Land Economy is a multidisciplinary course that enables you to pursue different
interests that you may have, while still obtaining a thorough grounding in the
disciplines of Economics, Law and Property.
The modules available in the three years are:
Economics
Public Law (Constitutional Law)
Accounting and Data Evaluation
Land, Environment and Structural Change
Environmental Law, Economics and Policy
Fundamentals of Finance and Investment
Regional Economics
Law of Real Property: Principles, Policy and Economics
Private Law (Contract and Tort Law)
The Built Environment
Land and Urban Economics
Law and Economics
Landlord and Tenant Law
Planning Law and Policy
Advanced Techniques in Finance and Investment for Real Estate
Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
Land Policy and Development Economics
As you can see, these modules are hugely varied with something for everyone.
4 compulsory modules need to be taken in the 1st year, while 5 are taken in the 2nd
year. A further 5 are taken in the 3rd year in addition to a 10,000 word dissertation
(not as bad as it sounds)
There are no formal subject requirements for Land Economy, and lecturers will all
assume that nobody has done any maths and economics when they teach. I hadn’t
done maths in a year and had never done economics and I was fine.
You will get 8 – 12 hours of lectures a week in addition to 2-3 supervisions a week (25 students taught for an hour in a group).
There will be some coursework set in the December and Easter holidays which is
kinda annoying but it does mean that the terms are slightly less hectic than other
subjects. Remember terms are only 8 weeks of lectures so they do get quite busy.
Doing the Land Economy course at Cambridge allows students to obtain exemptions
for many of the examinations needed to become a Chartered Surveyor or a Lawyer
(Depending on your modules).
PROS
-Wide variety of modules so you can choose what interests you.
-The dissertation can be on virtually anything and there is guidance provided.
-The course is very small (about 45 people in each year throughout the university) so
you get to know everyone doing your course.
-As the course is small the lecture theatres are small (more classroom size which is a
good thing) and lecturers are more open to taking questions during the lectures.
-The college library is brilliant, with most books available and as there are only often
2 people doing Land Economy in each year at Downing, getting the books is not
usually a problem (If you are the faster runner! – Or you could share…)
-The college library will also order any books that you need and they arrive within a
couple of weeks.
-I haven’t had to buy a single text book this year as the library allows you to renew
books about 5 times, each for 2 weeks. They also allow holiday borrowing so the
money you have allocated to books can be channelled into other areas….
CONS
-The supervisions are organised by the department, not by the college which is what
happens in other larger subjects. As a result supervisions could be far away in
different colleges (Fitzwilliam College is a long way away at 10 in the morning!).
-The biggest problem is that instead of an even spread of supervisions throughout the
term, supervisions tend to clump up (4 in one week and only 1 in the next) resulting in
a hectic week followed by a week almost nothing to do except for preparing for next
weeks work (Doesn’t happen).
-Land Economists do have to put up with irritating Lawyers and Economists claiming
that Land Economy isn’t a proper subject as we don’t do as much law/economics as
them.
-Land economy is only offered at a handful of universities throughout the UK so
structuring your personal statement to accommodate different subjects could be a
slight issue.
The reading list that I received before joining contained 19 books of which 0 were
actually used for the course!!! The lecturers will recommend text books so wait until
you get here before splashing out on any books.
If you haven’t studied economics then reading an economics A-Level text book (Any
A-level Econ text book that has both Micro and Macro would do fine) would go a
long way to helping make the first year easier. Similarly if you haven’t done maths
(especially statistics) then I recommend flicking through a stats book (Edexcel
Heinemann Statistics 1 and 2 are what I used). It is not necessary to learn the books,
just to get an idea of what is coming up if you haven’t done the subjects. For law I
didn’t do any reading but Understanding Public Law by Ganz is a good introduction
book.
Drop me an email if you have any more questions, I’d be happy to help!