Student life is made up of so many things – but your course is at the centre of it all. Lectures and tutorials are where you’ll learn and grow, so it's important that you get as much out of them as possible. We chatted with Economics graduate Kajal to see what she thought about her course at Queen Mary.
There’s a lot to enjoy! The teaching staff – the lecturers and the teaching assistants – are all so helpful and really care about your success. You can choose modules and personalise the course by focusing on different study areas, which meant in my third year I could concentrate on what I really enjoyed. It’s how I found my passion for labour economics and econometrics.
There's so much to get involved with in the School of Economics and Finance – it’s really shaped my experience
I’ve been involved in photo shoots, PASS mentoring, student ambassador schemes, Students' Union societies, even a study abroad programme – and so much more.
Oh, that’s easy – hands down, labour economics. It’s a third-year module. Actually, when I chose it I didn’t even know what it was, but I wanted to take a chance. I loved how it was about life – how people are matched to jobs, the returns to education, why we go to school, decisions about job switching, the dynamics of the labour force. All just really interesting stuff. The lecturer was really inspiring, too. She made it like a story about life. After studying all that I went on to do a summer internship in Madrid working as a researcher on a labour economics project. I got to apply my skills and theory and see how it all works in practice. Everything started there – after that course I took labour economics as part of my master’s degree, and even my thesis was on a labour topic.
Each year was different. My first year gave me a good foundation. The principles of economics module gives a re-run of A-Level economics and then goes beyond. The module Mathematical Methods in Economics and Business taught me how maths is applied, and maths later became an integral part of the course (even more so at master's level). Second year allowed me to explore economics in greater depth; I also found that I prefer microeconomics over macroeconomics. I learned that finance is not for me, and that’s okay. Second year is when you get a taste of econometrics, which is great but a little scary. Big data is something I work with everyday in my consulting role, analysing prices on commodity markets using a lot of data. Econometrics taught me ways to interpret and model data.
By third year I knew what I liked: microeconomics and econometrics. I took advanced modules in both and enjoyed every second. There’s also a module in corporate strategy which is useful if you go into business or consulting. I use it as it taught me how to evaluate competitive landscapes, do cost analysis and understand market reports – things which I look at every day.
Different modules worked for different career paths. Hands-on modules, like corporate strategy or applied econometrics, are very reflective of what you see in day-to-day consulting work. The more theoretical modules – things like advanced micro or some topics in econometrics – focus on theory and maths, which is what you’ll need for further study. They’re a good base. I took a mixture of both so I could experience both sides.
Elective modules are some of the best. Students have chosen to be there, so are more enthusiastic and focused as a group. Queen Mary offers a wide selection, which let me pick and mix and find my passions. Without the choice, this would not have been possible. Because there are so many, you can even take some modules by chance and end up loving them – like I did with labour economics. There are also modules to help you prepare for the professional world – corporate strategy, for example. We did business presentations and used real-world case studies. It’s a very ‘get you ready for work’ module.