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Will a degree in Economics and English be less respected than straight Economics?

I have always had a passion for English Lit. and would love to do it at university level. However, being an international student, I will be paying nearly £30,000 per year (not including flights back home) and I've heard that English has extremely low graduate prospects and many graduates work in jobs that have no connection with their degree.

People have told me to add something more 'useful' to my degree just as a precaution. The combined honours of English-Economics at St. Andrew's has really caught my interest as Economics has a highly respected and competitive degree and has one of the highest starting salaries after Medicine, Law etc..

However, I've heard that my degree will be less respected as I will be competing against straight English and Economics grads who have a lot of more in-depth knowledge about the subjects than me. I've also been told that the degree will sound 'strange' as both the subjects are so vastly different. For example a degree in Economics and Maths, Economics and Politics and English and French and English and History looks a lot better than English and Economics.

Is is really worth applying for English-Economics?
Reply 1
Economics doesn't necessarily open more doors than English Lit.

As a matter of fact, most economics graduates end up working in generic graduates jobs like accounting, consulting, investment banking, finance roles in corporations which are completely accessible to you as an English Lit graduate (actually you might even have an edge as these firms value diversity of degrees).

The doors that will be closed to you are quite obviously anything that requires economic knowledge such as economic consultant, working for The economist. A phd in economics can also obviously teach economics, work as an economist for international organisations like OECD, IMF, UN, Wold bank etc.

So if you don't care about a career in something economics related (and don't like economics as a subject either); just go for English Lit as it is what you like most. If you changed your mind you could also potentially enroll for a PhD in economics after a BA in English Lit (not usual but possible. After all Krugman who is a nobel prize has a BA in History).
Reply 2
Also, you should bear in mind that in England, the place you got your degree from matters more than the subject of your degree.

Many employers will regard a degree in English Lit from UCL more highly than a degree in economics from Nottingham for example.
I can't give a straight answer because by English and Economics degree happened during a recession and before the internet, in the 1980s. My first jobs were at employers who refused to accept information not directly relevant to the job, as part of an equal opportunities policy, so a thick person with some naff social work qualification could get a job ahead of someone who could look things up and think things through. Luckily the employers were so bad in terms of job security, unsocial hours, and the un-paid hassle of working with people, that nobody with a naff social work qualification applied.My non-straight answer is that, even in 2017, nobody cares. It's probably the same as in the 1980s. The important thing is to study what you want and hope for self-employment after a bit of work for employers. The idea of life being a competition in which marks are necessary in order to pay to be an intern is a made-up idea which a lot of people are sucked-in to.

PS If you are interested in one English student's view of a 1980s economics degree, google my blog post with words like "Boring Economics is Interesting Keele". I need to put it on a different web site so won't post a link. I guess my economics degree was very different because pre-internet and much less mathmatical than modern economics degrees, but you'll have to check prospectuses or ask.
(edited 6 years ago)

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