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What are the best masters programs for economics?


Youalreadyknow

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Alright so I'm sure other people are more qualified to answer this question...... but since no one is doing so, despite it having nearly 250 views, I thought I'd give it a go.

 

Canadian MA programs - Cheap(ish), High quality, Good placement (especially into other Canadian schools), decent funding available

*It's a lot easier to get into these programs if you're a Canadian citizen

 

UofT, UBC, Queens and Western are the big four. Western offers a PhD steam but in general every program listed will allow students to take PhD core classes if they're deemed qualified. I personally elected to attend UofT because it's easier to find a private sector job given the location. If you want a government job then Queens is definitely the place to go. More information can be found on Urch about these programs, just know that a strong performance in any of these universities will send a great signal to adcoms - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 20 W/funding.

 

McGill, McMasters, SFU, Other? are outside of the top 4 but they're still good programs nonetheless. Personally I find that SFU is very generous with their funding and honestly places pretty well in Canada. The MA programs offered at these school seems to be great ROI wise but may fall a little flat in terms of adcom signaling - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 50 W/funding

American MA programs - Expensive, Can be high quality, More terminal in nature, funding is suspect

 

My knowledge is somewhat limited on these but from what I do know it seems like Duke is a top choice (I mean the average Q score here is 169). If you got tens of thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket and the mental fortitude to handle the program then Duke is a great choice - As evident by their placements. - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 15

 

Other American programs can be good but it'll depend on your field of study, for example Yale apparently has an excellent MA program for international development but that might not be your interest. Value wise, the University of Cincinnati has an MA program that is often overlooked as it places 70% of its grads in high paying jobs at great companies before they even graduate.

Oh and I guess Wisconsin has a good MA program but I got rejected there so we're not going to talk about that.

 

UK MA programs - Pretty good, maybe, I don't know

 

My knowledge on this matter is limited, and I limited I mean near nonexistent. Somebody help. Please.

 

But from what I do know, Cambridge offers a great program, The London School of Economics has a fantastic placement record and by all accounts a strong performance from these schools can get you into top 10 programs.

 

 

Anyway I hoped that helped. I was going to attempt to cover French MA programs but I figured "Does OP really seem like the type of guy who'd want to live in France?" and I came to the conclusion of no.

 

Best of luck man

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What do you think about BU's econ master? Is it comparable to Duke's/Madison's econ master?

Alright so I'm sure other people are more qualified to answer this question...... but since no one is doing so, despite it having nearly 250 views, I thought I'd give it a go.

 

Canadian MA programs - Cheap(ish), High quality, Good placement (especially into other Canadian schools), decent funding available

*It's a lot easier to get into these programs if you're a Canadian citizen

 

UofT, UBC, Queens and Western are the big four. Western offers a PhD steam but in general every program listed will allow students to take PhD core classes if they're deemed qualified. I personally elected to attend UofT because it's easier to find a private sector job given the location. If you want a government job then Queens is definitely the place to go. More information can be found on Urch about these programs, just know that a strong performance in any of these universities will send a great signal to adcoms - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 20 W/funding.

 

McGill, McMasters, SFU, Other? are outside of the top 4 but they're still good programs nonetheless. Personally I find that SFU is very generous with their funding and honestly places pretty well in Canada. The MA programs offered at these school seems to be great ROI wise but may fall a little flat in terms of adcom signaling - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 50 W/funding

American MA programs - Expensive, Can be high quality, More terminal in nature, funding is suspect

 

My knowledge is somewhat limited on these but from what I do know it seems like Duke is a top choice (I mean the average Q score here is 169). If you got tens of thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket and the mental fortitude to handle the program then Duke is a great choice - As evident by their placements. - Reasonable PhD expectation: Top 15

 

Other American programs can be good but it'll depend on your field of study, for example Yale apparently has an excellent MA program for international development but that might not be your interest. Value wise, the University of Cincinnati has an MA program that is often overlooked as it places 70% of its grads in high paying jobs at great companies before they even graduate.

Oh and I guess Wisconsin has a good MA program but I got rejected there so we're not going to talk about that.

 

UK MA programs - Pretty good, maybe, I don't know

 

My knowledge on this matter is limited, and I limited I mean near nonexistent. Somebody help. Please.

 

But from what I do know, Cambridge offers a great program, The London School of Economics has a fantastic placement record and by all accounts a strong performance from these schools can get you into top 10 programs.

 

 

Anyway I hoped that helped. I was going to attempt to cover French MA programs but I figured "Does OP really seem like the type of guy who'd want to live in France?" and I came to the conclusion of no.

 

Best of luck man

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Tufts vs BU. If BU significantly better than Tufts? For me, the only reason to go Tufts over BU is because of the funding packages. What do you think?
Take a look at Tufts University near Boston. The average funding package covers about half of tuition, but the top applicants can receive much more than that. Plus two of their better students this year received funded offers from Cornell and Maryland.
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I think placement-wise, LSE's EME program is much better than all other programs.

 

For US programs, I think Columbia recently started an econ masters program. I don't think they' had many cohorts yet, so not sure what their placement looks like. But I'd suspect it to grow in reputation over the next couple of years?

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There have been posts on this forum to the effect of saying that Columbia's masters programs are just money-makers for unknowing Chinese students who see "Columbia" and press buy. If I am remembering this correctly, then it is the case that Columbia comes out with a new masters degree every few years.

 

I could be wrong, but in case none of the elders of the forum come to this thread, I wanted to throw this out there.

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There have been posts on this forum to the effect of saying that Columbia's masters programs are just money-makers for unknowing Chinese students who see "Columbia" and press buy. If I am remembering this correctly, then it is the case that Columbia comes out with a new masters degree every few years.

 

I could be wrong, but in case none of the elders of the forum come to this thread, I wanted to throw this out there.

 

This might be true that Columbia has started a money-maker program, but it's still Columbia. Someone that is top of this program should have a chance to place at a top 20 program (much like BU, Tufts, Duke or NYU).

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In Europe,

 

PSE, LSE, Oxford, Boconni, CMEFI are big names. I can't speak for other schools although I am sure there are a few more in Europe that have good reputation depending on sub field of economics. LSE is a gigantic institution that supports every type of economcis fields. PSE specializes in many fields but they are popular for applied macroeconomics and public economics. Each year PSE's reputation is rising. Oxford is just a popular name. Boconni is strong with micro,macro theory. CMEFI is a small elite institution that supports individual students quite well. Their average placement record is probably the strongest in all Europe.

If you are the very top student, then choose PSE or LSE. If you manage to stand out among these stellar grad students, then you will easily place at top schools, and by this I mean Harvard, MIT, Chicago, UC Berkely and so on.

If you are a decent student, then Oxford or CMEFI. Their average placements are really decent. I just simply don't know if these schools have top researchers today.

If you like theory in general, then Boconni.

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There have been posts on this forum to the effect of saying that Columbia's masters programs are just money-makers for unknowing Chinese students who see "Columbia" and press buy. If I am remembering this correctly, then it is the case that Columbia comes out with a new masters degree every few years.

 

I could be wrong, but in case none of the elders of the forum come to this thread, I wanted to throw this out there.

 

I agree that many Master's programs at Columbia generally are perceived by many as more of a revenue source for the university (specially from international students who heavily make up these programs), but I think that's a bit unfair to say particularly of the Econ program, which is ​after all housed within a top 10 PhD department. Also to kingofloss6's point, while this is purely anecdotal, throughout a couple of visit days at top 15 and even top 5 programs I saw quite a few people who were currently in the Master's program at Columbia so at least for now it seems to be placing people well (or at the very least not preventing very good placements that would have happened on the strengths of the rest of the candidates' backgrounds) from among those who actually want a PhD program placement.

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  • 1 month later...

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but what's the general consensus on how competitive top US Masters Econ programs are compared to Phds ranked, say 25-50, or 50-75? Particularly for someone considering a Masters to bolster apps to Phds. Tufts, Duke, BU, Madison were mentioned on here.

 

I would imagine masters applicants generally have something lacking on their profile if they intend to eventually apply to Phds. Assuming a strong math background/GREs, then perhaps a low ranked undergrad, weak letters, no research experience, etc? Do these top masters programs consider such applicants? Do they discriminate on whether applicants intend to apply to Phds or work after?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
In Europe,

 

PSE, LSE, Oxford, Boconni, CMEFI are big names. I can't speak for other schools although I am sure there are a few more in Europe that have good reputation depending on sub field of economics. LSE is a gigantic institution that supports every type of economcis fields. PSE specializes in many fields but they are popular for applied macroeconomics and public economics. Each year PSE's reputation is rising. Oxford is just a popular name. Boconni is strong with micro,macro theory. CMEFI is a small elite institution that supports individual students quite well. Their average placement record is probably the strongest in all Europe.

If you are the very top student, then choose PSE or LSE. If you manage to stand out among these stellar grad students, then you will easily place at top schools, and by this I mean Harvard, MIT, Chicago, UC Berkely and so on.

If you are a decent student, then Oxford or CMEFI. Their average placements are really decent. I just simply don't know if these schools have top researchers today.

If you like theory in general, then Boconni.

 

 

I'm actually starting to look into French schools. Does anyone have any thoughts on the masters of economics from Sciences Po? Or is PSE the absolute best choose in France (and Europe in general with LSE)?

 

I noticed that these programs are taught in English. As a native English speaker with little French experience, would there be any sort of language barrier academically?

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  • 4 weeks later...
I'm actually starting to look into French schools. Does anyone have any thoughts on the masters of economics from Sciences Po? Or is PSE the absolute best choose in France (and Europe in general with LSE)?

 

I noticed that these programs are taught in English. As a native English speaker with little French experience, would there be any sort of language barrier academically?

 

 

Economics courses are taught in English at Sciences Po, so I can't imagine that there would be that much of a barrier, but you will probably find it useful if you can pick up some French skills while you're there. I don't think that Sciences Po's MA Economics program is particularly highly ranked, but they have a combined MA in Public Policy/Economics with LSE (i.e., 1 year of Public Policy and 1 year of Econ) that I've heard good things about if you're interested in that field and have 2 years and some money to spend.

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