Postgraduate graduation stories 2025: Starting a career in the Civil Service

Amber at the University of Bristol economics graduation reception

At January graduation, we caught up with some of our brand new postgraduate economics alumni. 

Here’s what MSc Economics with Data Science graduate, Amber, told us about her time at Bristol and her exciting new role at the UK Home Office…

What was the best thing about studying economics at Bristol?

The best thing about studying at Bristol – economics in particular – was the academic staff. They were always so willing and helpful answering my questions – always at the end of an e-mail, or at the end of an office hour.

Speaking to them and really engaging with my course allowed me to get a full understanding of everything I was learning this year.

What are your career plans, and how has your course prepared you?

I’ve actually recently just started a job in the Civil Service, where I’m working on project delivery within data quality. It’s been a great opportunity to apply a lot of the data technical skills I’ve learned in my master’s.

Economics has given me lots of practical skills – being able to do quantitative analysis and understand numbers, and also the essay writing skills have really helped me to formulate my arguments and present them in a coherent way.

What are you most proud about of your time at Bristol?

Prior to doing my masters, I had never studied economics before – I’m actually from a mathematics undergraduate background. So, I’m really proud of the fact that I was able to get stuck in and achieve a good result in an academic field that was completely new to me.

What advice would you give to future economics students at Bristol?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether that be from the academic staff or from your course mates – everybody there is really willing to help and share all their information.

I feel you can achieve your best work when you’re working collaboratively with others and it’s a really good opportunity to take advantage of that whilst you’re studying your master’s.

Watch the video:

Congratulations to all our new graduates. Stay connected and share your future successes with us at alumni@bristol.ac.uk.


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