Extracurriculars for economics application

Bigbrotherjx

I'm interested to what people here have talked about on their personal statement when applying for economics?

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Reply 1

Champagne Breakfast

Society, written/edited articles, essay prizes, books.

Reply 2

Bigbrotherjx

Are things such as sport and music relevant/important? Or is talking about your interest in economics more important?

Reply 3

Champagne Breakfast

Interest in economics is obviously more important, but you should include your other extracurricular stuff in a short paragraph at the end (sport, music etc.) and relate that to what qualities they have taught you (time management, organization etc.)

Reply 4

Bigbrotherjx

I have a copy of an economics personal statement from a previous head boy at my school who split it approximately 50/50 between his motivations and wider reading on the one hand and his extracurricular activities on the other. I have quite a few extracurriculars to talk about but I'm not sure whether it is better to cram them in to save space for "course interests" or to expand on them.

Reply 5

Champagne Breakfast

Cram it into a space if you're aiming high.

Reply 6

Bigbrotherjx

High as in Oxbridge, LSE, Warwick, UCL?

Reply 7

Who?

Bigbrotherjx

High as in Oxbridge, LSE, Warwick, UCL?

What else is high? :p:

Reply 8

Bigbrotherjx

What about work experience? It is at Halifax. Is it highly relevant? Or just something to mention in passing.

Reply 9

Singh_87

As you are still at surface of your career, it is more important to say what you gained from your work experience rather than where it was. Obviously, the more relevant the better, but it is important to state what kind of things you learned. Working in a team and the usual stuff... :smile:

Reply 10

Knogle

Don't make the mistake of detailing too much ECs which are unrelated to economics, e.g. leadership, sports, musical talent, etc. Focus on your passion, things you've done to demonstrate your interest, books you've read, etc. Work experience can be useful but far from critical or even what I would label important.

Reply 11

Champagne Breakfast

Bigbrotherjx

High as in Oxbridge, LSE, Warwick, UCL?

Yep

Reply 12

Champagne Breakfast

Bigbrotherjx

What about work experience? It is at Halifax. Is it highly relevant? Or just something to mention in passing.

Mention it in passing. Make it one of the things you take out if you're running out of space.

Reply 13

Realist101

you can lie. every uni knows the students bull**** in the personal statements even oxbridge

Reply 14

Theorist

Bigbrotherjx

What about work experience? It is at Halifax. Is it highly relevant? Or just something to mention in passing.

The underlying thing about work experience is that universities want to see what you learnt from it. A quote from LSE Admissions Website:

Work experience is also useful (although not critical) and we are particularly interested in what you have gained from the experience.

The link is
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/undergraduateAdmissions/AdmissionsCriteria/economics.htm

Reply 15

Champagne Breakfast

Sentooran

I'd strongly disadvise that - Oxbridge interviewers may say:

"From reading your personal statement, I can see that you did work experience at Goldman Sachs. Please tell us more about this..."

At which point you start nervously sweating as you didn't work at Goldman Sachs. You mumble some rubbish like 'Oh, yeah, it was like finance, stuff'. After a few probing questions, the interviewer suspects you didn't actually do any work experience, and not only are you foiled - your chances of admission decrease.

They only decrease? I would have thought that your chances would disappear altogether.

Reply 16

newbie17

target 2.0 if u wont the regional competition, other business related competitions, young enterprise, research you were involved in, and generally sport activities you do.
They dont rly care about ur extras at oxbridge. hence u better concentrate on academic stuff, e..g getting high UMS.now you can just only pray.

Reply 17

Bigbrotherjx

I was technically part of a Young Enterprise group but we started so late that we only had a couple of meetings and didn't really get too much done. Is it still worth mentioning? Our school doesn't do Target. However, I have done the EES and been to a couple of conferences and talks about development economics. I have a couple of high-grade music qualifications and maths olympiad certificates etc. I have also written some articles for a summer school newspaper and the school chronicle. Did several weeks of mentoring and also went on a leadership residential course. Where should the emphasis be?

Reply 18

Theorist

Bigbrotherjx

maths olympiad certificates

I know that LSE like this - so this may be where you want to put the focus. Again, another quote from their website (same link as previous post):

Desirable characteristics
We particularly look for evidence of :

Motivation and capacity for hard work
Reasoning ability
Mathematical reasoning
Independent thinking
Communication skills
Creativity and flexibility

Additional information
We would normally expect all relevant information to be provided on your UCAS form. However, you (or, where appropriate, your referee) may send the following additional information directly to the Undergraduate Admissions Office at LSE, quoting your UCAS number:

Revised predictions
Additional academic qualifications
Extenuating circumstances at your school/college
Results of mathematics competitions
Publications or articles

Reply 19

Bigbrotherjx

My school doesn't take part in the Target 2.0 competition at present. I'm not sure how to actually get involved in it. Is it worth bugging the Head of Economics about this for next year?