Economics applicants, how did you find competition this year?

This is mainly aimed at straight econ/BSc Economics applicants. I've heard that competition this year was unbelievably tough, with people having 4A*s being rejected from their insurance choice... so just how tough was it? Why is it different to other years?

I go to a fairly decent grammar school. From the people I know 4 people, including my self, were predicted 4 A* whether we deserve or not is dependent on the teacher but at GCSE none of our top 8 average was lower than 8.5. All 4 were rejected from oxbridge, LSE and UCL( was our insurance). So yh this year hasn't been great.

I wouldn't care too much about being rejected from UCL as LSE's BSc Economics course is better anyway so congrats! I think the top unis especially Oxbridge will have looked at GCSE grades even more closely this year. As economics one of the most competitive uni courses I could imagine that they just filtered out anyone without all 9's (or close to) and those that didn't do FM at A2.

You've got to remember that you were applying against all the people who were gifted the inflated grades last year that took a gap year because of the pandemic. So the unis probably had a stack of very high (technically already achieved) grades. So these on top of all the inflated grades this year was always going to make this year very hard for genuinely good applicants to stand out

It's ironic because assuming that you're actually strong applicants and the teachers haven't just gifted you those grades, the whole teachers grade system has screwed lots of you over. I guess it's so tough for unis to distinguish between the lemons and the peaches when everyone has 3-4 A*'s.

Might have been better off for you guys to bank the inflated teacher grades and just apply next year where you'll be competing against those who haven't got the inflated predictions and they actually have to sit the exams and do the work.

This is mainly aimed at straight econ/BSc Economics applicants. I've heard that competition this year was unbelievably tough, with people having 4A*s being rejected from their insurance choice... so just how tough was it? Why is it different to other years?

Yeah I do believe that Economics this year was insanely competitive. I have A*A*A*A + A* (EPQ) predicted, and I got rejected from Cambridge + UCL. The Camb rejection didn't shock me, but I thought I had a fairly decent shot at UCL.. I did get into LSE though, which I'm thankful for.
Another friend w/ A*A*A* got rejected from both UCL + Warwick (he didn't apply to LSE/ Oxbridge). I think he's firming Bath.
I'm in an Economics Applicants 2021 gc on Insta,, there's about 13 of us all with similar grade profiles (A*A*A*A*/ A*A*A*A). Yet all 13 of us were rejected by Cambridge, only 4 of us got into LSE, 2 of us got into UCL (fewer people as fewer people applied there), and like 4 of us got rejected from Warwick.ite And I think it sucks tbh, that these people have put so much effort and thought into school etc. to attain such good predicted grades, just to get rejected from 3-4 of their choices.

3A*A/4A* and got rejected from Warwick?! I never thought Warwick was that selective. Was Warwick still the easiest to get an offer from compared to LSE and UCL this year?

Yeah I do believe that Economics this year was insanely competitive. I have A*A*A*A + A* (EPQ) predicted, and I got rejected from Cambridge + UCL. The Camb rejection didn't shock me, but I thought I had a fairly decent shot at UCL.. I did get into LSE though, which I'm thankful for.
Another friend w/ A*A*A* got rejected from both UCL + Warwick (he didn't apply to LSE/ Oxbridge). I think he's firming Bath.
I'm in an Economics Applicants 2021 gc on Insta,, there's about 13 of us all with similar grade profiles (A*A*A*A*/ A*A*A*A). Yet all 13 of us were rejected by Cambridge, only 4 of us got into LSE, 2 of us got into UCL (fewer people as fewer people applied there), and like 4 of us got rejected from Warwick.ite And I think it sucks tbh, that these people have put so much effort and thought into school etc. to attain such good predicted grades, just to get rejected from 3-4 of their choices.

Yeah I do believe that Economics this year was insanely competitive. I have A*A*A*A + A* (EPQ) predicted, and I got rejected from Cambridge + UCL. The Camb rejection didn't shock me, but I thought I had a fairly decent shot at UCL.. I did get into LSE though, which I'm thankful for.
Another friend w/ A*A*A* got rejected from both UCL + Warwick (he didn't apply to LSE/ Oxbridge). I think he's firming Bath.
I'm in an Economics Applicants 2021 gc on Insta,, there's about 13 of us all with similar grade profiles (A*A*A*A*/ A*A*A*A). Yet all 13 of us were rejected by Cambridge, only 4 of us got into LSE, 2 of us got into UCL (fewer people as fewer people applied there), and like 4 of us got rejected from Warwick.ite And I think it sucks tbh, that these people have put so much effort and thought into school etc. to attain such good predicted grades, just to get rejected from 3-4 of their choices.

Hey!

I'm a hopeful Economics student with A*AA predicted in Maths, Economics and Chemistry, planning to apply next year as a predicate candidate. I have to do summer 2022 resits because my TAGs were not up to standards. What would you suggest I do to in the extra time till then to make my application look better?
Take an extra A level, maybe (heard further maths or sociology might be good)? Learn a language (I can speak Hindi and Marathi, though I don't have a qualification for it)? I keep up with a lot of reading and podcasts for Econ; though I doubt that'll matter since most unis don't need an interview for Econ.
Also, could you please suggest Economics universities for me? I don't really have any location based preferences but I'd prefer for them to be ranked in the top 20.

Thanks!

Hey!

I'm a hopeful Economics student with A*AA predicted in Maths, Economics and Chemistry, planning to apply next year as a predicate candidate. I have to do summer 2022 resits because my TAGs were not up to standards. What would you suggest I do to in the extra time till then to make my application look better?
Take an extra A level, maybe (heard further maths or sociology might be good)? Learn a language (I can speak Hindi and Marathi, though I don't have a qualification for it)? I keep up with a lot of reading and podcasts for Econ; though I doubt that'll matter since most unis don't need an interview for Econ.
Also, could you please suggest Economics universities for me? I don't really have any location based preferences but I'd prefer for them to be ranked in the top 20.

Thanks!

Top tier- oxford(E&M), Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Warwick

Second tier (A*AA) - Bristol, Bath, Nottingham

Other good ones with lower requirements around (AAA) - Edinburgh, Manchester, St Andrews, Exeter, Leeds

I would advise applying to 2 of the “top tier”, 2 from the “second tier” and one “safe” option.

Top tier- oxford(E&M), Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Warwick

Second tier (A*AA) - Bristol, Bath, Nottingham

Other good ones with lower requirements around (AAA) - Edinburgh, Manchester, St Andrews, Exeter, Leeds

I would advise applying to 2 of the “top tier”, 2 from the “second tier” and one “safe” option.

They will need further maths to apply to LSE and Cambridge, it's not required at UCL and Oxford but most candidates have it. You won't need FM for Warwick, obviously won't hurt tho either.

You should target these top tier ones really. I'd also add Durham to the 2nd tier list for undergrad economics.

They will need further maths to apply to LSE and Cambridge, it's not required at UCL and Oxford but most candidates have it. You won't need FM for Warwick, obviously won't hurt tho either.

You should target these top tier ones really. I'd also add Durham to the 2nd tier list for undergrad economics.

Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

Would it be worth me even trying for UCL or Warwick though? I'm not confident they'll give me an offer for as little as A*AA, but I could be wrong. I heard I'd also need to tailor my personal statement to their liking?

Also, what would I do about getting a predicted grade for FM if I decide to self learn it this year? Because I'd need to send applications off by January, preferably earlier, and I can definitely say that college teacher is not going to give me an A/A* for predicted grades

Thanks again

I've seen people getting into Warwick this year with AAB so I wouldn't be too pessimistic about your chances. UCL requirements tend to be a bit stricter but you still meet their requirements. The importance of personal statements is very overrated imo, in my personal experience I've found LSE to be the only uni that care a bit about them. As there are no interviews for Econ outside Oxbridge, the need to tell the truth on them is far less so admissions tutors don't focus on them too much.

Regarding FM, I think your best bet would be to simply ring your school, personally I just did it along with my other a-levels so have no knowledge on the predicted grades during a gap year. That being said, having FM firstly provides a great signal to admissions tutors but more importantly, often you genuinely need to know the content for the top Econ degrees to do well. It's not just a qualification to get in the door, it's really needed for the course too at the top unis.

This really helped take some pressure off of me, thank you

It's good to know personal statement won't be as important, since I'm not the best at writing those. I've had a look at the FM course, and honestly, I don't feel confident in covering it within a year anymore; the pure is fine, but I've always struggled with statistics.

I might try to look for a similar but less intensive maths qualification in the meantime though. I'll also probably try to complete some other qualifications (eg. computer skills, Econ related competitions) that I can get my referee to mention in my reference.

I guess I've been nervous because there're so many horror stories this year of people getting rejected from their econ uni of choice despite having 4A*s and the likes.

Given all the feedback, I'll apply to UCL, Warwick - top tier. St. Andrews, Nottingham - tier 2. And either Strathclyde or Glasgow as safe options.

Thanks again to everyone that helped