the_iceman

Thanks for the advice guys - and especially reactor for his brutaly honest 2 cents! As it stands I'm drifting farther away from going to Warwick and instead apply for fall 09 admissions in better MSc programmes. I'll probably ask your advice come application time - if I actually end up going to warwick i'll remember to post my thoughts here at TM!

Hi everybody, This is my first post here, but i've read the threads for some time. I have a question about the Warwick masters degree and whether it makes for good preparation for getting into a good US PhD programme. Long story made short, I applied for a couple of masters degrees in the UK this spring and Warwick (and York) were the best I was accepted into (no declines). I was too late to apply for LSE and University College and hadn't taken the GRE test so I was also too late to apply to UPF and Amsterdam for example (I realise this sounds awful, but I had my reasons). To give you some background: I completed my BSc degree at the best economics school in my country (non-eu) and was among the top 10%. I have solid grades and am certain that I will be able to get at least 780 on the GRE-test. I think my LoRs are good (nothing spectacular though) and I've been out of school for 2 years, working as an analyst. My main interest ly in public economics, labour economics and behavioral economics. My questions would be: 1) Should I take the Warwick masters degree this fall or wait for one year and try to get into some better schools to increase my chances of getting into a solid PhD programme in the US? I was rather inclined to go to Warwick this fall, but after reading some of the threads here I'm not so sure, as Warwick has been described as a second tier school and at a dreadful location. 2) At the risk of sounding cocky and unrealistic, I think I would be able to do well in the Warwick programme - wouldn't it be better to be among the top 10% in a 2nd tier school than a mediocre student in a 1st tier school (i.e. LSE)? 3) Berkeley would be my absolute first choice in the US - do I have any chance of getting into the PhD programme there with a BSc degree from an unknown university (albeit the best in my country) and a masters from Warwick? Should I rather wait the year and try my luck getting into a better school?