Hi! I’m Funto and I study Land Economy at Homerton College, Cambridge. Despite my science background, I was heavily interested in the field of Economics after studying it at GCSE and A-level. I have never studied Law or Politics, however it made me more willing to pick the course especially as an individual who loves to learn. Land Economy touches on many current issues in the world today, and as a person who loves to make change, I thought this degree was perfect for me.
In first year, you have 4 modules. Economics, law, mathematics, and land economy in general which is like development economics. You would have around 4 main lectures a week (some lectures can last for 3-4 hours) and a few maths lectures and legal databases lectures. You are given supervision work for each module and it can be a mixture of long or short essays, maths questions or short answer questions. The work usually must be submitted prior to the supervision and during the supervision you would usually discuss what you have written or have a very insightful and informative discussion about the topic – and this is where the real learning happens. Supervisions are very useful in learning and asking questions about topics or concepts you do not fully understand. Not only that but you will be given two projects in your Module 3 and Module 4, in which you have until April to complete. The essay questions are extremely thought-provoking and very interesting to answer; I have enjoyed all my essays thus far.
My interview was hard but a good experience nonetheless. I was given pre-reading and had 30 minutes to read it and absorb as much information as I could. The interview began with a few questions about the pre-reading and the rest of the interview questions would always refer to the pre-reading. During my interview, I was assessed a lot on development economics, maths, and micro-economics. Ensuring you know your A-level content inside out is paramount as it will 9 times out of 10 be the basis of your interview. As you would expect in a Cambridge interview, you will be questioned on unfamiliar content and it is very important to relax and take time to answer the question. They advised me to think aloud, as they wanted to hear how I navigate to a logical answer. Fundamentally, they are looking for a logical thought process and they will continuously guide you with prompts and hints to guide you to the correct answer! The best advice I can give for an interview is to be yourself, stay positive and acknowledge it is not a test.
Overall, Land Economy at Cambridge is a very interesting course. The intensity of the course isn’t comparable to some of the others courses in Cambridge in terms of contact hours and workload, but it is still extremely engaging and I would urge you to apply!