What's economics at uni like?

Yeah so i've been wondering what economics at uni is like? Is there lots of essay writing? Long hours of study? Lots of maths involved? Etc..

Any help would be appreciated.

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Reply 1

hellomoto170

Depends heavily on the course, whether you do a BSc or a BA - and even then it depends on the course.
Generally BSc's are more maths heavy but some unis offer economics only at BA (in fact, all courses they call BA) such as Cambridge, Oxford and Durham if I am correct, but Cambridge econ is maths based from what I've read, and Oxford I don't know but they don't offer straight econ so it's probably more varied.
Durham I believe is more essay based, BA but not because of tradition.
Bristol and Bath quite maths heavy,
Nottingham has a very wide range of modules so you can pretty much make it what you want
York is a bit balanced leaning towards maths intensive I think, being a BSc
Exeter is a BA and so more essays
UCL and LSE maths, you get the idea!

Basically there's a lot of variation, with some courses being more varied than others. It's therefore crucial you research the topics you'll be studying as you apply. For example I made this mistake, I applied to Durham but then realised I didn't want to study the course even if I did get an offer!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

hellomoto170

(was a duplicate post of the above, ignore)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

Artfullodger

Having done my second year of BA Economics, I can only advise before you do decide to choose this degree, please do your homework first if you haven't done A - Level .

I studied Business English Language and Geography and had Maths as an AS level.

Be prepared for the course to be a challenge and demanding just like any degree. Like any degree you have to be prepared to put the hours in and not rely on lecturers at all.

If you're interested in business, management and current economic affairs, the course becomes interesting in applying models to real time/ historical economic events.

Still doing a BA involved grasping basic A level mathematics and having an AS / A Level Maths will give you a good head start however lecturers in your first year of study teach you from stage 1.

The course also offers good overall prospects and can be done at some institutions as a joint honours degree.

My degree involves a lot of essay writing (usually in exams) the odd essay here and there on labour economics and applied economics but I managed to pick modules that were mostly exam assessed.

Reply 4

aSunnyDay

Original post by Artfullodger

Hi, I want to studyy economics but I'm worried that my irrelevance of my a level subjects to uni will be a handcap. I study maths, bio, chem and dropped spanish as.
What made you want to study something you didn't do in a level?Also sorry for being nosy, but may I ask what grades you achieved and university you are at now?

Thank you

Reply 5

Luxray

I did BA Economics at Manchester, the main difference between the BSc Economics at my university was that I had slightly more flexibility. BSc did Econometrics module plus a further Econometrics module, BA only needed the first Econometrics module the further one was optional. That was it, we both needed to do macro, micro and we shared the same lectures.

Economics in the decent universities generally features quite a bit of algebra and some essays. But generally it was a mix of both in some cases e..g in macroeconomics I had to derive the Solow model in algebraic terms, then draw a graph to represent this algebra then I would explain this graph and what it implied. There's also modules like I mentioned before called Econometrics which again features a lot fo algebra and stats but you often have to understand the models and equations and would then explain what you have derived.

I also had modules which were more essay/theory based with just a bit of algebra but would feature more graphs perhaps.

Bottom line is, it's very different to alevel when I asked my friends who did econ at college. I personally did geography, psychology and business. Doing maths alevel definitely helps and a lot of unis require it but some courses like my BA don't mind it because you pick it up in math modules.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

Shonia

Forgive me in advance, I may be writing in the wrong thread here, but Can anyone tell me what are A2 and AS level economics exams like? I know the second one includes oral test, is that some sort of interview on the subject? Please guide me thru this and thanks in advance!!!

Reply 7

hellomoto170

Original post by Shonia

there are different exam boards, certainly in the one I did there is no oral section...
AS for me was two exams, the first had a multiple choice section followed by longer answer questions, short essays in response to data/a case study.
A2 has a similar layout, the first unit having multiple choice, the second being much longer answer questions, with one big essay and one slightly smaller (30 and 20 marks I think), followed by a data response.

Reply 8

Kutta

Im not doing Economics at Uni but did it at A Level.

One thing my mate tells me A LOT is how much Maths is needed and how its completely different from A Level which is more theory based. So if you are not comfortable with Maths then i would advise you to choose BA Economics which is more theory based rather than Mathematically.