Master's Program Advice (Profile Included)

[cpause]

Howdy! I’ve spent a few weeks now looking around the forum getting a feel for the graduate Econ situation and now I think the most beneficial thing I can do is ask directly for some advice. As you’ll see below, my undergrad record is decent (but not great), and the feeling that I get from reading this forum is that my best shot at a solid PhD program lies in some kind of master’s degree. The list I compiled below is basically a list of every master’s program people seem to see as quality that is located somewhere I wouldn’t mind living. I’ve got a strong preference for continental Europe, as I think it would be great to be able to spend time in a non-English speaking country actually learning something (as opposed to several of my friends’ somewhat more “typical” study abroad experiences)!

I don’t have my heart entirely set on a PhD at this point, but my main motivating factor at this point is the desire to learn more about economics – as cliché as it is (especially to the folks on this board), I find it endlessly fascinating! I feel like my undergrad education in economics has not been very rigorous (though I am not sure what the ‘usual’ is), so doing a master’s will hopefully give me a taste of this “real” economics everybody keeps talking about, too.

I feel like the weakest parts of my resume as this point are my choice of institution and my lack of research experience. Both of these I would like to make up for in my choice of master’s program. From what I understand, the normal track at most of these places is around a year long – is that long enough to get the kind of research experience I’d need for PhD applications? Are there any schools that would be better suited to rectifying that type of deficiency?

I suppose the last and possibly most painful question is – what are my chances at getting into these schools? I have very little basis for judgment so I’d like to get some perspective on where I should be looking.

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Flagship state school, (<100 on econphd rankings), Econ, Math, and Music majors (had a big change of heart halfway through )
Undergrad GPA: 3.77
GRE: Will be taking the new GRE this Fall
Math Courses: Calc I&II (AP); Calc III (B); Diff EQ (In Progress); Linear Algebra (In Progress); Intro to Stats (A); Stats for Engineers (A); Elementary Analysis (B); Ord. Diff EQ I (Fall); Math Modeling (Fall); Plus two more classes in the spring to finish out the degree
Econ Courses: Intro Macro (A); Intro Micro (A); Intermediate Macro (A-); Intermediate Micro (A-); Development Econ (A-); Int’l Finance (A+); Public Finance (Fall); Econometrics (Fall); Also thinking of taking Grad Micro this Fall semester
Other Courses: A degree’s worth of music theory/history classes
Letters of Recommendation: Hopefully one from a top-20 PhD prof; one from the director of a reputable legal NGO; can also get them from music professors (but I suspect those wouldn’t be too helpful?)
Research Experience: Year as an intern at a legal NGO working on a piece of original research to (hopefully) be published at the end of the summer/early fall
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Development? Beyond that, not too sure


The schools I am looking at:

Europe
LSE
Oxford
Cambridge
UCL
Toulouse
Paris School of Econ
Carlos III
CEMFI
UPF
Tilburg
Tinbergen
Bocconi
Lausanne

Canada/US
Duke
U of British Columbia
U of Toronto
Queen's

Thanks in advance - absolutely any advice is appreciated!

-c

[killpueino]

I would suggest also some german programs like Bonn or Bielefeld, in Italy also Bologna and Ca Foscari, and Portugal with Nova SBE (my choice).

[bostonfan05]

Hey,

Our profiles are pretty similar and we are applying to the same range of schools (for masters) so I thought I would chime in.

First, I would avoid getting LORs from music professors. Though it's cool that you got a degree in musical theory, letters from your profs from this degree would not signal anything in terms of competing in a economics masters program.

Potentially publishing some research is great. I am not sure how heavily the adcoms will weight this but it should it least help marginally (this greatly depends on where you publish). Perhaps talking about your work in your SOP and how it relates to your future interests will be of use (not too sure about this though).

Overall, I feel I am competitive for the same range of programs you are applying to, though I am still awaiting opinions on my profile as well. Assuming you get a good GRE Q score, you will have a similar profile to mine (similar schools, similar courses, lower GPA but better "extras", and your LORs may be better) so I think you have a good shot at the schools you are applying to. This next semester will be important though as you have a couple of math courses and metrics where you can further demonstrate ability.

[juliep]

EIU, European Institute University, in Florence, is good too.

[danyjtan]

You should definitely consider the Tufts MS Econ program: Department of Economics: Tufts University