Third Year Canadian at a smaller school considering an MA in Europe

[tt11qj]

Hey guys,

 

Im currently a third year in Canada at a smaller school within Ontario. My current grades are sitting around an 82-84% avg. and I have taken two calculuses, two stats, mathematical econ (logic proofs, euclidean topology etc.), all the way up until third year micro/macro and I have additional econ electives. My main interests are monetary policy, industrial organization, and public finance/taxation.

 

I want to pursue an MA in economics either in Europe or a school ranked in the top 6 in Canada. For those that have done a masters in Europe what is the course work like compared to Canadian schools? What are the averages? Is there funding? How difficult is it to do a PhD in Canada or elsewhere afterwards and how does doing grad work outside of ones home nation affect their employment prospects afterwards?

 

What schools are particularly Canadian friendly or would be most suitable for my interests stated earlier?

 

Thanks guys!

[sulebrahim]

Just bumping this

[fakeo]

For those that have done a masters in Europe what is the course work like compared to Canadian schools?

 

Don't know about Canadian schools. If you do a research masters in Europe, your coursework will be similar to the coursework portion of a US PhD: core courses in the first year, and (if it's a two-year program) field courses in the second year. That means that if you go to a good school, you'll learn rigorous stuff that is supposed to prepare you for a PhD.

 

Is there funding?

 

Funding isn't common, but almost all EU masters are very cheap. The main exceptions that come to mind are BGSE and UK schools, which given that they're expensive do have some funding. My impression though - based on what I've read here - is that it's generally hard to get funding at these schools. So don't know to what extent you can bank on that. Never hurts to try though.

 

How difficult is it to do a PhD in Canada or elsewhere afterwards and how does doing grad work outside of ones home nation affect their employment prospects afterwards?

 

Doing a PhD in Canada afterwards shouldn't be an issue if you go to a good school. But if you want to do your PhD in Canada, then I'd say it's much easier and makes much more sense to just do your MA in Canada as well.

 

Regarding employment prospects, do you mean with a masters? I suppose if you go to a school that has a good brand like LSE or Oxbridge, then you won't have any issues. Depending on what jobs you're interested in though, certain good econ departments might not be well-known among Canadian employers, and could hurt your employment prospects relative to getting an MA from a respectable Canadian university. But this is just an educated guess.

 

Bottom line: if your aim is to do a PhD in Canada or get a job in Canada after your MA, then I'd rather do a Canadian MA, unless you can through some miracle get into a much better EU school than your best Canadian admission. I think there can be two reasons to do an MA abroad (from a strictly academic perspective): (1) because you ultimately want to emigrate (not your case), or (2) because your country doesn't have good enough schools (not your case). So as I said - short of getting an Oxbridge admission but rejections from UBC/UT - I see no good reason why an EU program would be better for your situation.

[Econhead]

Fakeo did a good job summing it up, but I would like to add to it. Based on the information on this forum, Canadians have a much better shot at being admitted to Canadian programs that "internationals." This could benefit you along the lines of what Fakeo discussed.