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What is an economics personal statement?

An economics personal statement should describe your motivations for wanting to study this subject. It tells the university who you are and why you will make a great economics candidate. Whether you're applying for an undergraduate or postgraduate course, it's crucial you present yourself in the best possible light to convince admissions tutors you will be a valuable asset to their department.

Your economics personal statement will be used by universities to decide whether you are a good student to study economics, and whether they want to offer you a place on their course.

How do I write an economics personal statement?

We recommend you start your economics personal statement by jotting down some ideas about your skills, experience, hobbies/extracurricular activities, strengths and ambitions for the future. Our personal statement template can help you structure your thoughts into coherent and concise paragraphs.

Start early and give yourself plenty of time to re-draft your economics statement, and proofread it for spelling and grammar. You will need to go through at least three or four revisions before you have a final, polished draft.

Once you're happy with it, make sure you check it for spelling and grammar (don't just rely on Spellchecker for this). Get someone else to read through it if you're worried you might miss something. You can then think about pasting it into your UCAS form, ready to send off.

What should I include in my economics personal statement?

• Be specific and try to give examples of your problem-solving and analytical skills, both of which are important in an economics degree.
• If you’re applying for a joint honours, e.g. economics and maths , then tailor your statement so you relate it to both of these subjects.
• A business management and economics personal statement might mention a role of responsibility, such as leader of your student debating society or head boy/girl at your sixth form. Or for an economics and finance personal statement , you could mention managing money at your Saturday job.
• Any hobbies or other activities you are involved in outside of school should always be linked to your economics course. If you don't feel something is relevant, then don't mention it - remember you only have a limited space of 4,000 characters, so every word has to earn its place. Our personal statement length checker can help you with this.
• Round off by talking about your career plans and any other ambitions you have for the future. Mention how your economics degree is going to help you achieve this.

How do I write the introduction for my economics personal statement?

Your introduction should pick out one or two aspects of economics that you particularly enjoy or are passionate about. For example, you might talk about your interest in current affairs and world development, and include one or two situations that made you want to study economics in more detail. This could be anything from a fiscal decision made by the Bank of England, or a how a civil war in another country has affected their levels of income.

By starting with an anecdote, or a specific situation you've read about or experienced, you will have a better chance of drawing the reader in, and making them want to finish reading your personal statement.

Whatever you choose to open with, it should be reflective and persuade the admissions tutors that this is the only subject you want to go on to study at university.

Economics personal statement introduction example

To help demonstrate what you should include in your opening paragraph, take a look at this great example below, where the writer uses their experience of growing up in a poor country where wealth was unevenly distributed as a catalyst for developing their interest in economics:

"Being born and brought up in a country where an uneven distribution of income is a norm, the poor live on a minimum wage of Rupees 115 a day, whilst the billionaires form the sixth largest group in the world. This vast contrast between the rich and the poor has always intrigued me and I have often questioned how this economy India, functions with such instability and chaos."

Here is another good example from another student, who talks about how their studies of the Great Depression ignited their appreciation for economics:

"Studying the Great Depression in the USA in 1929 for my extended project is when I started to fully appreciate my interest in economics. Being able to analyse and argue the issues within my extended project and relate it to the current economic crisis has awakened my passion for the subject further, especially as this subject is covered extensively in the news and media. This shows that economics is an essential factor of our society. Studying this subject in university will equip me with the knowledge to understand the economy thoroughly. "

Hopefully these examples will inspire you to write your own introduction for your economics statement that will grab the reader's attention and make the admissions tutors want to offer you a place on their course.

How do I write a conclusion for my economics personal statement?

Your conclusion should encompass where you hope your economics degree to take you, and what you hope to achieve in the future. This might include your career ambitions, or moving on to a postgraduate course to further enhance your education.

You may also wish to reiterate why are enthusiastic about applying for an economics degree, and why you think you will be a good student for this particular course.

Don't round off your statement with something vague, or by repeating something you've already mentioned elsewhere in your UCAS application. You only have 47 lines of space in which to sell yourself to the admissions tutors, so don't waste it!

Economics personal statement conclusion example

To help you write your concluding paragrapgh, take a look at this example below, where the writer talks about using the knowledge they will gain in real life situations, and how they enjoy learning about the effects of economics on a daily basis:

"I am very passionate about studying economics because I look forward to developing my current knowledge, and applying it to real life situations. I believe my desire to keep in touch with today’s economics is what will allow me to thrive in higher education."

This writer chooses to talk about applying for a Masters program once they complete their degree, and taking up internships during their summer break to gain more work experience:

"My aspirations upon graduation from University would be to advance my studies in a similarly themed Masters program or work in international development. I plan on taking internships throughout the summer breaks to gain more work experience and help me fund my student lifestyle. I am looking forward to learning and developing in various economic subjects and am excited about the opportunities that I’ll have both as a student and once I graduate."

Hopefully these two examples will help you write your own conclusion for your economics personal statement, and round it off in a way that will make it stand out from the crowd.

For more help and advice on what to write in your economics personal statement, please see:

• Personal Statement Editing Services
• Personal Statement Tips From A Teacher
• Analysis Of A Personal Statement
• The 15th January UCAS Deadline: 4 Ways To Avoid Missing It
• Personal Statement FAQs
• Personal Statement Timeline
• 10 Top Personal Statement Writing Tips
• What To Do If You Miss The 15th January UCAS Deadline.

What can I do with an economics degree?

There are many different options for those choosing to pursue an economics degree. These include:

• business analyst
• financial consultant
• investment analyst .

However, there are also many other career paths where an economics degree could be useful, such as:

• data scientist
• economic development officer
• quantity surveyor .

For more advice on what you can do with your economics degree, please visit TopUniversities and Prospects .

What are the best UK universities for economics?

Currently, the best UK universities to study economics at for 2023 are:

For more information on UK university rankings for economics, please see The Complete University Guide and The Telegraph.

Further resources

For more information and advice on economics degrees and careers, please see the following:

• 9 Economics Degree Jobs
• Careers in Economics - LSE
• 10 Jobs for Graduates With An Economics Degree
• What jobs can you get with an Economics degree in the UK?
• Economics - Career Pilot
• What to do with an Economics degree - Bright Network

Related resources

Economics statement analysis.

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UCAS Economics Subject Guide

Careers In Economics

National Careers Service: Economist

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Economics University Rankings 2023

Economics Degree Guide

7 Economics Personal Statement Examples | With Analysis

What makes a great personal statement?

How do you improve your chances of achieving a university offer in economics?

In this post I will give some personal statement examples and discuss what the best economics personal statements do well.

Key features that great personal statements share

Disclaimers, evolution of economics personal statements, what makes a great economics personal statement, key features that great personal statements share: a reminder, lots of supercurricular activities, personal insights about such activities, demonstrate key skills, a well written essay, more economics personal statement advice, latest posts.

This diagram shows my summary of what makes a great economics personal statement. Based on my experience as an economics tutor and economics personal statement examples, here are four qualities that make personal statements stand out.

I explore these categories further below and in my ultimate economics personal statement guide.

For my ultimate economics personal statement guide, check out the link below:

Firstly, here is a list of ten economics personal statement examples available online.

Also below, there is analysis of what makes a great economics personal statement.

To learn how to improve your economics personal statement, check out the link below by clicking the blue button:

I cannot guarantee that the personal statements linked above achieved the university offers claimed on those pages. Nor can I claim that each statement is 100% perfect.

By linking to these sites, I do not endorse any of the sites linked above.

You should not copy any part of the personal statements above. Doing so is plagiarism and can lead to the disqualification of your university application. Instead learn from the techniques and kinds of things mentioned in their statements. See specifically the rest of this article for what we can learn from these personal statements.

A proportion of the samples above are relatively old (five to ten years ago or more).

For some universities the personal statement is more important for applications. Consider for example LSE and UCL, top universities where there are no admissions tests or interviews.

We can look at more recently written and publicly available personal statements.

Based on these, here are some observable trends in recent years among the best performing economics personal statements:

• More supercurriculars relative to the above personal statements.
• More reference to undergraduate-level economic theory. This can show further reading and an ability to potentially do well in the undergraduate course.

In this section I am drawing on my experience as a tutor about what makes a great personal statement. I am also using the available online examples of economics personal statements and the criteria listed by the top UK universities.

Such statements are by no means always perfect, yet they show the qualities and skills that allow students to attend the best universities.

These examples allow us to analyse what makes a great personal statement and also where students often go wrong with personal statements.

As a reminder, here are the four features of great economics personal statements mentioned above:

• Lots of supercurriculars
• Highlighting key skills
• Personal takeaways

Here is a breakdown of these categories:

What activities have you completed, outside of class, that relate to economics? Have you read a book, entered an economics-related competition, or watched an economics lecture? These are examples of supercurricular activities. I consider these a key focus for the best personal statements and I discuss these further in my economics personal statement ebook. These show your motivation to study economics which will be critical if you want to study the subject for three years at university.

For more on supercurricular activities, click the link here:

These are what I refer to as “personal takeaways” later in this guide. What did you learn from the supercurricular activity? Detail is very important, both for showing a high level of understanding and also to convince the person reading your statement that you actually completed the activity. This should go beyond just recalling the activity – maybe there is something you learnt from this activity or something you read that you disagreed with. We discuss how to write about personal takeaways in the ebook.

For more information about how to use supercurricular activities in your statement, including how to generate personal insights, click this button below:

Obviously you should try to show academic ability in economics and motivation to study economics. But what other skills are useful to show in a personal statement? 

While there are many skills that could potentially be useful, I draw your attention for now to two key skills: Ability in mathematics and independent study (including research). Evidence from supercurricular activities that you have these skills will help convince admissions staff. Moreover these skills will help you in the economics course.

What constitutes a “well written essay”? 

Your personal statement should be well structured, with effective links between ideas and paragraphs. The grammar should be completely correct, that is  there should be no mistakes. 

Finally consider your vocabulary – can you embed economics-related terminology into your personal statement? You can use a thesaurus but do so with caution – sometimes it is obvious where a thesaurus has been used (and often the new word used does not make sense in that context!).

For more economics personal statement tips or for economics university application advice, check out the link below:

For A-level Economics resources, click the link here:

• 4.3.2 Factors influencing growth and development
• 4.2.2 Inequality – Edexcel Economics A Notes
• 25 Marker Model Answer in style of Edexcel Economics A [Monopoly]
• 3.4.4 Oligopoly – Edexcel Economics A notes
• 3.1.2 Business growth – Edexcel Economics A Notes

About the author

Helping economics students online since 2015. Previously an economist, I now provide economics resources on tfurber.com and tutor A Level Economics students. Read more about me here .

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PERSONAL STATEMENT EXAMPLE BSc Economics Personal Statement

Submitted by Dorothy

Lancaster ranks Top 10 in the UK for Economics (GUG 2025).

Explore Economics at Lancaster, where you can customise your degree with modules like Econometrics and Behavioural Economics, and combine it with fields such as Finance and Politics.

THE Business School of the Year 2023 winner!

With optional work placements in the UK and abroad, Huddersfield's Economics degree gives you access to companies in many industries to open up a range of exciting careers for you.

BSc Economics Personal Statement

Inequality; the perfect word to describe the problematic world that we live in, the world we have made our own. The government takes huge responsibility to the reason as why some countries are poor and some are rich. We have all had an impact on the less fortunate countries, from wasting food to having a long, hot shower. If we switched places with those living in poor conditions, we would not know how to cope. We have been brought up in a selfish society, where we do not think about others. This is why I have a keen interest in economics as I am able to apply my mathematical knowledge to economic issues.

Through recent years I have noticed the growing changes in the exchange rate and have taken a keen interest in learning about how this affects a country's economy. To educate myself further, I have taken part in online webinars, open day lectures and have read through numerous online articles regarding the subject.

Whilst studying towards my Business qualification, I was given the opportunity to partake in a Young Enterprise programme, which involved the creation of an innovative business. I and other sixth form students came together after looking at several business ideas and we decided upon the name “Tech-Ex”. The slogan for the business is “The place for all your tech needs.” I was given the role of Finance Manager, which involved keeping track of the business’s financial position. This included thorough research of various possible products and considering the cost of resources, development and advertising. Using an online database I recorded the business’s cash flow, this entailed keeping a record of all purchases and sales. The business worked a success and we got given the opportunity to visit Lithuania to compete against other businesses within the EU. At the North Wales competition, we won “the best company” award and “the best use of IT and marketing”. This enabled us to compete in Cardiff for the Wales award. The whole team worked together to make Tech-Ex successful, whilst breaking-even within 6 months and making a profit of over £900 within a year.

My main interest in economics stems from my love of numeric based learning. To further my knowledge of the financial sector I volunteered my services to two financial sector based organisations, one was HSBC. During my week of work experience at HSBC, they allowed me to spectate and gather information on the daily activates of a high street bank. This provided me with a great deal of further insight into how banks protect and help their clients, whether they are a business or personal customer they are treated with the same level of respect and provided with the same information regardless of wealth or status.

The other work experience placement that I was involved with was at Sailsbury’s accountancy firm where I was given the task of conducting a tax return for a local business client of theirs. To carry out this task I needed to look across all the businesses invoices over the past financial year and sus out which invoices they could claim against. This involved looking at their recent purchase orders and daily/weekly cashflows. Whilst working at Sainsburys I was placed under the supervision of a fully chartered accountant who delegated some of her tasks onto me, these tasks gave me further insight into the economic difficulties that businesses face such as paying VAT, taxes, employee pension schemes, etc.

Outside of my academic life, I have a keen interest in helping others. I have been a volunteer for The Alzheimer’s Society since 2015, within a year I have gained the title of a support services volunteer. Once a month I visit a surgery and set up a stand with information about Dementia, formally known as Dementia RED. This has been a success and has allowed me to help people with their questions and concerns about their memory or someone else's memory. Being the eldest of all 8 of my siblings I have to set the example and I feel by helping the community I am doing that. Within school, I am a prefect and during November I am going to run assemblies to all of the years about bullying, discrimination, racism, etc. With all the business knowledge I have acquired I am looking forward to gaining an even greater understanding of the daily changes that occur within our economy. I particularly look forward to further educating myself about the various aspects of economics and the doors that this will open for me in the foreseeable future. Although I understand that this degree will by no means be easy and will undoubtedly present me with a multitude of challenges, I know that my strong will and passion towards learning about the future of the world’s economy will spur me on to achieving this degree.

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Economics Personal Statement Guide

Your personal statement is a significant part of your university application. It gives you the opportunity to show universities your enthusiasm for studying Economics and demonstrate your skills and motivations.

Many students struggle with writing personal statements. It can be difficult to balance academic interests with personal achievements, keep everything relevant to the economics courses you're applying for, and fit it all into just over one A4 page.

To help you get on the right track, our Personal Statement Guide takes you through everything you need to know to create an excellent Economics personal statement:

• Why are Personal Statements Important?
• What Should I Include in an Economics Personal Statement?  
• What Should I Avoid in an Economics Personal Statement?  

Advice on How to Start an Economics Personal Statement  

Advice on how to finish an economics personal statement  .

What Should I Avoid in an Economics Personal Statement ?  

You must avoid waffle and cliches. A common cliche that we recommend you avoid is "I have wanted to study Economics since I was a child" or "I want to study Economics because I want to make money". While these statements may be true, you need to focus on demonstrating your interests in economics, not just stating them.

Instead, talk about a documentary you came across and how it interested you and how, in light of this interest you read a book related to the topic. Connecting your academic interests in this way instead of using cliche statements helps keep you under the word count, but also makes your personal statement interesting and personal to your academic journey.

You should also definitely not mention anything in your personal statement that you have not read, watched, listen to, or done yourself. In other words, absolutely do not lie! Admissions tutors will sniff dishonest statements out very keenly, especially if you attend an interview with them further along the line.

Register to access our complimentary e-book "So You Want To Go To Oxbridge? Tell me about a banana…"

Economic ,at undergraduate study contains many elements and topics; use this to your advantage and research widely to find various areas of personal interest. Before starting to write your Economics Personal Statement, consider making a mind map or list of the reasons you are interested in the subject, and any areas in which you are particularly interested. Which podcasts have you listened to, books have you read, or videos have you watched?

Remember to focus on what you have done, what inspired and benefited you, and what you would like to learn next. For instance, in studying elasticity of demand, what questions did it raise for you, and how have you explored the topic further?

If you are struggling to get your wider research off the ground, or need something new to get out of a research rut, check out some of our recommendations below:

Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus

Freakonomics  by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

IMF Podcast

Planet Money

Journals/Publications:

The Economist

American Economic Review

The Econometrics Journal

Journal of Political Economy

This is not an exhaustive list, and we strongly encourage you to research your areas of interest.

Writing the ending of an Economics Personal statement can often be just as hard as beginning. The most important task for the final section is not to overcomplicate things; focus on using clear and concise language to round up the main theme(s) of the preceding content.

Your final sentence or two should summarise your academic interest in Economics and your excitement about studying the course . If you wish, you may also briefly mention your hopes for the future (be it working in further research, a financial institution, or government policy) and tie an Economics degree into your plans going forward (although this is not necessary).

Think about what you want the admissions tutors to remember about you once they have finished reading. This is the information to foreground in your conclusion.

Lastly, always proofread your personal statement several times . We recommend giving a final version to a parent, guardian, teacher, friend, or anyone else you can find, really! Getting a second opinion, be it from someone with Economics expertise or someone completely new to the subject, can help weed out mistakes and ensure your writing is clear and your intentions can be understood.

• What are some Tips for Writing a Strong Economics Personal Statement?
• How Long Should my Economics Personal Statement Be?
• What Kind of Extracurricular Activities Should I Include in my Economics Personal Statement?
• How Can I Tailor my Economics Personal Statement to the Oxford/Cambridge Course?

A strong Economics personal statement will include relevant academic interests and the motivations behind pursuing Economics at a higher level, and not a lot else.

As Economics is a subject that links to other social sciences such as sociology or politics, the temptation can often be to discuss topics that are potentially not covered in an Economics course. To ensure against this, it's always good to check back over the course syllabus and double check that everything you mention is linked either by content or by the skills needed to study it.

If you are applying for different courses, such as PPE at a few universities and Economics at others, carefully think about which topics you write about to demonstrate that you are a passionate Economics student.

We recommend that you use the majority of the limit UCAS gives you. It is your first chance to make a lasting impression on the admission tutors, so you should take advantage of the opportunity to show them why you would be an exceptional Economics student.

4000 characters of 47 lines (whichever comes first) may seem ample, but once you have spoken about your interests in detail, you will find that it really is not. Often students go over the limit in their first draft of their personal statement; do not worry about this, as continual redrafting and reviewing (which you really should do) will help you shorten it down.

You want to ensure that you only include extracurricular activities that demonstrate relevant skills, interests, and qualities in your statement.

Whether the activity or resource you want to mention is directly related to economics or not (and it doesn't necessarily have to be), you should not just mention it, but also explicitly discuss why or how you believe that it either motivates you or equips you with the skills to perform well on the degree course to which you are applying.

There is no secret formula when writing a personal statement for Oxford or Cambridge, and you need to make sure not to mention the Oxbridge course directly since your personal statement goes to all your universities. In our experience, however, the key to an Oxbridge Economics personal statement lies within the amount of academic content you have in your statement. Oxbridge tutors are keen to hear as much as possible about your academic interests, therefore we recommend aiming to focus 80-90% of your statement on academic content, whilst the remaining 10-20% talks about your extracurricular activities.

To demonstrate your academic ability and potential, you must talk about how you have engaged with your subject beyond the school syllabus. This can include presenting your views on economists such as Milton Friedman or analysing the implications of theories such as economies of scale. You need to avoid waffle, be concise, and demonstrate your love for Economics at every stage.

It is important to note that if you do reach the interview stage of the Oxbridge application process, you can be asked questions about your personal statement, so do carefully select topics that you are passionate about. We offer a fantastic interview preparation course if you need support preparing for the interview stage of the process.

Book your Economics Personal Statement Package

You can contact our Oxbridge-graduate Consultants on +44 (0) 20 7499 2394 or email [email protected] to discuss our personal statement packages.  

If you’d like to know more about Economics, we have admissions test guidance and interview preparation readily available.  

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