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Stuck in the loop

Heyy, I'm in yr 12 rn and I wanna apply to cambridge and lse for econ. I've been in a rut, I've gotten lazy for the past 2 yrs and I'm actively wasting my potential. Esp this year I did kinda get out of it but didn't stick to it. And I'm not doing anything that'd help me or anything useful. My academics are down,I haven't done any supercurriculars tho ik wat all I've to do. I wanna use this weekend to reset and esp stick to it and be consistent. I'm genuinely so scared but I'm not all the time so I keep going back to the loop.

Reply 1

This is was me last year. I just got my Cambridge interview this year for Land Economy yesterday. What helped me break out of the loop which, I must add, may not necessarily work for you, is actually visiting the universities I wanted to go to. Making it real, being able to physically touch brick and stone of the universities jump-started me. It made me realise that if I wanted them, I would have to get out of my loop of self pity and anxiety. If you have/worry that you have a mental disorder affecting you PLEASE start sorting that out now via therapy, talking, whatever. It will only compound later.

What's more, I beg you, do NOT get hung up on supercurriculars. For this year, start very small. Search up a random economics topic right now and read one article on it (even the Wikipedia page counts). Take one aspect of it that you found interesting and research deeper into that. A few days later, watch a youtube video/university talk about it. Boom. That may be one paragraph of your personal statement done in a week. With supercurricular activities, just sign up for stuff you like in sixth form and relate them back to economics later. Like sports? Play some sport all year and then find out about the economics of massive sporting leagues. Can their popularity be explain by any economic theory? Learn about that theory and so on and so on.

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
This is was me last year. I just got my Cambridge interview this year for Land Economy yesterday. What helped me break out of the loop which, I must add, may not necessarily work for you, is actually visiting the universities I wanted to go to. Making it real, being able to physically touch brick and stone of the universities jump-started me. It made me realise that if I wanted them, I would have to get out of my loop of self pity and anxiety. If you have/worry that you have a mental disorder affecting you PLEASE start sorting that out now via therapy, talking, whatever. It will only compound later.
What's more, I beg you, do NOT get hung up on supercurriculars. For this year, start very small. Search up a random economics topic right now and read one article on it (even the Wikipedia page counts). Take one aspect of it that you found interesting and research deeper into that. A few days later, watch a youtube video/university talk about it. Boom. That may be one paragraph of your personal statement done in a week. With supercurricular activities, just sign up for stuff you like in sixth form and relate them back to economics later. Like sports? Play some sport all year and then find out about the economics of massive sporting leagues. Can their popularity be explain by any economic theory? Learn about that theory and so on and so on.


Thanks. Could you recommend supercurriculars or books or any other PS tips or anything from your experience that may be useful to me? And congrats!! Good luck with the interview!

Reply 3

I started with the Rough Guide to Economics, which introduced me to a lot of economics topics very quickly. You could also have a look at LSE blogs. It made additional research easier. I also recommend keeping tabs on financial news. The recent Rachel Reeves budget is great, because you can find out which economic theories influenced it, what its potential impacts could be, what alternatives to the budget could have been etc. For your PS, look a lot online. LSE are very particular about their personal statements and there is plenty of advise. Coursera courses are good for looking for maths courses. Look at university first/second year class option lists and research the topics you find interesting there, specifically about maths.

Good luck!

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