

If you like the course and the university, then apply. It’s you spending three years there, and the career prospects will be equally good as if you were doing BSc Economics at another university.
Original post by .ACS.
Have you visited the university?
Have you looked at the modules on offer?
Which other universities/courses are you applying to?

I would ignore the two posts above. The Economics and Management course now provided by KCL is essentially a split from their previous Business Management course which had an economics pathway. Is it as mathematically proof based as other economics programmes? No, but you know that and you know what you’re getting yourself into. The course is more applied and is a strong mix of economics, finance and business, with the important aspects of statistics thrown in.

It’s important to realise that you will never need or use the heavy econometric theory or mathematics covered in a rigorous BSc Economics programme outside of academia.

Further, the fact the course is run by their Business School is for administration purposes only. Many economics departments are being swallowed up by business schools in the UK for administrative and funding purposes. This will make no difference to your university experience and shouldn’t really be factored in.

If you like the course and the university, then apply. It’s you spending three years there, and the career prospects will be equally good as if you were doing BSc Economics at another university.


You're assuming OP knows about what postgrad economics courses/economics job roles require from an economics related degree.

If OP does this course he could be shutting off these avenues, and he could really regret this in the future when he suddenly discovers he wants to continue with economics in some shape or form

Also, I'm not too familiar with KCL's business department, but if it's full of business guys just teaching economics, then the economics intellectual experience (if OP wants to expose himself to top economics academics and PhD students) may not be as fulfilling as being taught by in an economics department. King's doesn't have an economics department after all...
Reply 5
Original post by ParetoOptimum
You're assuming OP knows about what postgrad economics courses/economics job roles require from an economics related degree.

If OP does this course he could be shutting off these avenues, and he could really regret this in the future when he suddenly discovers he wants to continue with economics in some shape or form

Also, I'm not too familiar with KCL's business department, but if it's full of business guys just teaching economics, then the economics intellectual experience (if OP wants to expose himself to top economics academics and PhD students) may not be as fulfilling as being taught by in an economics department. King's doesn't have an economics department after all...


Admittedly I do assume the OP has an understanding of economics programmes, which they may not. Even so, I don’t believe the BSc Economics and Management programme from KCL will shut off doors into economics related jobs or even postgraduate study.

The only “direct” economics related job from a BSc is working in GES, working in an economics consultancy firm (either Big 4 economics teams or for Frontier, ECA, Oxera, Capital, etc.), working in the civil service in a non GES related role, working as an Economic Analyst in the banking/investment world, working as a competition economist within a law firm, etc. Those are the key ones that come to mind, although I may have missed other economist jobs. I’d be interested to hear how you feel this programme (or the content covered) would not prepare one sufficiently for these sorts of jobs.

As for undertaking an MSc/PhD, I won’t say this BSc will prepare you well, however it won’t prevent you from being admitted. You will simply have to work much harder as you will lack the necessary theoretical mathematics (I would argue). Although even this is of course dependent on the MSc programme you enrol on. But for the vast majority of universities, their MSc programme is a cash cow and they’ll admit you if you have funding.

Though, there is an argument that even most BSc Economics programmes don’t prepare you well enough for MSc studies. For the most part there just isn’t enough emphasis on real analysis and linear algebra in undergraduate courses.

In regard to KCL faculty, from a quick browse, some include:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/Chortareas.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/deCoulon.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/gonçalves.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/Filipa-Sa.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/pratten.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/omahony.aspx
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/management/people/academic/lindley.aspx

These people all have doctorates in economics from respected universities. Mostly LSE in fact. So they certainly aren’t lacking any intellectual experience!

Whilst there will be lacking of PhD Economics students, how much interaction did you have during your BSc? I admit I don’t know your current situation, although I only gained any meaningful interaction with PhD students during my MSc year. That said, obviously each person is different.
Reply 6
Thanks for your responses.So please which universities would you recommend are the best for economics related courses.Thank you very much.
Original post by .ACS.
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You speak wise and well-researched words. Perhaps my scepticism of King's economics is misplaced. I'd still avoid that course if I could help it though

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