Economics applicants 2015

I've only really recently started thinking of applying for economics, I've taken Maths, History, Chemistry and Biology at AS level and hopefully (Fingers crossed) ill take all 4 through to A level next year with best case scenario (Somehow) 4 A's and worst case about ABBB, Will not taking economics at AS/A level disadvantage me at all to get into a top economics uni e.g.. UCL, LSE or Warwick? And if I do badly this year say (BBBB) and then resit AS's next year alongside my A levels and say I manage (after resits) AAAA at as level and AAAB at a level will this be good enough to get me into a good economics school? Thanks I'm so confused right now cause some forums say like 80 percent or economics students in top uni's have economics a levels but then others say its not necessary and simply showing an understanding of economics from self studying and background reading is good enough? thankssssss

The only subject any economics applicant needs is maths. That's it. While it would be (hugely) beneficial to also study economics, it's not a requirement, but you will have a harder time justifying why you now want to study it for three years when you didn't opt to study it last year, as well as more work to find out what to write in your PS.
While AAAA would be the best, there are people here who got ABBB and still received offers from Warwick. However, low AS results around BBBB or lower would be a hefty disadvantage to you applying to the three you've mentioned, and relying on resits and A2 predictions is not going to help much, although take this with a pinch of salt; an amazing PS and reference coupled with a great set of GCSE's might be able to offset "bad" AS results.

I bet you are referring to me!I think it was my PS that got me an offer from Warwick!

Yeah, had you in mind straight away

I've only really recently started thinking of applying for economics, I've taken Maths, History, Chemistry and Biology at AS level and hopefully (Fingers crossed) ill take all 4 through to A level next year with best case scenario (Somehow) 4 A's and worst case about ABBB, Will not taking economics at AS/A level disadvantage me at all to get into a top economics uni e.g.. UCL, LSE or Warwick? And if I do badly this year say (BBBB) and then resit AS's next year alongside my A levels and say I manage (after resits) AAAA at as level and AAAB at a level will this be good enough to get me into a good economics school? Thanks I'm so confused right now cause some forums say like 80 percent or economics students in top uni's have economics a levels but then others say its not necessary and simply showing an understanding of economics from self studying and background reading is good enough? thankssssss

If you're applying for unis with interviews, it can actually be an advantage. I have an offer for E&M at Oxford; while I was being interviewed, the tutor asked me for the 'simplest definition i could give' for some term that i should have known from economics a level, I looked at him blankly and he said 'you DO study economics at a level do you not?' I said no and he seemed to be more impressed with everything i'd said before/after, knowing I didn't study economics. It will also mean they gear the interview more towards maths, which for me was definitely beneficial.


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By gear it towards maths what do they ask you? But that sounds all right to be honest then I'm fairly confident I could get through a maths based interview all right if I prepared for it, it'll just be getting the interview thats the tricky thing!

The only subject any economics applicant needs is maths. That's it. While it would be (hugely) beneficial to also study economics, it's not a requirement, but you will have a harder time justifying why you now want to study it for three years when you didn't opt to study it last year, as well as more work to find out what to write in your PS.
While AAAA would be the best, there are people here who got ABBB and still received offers from Warwick. However, low AS results around BBBB or lower would be a hefty disadvantage to you applying to the three you've mentioned, and relying on resits and A2 predictions is not going to help much, although take this with a pinch of salt; an amazing PS and reference coupled with a great set of GCSE's might be able to offset "bad" AS results.

It was fairly easy actually. Differentiate e^x^2, all they wanted was an answer but ended up giving a proof using limits. then something on compound interest, and an abstract 'brain teaser' at the end, which i somehow got in around 45 seconds, shocked myself!


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Thanks thats actually helped a lot! Do you reckon with some relevant work experience (Trust Fund manager) and some background reading plus 8A*'s and 2A's at GCSE and then say AABB AS level could get me an offer from UCL in particular, maybe even LSE if I was predicted A*AAA at A level? I don't know but I know i could get that I just haven't worked hard enough this exam period and I'm worried now that I've left it to late to reconcile... Who knows i might not even have done that badly and I might be fine... I can hope

Ok so nothing too much, and relevant to economics maths they're not going to ask me to use any trigonometry or anything ;P How is warwick i was thinking about it?

For economics, work experience is just an added bonus if you can get some, but it won't make a huge difference. Background reading > Work experience for an econ PS. GCSE's are fine, AABB would be fine for UCL, maybe not for LSE, unless your PS blows the admissions tutor away.



I've firmed Warwick, so what in particular do you want to know?

Perfect I prefer UCL anyways and it looks a nicer Uni, ok any recommended books/reading material? Plus just Maths at A level will be fine yeah, don't NEED further maths? And warwick whats the course look like? And I assume you've been so whats it like? You must like it if you've firmed it haha

Anything and everything, especially if you haven't got the A level. For starters, you could read basic books like the undercover economist, (although I wouldn't recommend putting it in your PS). Beyond that, things that would interest you. For example, I read globalisation and its discontents (and then did an EPQ on it) but also wrote about Capital in the 21st century for my PS.

You don't need further maths, but like economics, it would be recommended, even if its only an AS.
The courses across the top 5 are inherently similar, just a few minor differences, so you'd be better taking a look at the course structures yourself and comparing yourself. I do like the campus, the graduate prospects, the course and there are other things, but the fact that it's so similar to UCL means any differences are pretty much negligible and it's down to your personal preference. I'd recommend visiting both either way.

Yeah, I've got open days booked for both so I'll be able to see then, And at the moment just purely based on courses and pre conceptions based on what I've seen/read and where they're situated, I'm probably swaying more to UCL just because of the flexibility of the course and I like what I could do but also, London is a great city and its links with the investment banking industry, but thanks for the help It's been really good! (Also whats an EPQ?) and I'll get some basic economics books like you mentioned and then find some area in it that interests me that I could go into a bit more detail upon. Merci beaucoup!

I've only really recently started thinking of applying for economics, I've taken Maths, History, Chemistry and Biology at AS level and hopefully (Fingers crossed) ill take all 4 through to A level next year with best case scenario (Somehow) 4 A's and worst case about ABBB, Will not taking economics at AS/A level disadvantage me at all to get into a top economics uni e.g.. UCL, LSE or Warwick? And if I do badly this year say (BBBB) and then resit AS's next year alongside my A levels and say I manage (after resits) AAAA at as level and AAAB at a level will this be good enough to get me into a good economics school? Thanks I'm so confused right now cause some forums say like 80 percent or economics students in top uni's have economics a levels but then others say its not necessary and simply showing an understanding of economics from self studying and background reading is good enough? thankssssss

The two are essentially the same when it comes to course content/structure and links with IB (both are targets along with ICL, LSE and Oxbridge), but obviously UCL has the London advantage (which, for all intents and purposes would simply be getting to the interviews etc).
EPQ is an AS where you write a dissertation on any topic you want, and then have to present your findings to a panel of teachers after.
And you're very welcome

Just wait until you get your results... but realistically speaking no, with BBBB or ABBB you'd be highly unlikely to get into any of those places. There's ONE person on here who got an offer from Warwick with ABBB but he's the exception rather than the rule. Plenty more on here got rejected with straight As. By all means apply to them if you want to take the risk, but you should adjust your expectations accordingly.

Yeah I realise that don't worry :P BBBB is a worst case scenario I'm pretty sure, hopefully in reality it'll be more like AAAB, but you never know... if I get BBBB I'm not gonna do economics I'll find something else haha, but say I got AABB, would it be worth me resiting the two B's and getting AAAA (which with some work I'm sure I could achieve) or are resits in year 13 pretty pointless? The other option is because I'm taking a gap year, if things do go badly this year e.g. ABBB-AABB then I resit the necessary in Year 13 on top of A levels and then I just apply with say AAAA and A levels in my gap year? hmmm decisions decisions...

Just wait until you get your results... but realistically speaking no, with BBBB or ABBB you'd be highly unlikely to get into any of those places. There's ONE person on here who got an offer from Warwick with ABBB but he's the exception rather than the rule. Plenty more on here got rejected with straight As. By all means apply to them if you want to take the risk, but you should adjust your expectations accordingly.

Yeah I realise that don't worry :P BBBB is a worst case scenario I'm pretty sure, hopefully in reality it'll be more like AAAB, but you never know... if I get BBBB I'm not gonna do economics I'll find something else haha, but say I got AABB, would it be worth me resiting the two B's and getting AAAA (which with some work I'm sure I could achieve) or are resits in year 13 pretty pointless? The other option is because I'm taking a gap year, if things do go badly this year e.g. ABBB-AABB then I resit the necessary in Year 13 on top of A levels and then I just apply with say AAAA and A levels in my gap year? hmmm decisions decisions...

It's up to you, I would resit.