Economic degrees - anywhere else good apart from Russell Group

[MyBoysHaveDogsNames]

Hi

My son is interested in doing Economics at uni. He is still actually doing his GCSEs, but thinking ahead is motivating him.

He would like a BA rather than a BSc route and is thinking of Economics, Geography and either Business Studies or English Literature A Levels.

I have looked at courses on theuniguide and on the Russell Group list and there are lots of good options.

Has anyone else had any good experience of somewhere non-Russell Group? I didn't go to uni myself until I was old! So I haven't got much of a sense of how universities are perceived if they are not RG.

Thank you for any help.

My daughter has just graduated from Nottingham in Economics. Her second choice was Loughborough. I agree with previous posters, she did find her maths A level really helped with a lot of her Economics modules.

I did Economics at Edinburgh, it's an MA course there:

www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees/index.php?action=view&code=L100

My DS is 2nd year in Nottingham Trent doing Economics and Business Management and loves it there. He chose NTU over Loughborough as he thought the course and uni was much better. He did A level maths, economics and psychology

Bath is great for Economics, and there are also Economics modules on other courses, such as BSc Business.

This is really good food for thought. Thank you so much.

I'll have a look at all of these.

DD1 did Economics at Royal Holloway, which has a good reputation.

@Aquicknamechange2019

I did Economics at Edinburgh, it's an MA course there:

www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees/index.php?action=view&code=L100

A MA in Scotland is the same as a BA anywhere else (plus Edinburgh is Russell group).

I say that as an Edinburgh grad, and mother of an Edinburgh undergrad in Economics.

DD1 did a joint honours at Royal Holloway in Politics & International Relations, and Economics. Her main subject going in was PIR (and that was where her advisor was). She thought she was going for a BA.

At graduation, she was part of the Economics cohort and was awarded a BSc. Not sure where things changed, lol, possibly her Maths Alevel.

At RHUL, there is a Maths/non-Maths stream for Economics. It’s also common to do a joint honours with the Business school, and other schools. This means that they are sensitive to students’ priorities towards their other departments.

The ONS studied grad outcomes and whether they did better at RG or not. RG wins for grad salaries. RG is research led. However Bath, Lancaster and Loughborough as non RG buck the trend of course.

Economics without maths A level is often said to be the reason economics undergrads drop out.

A lot of students are badly advised in their secondary schools so may not do maths A-level.

If they really want to pursue economics at degree level, they need a course where they will be taught the essential maths they missed.

Obviously they need to have 8/9 at GCSE.

The op said DS was possible 7 at gcse I think.

@CraftyGin you're right but I do think that extra year in your chosen subject if you do an MA (Hons) makes a difference compared to the three year degree in England.

It makes no difference to employment prospects at all. If it did, the Scottish universities would be the most popular for Economics but they are not. Most people are aware that the first year can be more gentle in Scotland. High flying candidates are not necessarily beating a path to Scotland for undergrad. Instead they prefer an MA which is a post grad degree. Not a standard undergrad degree with the same title.

I pointed out it was an MA degree rather than BA purely because you won't find a "BA Economics" at Edinburgh... I'm well aware it's an undergraduate degree having done it myself!

What is worth saying, is that the ONS looked at RG university outcomes in respect of salaries and actually highlighted economics. The starting salaries were over double at the top end of the RG universities as opposed to the lowest ranking non RG universities. So university matters for this subject. Finding a job in a major city also improved earning potential, especially London.

It might be better to do geography somewhere better than he could get in for economics. My son did economics, geography and history A levels (and AS Music) and read geography BSc at Bristol and loved it. He loved economics A level but despite a fairly high GCSE maths grade did not want to risk maths A level and wanted a fairly well regarded university (Russel G was not the issue - he just wanted a top 10 one ideally)

My concern for the boy here is why do economics at somewhere not too good because you aren't doing maths A level and usually need lots of maths at university when he could do something like geography at a better university? (My son is now doing post grad law by the way).

On the choices don't do business studies for A level. Do Economics, Geography and English Lit of his possibilities.

DD in first year of an economics degree in Edinburgh. She forced herself to do AH maths despite not being a natural mathematician (other subjects were Economics and English Literature at A Level equivalent and Business Studies at AS level equivalent). Glad she did because although the Scottish unis teach the maths you need it is quite pacy so you'd need to be comfortable in your maths ability/willing to work at it. Some courses seemed less mathematical than others - Heriot Watt springs to mind plus employment from HW looked impressive when I sat thru the open day talk. Would doing at least AS maths be a possibility? I think 2 years with no maths then into an economics degree could be a bit of a shock. DDs friend has had a one year gap and is still finding it hard going and this is Edinburgh not one of the big name courses beloved of mumsnet (which I imagine would be much harder).

DD has found the more maths she does the better she gets.

Lots of grads get jobs but the higher salaries don’t go to grads from lower ranked universities for economics. No doubt there are exceptions. There always are.

I would worry about not doing maths too. It narrows choices down. Herriot Watt isn’t the same as Edinburgh is it?

No Heriot Watt isn't Edinburgh uni but it is in Edinburgh and imo a good option for economics someone without a maths A level. Decent student satisfaction too. Stathclyde good too

Would he consider a degree apprenticeship? No student debt but earn at the same time as learning and often from a prestigious university like Exeter.

There has been a lot in the news about these apprenticeships drying up. Without maths, are the top employers going to give dc an apprenticeship? They are hugely competitive to get onto. Exeter asks for a B minimum in maths A level.

I did economics in my first year of university without maths A level and really struggled. It wasn’t my main subject and I dropped it as soon as I could.

My stepson is doing economics at St Andrews and loving it. My friend’s son has just started economics at Loughborough. He’s not even remotely got a sporty background.

Do they have maths A level?

@Guymere

What is worth saying, is that the ONS looked at RG university outcomes in respect of salaries and actually highlighted economics. The starting salaries were over double at the top end of the RG universities as opposed to the lowest ranking non RG universities. So university matters for this subject. Finding a job in a major city also improved earning potential, especially London.

@Guymere Are you able to link to this please. I’ve been searching but can’t find it. Huge thanks!

I’m really sorry! It was the IFS. See attached screen shot. It’s a very long report. I remember the headlines were comparing an economics grad from Wolverhampton with one from LSE regarding earnings. The report found, overall, RG grads did better. They also had higher prior attainment. If you want some bedside reading, go for it.

(I’m naff at links but you should find it ok)