Cambridge – Land Economy

This subject is completely unique to the University of Cambridge and combines elements of Law, Economics, and Environment. It is also a relatively small course with under 70 applicants on average per year. It has a mostly balanced female to male ratio, and an acceptance rate of around 20% for both genders.

In Part 1A, you get to grips with the groundwork of the course and take four compulsory papers: Economics, The Public Sector, Quantitative and Legal Methods, Land Economy, Development and Sustainability. First year is designed to help you become familiar with theories and disciplines, as well as different presentation and analysis techniques.

In Part 1B, you can either keep this broad approach or choose to specialise on a particular discipline. You will sit five papers – one of these is law-based; the other four (from a choice of six) cover various topics to do with the environment, finance, and property. Part II is an extension of these and is centred around four papers and a dissertation of 10,000 words. These papers, again, span a wide range of topics, from renting to banking.

No particular A-Levels (or equivalent) are needed, though Economics and Maths would prepare you well for this course. Being a Cambridge course, this degree focuses on knowledge and intellect, making it transferable to a variety of careers in law, economy, finance, or further study. It is RICS accredited, meaning that graduates can immediately take their chartered surveyor Assessment of Professional Competence. It even grants exemption from some of the academic criteria of the Bar Council/Law Society. For each of these paths of employment, a particular combination of papers is required, so it is worth thinking about this early on.