economiks Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Hello guys, I am a UK MSc student and am currently considering these two places to do my PhD. Obviously, I know that generally speaking LSE > Cambridge. Nonetheless, Cambridge has some really good researchers for Econometrics (my area of interest) and also has the benefit of being a 3 year programme while LSE's programme is 5 years. How would you compare these departments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdonsimoni Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I have a tendency to put down Cambridge any chance I get, but in all honesty it still is a very good department. As for econometrics, I think I'd prefer Oxford (though it'd be 4 years: 2yr MPhil + 2yr DPhil). Other good departments in econometrics are York and Manchester I think (pretty sure for Manchester and Macroeconometrics, while York is working of a distant memory), and of course Nottingham but only in time series econometrics (virtually the sole fascination of the department there due to Mr Granger), other branches of econometrics may be less fruitful. LSE is well-rounded but it is true that I am not very much aware of any econometrics research output from there, but then again this really is not my field of predilection and so I may be oblivious to their more recent achievements in that field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economiks Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 One other thing that I am thinking about is how realistic this 3-year PhD route at Cambridge is. Although they say it is a 3 year programme some of my friend told me that most of the people actually take 4 years to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdonsimoni Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I dont know about cambridge, but so far my experienced, both talking to people in Nottingham, Mainz, Frankfurt, and reading up here on this forum is that, whenever a school advertises a number of year, it always takes one more on average (huge generalisation here). So Notts advertises 3 yrs, most people take 4/5 yrs, Mainz advertises 3, most people take ca. 4yrs, Frankfurt says 4, most people take 5.5 yrs. And lots of UK school also take an extra 12-18 months. For whatever reason: need to take classes for a particular project or make up for previous master that did not emphasise whatever aspect of theory/empirical research you need now, or because your first submission of your thesis needs a revision and your 2nd advisor takes 6 months to review it both times, thus delaying you (happens quite a bit as far as I can see ôO). So it would seem that in practice most people (and I mean the mode, and media, but not the mean), would take definitely more than is being advertised in most cases. I would assume that Cambridge is no different and most people might take more, however there s always a part of the population who ll take exactly (maybe even slightly less than) the time required. But these seem to be the outliers mate, not the norm. Again, for Cambs specifically, Im not sure, you could email final year phd students, like those who are on the job market now, perhaps they could give you a better indicator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR14 Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I dont know about cambridge, but so far my experienced, both talking to people in Nottingham, Mainz, Frankfurt, and reading up here on this forum is that, whenever a school advertises a number of year, it always takes one more on average (huge generalisation here). So Notts advertises 3 yrs, most people take 4/5 yrs, Mainz advertises 3, most people take ca. 4yrs, Frankfurt says 4, most people take 5.5 yrs. And lots of UK school also take an extra 12-18 months. For whatever reason: need to take classes for a particular project or make up for previous master that did not emphasise whatever aspect of theory/empirical research you need now, or because your first submission of your thesis needs a revision and your 2nd advisor takes 6 months to review it both times, thus delaying you (happens quite a bit as far as I can see ôO). So it would seem that in practice most people (and I mean the mode, and media, but not the mean), would take definitely more than is being advertised in most cases. I would assume that Cambridge is no different and most people might take more, however there s always a part of the population who ll take exactly (maybe even slightly less than) the time required. But these seem to be the outliers mate, not the norm. Again, for Cambs specifically, Im not sure, you could email final year phd students, like those who are on the job market now, perhaps they could give you a better indicator. Are you still holding a funded offer to both? In that case know that you are holding someone's spot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdonsimoni Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Are you still holding a funded offer to both? In that case know that you are holding someone's spot... I think you re confusing me with someone else mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR14 Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I think you re confusing me with someone else mate Yep with OP, sorry for misquote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
economiks Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 Are you still holding a funded offer to both? In that case know that you are holding someone's spot... No... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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