Well, maybe not so much a love story… it’s nickname is the ‘Dismal Science’ unfortunately. So, how about a story of appreciation? Yes please! Appreciation of economics means appreciating how the world works. It means understanding why people do what they do and how we can change that to get the outcome we desire.
Yes, stock market figures and housing futures and derivatives play a part in economics but the dismal science is about much more. For instance, I want to become a pilot working for a commercial airline once I graduate and yet I study economics? Shouldn’t I be studying aeronautical engineering or something? Well, yes and no. Economics combines many things that airlines (and indeed most employers) look for in a job applicant. It’s a technical subject by nature requiring high numeracy skills along with great attention to detail and an aptitude for exceptional literary skills.
I can study ‘Transport Economics’ as a module and come out with a great knowledge of the airline industry, making me just as attractive an employee for an airline as any aeronautical engineering graduate. What the engineer already knows and what I need to know to become a pilot will be taught at flight school so on that premise, I have the upper hand (i.e they do not have much knowledge of the economics of an airline).
And that’s the same for so many industries and jobs that an economics degree caters for. From macro and microeconomics to behavioural and urban economics, the range of subjects taught here in UCD is incredible. Whatever you’re interested in, there’s bound to be a module with that name followed by ‘economics’. The idea here is that regardless of what career you see yourself going into after University, having a background in economics is one of the most beneficial things that you can do.
So why UCD? In the school of economics, we have the top economics researchers, Professors and Lecturers in the country. That is all you should need to want to study here. The course itself is so flexible. I started out studying French with Economics and now I study History with Economics.
So if you have just accepted your place to study economics in UCD, you will love it. If you are struggling trying to put economics on your CAO form then it might help you to know that I never studied economics in the Leaving Cert and frankly, I had no idea what I was doing on my first day in UCD. But now I can’t imagine myself in any other course. I can’t even think what my life would be like if I was studying science or law or even architecture. Economics has become my life and I don’t regret a thing!
Oh, I also lied. This is actually a love story.
