Economics or Economics and Finance?

I was in a similar situation to you last year. I did work experience in a financial services company, and realised I was more interested in Economics than actual numbers (like finance or accountancy). I prefer the logic behind the number than just our company made 12 million pounds profit this year blah blah blah. So I think work experience is the best way to figure out what you prefer most IMO

It will be hard for you to get any work experience in finance before your degreee. Im doing Maths and economics at uni btw. My advice to you, if your purely interested in the career side of things, would be to just do straight economics, you would be in a good position to go into finance roles anyway. Doing a bsc in economics you will do a lot of maths, calculus everywhere lol and stats too. Can't really comment on what finance would involve.
Can i ask what makes you want to study finance considering you haven't studied it before.

Ah, thanks for the info! Yeah I couldn't get any work experience in either econ or finance related fields, and don't have any connections to have a visit in those types of companies either. Does it mean that a degree in Economics would also enable me to do finance-related jobs? I'm thinking of applying to some BA degrees though, since I don't have A2 Maths to qualify me for most BSc degrees, would that be a great disadvantage for careers? :/ I'm considering to do finance because I'm not that great at maths now, but I'm not interested in studying economics with other arts subjects like history, politics or philosophy. I heard that finance has some maths too but it's more straightforward, and most companies have a finance department so I got the impression that it's not that hard to get a job.

Did you do Economics in A levels? How different do you find the uni course to be? :/ I know it's much more mathematical but don't really know you you apply all the stats and calculus.

Yes doing a economics degree would allow you to work in finance related roles, infact i would say most the people i know on the economics course are hoping to do this. Ive heard employers value Bsc over BA degrees because of the mathematical content, but as I'm just a student I can't say i know for sure. Im pretty sure you will have a finance related modules on your economic course anyway especially for BA in the first year.
And no I didn't but I've heard the micro and macro units are pretty much revision and then maths or finance ones are new to them.
Oh and don't worry you will soon learn how to involve stats and calculus to economics
p.s if your still deciding to do maths at A2, i would advise you do it and do bsc

Thanks, that certainly reassured me! At first I had the impression that economics mainly deals with government-related roles. I think I'd choose to do Economics then, and do finance in the optional modules, after all Economics is more flexible. It's too late for me to catch up on maths now. I'm doing the IB, not A levels, and the maths I do isn't regarded as highly as A2 level. It has coursework involved and all that so it's almost impossible for me to switch subjects. I'm trying to apply for BSc in 1 or 2 unis, I guess if I do a BA with some quantitative modules it would work too. May I know which uni are you studying at now?

I study at leicester uni, where are you planning to apply to?

Oh I see. I'm applying to York and Nottingham to hopefully do a BSc.

Goodluck! I've heard Nottingham's course is very competitive so congrats if you get in

On my Work exp I spoke to lots of Accountants / Finance people. They all told me to do economics (bsc) as it keeps your options open. Its straight forward to go from straight economics to most finance fields.

Thanks! For Nottingham I think I'd have to start with a BA in the first year, then probably take more suitable modules in Year 2 and 3 to convert it to a Bsc if I want.
What led me to post this thread is that York offers both Economics and Economics&Finance.



Thanks, do you know what other differences are there between a Bsc and BA? I've read that BA is usually more flexible and sometimes more essay-based, but quantitative modules can still be taken.