Economics Courses at University - Application Advice

[Townline]

Would love some advice from those who have been down this road already. DD is my first to go to University and I/her father am not from UK and have limited knowledge of UK Universities.

DD is in Yr13 and has predicted grades of A star (Maths), A star (Economics) , A (History) and is hoping to get the history grade up to A star early this term. She also has an EPQ but has not yet had her final grade.

She wants to apply for Economics at Durham, Bath & Exeter. She has visited all three and really liked them in different ways. However she is really stuck for her last 2 options. She is not hugely keen on Bristol and would consider both city and campus. Would be great to hear what other universities your DC considered or any ideas of some to look at?

She is very aware that even if she gets her predicted grades up to 3 X A star, that there is no guarantee of an offer from Durham & Bath as they are extremely competitive but thinks that Exeter might be more achievable. If her predicted grades end up being 2 X A stars + 1 X A, would you advise against applying for Durham & Bath?

Durham, Bath (to cover AAA) but may only get one out of the two for offers due to comptetion/pot luck! In getting offers, Exeter to cover A*AA) and then I’d choose a AAA Econ course like Newcastle or Manchester … and you either want to go for another top level one (eg Warwick) if feeling confident or maybe a back up to Econ (so related) but AAB to cover off not doing so well in the real exams!

Out of interest, why isnt she applying to LSE?

Nottingham at A*AA

Sheffield as insurance on AAB or Leeds at AAA?

Nottingham at A*AA

Sheffield as insurance on AAB or Leeds at AAA?

York? Similar vibe to Ex and Bath.

My DC did Economics and econometrics at Nottingham with triple A* at A level which was in excess of the offer AAB. was advised to not do “just economics” as it’s a bit vanilla. But think about the add on subject too. (Off the top of my head, public finance or European studies but there are loads of options). Nottingham were also great at supporting students to get internships with blue chip companies.

back up option was Warwick .

Economics degrees are really maths heavy, is there a reason she isn't taking Further Maths A level as she will be up against candidate with 4 x A star predictions.

Thank you for your fast responses.

@leftandaright Will add Newcastle and Manchester to the list. I've got a few friends who went to Newcastle and I know they really enjoyed it. I can't gauge whether DD would prefer either of these Universities/cities so will have to do as much research as possible as there are a limited no. of trips we can take! Thanks for a good description of how to approach the last choices. She hasn't been too enthusiastic about Warwick, despite its amazing reputation. She felt it wouldn't quite give the wider university experience she was hoping for. She loves architecture/is very much influenced by her surroundings so is taking that into account also.

@Perplexed20 a couple of reasons. She thinks that Durham & Bath will be her aspirational choices (unsure whether to add one more aspirational, will likely depend on getting the 3rd grade to Astar). Also she has grown up in London and is currently planning on coming back after university so we have tried to encourage her to have another experience. We think it could really benefit her in a number of ways. She also feels that you need further maths for LSE. Her school offers it but she didn't feel strong enough to take it as a 4th A Level and wanted to do EPQ. She has regretted that a bit but I think she made the right decision.

@Donotgogentle will also consider Nottingham, Sheffield & Leeds. DD mentioned that Nottingham ranks well for economics but neither of us have ever been or I think have even met anyone from Nottingham, so definitely need to try to do some online research to get a feel for it. Same for Sheffield. School have encouraged her to put Exeter as her insurance but I was wondering if she should have a course with slightly lower grades incase something goes wrong on the day.

@titchy Thanks so much. Thats exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. If York has a similar vibe to those she has already liked, thats a really good steer.

DS’s school advised an insurance choice should allow you to drop one grade from your predicted grades in two of the subjects.

This year Exeter offered to drop a grade if you attended the open day for offers for some courses and were also "flexible" for many courses on A level results day hence why your school considers it a good insurance.

Fair enough. Sounds like a good reason.

You've never met anyone from Nottingham OP?! How does that happen lol! I moved here 20 years ago from London, and it does get some bad press, unreasonably so, but is a fab university city with two lively universities, great music and sports venues and nightlife. Shopping centre isn't what it used to be, and like very city it has some grim areas but it really is a great student city. Also very easy to get to London,.2 hours by car to N London or 2 hours to St Pancras.

@Donotgogentle that’s really helpful about the advice for dropped grades.

@tennissquare thanks for the info. That’s really useful. I hadn’t heard that before. I’ll have to try and find out if there was any flexibility for economics on offer day. I think DDs school also likes it as I believe they can make a reduced offer for EPQ

@Townline , it's year by year so you can't say what will happen next year but schools know Exeter have a pattern of flexibility for some courses.

Insurance choice needs to be a back up lower offer. Quite surprised school haven't said this to everyone.

Has she considered Economics and Politics degrees if Economics feels to Mathsy?

She could consider Oxford for Economics and Management or PPE. Very good on architecture and similar type to ones she likes. Cambridge normally has Further Maths.

Bath my DD got an offer with 3 A star predictions. Also offers from Bristol and Oxford. She applied in stages. Oxford has admissions test and early application.

I know the standard recommended UCAS strategy is for two aspirational choices, two achievable ones and a safety, but your daughter's predicted grades are strong and Economics is an area where graduate outcomes differ substantially between the very top departments and merely good ones.

For example average earnings for a Warwick Econ graduate are 50% more than a Manchester one 5 years after graduation (visit discoveruni.gov.uk for stats).

To Durham, Bath and Exeter I'd add Warwick and Oxford (E&M), if she wants to get out of London. Both applications will require a little extra effort (TMUA exam for Warwick, TSA exam and interview for Oxford).

If she fails to get any offers, there's always UCAS Extra or Clearing. Nottingham is a great option that has been available through clearing consistently for the last 5 years.

Newcastle is much lower on the rankings generally than these other universities. I know you say you have friends who enjoyed it there, but if her grades are as good as her predictions she should be attending one of the top universities.

Someone else asked why not LSE but also I'd suggest looking at / considering applying to UCL and Kings, London

If your DD 's choice is affected by architecture she will loathe the 1960's brutalist architecture of York.

Durham is surprisingly, Economics wise, easy to get an offer for - for those with top grades. The subject is notorious on the whole for rejections of extremely able students but Durham is not in the cluster of unis that seem to reject quite so much.

DS's friend just finished Warwick Economics with maths, economics and politics A levels all at A star. No FM. He got rejected by, for example, Leeds. So Warwick is definitely a fighting chance and is excellent for the subject. I can't recall where else he applied other than Cambridge ( rejected after interview ) and York ( offer), Leeds ( rejected). I think the other rejection was KCL.

Reread my own post. To be clear, it's foolhardy to regard Leeds as a back up!

With Economics, you have to have a go and see what you get - it’s so popular at the moment.

Really top places like LSE, Oxbridge, possibly Warwick - I think unlikely without FM. Check if there are entrance test requirements. It’s all going to be Maths heavy. And to be honest, if a candidate didn’t choose FM when a school offered it, it isn’t a good sign.
Some unis require the school to state if they offered FM when a candidate doesn’t have it. They will consider an applicant who doesn’t have it as their school doesn’t offer it, but not one who could have done it and chose not to.

Obv those predicted grades are excellent, but the difficulty is so many apply for Econ with top grades and many have 4 A stars inc FM. That said, I think that as long as you have some places like Exeter or Nottingham in the 5 you can risk Durham (is a test needed) and Bath - but I know loads get rejected from Bath.

Warwick is fine without FM.

Oxford most don’t have FM, Cambridge almost all do. LSE is a very maths heavy course so would not go for if not wanting that, also TMUA now. My DD did not have FM and had 3 out of 4 offer with 3 A star and now at Oxford and finding maths fine. It’s worth looking at course content as some courses have a lot more history, politics, development economics, sociology and some are similar to maths degrees. Sounds like she wants the former. Joint degrees can be worth considering too. Oxford doesn’t really count fourth A level so that will have no impact on chances, well only if 2 candidates are exactly equal. Admission test is very important though.

I realised that I missed a couple of replies after my first post last night

@Pearl69 that sounds like a fantastic course at Nottingham which seems to be highly respected for economics. It seems that they really value students doing 4 full a levels and provide a reduced offer. I suspect they are very keen on students who have further maths. I will definitely get DD to have a look.

@tennissquare apologies, I missed your response asking why she isn't doing further maths. She is acutely aware that the top candidates for economics will have 4 X A* including further maths. She is really enjoying and doing well at A Level maths so she is trying to figure out those 'in between' economics courses which aren't majorly maths (with the top candidates) but still have a significant maths element. She has floated the possibility, that if she enjoys the maths element of her course of doing a more maths based masters. But ofcourse she might find the maths in her degree course 'enough'. I have encouraged her to consider which elements of A Level maths she particularly enjoys as I realise that they may not be the topics which are explored in more detail for economics at university.

@Mapletreelane thank you so much for the Nottingham info. Its greatly appreciated. I suspect that a visit there is in my near future.

@Denim4ever she did consider other options but is really enjoying A Level maths to ideally would like to find a course with maths which she could achieve. Its a delicate balance if you don't have further maths.