Economics degree?

Question

With an economics degree, does it give you writing skills which could be used in a journalism profession. Also does it give you the skills to be able to debate, ie. to be a MP? I am considering taking an economics degree, have you got links to sites with info on what you study in the course. also any info for history, politics and law? Thanks

Answer 1

Economics is a very challenging and stimulating degree. It is very much mathematics based so I believe you have got to be solid on algebra and manipulation. There is also robust and substantial critical analysis, and good normative considerations to consider also. I would suggest you select institutions you're interested in via the UCAS website (www.ucas.com) and ask for prospectuses, and go to open days to find out more about some of the essays you will have to write and the exams you will be responsible for answering.

Answer 2

No, economics is about financial trends. You can always take a few english or journalism courses as electives, but the only requirement is basic english. If you want debate skills, join your school's debate team. It seems you are looking at a degree that has nothing to do with your interests--maybe you should rethink your degree plans to better fit what you are interested in doing. If you want to go into journalism, why not major in journalism or communcations? To find out what your course of study would be, go to any college website and look under degrees offered and degree requirements or under their college handbook or course catalog. Are you thinking about eventually going to law school? If so, any of the majors you mentioned would be good, but you can't major in law as an undergraduate--you have to go to law school for that, and a major in english, journalism, or communication is also good for law school because you have to do so much writing in preparing briefs, etc. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Answer 3

Economics graduates make good journalists and MPs (David Milliband, a likely future Prime Minister took Philosoph, Politics, Economics at Oxford). But it's not like economics is a prerequisite for either job, particularly journalism.

Most economics courses feature lots of graphs and some A-level maths/stats (but not very complex maths or statistics) concerning production and consumption in an economy - what people do (when to buy, at what price, what influences their decisions), what companies do (e.g. how much to produce, what price to charge, are they competing with other companies or are they monopolies?). Check the link for course exampes - have a look around.

Answer 4

The idea of getting a training in some special subject area as prep for journalism strikes me as fundamentally sound. Economics is an outstanding choice. In choosing your economics electives go for courses like economic history or history of economic thought or others that will give you training in applying your economics in the writing of essays. Also consider electives outside of economics that will have you doing a lot of writing. Again, history is a good choice but so too literature, political science.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Undergraduate degrees allow you the flexibility to take a number of classes outside your major. There is no reason why you can't take classes in writing, journalism and philosophy (which will give you the skills for debate) to fill out your education.

Answer 6

The amount of writing and the exact content of courses varies from school to school. Why don't you pick a school near you and check out their website, or ask them for their course catalog. In general, economics would be a good preparation for journalism.

Answer 7

agree to do a joint honours & wear a big colourful sign on your back that says "I am very gay and you can kick me if you wanna"