BSc Geography to MA Economics

Hi,
I'm planning to send off my UCAS form this week, and want to apply to a combined course in Geography and Economics, however, most of them require A level maths or economics, which I don't have, therefore I am only able to apply to three universities for that course, and the remaining two will be pure geography.

I am interested in Economics since I decided to do a related subject for my EPQ, which (based on the centre assessed grade) I got an A* in. so my question is if I were to do a Geography degree and maybe a few elective modules in Economics if I can, and I still feel the same way upon graduation, how easy would it be to apply to an Economics Master's degree? or do you need subjects like maths, finance or economics for that?

many thanks,
Ethan

Hard very hard I think. Firstly MA economics doesn't exist, they are all MSc Economics. I did an MSc Econ and just relooked at the entry requirements which state:
-2.1 in undergrad economics
-Also consider students with a strong degree in related subjects with a strong background in microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematics and statistics

Within my masters, I only met one person who didn't do undergrad econ, and his undergrad was maths. Based on my masters I would say it is more an applied maths with an economics and completely different to undergrad, the maths is a huge step up from BSc econ to MSc. So even if they were to allow you to, you would be very behind the standard of everyone else having no formal background in mathematics. Again even if you take electives in economics the most important ones to take would be the maths based modules which would be unlikely to be allowed to take without A level maths.

My advice is that if you are that set on doing an econ masters, just study BA economics instead, yes fewer universities offer it, but you will have the option to take more maths courses and some BA course allow you to switch to BSc economics after the first year if you have proved you are competent in maths. Before my degree, I was in a similar position to you wanting to study econ & geog together but then decided that as I knew I'd want a career in econ/ finance the geog part was a bit futile. Plus I found that very few higher up universities had an econ & geog course.

You would be able to do a post graduate diploma in economics, but that isn't equivalent to a masters and is used by people who want to change careers, so would study the pgd then a masters in econ. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2021/postgraduate/programmes/GDGECNMC_C/

By all means, I think the best idea is to have a look around at masters courses and then contact some admissions tutors to ask them. But I think its very unlikely for a switch from geog to MSc econ to be allowed. My advice would be either study BA econ or study econ & geog if you are set on studying a form of econ at uni

Hi,
Thanks for the reply

The main reason I don't want do a single honour in Econ is that I enjoy Geography and am good at it (the physical stuff), and am considering it for a master's, so basically, I want to keep my options open, while exploring economics.

Would I be correct in thinking that a BA in Econ is more essay-based, interpreting graphs etc? Similar to analysing the state of the economy in A level History?

I reckon I'll go for a Geog/Econ combined honours, Aberdeen, Loughborough and S.t Andrews would consider me without A level maths, so I'll probably apply to those and the remaining two Geog

I'll take a look at the link, a PgDip looks like an interesting option.

Thanks!
Ethan