Economics - back-up choices inspiration!

[Kittycooo]

Hi - da predicted 3 As, wants to go to Bristol or Bath to study economics

we are trying to narrow down uni ideas for back-up , like AAB-ABB

any inspiring ideas ? Not campus, fun city ... thanks !

One of DD's friends flies up from Bristol to Newcastle. The airport has its own metro station so getting from the airport to student halls or to Jesmond where most students live after their first year is a doddle.

My DD also likes Bristol and Bath. Was going to put Nottingham as backup but really didn't like it at the Open day so are back to the drawing board. Thinking Leeds maybe

A friends dd has had a great first two years doing economics at Loughborough and has got a really good third year placement as well. Also know people enjoying Newcastle .

I live near Southampton, it is a nice enough place though obviously I'm not the target 18-21 age group. It has 2 unis these days, Southampton and Solent so has areas well set up for students.

Southampton is a campus uni...

How about Cardiff?

Loughborough doesn’t really fit the brief - they’ve gone up to AAA this year and are very much campus.

DS has a BBB offer for Economics at Strathclyde & it is very highly rated for Economics as well as being in the centre of a buzzing city. They receive a bursary too.

Thanks for all the responses

Cardiff and Southampton looking good - Cardiff is AAB-ABB

like the sound of all the options at Southampton - ds is really strategic thinker, been a chess champion and v strategic in his rugby career - what subject could he pair with economics for joint honours any suggestions welcome ! I’m a bit lacking in ideaso as did an arts degree myself

Politics of Business are the obvious ones. But, TBH, Economics is big enough in itself, especially from a uni such as Southampton that has oodles of modules.

On another thread someone suggested Birmingham's Politics, Policy and Economics degree. It looks great if you are looking for a joint Economics degree. Plus in a fun city.

If he is a good mathematician he may find that a more mathematical degree opens up more options. Maths in economics is about learning to handle and interpret data and has a lot of uses, for example marketing statistics or behavioural economics. Indeed academic economists were quick to start publishing data-based material on the pandemic.

There will be plenty studying economics who don't like maths, find statistics dry or prefer writing essays, so being able to handle the data opens different doors when it comes to looking for a job. Not to mention careers like accountancy or specialist bits of law (like insurance law or complex commercial law) which welcome applicants able to do the conceptional numerical stuff.

That said maths needs consistent application as you can't waffle the way you can in an essay subject.

I would suggest finding a large department which allows for plenty of options, including perhaps transferring into joint degrees. DS was not aware he was a good mathematician but enjoyed the maths elements of his university course so much that he ended up switching to graduate in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics. In contrast a friend of his reached their ceiling with Maths A level and struggled through the compulsory maths modules, so was much happier, and did much better (to the extent of rescuing a 2.1 when they looked headed for a 2,.2) by taking third year economic history and philosophy options.

Bristol will claim that their course is quite mathematical (though not as much as Cambridge, Warwick, UCL and LSE which have demanding maths content). Bath is a good option for generalists interested in management, especially if taking the year in industry.

Hi sandy. That was me!

Can I just mention re Bath it is one of the unis that can afford to be choosy. It kept most economics students waiting a long time this year and then rejected lots of them.

A lots of the less obviously selecting universities for economics (ie still very very good but not that ultra top want maths/FM and A*s of LSE, Warwick , Bath , also Durham ) are campus unis! (or very far away from the SW). York, Loughborough, Birmingham all campus. Manchester , Sheffield, Newcastle Scottish Unis very distant from you!

Cardiff is probably best shout. Rugby!

Do students care much about distance? I think this might be more a parent construct.

We live in Surrey and DD studied economics at Edinburgh. She loved it. It did not faze her to be on a train for 4.5 hours, and she loved seeking out £25 fares.

With any degree, the main thing is to find the right course. DD was happy at Edinburgh as she had a huge range of optional modules to choose from, potentially in any faculty.

She's now working as an economist in the civil service on a grad programme rotation that is econometrics heavy. She is well equipped for this.

He does yeah cos he wants to be able to come home for a weekend when he wants (mainly due to his love of surfing !)

Distance definitely does matter to a lot of people crafty. Surrey to Edinburgh is not such a tricky journey as the West Country to somewhere else might be. I think Covid brought home to a lot of people that being somewhat closer to home might be useful if there was ever a sudden emergency. I wet far away for uni but that was deliberate and I never did go home again and pretty much lost all contact with my old home, family, and friends. I still regret that.
Wen there is an excellent selection of unis within a couple of hours, there is no need to go further.

Just to say re Edinburgh that they seem to have put up their offers across a range of popular subjects this year (don't think they are the only ones). DD offered A star A star A for joint honours economics and politics, which was at least a grade up from their published guidance (state school applicant). Straight economics possibly slightly lower.

I agree with you @Piggywaspushed. One of the reasons that DD discounted Bristol was the horrible journey there and back. We were diverted into Wales both ways, then our train home ended at Birmingham because there was no crew to take us further. I was told that this was a frequent occurrence with Cross Country.

When covid happened I was glad that DD was only a 2 hour drive away.

What about Exeter? If he is doing an EPQ and gets an A or A he is likely to get a dropped grade offer. DS got offered AAB for an AAA course.

That should course say if he gets an A or an Astar

and AstarAA course

Cardiff and Southampton are Dd top two choices. I personally think Cardiff is an amazing city and although not campus there is a nice coherency to the Uni buildings, all quite easy to get to and based around the civic centre. Surfing opportunities would be better (might have to travel). Loads going on as befits a capital city, it has a nice buzz. Was it the Cardiff Rugby lads who were ensuring the young women got home safely after clubbing ?

Although Southampton has lots of places to eat /drink, clubs, shops etc it is quite a small city. The University itself is a bit if a way out (20mins bus) and accommodation is clustered around but not On Campus. You do get a bus pass to travel round in first year if staying in halls , Dd reckons will be happy with travelling/walking. Less attractive city it was quite heavily bombed in the war and regeneration was patchy. I think they have a surfing society too! It is a very friendly uni , I know it through work and the friendly campus ethos (and the fact that it closer to us) is why Dd chose it. Lots of sporty stuff going on. Not sure how popular Rugby is. Hampshire is great and Dorset not far either.

Halls much much cheaper in Cardiff BUT allocated on basis of application date and not a great chance to get top choices like at Southampton.

Is it just me or is grade inflation insane at some Universities. We are also looking at Economics and unless you qualify for free school meals or your parents didn't attend university you are looking at A's and A*s.

I would definitely recommend Southampton as a back up choice. I went there many years ago and had a fantastic time.

The halls were very dependent on where you went to school if you fitted in or not. Not sure if it is still the same?

Would love to have it as our back up choice but DS won't contemplate it as he goes to school there

I think it is a combination of the popularity of certain subjects plus smaller cohorts plus universities trying to get the 'best' students.

I think Glen Eyre Halls are known as 'posher' but I thought that was just because they were more expensive 🤔 haven't heard anything about schools etc. Hopefully they'll all rub along fine...something about Halls living forces that I think !

A lot of parents look for the most expensive halls as a way of making sure their child is in with a similar cohort. Glen Eyre catered, for sure, back in the day.

Self catered Glenn Eyre, however was looked down on.

This was many decades ago though.

To be fair the best parties were in Stoneham, the now condemned, asbestos riddled, high rise.

I'd definitely recommend Southampton.

Not sure you can really hinge choices on halls.

Mine have never received their first choice of halls (five different universities). A couple, they were allocated halls that were not even on their preference list.

Any well established university will have shiny new halls. These are the one they show you on open days. Then there are the well worn dreary ones, complete with mold around the shower that most students deal with.

I think this is one of these things that are more important to the parents than the student.

When #4 and I visited Southampton, we didn't bother with the Glen Eyre complex (I've seen them all before). We looked at lovely new halls right downtown near the shore. Looking at the website, it may have been Mayflower. #5 did a summer course at Southampton and stayed in Glen Eyre and she was happy enough for the week.

My DD got Russell Group with an ABB offer, from an independent school.