The Student Room Group

Geography 'with' or 'and' economics?

Hi,
I hope everyone is well,

I've sent off my UCAS form and already received 3 offers back!

I'm applying for a mix of geography, economics and combination courses.

I really like two of the unis I've applied to, both of which I'm considering for my Firm choice (same entry requirements so pointless to put one as my backup)

One course is Geog and Econ (50:50 split) (I'll call it Uni A), and the other is Geog with Econ (75:25 split) (this will be Uni B).

I'm not sure what I want to do when I graduate and want to open up as many doors as possible, hence the subject choice, my question is, could I still get onto an Economics Master's course, or get an Economics related job with Uni B's course, or would this hinder my chances?

Also, the 75:25 course offers a year abroad, whereas the other doesn't, I'm really eager on doing that, do you think this would outweigh the subject split?

Uni A is slightly higher ranked than Uni B, however, they aren't too far apart, I slightly prefer the campus at Uni B, however, the year abroad and job prospects is my biggest sticking point.

Many thanks :smile:
Reply 1
Congratulations on your offers! I'd probably say uni A will allow you to more likely get on an econ masters course but some people do econ masters without taking econ at all. It depends what uni you want to do a masters at for example Birmingham's standard entry requirements for econ masters is:

"A 2:1 bachelor’s Honours degree (or overseas equivalent) in Economics or a related discipline. You are expected to have received a good training in economics, to at least intermediate level, and to have taken at a minimum: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics or Statistics, and Mathematics or a Quantitative module at bachelor’s level."

But honestly, there are plenty of masters similar to straight economics so I wouldn't worry too much and Bham uni even say that

"For students interested in this programme but who do not meet the academic subject requirements above, we offer a two-year Masters degree with Integrated Pre-Masters. Students with a 2:1 bachelor’s Honours degree in an unrelated subject area with some mathematical content will be eligible for consideration"

I would go for uni you are going to enjoy the most as they are in similar rankings and areas so doesn't matter too much. It looks like you are already leaning towards Uni B but don't rush your choice there is still plenty of time to decide. Good luck!
(edited 3 years ago)
You should be able to go on to do a master's with either course. Most masters for Economics, to my knowledge, requires you to have a certain grade and that your undergrade contains at least 50% economics. I'd recommend checking with the uni that you want to do your masters at first though.

I'm not entirely sure about doing the year abroad, as I see that being more academically beneficial than vocationally beneficial. I'd check with people who have done the year abroad though, and with people who are working in the sector you want to go into. If the course involves doing a year in industry, then it makes sense to me.
Reply 3
Original post by Amistr
Congratulations on your offers! I'd probably say uni A will allow you to more likely get on an econ masters course but some people do econ masters without taking econ at all. It depends what uni you want to do a masters at for example Birmingham's standard entry requirements for econ masters is:

"A 2:1 bachelor’s Honours degree (or overseas equivalent) in Economics or a related discipline. You are expected to have received a good training in economics, to at least intermediate level, and to have taken at a minimum: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics or Statistics, and Mathematics or a Quantitative module at bachelor’s level."

But honestly, there are plenty of masters similar to straight economics so I wouldn't worry too much and Bham uni even say that

"For students interested in this programme but who do not meet the academic subject requirements above, we offer a two-year Masters degree with Integrated Pre-Masters. Students with a 2:1 bachelor’s Honours degree in an unrelated subject area with some mathematical content will be eligible for consideration"

I would go for uni you are going to enjoy the most as they are in similar rankings and areas so doesn't matter too much. It looks like you are already leaning towards Uni B but don't rush your choice there is still plenty of time to decide. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply!

yea, I'm slightly leaning towards B as uni A is in Scotland... and I'm not built for the cold lol... but not letting that influence my decision.

On the flip side, I'm also considering the idea of an earth sciences related Master's or profession, which is why I chose Geog. Do you reckon I might stand a chance applying to some form of Geophysical Engineering, Geology, or similar field if I chose appropriate optional modules? I'm hoping the economics side of things would lend itself favourably as it is math-based, so kinda relevant?

Thanks again for the help, it's all rather exciting lol, aiming to try and relocate to Australia after graduation if I can, so trying to get a wide yet in-demand skillset to make this somewhat easier to do!
Reply 4
Original post by MindMax2000
You should be able to go on to do a master's with either course. Most masters for Economics, to my knowledge, requires you to have a certain grade and that your undergrade contains at least 50% economics. I'd recommend checking with the uni that you want to do your masters at first though.

I'm not entirely sure about doing the year abroad, as I see that being more academically beneficial than vocationally beneficial. I'd check with people who have done the year abroad though, and with people who are working in the sector you want to go into. If the course involves doing a year in industry, then it makes sense to me.

Thanks for the reply!

My main reason for doing a year abroad is that I want to move to Australia, so having a year there would help me decide if it's for me or not, and if it is, it will (hopefully) look great when trying to get employed. I'll take a look around at different master's courses, and see what they generally require, but am I right in thinking that conversion courses are a thing? so if worst comes to worst and I need a masters there's always that option!

Thanks again :smile:

Ethan
Reply 5
Original post by esimm003
Thanks for the reply!

yea, I'm slightly leaning towards B as uni A is in Scotland... and I'm not built for the cold lol... but not letting that influence my decision.

On the flip side, I'm also considering the idea of an earth sciences related Master's or profession, which is why I chose Geog. Do you reckon I might stand a chance applying to some form of Geophysical Engineering, Geology, or similar field if I chose appropriate optional modules? I'm hoping the economics side of things would lend itself favourably as it is math-based, so kinda relevant?

Thanks again for the help, it's all rather exciting lol, aiming to try and relocate to Australia after graduation if I can, so trying to get a wide yet in-demand skillset to make this somewhat easier to do!

Ahahah I didn’t apply to any in Scotland I’m not built for that weather either😂🥴.

I would say that those masters you have just listed are quite specialised so you would probably require more geography/ science whereas you could probably do an economics master without too much econ background (you might want to check this tho - I only do econ)
Like you say economics does include maths but you can always tailor your undergraduate to favour whatever masters you would like to do with either uni a or b.

Wow Australia would be amazing! Both geography and economics are very versatile so you will definitely be ‘in demand’ but I would say if you’re thinking of doing a more sciencey/geography masters then course B might be better?
I think you should look around what the entry requirements are like for these courses and hopefully that helps.
Best of luck,
Ash
Original post by esimm003
Thanks for the reply!

yea, I'm slightly leaning towards B as uni A is in Scotland... and I'm not built for the cold lol... but not letting that influence my decision.

On the flip side, I'm also considering the idea of an earth sciences related Master's or profession, which is why I chose Geog. Do you reckon I might stand a chance applying to some form of Geophysical Engineering, Geology, or similar field if I chose appropriate optional modules? I'm hoping the economics side of things would lend itself favourably as it is math-based, so kinda relevant?

Thanks again for the help, it's all rather exciting lol, aiming to try and relocate to Australia after graduation if I can, so trying to get a wide yet in-demand skillset to make this somewhat easier to do!

I'd be careful about going into geophysical engineering, geology, etc. with a degree in geography and economics. For one, earth science related professions tend to require you to have done a physics related degree as opposed to a geography related degree. I'm not entirely sure if you decide to specialise in a physical geography degree, but even then you might have issues.
The level of maths in an economics degree is very low. In fact, you wouldn't be able to go into engineering with an economics degree. If you decide to go into social sciences, then the level of maths in an economics degree may suffice, but I'd be careful even then. I hear than the economics degrees at LSE are more quantitiative, so you might be able to get away with some things is there's a lot of maths involved.

I'd check with the universities offering the appropriate masters to be sure.

Original post by esimm003
Thanks for the reply!

My main reason for doing a year abroad is that I want to move to Australia, so having a year there would help me decide if it's for me or not, and if it is, it will (hopefully) look great when trying to get employed. I'll take a look around at different master's courses, and see what they generally require, but am I right in thinking that conversion courses are a thing? so if worst comes to worst and I need a masters there's always that option!

Thanks again :smile:

Ethan

That's cool. I hear that it's kind of difficult to get jobs without going into catering, mining, or tourism. It's expensive, but it's a nice place.

I'm not entirely sure about conversion courses in Australia, but if they are like anything in the UK, then you are not likely going to be able to do a conversion course from geography and economics to geophysical engineering or geology. i.e. you're more likely to require to do another bachelor's (it's stupid, but yeah). The conversion courses tend to be for people who are in the same discipline and already have the necessary skills from their undergrad but don't necessarily have the specific knowledge related to the subject they want to go into e.g. you can do a law conversion course from anything because there's no real prerequisite skills, but if you want to do a conversion course to specialise in geophysics, then you should have done either an engineering or physics degree beforehand. You sometimes can get a conversion course that allows you to switch subjects from anything before e.g. KCL's PGDip in Maths, but they're rare and unlikely. I'd check to be sure.

Quick Reply

Latest