Economics Undergraduate

Open Day

Ian WalkerProfessor of Economics

Slides available at: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/iwalker

Welcome to Warwick• This meeting is for students thinking about

applying for Economics here– Parents, partners, teachers, etc.

• To tell you about Economics at Warwick – So you know what to expect

• Chance to see if we might be a good match• NOT a hard sell

– We only want students who will do well here

• Not sure about studying economics?– See WhyStudyEconomics?

Timetable• 50-minute talk

– Note any queries you might have• Check out links, chat later, or email me

• If you like what you see and hear today– Apply to us

• If you get an offer, we’ll invite you back– Sometime Jan-May 2009

• Another talk, chat to students and staff, tour …

• And come to our Economics Summit – Usually every February

My 50 mins• Finance/Accommodation/Campus life• Something about the programme

– Why its distinctive

• Something about our reputation– Research and teaching

• Something about what our students go on to do– careers

• Offers

Accommodation• Campus room for all 1st years

– £70 - £115 pw• All have free broadband / wi-fi• Price depends on facilities and cleaning

• All self-catered– Campus supermarket, Tesco’s nearby– Lots of campus dining options

• Post 1st year– Warwick leased or private sector house

Finances• Warwick’s current fees are £3145 p.a.

– Min living expenses £100+pw including rent

• AimHigher for info about loans etc.• WUAP scholarships £1800 / £1100 p.a

– for “home” full-time students (i.e. pay full fees)• if family gross incomes < £36k pa / £39k• Plus £2k p.a. if on IS, JSA, HB, CTB

• Disabled?– DSA and practical help

• Money is not a reason not to come

Campus life• Student Union

– Scheduled for renovation

• Sport, Health, Security, Arts Centre• Library and Learning Grid

– Fully renovated

• Careers Service• Economics is world class department

– So its a multicultural environment• >60% of Economics staff not UK born• >30% of undergrad students not from UK

Economics at Warwick • Warwick is top-5 in UK by every metric

– Times (4), Guardian (3), Good University (4)– QAA teaching quality top marks (24/24) - BUT

• RAE (official research rating) was 5*– Along with LSE, UCL and Essex

• 4th in EU’s Mapping of Excellence• 34th in world (by publications)

– Oxford (31st), Cambridge (39th)– Closer to Harvard (1st) than to Nottingham (80th)– But LSE (12th)

Why this matters for students• Our reputation leverages a lot of cash

– Cross-subsidises our teaching

• More resources for learning– Better library, computing facilities …..

• Staff– Better staff, More of them

• More favourable SSR, Better class tutors, etc

• Greater visibility in the job market– Warwick Economics is in the “magic circle”

• Get short-listed more often by best employers

Research led teaching• Warwick Economics is a research dept

– …… that also teaches

• We are researchers who lecture– …… we have no “teachers”

• But faculty are enthusiasts for learning– How well you learn depends on you!

• Warwick is for students who want to learn – If you want to be taught go to …….

• And if you don’t want to work at learning– Study ……..

Warwick BSc Econ programme• A professional training in economics

• A specialised programme– aims to make you think like an economist

• Flexibility is limited– Only a little each year that’s NOT economics

• no more than 25% of load can be non-economic

– E.g. finance, maths, a language, or …..

• Not sure that you want to specialise?– Go to ….

Warwick BSc Econ programme• This is an intensive 3 year programme

– We don’t do sandwiches

• If you want a year in “industry”– Go to ………

• We do provide an excellent springboard for careers – especially in finance areas– More on careers later

• And we do offer the possibility of a year of study abroad– “Erasmus” and US

Study abroad• Between years 2 and 3 (so 4 years)

– Only at the BEST institutions– EU

• Amsterdam , Carlos III , Munich, Sorbonne, Pompeu Fabra

– USA• California

• Reserved for our “good” students– Complements regular Warwick studies– Some help with fees and expenses

• Check out Erasmus

Course delivery• Lectured by permanent full-time faculty

– We have no “temps”, no “PT”s, no “TF”s– We are ALL heavily in engaged in research at

all levels

• Supporting classes by PhD students– Top researchers = best research students– We train them to provide support– We pay them well for a few hours of work

• Excellent administrative support– Helps faculty to help you

Teaching• We teach from first principles

– A-level Economics is NOT required

• No prior knowledge is assumed– But if you think that you have done it before

• You probably haven’t understood what we said

• But we will assume that you are clever– And not worried by a little maths

• So it moves very fast– You have to work very hard to keep up

• But we have (almost) no dropouts

The course structure• Year 1

– Micro, Macro, Quant Tech, Econ Hist + 1 Option• Industrial Econ, Math Econ, Language, WBS …..

• Year 2– Micro, Macro, Econometrics + 1 Option

• Industrial, Public, …, Language, WBS …..

• Year 3– No rocket science– Research Project + 3 options

• Labour, Econometrics, Development,…. Language, WBS…..

Year 3 research project• Really important part of our programme• Seriously difficult

– Its your idea• Consolidates previous training• Develops generic skills• Bridge into world of work

– We provide a lot of expensive support• We get some weird ideas

– And some great projects• Best projects presented in Washington DC• Some published in Reinvention

– Some fine tuned as MSc dissertations

Warwick’s other programmes

• We have a number of other degrees– Industrial Economics– Economics and Economic History– PPE– EPIS– Maths and Economics– MORSE

• These have more complicated structures– See the Handbook on our website

Time use• Our courses (really) are full-time

– Contact time will be about 15 hrs per week

• The course moves fast– You’ll need to work hard to keep up

• The “return” to doing well is very high– Most of our students become very successful

• We advise against a heavy (paid) workload– A few hours a week is fine (possibly beneficial)

• If you need more money than this ….– Borrow!

Difficult?• Yes

– technically demanding, analytical approach• Other places fudge this – we don’t

– But our drop-out rate is tiny

• On the other hand– A small amount of maths goes a long way

• Basic algebra, calculus, a little stats …– We teach all this from first principles– You will get many examples to work with to test your

understanding

• important that you don’t have a maths phobia

Other training opportunities• Warwick Skills Certificate

– Can be incorporated for credit– Or just dip into it for career enhancement

• “Recipes for success”• Study skills advisors• E-Learning for skills development• Language Centre

– Academic or “leisure” courses

“Pastoral” support• University has a range of support facilities

focussed on UCS• Economics Department

– Every student has a Personal Tutor• See minimum 3 times a year

– Writes your references, advises/helps with your career planning, holds your hands

• Bails you out of jail• Brings you flowers in hospital

– Smacks your wrists ……..

• And we have (almost) no drop-outs

Quality assurance• SSLC

– Student led and organised

• Programmes are overseen by “externals”– Assure standards, suggest improvements– Criticise content and assessment procedures

• University has its own review processes– Assures existing courses meet targets

• “HEFCE” also has QAA procedure

• But we know we produce quality ………

A few exemplars• Gus O’Donnell

– Class of ‘73– MPhil Nuffield, Oxford ‘75

• Economist at HMT 1985+

• HMT’s “Humphrey”, 2002

• Cabinet Secretary 2005– Head of Civil Service, KCB– Salary ~£280k

• Referred to in No. 10 as GOD

A few exemplars• Katie Hobbs

– BSc Ind Econ, 1st, 2004– Goldman Sachs

• Equity markets team

• Ali Browning– BSc EPIS, 2.1, 2006– Goldman Sachs

• Investment analyst

A few exemplars

• Jeremy Franklin– BSc Econ, 1st, 2006– Home Office, Economist

• Working on crime and immigrants

• Leena Sukhram– BSc Econ, 2.1, 2005; MSc 2006– DWP Economist

• Working on child support reform

A few exemplars

• Meera Shah– BSc EPIS, 2.1, 2006

• Erasmus year at the Sorbonne

– Management trainee at Shell

• Paolo Caruso– BSc Econ, 2.1, 2006– Research Assistant to an MP (no

relation)

What’s an economics degree worth?Estimates from the LFS 1993-2007

• About 40% (men) and 67% (women) extra for 40 years– £400k (men)– £500k (women)

• These are national averages– Warwick students

much better than average

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Source: Walker and Zhu, ScanJE 2008

How do you get in?• We are overwhelmed with applicants

– conditional offers only to students expected to get straight A’s

• Standard L100 (plain vanilla BSc Econ course) offer is– AAB at A2 (incl Maths) plus a B at A/S level– Or IB 38 points

• Our other courses are a bit less demanding– HINT: if you want to come and don’t have

Maths A-level, apply for BSc Industrial Economics

We don’t do strategy• We don’t discriminate in favour of non-EUs

– We have lots of non-UK students• Everyone here, is here on their merits• Our admission mechanism is “needs blind”

• But if you don’t achieve the offer– you are very unlikely to get in.

• Sorry• We don’t negotiate and never use “Clearing”

– we are (a bit) flexible only with IB students• We are usually happy to “defer” entry• And if you change you mind

– and decide to go elsewhere - we won’t mind

Apply to Warwick Economics if….• Your referee will say that you’re a you’re a

straight A’s student• You’re sure you want to specialise in

Economics• You want a professional, vocational training• You want a fast pace• You are prepared to be challenged

– Work things out for yourself– Seek help when you’re stuck

• You want to be very successful

If not Warwick, where else?• We are similar to UCL and LSE

– but have some advantages over them

• And similar to Soton, Bristol, Notts– but quite different from Durham, Bath,

Manchester, Glasgow, Exeter, Sheffield,…..

• Good places you might not have considered– Leicester, Edinburgh, Essex

• Our training is probably more reliable than Oxford and Cambridge– But perhaps they have other advantages???

Somewhere else?• Warwick is pretty good at:

– Macro, Micro, Econometrics– Finance, Labour, Education, Development,

Industrial, Public Economics• But we don’t really do:

– Health (York, Bristol)– Environment (UEA, York)

• Want a good course, but won’t get 3 A’s?– Try Essex, Leicester, Edinburgh ….

• Don’t want a specialised course try:– Manchester, Bath……

Made up your mind?• If you haven’t been put off…..

– Apply to Warwick ….. – Get those A-grades– Get to know what economists do with

their time• Subscribe to The Economist (£166 for 3-yrs)• Read about what interests economists

– Steve Levitt’s “Freakonomics”– John Kay’s “The truth about markets”

• But if I have put you off ….– Good luck, wherever you go