Land economy degree from Cambridge

[Ashley1978]

Hi Mums,

My son is interested in studying economics and he came across Land Economy undergraduate degree from Cambridge.

In A levels he is doing Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Geography. He loves geography and economics and not so keen on getting into an economics degree which is heavy on maths.

Anyone has any idea/experience of this course? Is it good from jobs perspectives?

No direct experience of this course specifically but if it is a course accredited by RICS, which I presume it is, I would think that his options for going into a career in Surveying would be great. Is he interested in Rural Surveying? It can be a very interesting and rewarding career with lots of options for 'tweaking' it to suit him. Good career structure and pay too. Take a look at the RICS website for careers advice and job profiles. Good luck to your son!

There was a thread on this before which might be useful to read. Historically, 30 years or so back, it had a dubious reputation for taking public school boys who rowed all the time and did little study but nowadays has a very good reputation and excellent for employment.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4898434-land-economy-cambridge-any-experience

LE is very well regarded. Another option would be to apply for Geography and just take Legal / Political / Economic Geography modules?

It used to have a reputation for being a degree full of rowers at Cambridge.

It might be worth checking the Economics degree as well, in my day you could choose options which had minimal maths and I did it fine without maths or FM A levels though most people had Maths and FM. But don't know if you can still do that, looks very similar in options. My DD went for Economics and Mgmt at Oxford which is less maths based, also PPE and economics and history there. Depends what he wants to do after.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/economics-ba-hons

Yep, definitely had the reputation of being a rower's degree in my day. That probably isn't fair any more but it's hard to shift those old stereotypes.

I see it as a mix of geography, law and economics?

I looked at Land Economy, many years ago, but chose Geog in the end. LE will appeal to someone interested in human geog and the policy aspects of Econ (rather than stats & modelling).

Yes, I was made aware of the so called LE reputation at the time, but I ignored that and it did not feature in my decision-making. Those LE grads I know in later life are now in senior positions in land agents or more general property businesses. Yes, most were men who went to private schools (but that was true of many courses/unis at that time, not just LE). The impression I have is that more LE grads of that generation seem to have been drawn from rural backgrounds, so the outdoor life, sports etc featured heavily.

I think LE is probably a very different experience now. It might be more female biased, definitely more international and with a focus on international development. I would imagine specific routes from LE these days would lead to policy making in relation to economic and urban development but, for most, it would simply be a general degree opening up opportunities in professional services (inc chartered surveying). The law component is obviously no substitute for a full blown LLB but would giving an interesting insight into whether law was an area of interest post uni.

Your DS is definitely doing a suitable A level combo for LE as Uniguide shows Maths, Econ and Geog are the most common combo (with Astars in each subject).

I always presumed rightly or wrongly that anyone taking a degree like this has a history of farming etc within their family so it relates to a family business etc

It was designed for agents of estates.

If you want to do law at Cambridge but doubt if you'll get in, it's a good way to get there. You'd have to follow it with a law conversion degree.

It's nothing whatsoever to do with farming or estate management. Not these days! It's a combo of Economics, Policy and Law and has a very high proportion of applicants from overseas (notably India).

It's also as competitive as Law re-admissions. But not as competitive as Economics or HSPS.

It is really quite well regarded and competitive these days. The last two years has had over 600 applications for around 90 places.

DS graduated last year with a degree in Land Ec from Cambridge. He describes it as Economics, Environment and Law but it is a flexible course that you can take in different directions. DS is particularly interested in sustainability and finance and he really enjoyed the course.

DS has A star A star A star at A Level in Maths, Economics and Politics (he found the latter really useful in the first year Law modules). He did banking internships each summer and secured a prestigious grad banking position at the start of his third year which he started in September.

A friend of mine did LE around the millennium. He did not fit the stereotype - he was hardworking, motivated, personable. He did a internship and then graduate traineeship at one of the Big 4 accountancy firms and is now CEO of a household brand name (having been its FD).

I did that degree in the old days and get a lot of jokes about it from my mathmo cambridge DH. I outearn him now (although he is a high earner as well)

I went into investment banking and then corporate finance. in the real estate sector Im now in senior management at a big a CRE firm.

Forget the old saying about Land Economy. It is now highly respected, has the highest employment rate of any course at Cambridge, and is even more competitive to get into than Economics. As per the Cambridge website, in 2023 there were 8 applicants for every place for Economics, and 9 applicants for every place for Land Economy.

Well, a friend of mine a few years ago was called in late in the summer vacation to do an urgent interview of a candidate for a masters in Land Economy at Cambridge. She was wondering what the fuss was, until she saw how tall he was.

When we watch the boat race with the kids, we go down the list of rowers and go - real degree, real degree, not a real degree, etc.

But yes, difficult to shift the old stereotypes. to be fair, Land Economy is as worthwhile as any other subject for the doors a Cambridge degree opens for you.

Yes sort of. It is best described as Economics, Law, Environment and Real Estate. Cambridge like their acronyms, so maybe they should have called it ELER. Students have suggested a name change as having "Land" in the title doesn't help indicate what it is.

Masters recruiting is v different to undergrad

I would disagree with this. You do come out of it knowing how to get more money out of a farm. Useful if you're going on to work with clients who own land in a legal capacity.