tangsiuje

If you can pull a decent letter from the prof you're currently doing the research with, I think you have a decent shot at getting admitted to the regular stream MA at UofT (your GRE scores will be very helpful here). You will almost certainly not get admitted to the doctoral stream MA. In the regular stream, you get a teaching assistantship, but this will not even cover your tuition fees (which are very steep as an international student). If this sounds attractive to you, there is no reason not to apply If you want to get admitted to a reasonable PhD program afterwards, you should really work hard enough to pull up your grades to something A-ish. Applying in the fall of the MA program would probably be too rushed, so you may want to look at two-year programs as well.

Don't worry, kevinp123. There are many positive things about doing a PhD in economics, and I don't think I could do anything else. ;) I still think that what I said upthread is true, though. Don't want anyone to enter with too many illusions.

When a student in my class tells me s/he is thinking about doing a PhD in economics and asks for some input, I give a variation on the MAN's very sound advice upthread: only ever consider doing a PhD if the only job you could ever see yourself doing is being an academic. I think that sums it up pretty well: doing a PhD should always be a "last resort". Some reasons: 1. Doing a PhD in economics will never pay off in monetary terms: if you can get into a decent economics PhD program and you are not socially inept, you're presumably smart enough to earn six-figures within a couple of years in the private sector as well. 2. By entering a PhD program with the intention to become an academic economist, you're essentially putting your real life on hold for at least 13 or so years (until tenure). This may be a very real problem, especially if you're a woman. While people who work real jobs get weekends or holidays, you do not. (You may *think* you get these, but you will not be able to really relax because you're still thinking about "work". Some find that drugs help here.) 3. A very large chunk of economics research is utterly useless (for any purpose), and will only be read by other academic economists, or by no one at all (perhaps with the exception of the referee at the third-tier journal). On the few occassions that an academic economist actually comes up with something useful ("policy relevant"), the idea will never get implemented in practice (because the political process efficiently ensures that most economic incentives are appropriately distorted). There are some good sides to doing a PhD in economics too, but these can outweigh the bad things only if the only job you could ever see yourself doing is being an academic (you sort of need lexicographic preferences), so there is no reason to go into the specifics. Re the "academic freedom", this may be true after tenure (when most people just stop publishing anyway -- realizing the pointlessness of the game), but not before: the economics profession is very judgemental about what kind of research is "high quality" or "interesting", so you had better adhere.

It used to be very straightforward, but given the changes last summer, I have yet to find a single category I'd personally be eligible for. It's still very easy if you (1) marry a Canadian (or a person of random nationality who qualifies under one of the many immigrant worker classes), or (2) apply after graduation (it's also very easy to get a longish work permit after graduation while the application is processed, or indefinitely if you don't want PR)

Given who's in charge of extending the offers, had you honestly expected otherwise? ;)

I was going to ask how come I never get to meet with admitees. I would be so nice and certainly not scare anyone away! :D But then I realized this is almost certainly yet another (I'm keeping count) piece of evidence for my hypothesis that you are the absolute favourite of the one whose name must not be mentioned. (Yes, I do check in every two days to pick on what you wrote in this thread.)

If this is true, I'd bet the "first round" was not particularly large: only a select, most desired few. ;) In my year, Canuckonomist was probably among the first (and please, a necessary condition for a leap year is that it's even). The week after that, some other Canadian students I happen to know received offers. A deep search of my mailbox reveals I obtained my offer on March 15. Obviously, I'm still alive and kicking, and wouldn't consider myself notably weaker than the kids with early offers. :p The only pattern I've managed to tease out is that the first offers tend to be given to Canadian students. There is a quota for unfunded international students (because they're so much more expensive to the department).

I will comment mainly on the Toronto side, since that's what I know. 1. Don't take the core MA courses at UofT (they're not that hard, frequently taught by junior profs, and there will be too many people in them). 2. You want to take one of the PhD sequences, and totally ace it. People on here usually recommend that you take micro, but given your interests, I don't see why you shouldn't do macro. First semester is mostly the standard stuff (SLP). It's hard but good, and the class is quite small --- you would have an opportunity to stand out. 3. You also want to take some field courses. Choose carefully. Ask around -- some are geared more towards master's students and some are geared more towards PhD students. 4. UofT has some very good people in macro/monetary. In finance, not so much. 5. Do you actually know the details of the RA offer? RA pay usually ranges from $20 to $30 per hour, so it may be hard to stay afloat if you only work something like 10hrs/week. 6. The usual issues of obtaining LORs after one semester (discussed endlessly on these forums) apply. 7. Estimate carefully the cost of reneging on the UofT offer should something better come along -- is it really that high? (from your post, it seems that it's infinitely high)

Canuckonomist, you're *totally* low-balling this, making it sound as if our department is poor (ehm, I guess it is...). $15k is the UofT guaranteed amount of funding (i.e., what humanities PhDs get), and doesn't even include summer TA-ship. Those of us who -- unlike you -- aren't extraordinary usually land a little north of $20k, excluding tuition.

Actually, since most incoming MA students went to Canadian schools, only a very small proportion of the incoming MA students will have reported their GRE scores. Among individuals who did report scores (international students, a small number or Canadian students with otherwise weak applications), it wouldn't surprise me if the average was 770. However, I don't think this statistic is based on fact, because I simply cannot think of who with access to this information would release it. I think GRE scores can make a difference, at least for MA admissions -- someone in the MA program in my year had a pretty ugly undergraduate record, and probably gained admissions because of his 800/780/6.0 score.

Canuckonomist, you spend way too much time here! (I guess it's good someone is tending the kids...) This question is actually really simple: If you want to do a PhD (at UofT or elsewhere), choose micro. If you want to get a real job, choose metrics. Although a majority of the doctoral stream MAs choose micro, there are usually 2-3 per year choosing metrics. Macro is always strictly dominated.

At UofT, even regular stream students can take PhD level courses. They are discouraged from doing so, but there are a couple of people doing so every year. You need to talk to the graduate coordinator early, because you'll be required to take the math/stat review for PhD/doctoral stream students if you choose to do so. You probably need to provide some convincing arguments, e.g., that you did rigorous undergraduate level coursework. They even encourage students who were admitted to the doctoral stream but received external funding to opt out of taking PhD level courses. As for Nanashi's last comment, I don't know much about UBC. When I took two out of the regular stream theory courses a couple of years ago at UofT, they certainly left a lot to be desired (not anywhere close to the PhD level). They've changed all of the profs since then, however, and I think there has been some improvement. Still, there is a fairly large gap between MA and PhD level coursework, especially in macro and metrics. Oh, and another thing, taking "as many Phd. level courses as I can swallow this upcoming term" is going to be a really bad idea. The median average of first-year PhD students who take micro/macro/metrics simultaneously is usually in the B range (or perhaps B+). Most students entering the PhD program are very talented, and have a very strong record from their masters programs: the profs just don't have an interest in giving everyone high grades, since they know that grades don't matter (as long as you pass). This will of course be problematic if grades do matter to you, e.g., for being admitted to a PhD program later on... So, take one PhD sequence, some interesting elective courses, and please don't don't don't take "as many PhD courses as you can swallow".

I'm not really sure what you mean. Are you saying that you wish to take the comprehensive exams before you start the PhD program...? I can't see why this would not be allowed at UofT: if you wish to forfeit one of your two chances at taking the comprehensive exams before you've even taken the course, I think that would be possible. If you haven't taken the class at UofT, they would most likely attempt to talk you out of it though: it's pretty tough to pass even when you've taken the course, so I can't imagine what it'd be like w/o having taken the course! Really, get in touch with the graduate chair. MA students at UofT who have taken one of the micro/macro sequences (no one has taken macro in the past four years or so) AND intend to continue their PhD studies at UofT usually write the comp in june with the PhD class, and they (of course) don't need to do it in the future.

This is not the case. If you're in the regular stream program, you would get a TA-ship for ~10k per year, but no tuition fee reduction (unless you win some other, named scholarships). I know UBC has the kind of policy you're referring to. UofT does not. The vast majority of Mississauga TA-ships do not require you to go over to the campus every week. Most simply involve marking, and perhaps holding some "virtual" office hours. There are exceptions, though. These are usually but not always given to upper-year students with more flexible schedules.

^ is not true. I recommend you read the department's application website where the programs are described in detail. (You might have mixed it up with UWO, which I think might have a program similar to what you describe.) There are not many people in the department working on trade (but one quite prominent). The field offered is "international economics" rather than "trade", and coursework includes some macro aspects as well. Everyone admitted to the PhD and the PhD stream MA programs are funded by the department unless they have external funding. No one is admitted without funding. The number of starting international students seemed lower last year than in previous years, but I'm not sure to what extent this is actually a result of a change in admissions policy. I also heard an (unverified) rumour that they admitted fewer students this year as part of an effort to retain a greater share (which could of course make admission more difficult).