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You definitely have a shot at Cambridge. Someone on this forum got accepted into their Diploma/MPhil with the requirement that they maintained a 1.5 at their German university. I have the same condition for going to their DPhil program. I also think that your GRE is fine. You just need to be prepared for the fact that they may send you into their diploma program as the MPhil is only one year. Oxford may be a little harder to get into but still definitely worth applying. Good luck.

For overall department strength, LSE wins. I think in terms of overall econometrics Cambridge wins out (especially given that Oliver Linton will switch to Cambridge later in the year). For time series it is a little harder. It really depends on what sort of work you want to do. It is really Hidalgo and Robinson vs Harvey and Pesaran. Harvey will probably retire in a few years so you would have to consider that (not really sure if that also applies to some of the others). I think the best option giving that you are doing the masters is to go LSE as that will still give you the option of going directly into either PhD program. If you do Cambridge MPhil and decide to switch, you will still have to do the MRes at the LSE.

Just to provide another data point. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.Bus with first class Hons with majors in Fin and Econ – (mid range) Australian Uni Undergrad GPA: 5.5/7 in Bachelor, 6.9/7 in Honours year Type of Grad: M.App Econometrics – (one of the better) Aust Uni Grad GPA: 6.8/7 – Ranked 1st in graduating class Type of Grad: M.Sc Econ (decent) German Uni Grad GPA: approx 1.5 for first year on 5 point scale (1 best, 5 worst). Ranked highly in most classes. GRE: 800Q 580V 5W Math Courses: Non-US student and don’t have much here. Graduate Math for Econ (A), Stats (B) and a bunch of econometrics. Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD Macro II (A), PhD Econometrics I (A), Macro (A), Micro (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Labour Macro (A), Financial Econ (A). Will take Micro I, Micro II, Macro II, Metrics II at a PhD level before finishing Masters. Have taken a bunch of theoretical and applied econometrics courses at a Masters level (all A’s). Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Econ (B,B), Intermediate Micro and Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A), and a couple of others (A’s). Other Courses: A bunch of finance courses at undergrad and grad level Letters of Recommendation: All publish well, one Harvard PhD who has some name recognition. Should all be strong (one can talk about a thesis I have done). Research Experience: Honours thesis on empirical asset pricing. Masters thesis on estimation with weak instruments (paper in progress but not submitted). Currently working on another paper with a Post-doc based on an idea I came up with on volatility forecasting. Don’t have anything published but there is a bit for my LORs and I to talk about. Teaching Experience: 2nd year Finance tutorials. Research Interests: Econometrics and macroeconometrics. SOP: Usual stuff, try and highlight the good stuff and defend the bad. Concerns: Don’t have any stellar maths classes to establish technical skills. There are some weaker grades in there. While the Aust A’s are mostly High Dist’s a couple of the German A’s sound a little less impressive (eg – do the 2.0’s actually look like A’s). Other: Worked for a few years in finance but realise that has no value beyond me simply making a well informed decision. Applied to: PhD Programs Accepted Cambridge (??), UCL($) Rejected Oxford, LSE, Queen Mary Attending Cambridge Notes: - Delayed in being allocated a supervisor at Cambridge which meant that I wasn't considered for funding (I was only eligible for the various overseas trusts), so I dont know how I could have gone here. - UCL offered some funding first year with teaching afterwards but not enough to cover international student fees + living expenses - I was also considered for both the Oxford and LSE master programs after being rejected for the PhDs but was also turned down from those. - All in all a mixed bag that resulted in me getting my first choice but no funding. I will find a way to make it work though.

I spoke to someone at the admissions department at UCL and they said that they hadn't heard back yet. He also said it was not uncommon for the research degrees to take a little longer than expected. He gave me the number of someone at the department and suggested giving her a call to confirm but she wasn't answering her phone. On a different note, am I the only person on the forum to have applied directly to Cambridge DPhil?? I still haven't heard back.

Is anyone else still waiting on this? Anyone already heard back? Does anyone have an idea when answers can be expected? Cheers

A few points. - There is a rumour (from a reliable source) floating around Berlin that Lütkepohl might be going back to HU. If you have time to wait to see if it happens then it is something to consider, otherwise you should look elsewhere unless you are interested in financial econometrics. - A few other places to apply would be Aarhus in Denmark, Cambridge and the LSE. - As for the work experience, it isnt something you need to do in order to produce relevant work. The likes of Pagan who are definitely worthy of admiration didnt take that path and still produce relevant research. I believe that if you follow an academic route that you will have sufficient contact with people who are working in the field (at conferences and the like) that you will garner enough of an understanding of what they do and how they do it. Having said that, the experience couldn't hurt and might well turn out to be useful (although it wont help your applications).

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I am just seeking a little guidance as to what sort of programs my profile would give me a shot at. I realise that most people here are either from the US or more familiar with that sort of grading so I have given the individual grades according to the basic WES conversion (D-HD and 2.5-1.0 = A). However, the GPAs are in the Australian and German scales. Thanks for your help. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.Bus with first class Hons with majors in Fin and Econ – (mid range) Australian Uni Undergrad GPA: 5.5/7 in Bachelor, 6.9/7 in Honours year Type of Grad: M.App Econometrics – (one of the better) Aust Uni Grad GPA: 6.8/7 – Ranked 1st in graduating class Type of Grad: M.Sc Econ (decent) German Uni Grad GPA: approx1.6 for first year on 5 point scale (1 best, 5 worst). Ranking unknown – perhaps top five in my class (will check this). GRE: Not taken, assume 780Q Math Courses: Non-US student and don’t have much here. Graduate Math for Econ (A), Stats (B) and a bunch of econometrics. Will take Multivariate stats and Stochastic Processes/Quant Finance next semester. Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD Macro II (A), PhD Econometrics I (A), Macro (A), Micro (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A), Labour Macro (A), Financial Econ (A). Will take Micro I, Micro II, Macro II, Metrics II at a PhD level before finishing Masters. Have taken a bunch of theoretical and applied econometrics courses at a Masters level (all A’s). Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Econ (B,B), Intermediate Micro and Macro (A,A), Econometrics (A), and a couple of others (A’s). Other Courses: A bunch of finance courses at undergrad and grad level Letters of Recommendation: All publish in good journals but not particularly well known. PhDs from Southhampton, Konstanz and Oxford. Should all be strong (they can talk about research projects/thesis I have done). Research Experience: Honours thesis on empirical asset pricing. Masters thesis on estimation with weak instruments (paper in progress but not submitted). Currently working on another paper with a Post-doc based on an idea I came up with on volatility forecasting. Don’t have anything published but there is a bit for my LORs and I to talk about. Teaching Experience: 2nd year Finance tutorials. Research Interests: Econometrics and macroeconometrics (Perhaps a little applied macro). SOP: Usual stuff, try and highlight the good stuff and defend the bad. Concerns: Don’t have any stellar maths classes to establish technical skills. There are some weaker grades in there. While the Aust A’s are mostly High Dist’s a couple of the German A’s sound a little less impressive (eg – do the 2.0’s actually look like A’s). Other: Worked for a few years in finance but realise that has no value beyond me simply making a well informed decision. Applying to: I am co-ordinating with my girlfriend and have largely pinned it down to England, but might also apply to a few places in the US just to see what comes up. Cities would be London, NY, Boston and Washington. Based on that I am thinking the following PhD programs; Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, UCL, Birbeck College, Boston College, BU, NYU, Columbia and Georgetown. I would really appreciate some feedback on these particular places as well as the sort of level I should be aiming for. Any further suggestions about where to apply would also be more than welcome. Thanks.

I would have to disagree with the earlier post and say that your lack formal maths classes does not mean that you are totally unqualified. It is not at all uncommon for students outside of the US to lack such classes as it is often not possible to take them within an econ degree. The fact that you have taken some PhD classes will be helpful as they demonstrate that you have acquired the necessary background (although it is a bit of a shame you didnt get an A in micro). In terms of where would be suitable to apply, I am afraid I am not sure. Take a look at some of the profile and result threads and try and find some similar profiles, I am sure there will be a few around.

I am wondering if getting into Cambridge and Oxford (PhD, not MPhil) is harder than getting into other departments of a similar standard due to their general prestige. More specifically, according to econphd.net rankings (a little old now I know) Cambridge is ranked 39th overall. Would it be as difficult to gain admission to this program as Penn State which is ranked 38th, or would it be more difficult due to the name recognition and prestige of Cambridge drawing in more applicants than the likes of Penn State and Carnegie Mellon? Thanks

I only applied to the masters program at Humboldt and got an acceptence email a few weeks ago.

I was wondering what level of knowledge of optimisation is generally assumed when entering grad school. Is it assumed that you have already seen dynamic programming and optimal control theory and therefore just need a refresher and perhaps some more depth? Alternatively is it merely assumed that you know enough maths to learn the stuff from scratch pretty quickly? I understand the expectation will vary between departments, countries and continents so I would be glad to hear what the situation is everywhere. Thanks

nikopol, I havent heard that. I hope there is some basis to it but it and that the econ department can start retaining some of there top researchers.

I spoke to a Prof of mine the other day who has a well informed opinion on the matter. He is currently teaching in Australia, previously the US (PhD at Berkeley) and has had a couple of stints in Germany and so knows the system quite well. He suggested that there is a big difference between doing a Masters and PhD in Germany. He said that if you are a non-German entering the Job market with German PhD it can be difficult as the German universities prefer native Germans (partly due to the language, etc) and universities in places like the US, Australia and the UK have a small bias against German PhDs. This is not to say that you have little chance in either direction, merely that there is a small bias against you. For this reason he said he would suggest looking at other options for a PhD. Alternatively, he suggested that it is not as important for Masters degree as long as you are going to university that is well known (eg Berlin, Bonn, etc). It is known that these programs will provide good training, that decent research is being done there and that LORs coming from Profs there will be well informed. With that said, I don’t believe he was denying the additional strength of a program like the LSE EME or the QEM in Paris, he was merely saying that if you do well in a well known German masters program you shouldn’t have your options limited when applying for a PhD. As a side note, some of you will be surprised by him mentioning Berlin so often when no one else has anything to say about it. It is because I will be joining the Masters program there later this year.

You could also consider some european masters programs if you were feeling adventurous. Places like Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France have programs taught in English with funding available. Somewhere like Goethe could be really good given the universities ties with both the public and private sectors (could be useful for internships and the masters thesis). While this particular program might not offer funding, you could apply for a DAAD scholarship which could definitely be within reach for you.