Born in India, Saalem grew up in Kuwait and Dubai, where he now lives and works again after completing the MSc in Applied Economics. We spoke to him about his reasons to choose economics and his experience of living and studying in Bath as an international student.
When I was looking into master’s degrees, I wasn’t really thinking in terms of job prospects initially, if I’m being perfectly honest. I already had a bachelor’s in applied accounting, and the people around me were telling me to do a master’s in accounting or finance. But there was a part of me that wanted to build on what I’d already learned and set myself a different challenge.
I spoke to people at the local academy where I’d gained my ACCA qualification. They said that future-proofing with an economics degree had the potential to positively impact my career in the future, especially in a country like the UAE. With the way the country is progressing, economics is probably going to be a very relevant field in five to ten years. And by that time, I’d definitely have the edge over other people by gaining more economics skills.
So that’s when I started to do my own research and looked at some of the modules at different universities offering this course. It was in line with what I wanted to do, which was something different but also within the whole commerce field. I’d heard of the University of Bath from my tutors and a few friends, looked at the QS reputation and economics rankings specifically, and saw that the course matched what I wanted to do. As I didn’t do my undergraduate in economics, the applied economics course was a great option for me, coming from a slightly different background. And as it turned out, a bunch of people on my course didn’t come from a straight economics background either, so it was a nice mix.
I’ll be honest, when we had the pre-sessionals before the start of term, the level of maths was quite intimidating at first. It wasn’t the type of maths that people in accounting or finance would usually do in such detail, like derivatives or matrix algebra.
But as the course actually progressed, I realised it would be challenging, which I was prepared for, but not too bad, as the course focuses on applied economics. You do have to understand the logic, but once you get that, the maths is easier to apply to different scenarios.
The course is only one year, so be prepared to cover a lot of topics in a short amount of time. It can feel like you could do a whole PhD or a separate master’s on some of the topics and can only scratch the surface in that one year. There are a variety of units that go beyond the basics of macro and microeconomics, and I enjoyed learning about things like financial economics or even game theory. But despite the variety, the units are well connected, and the course definitely met my expectations.
I was quite fortunate that shortly after my second semester, when I started to apply for jobs both in the UK and back home, something in Dubai came up before I’d even finished the degree. My job now is still more relevant to my accounting side for now, but as I said, I went into the course mainly with the mentality of preparing for future options and getting my studies done while I was at it. It’s nice to be able to keep that door open.
Going from my studies straight into a job definitely felt like a step in the right direction, and I was able to do my final project, a policy brief rather than a dissertation, all the way from here. The University had given out a list of topics and partner organisations – first come, first served – and I got to work on a project that looked at market anomalies and overconfidence in financial markets. As someone who’s investing in the stock market themselves, I found it extremely interesting to look at actual, practical research that analyses different aspects of why certain things happened in the past and what it could mean for the future, and to put all that into a single piece of work.
It was great to look into behavioural economics, and the psychology, emotions and biases people have that play a role in the financial market. And I can see all these things playing out live right now, not just in my personal portfolio of stocks. Things like value going down despite great performances, and it turns out the investors expected better, and good wasn’t good enough any more. It’s ridiculous, when you think about it, but that’s what makes the field so interesting as well. You’re not just dealing with numbers, but with people as well.
Bath isn’t the biggest city in the world, but it wasn’t limiting in any way – there are plenty of things going on both on- and off-campus, and it’s a gorgeous city to live in. But it’s also not a city where there’s so much going on that it’s easy to be distracted, especially when you’re there for only a year and want to get through your degree at the same time. I did do my fair share of exploring and travelled to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford and Wales.
I would say I enjoyed every single aspect – the city, the University in itself, the community on campus. When my parents came to visit (in the summer, mind you!), they instantly fell in love with the city. I think the food is great and the culture is great; and for someone coming from the outside, I think safety is a huge thing as well, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman. In Bath, I could walk anywhere in the middle of the night, and it always felt safe. The people here treat you with so much love and respect, and they were very accepting.
There are also a ton of student societies and clubs on campus. As an undergraduate, of course you have more time to properly socialise for a longer time, but there is so much going on in terms of events and sports that you can get involved in a lot of things outside the classroom. And if you have any questions, the tutors and student services are always patient and helpful.
It’s probably going to be slightly scary in the beginning, but as time goes by, you’ll just put your head down and I can assure you that if someone like me pulled it and got a degree class of merit, you absolutely can, too.
The year flies by quite quickly, so it’s a lot to focus on, but enjoy the process and just go along with it and try to be involved in as many things as you can.