advice on masters in economics/related fields (for a Ghanaian friend)

[waxwings]

Hi all,

 

I'm writing on behalf of a friend who earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics at the University of Ghana. He's currently studying for the GRE, and is looking to apply to masters programs in Economics, Actuarial Science, Public Policy and Statistics. I know that's a broad range, but I was wondering if any of you might have advice on which programs have a good track record of accepting students from UoG, or universities in Africa in general. It's hard to know exactly where to start, so any thoughts would be appreciated. I think he's primarily interested in the U.S. and Canada, but maybe the UK or other European countries would also have good programs? Thanks in advance!

[Patho]

My advice would not be on programs and their reception of Ghanaian students, but rather on the range of programs. Let's say that there are eight programs that could be a good fit in each of those subjects. That would be thirty two programs that your friend would be interested in and thirty two applications, cover letters, LOR's, etc. to have to commit to. What does your friend really want to do/what position does your friend want to be in after a masters? If it is simply wanting to have the most doors open after the program, I would not think that actuarial science and public policy would open too many different doors post-graduation. Comparatively, econ probably has the best and most diverse job possibilities post graduation. You can also incorporate each of the other three fields within an econ masters program. Interested in AS? Take some financial asset/risk management courses. Interested in stats? Take those metrics field courses. Interested in policy? Take public economics.

[sulebrahim]

I'm not from Ghana but I'm from around that area, so I'll just say my experience.

 

 

I think most go to the UK for grad school because of the similarity and familiarity with the system. But a sizable amount do go to the US, and I think it depends on the field.

 

 

In public policy where experiences matters, the top schools regularly admit people with government, world bank, AU, UN experience. So if he has that kind of experience then he will be a strong applicant.

 

 

For Econ, many go the ARE route, and schools like MSU have a large amount of Africans students, mostly because MSU AFRE professors are active there. Maybe it's self selection, I really don't know,.

 

 

For stats, I have no idea, although I do know people doing PhDs in STEM fields in Stanford and CMU that came directly from their home countries.

 

 

So I guess, my advice would be, that when the person settles on a field, he should apply to a wide range, and chances are many of those schools are familiar with the system. In Econ, maybe looking up schools strong in Africa research may be helpful, but I wouldn't rely solely on that metric.

[chateauheart]

^You seem to be talking about PhDs, he's talking about master degrees. With the exception of statistics and economics (and only occasionally), these are geared towards completely different career paths. A MPP vs a MA in economics also lead to very different types of career paths with almost no overlap. OP's friend needs at the very least to eliminate half of the types of programs he's considering before he looks more specifically at which programs or countries to apply to. After that, he should look for admissions forums for master's degrees elsewhere on the Internet, which can likely provide more relevant advice than we can.

[sulebrahim]

^I totally assumed he was asking for a PhD despite Masters being in the title.

 

:stupid:

 

Sorry, My bad

 

If it's a masters, I have to assume it's more straightforward

[waxwings]

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses! I agree that my friend should probably narrow his focus with regard to the types of programs he's applying to. However, the reason why I'm focusing on programs that are familiar with Ghanaian students is because I know how skittish they can be with regard to unknown quantities. My friend is also a bit worried about the quality of his grades, which makes it harder to determine the appropriate range of programs he should apply to.

[Yoyogibair]

If funding is a factor your friend might want to consider Japan. There are several decent schools there with Ghanaian students that offer masters in public policy or economics. The advantage, compared to the UK or some other countries is that funding from the Japanese government (MEXT) is relatively easy to come by.

[waxwings]

If funding is a factor your friend might want to consider Japan. There are several decent schools there with Ghanaian students that offer masters in public policy or economics. The advantage, compared to the UK or some other countries is that funding from the Japanese government (MEXT) is relatively easy to come by.

Thanks for the tip! Would you happen to have the names of specific schools?

[Yoyogibair]

Thanks for the tip! Would you happen to have the names of specific schools?

 

There are three policy schools that have masters with a large economics component:

 

GRASP (University of Tokyo)

GRIPS (National Graduate institute for Policy Studies)

IUJ (international university of Japan)

 

there are quite a lot of universities offering economics masters taught in English including,

 

Hitotsubashi U

Waseda U

U of Tokyo

 

In addition, GRIPS offers a 5 year econ masters + phd. All these universities are in Tokyo except IUJ and most of the students on the programs are non-Japanese.

 

There are basically two routes to a mext scholarship: one way is to apply through the local embassy who do a pre-screening. This way you can nomimate preferred universities but you may not get your first choice. The second route is directly through the schools involved, most of whom have a quota of reserved scholarship. The deadline for the 1st route is now past for 2015, but I think most schools will still be accepting applications through other routes.

[waxwings]

There are three policy schools that have masters with a large economics component:

 

GRASP (University of Tokyo)

GRIPS (National Graduate institute for Policy Studies)

IUJ (international university of Japan)

 

there are quite a lot of universities offering economics masters taught in English including,

 

Hitotsubashi U

Waseda U

U of Tokyo

 

In addition, GRIPS offers a 5 year econ masters + phd. All these universities are in Tokyo except IUJ and most of the students on the programs are non-Japanese.

 

There are basically two routes to a mext scholarship: one way is to apply through the local embassy who do a pre-screening. This way you can nomimate preferred universities but you may not get your first choice. The second route is directly through the schools involved, most of whom have a quota of reserved scholarship. The deadline for the 1st route is now past for 2015, but I think most schools will still be accepting applications through other routes.

 

Hi Yoyogibair,

 

Thanks a lot for the excellent information! I'll pass it on to my friend.