UCL - is it worth it? Especially for economics?

I have a conditional offer for undergrad Economics at UCL. I am an international student. I'm not sure if I will take up the offer and move to London if I get the grades. Looking for some guidance, particularly from past/current Economics students & other UCL students! :smile:

1. Is UCL Economics very math focused? (if so - yay!) I've looked through the modules in 1st/2nd/3rd year a few times and I'm scared that most of the modules will be very theory based - eg economic history/politics/LDCs/economics of population/geography type stuff instead of math and pure economics. If it is very theory based, what type of stuff do you learn? I don't know if it would be better to move to London for UCL for pure econ or stay at home and go to an equally highly respected college and do bsc econ & math ? I'd hate to move all the way to london only to spend most of my time doing econ essays instead of more quantitative stuff.

2. How are job prospects with a degree in Economics from UCL? Yet again I'm worried that pure Econ will be less useful and/or attractive to future employers (and less interesting from my own point of view) than having a more quantitative degree such as Econ & Math. I really don't want to end up working for an NGO or UN type organisation with an Econ degree and would prefer something more quantitative. Do Econ grads from UCL compete well for IB type jobs when there are graduates from Oxbridge/LSE around?

3. What is the daily life/timetable like for Econ undergrads? I've done research and can't find much about how many lecture hours or tutorials are in any given week. Are lecture sizes big? Is there any outside help for struggling students in UCL, eg a math help club?

4. Are there many international students in Bsc Economics? Do people from the UK mix with them?

5. Finally, in case I miss my grades, how do UCL feel about people who resit exams? Where I'm from, nobody ever resits just one exam (eg resitting just math if it was the only subject you missed for your offer) - everybody just repeats the entire year and takes all their exams again, as we sit all of our exams at once in June. I've heard that UCL - particularly for Economics applicants - would not be lenient about missed grades if you miss an offer. However, I've heard conflicting information about how understanding they are about repeating final year and applying again? Some say they don't consider your past grades at all when applying through UCAS and sitting exams again, but some say they wouldn't offer a second time if you already missed their offer, especially if your grades are less than your predicted grades. Can anyone clear this up?

I know that's a LOT to answer - but if anyone could even give me some help with even one question I'd be really grateful!!! Thank you :smile:

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

If you are this quantitative then I believe you would benefit more from just a STEM degree like Maths, Engineering, MORSE etc, or as you have indicated Maths & Economics.

University College London

London

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Original post by Anonymous

If you are this quantitative then I believe you would benefit more from just a STEM degree like Maths, Engineering, MORSE etc, or as you have indicated Maths & Economics.

Thanks for the reply! I actually initially wanted to apply for Maths in UCL, Imperial etc. But I was told by admissions I wasn't eligible to apply, as I hadn't taken my country's equivalent of Further Maths. :frown:

(which was quite annoying - we cover all of the further maths syllabus and more in our regular maths! our "further maths" is just physics maths) Even for Maths and Econ most unis said I had to have done the extra maths.

I was thinking about resitting all my exams in June 2020 and applying again to UCAS but for Economics & Maths - so I'm wondering if they would take into account any missed grades for my Econ application if I apply for Econ again next year :wink: