Optional dissertations (UG)

[eggsbenedict23]

If you're DC studied degrees where the dissertation was optional, did they chose to do it or not?

DS will be doing economics. Comparing the top choices, Cambridge a dissertation is mandatory. At LSE you have to "apply" to do a dissertation. Where at UCL and Warwick the dissertation is an optional module.

DS has looked at Nottingham where there is a mandatory dissertation.

bump

It used to be the case that any honours degree had to include a component of research or professional practice. I'm not sure when this was abandoned. Looking at details of Newcastle's economics BSc, the dissertation is optional: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/l100/ (scroll down and click on "Stage 3". This is just an example picked at random.

Where did you find the information that said the dissertation is an optional module at Warwick?

My DCs both chose to do an optional thesis because it knocked out their lowest other mark. That meant in modules which they were really weak at they could relax a bit and then work hard on a dissertation on a subject they loved.

I was at Cambridge in the nineties and didn't do one, I took an additional module. Still got an honours degree. There were more topics that I was interested in in my final year, and I'm a procrastinator and a great exam crammer, so it made sense. My director of studies said she wasn't surprised when I suggested it.

But (clang of name drop) my DoS was Mary Beard, so open to a bit of madness. And she knew me pretty well after 3 years of twice weekly meetings.

I don't know anyone else who did it though.

I am in STEM (RG) so the norms around UG dissertations may be different. I generally encourage reasonably strong students to do them, because if you go about it properly it can be interesting, teach new skills and raise your academic results. But I would not think that the status of the UG dissertation a deciding factor when choosing between degree programmes.

The bsc economics webpage. Where the final year just seemed to be "optional modules"

The core module, Research in Applied Economics, is basically a dissertation module

https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/economics/

My kids leeds, durham and Bath have to do them.