DerPumuckl

Sorry, just found what I was looking for.

I lived in a major US city and quite frankly - whilst the above is exaggerated - it is true in its basic direction. More extreme inequality, more homeless people, more crime (my public ivy uni had an email system telling you when someone got robbed, happened quite often), etc... . Having said that I enjoyed the US a lot and want to live there again, but certainly not forever. In the end, especially with kids, Europe imo is a much better place to live.

UC Berkeley and UW Madison for MSc students. Four places, but only two are fully funded. For undergraduates (maybe MSc students can apply too) there are exchanges to UW Seattle and UBC. Tuition-waivers are available. The UW Seattle programme has been irregular lately. In Europe, the most interesting exchanges are Warwick, Toulouse, Zürich, UPF and Edinburgh. As for letters, even though he's micro, i'd advise you to get to know Klaus Schmidt. He's been visiting professor at MIT, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, etc... studied in LSE as a postgraduate. His letter could potentially open doors for you.

Does anyone have it and can send it to me via email??? I'd greatly appreciate any help. Pm me and i'll give you my email. Thanks in advance! :)

This report highlights US endowments in 2006. Note that since then Oxbridge has seen a smaller decline due to investment strategies afaik. In 2006 Cambridge had an endowment of 4.1 billion pounds, which is (with the current exchange rate) more than 6 billion dollars, giving it Ranking No. 7, behind MIT but ahead of Columbia. Oxford with 3.9 billion pounds would also be just about ahead of or tie with Columbia. As wiki notes, the operating budgets are hard to find out since Oxbridge get the biggest part of it from the state. For example, wiki says that only 6% of Cambridge's operating budget is from its endowment. I think people are massively underestimating the riches of Oxbridge. http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/2006NES_Listing.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge#Finances

Just to let you guys know - I have declined my funded offer from Tinbergen. It seems like a great programme, but in the end I'll be going to Cambridge because a) I am quite interested in the private sector, b) it is a one year programme and I want to rethink my life after a short timframe and c) I think Cambridge won't reduce my PhD chances dramatically.

When he says UW he means Washington, not Wisconsin I think. For Macro this would be Turnovsky and Eicher afaik.

When I phoned the Graduate School at UBC the person on the other end said that they got tons of complaints about the Econ Department's way of behaving towards applicants. That said, I am sure if I was on the receiving end of thousands of phone calls I'd not always be super-nice.

Interesting discussion. One of my advisors told me to go to UCL over Cambridge. I chose Cambridge because I am not sure of doing a PhD and in the private sector Cambridge is very hard to beat, being one of the most well-reputed universities on the planet. How can the faculty overall be below Top 20 if it is so strong in some very major fields such as growth, micro, public and econometrics??? Are they absent in Macro and other big fields not mentioned? Also why is Cambridge - and its considerable wealth - not doing anything against the decline? What I did hear however is that their Masters is rigorous and very technical - so what is suffering, only placements or their DPhil or what?

Hi, i'm from Germany and did an Research internship at ifo. I am sure you would get at the very least an internship but they pay badly - 400 euros. A full RA might get much more but I'm not sure how many offers they make. Do you speak German btw? Everyone speaks English as well of course! The ifo people are super-chill, just shoot Tina Lange an email and ask. Lange Tina, Ifo Institute, Human Resources Administrator

Undergrad: Top 3 in Germany, BA in Economics Undergrad GPA: 1.45/5.00 (the nearer to 1, the better) Exchange: UW, Seattle Exchange GPA: 3.86/4.00 GRE: 800Q/560V/4.5AWA Math Courses: 2 Math courses for Economists, 2 Statistics Classes, Game Theory Econ Courses: A lot including Micro I & II, Macro I & II as well as Econometrics I & II. Grad courses: None - even though advanced German courses are well above Econ 400 level. Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Profs with PhDs from Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. All should be strong. Research Experience: RA for one Semester (for one of my LoR writers). Teaching Experience: TA for one Semester. Research Interests: International Macroeconomics, Finance. Statement of Purpose: Good. :) Other: Applying for Masters. Concerns: Maybe not good enough grades. RESULTS (Masters only): Acceptances: Cambridge, UCL, Tinbergen ($$$) and Warwick Still waiting for response: SSE, UBC Rejections: LSE, Oxford What would you have done differently? I'm attending Cambridge for my MPhil - very happy! :)

Yes, it's pretty certain. I know UCL/Tinbergen are ranked higher, but the latter is two years and the former quite a bit more expensive. Also, if I do not want to do a PhD, Cambridge has the better name! :) We gonna be classmates Gerter?

Admitted - MPhil Economic Research. :) :) :) :)

When did you guys get your offers? Do you know if I should give up hope if I haven't heard from them yet?

That the Cambridge admissions committee is still looking at my application. Oxford told me that I won't be given an offer. What's your profile if I may ask?

You don't need a research proposal actually. I guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed for my potential admit to Cambridge. :) I emailed them to inform them of my new GPA and then they told me.

I don't think it should be a problem at Mannheim, Bonn or LMU. No idea why your school is saying that......... (pretty sure i know your school ;)). As for offers, I am pretty sure they take them very seriously and they will re-evaluate your offer and see if they want you "enough". Your profile gives me courage... mine is very similar (you can see it on the profiles thread). I applied for the MPhil Economic Research, do you think that it's harder to get into?

Could I ask what your profile is? From those options, I'd take Cambridge (if you're leaning more to non-phd career as I am). If you want to gain a Top 10 PhD admit, go to the LSE.

Hi, just been given a conditional offer by UCL (I phoned them) and since I haven't got the letter yet, I was wondering about the funding situation at UCL. Do they offer any at all to MSc students? Does one have to apply oneself or do they consider everyone? Greetings, DerPumuckl :D

Would you mind sharing your profile? I'm waiting to hear from UCL and its been ages for me. Thanks. :)

What's the chance of receiving funding at UBC if I applied after the first deadline? I think I have a strong profile for the M.A. there but I applied end of february. Or should I ask also, what's the chance of admission? :)

Not sure yet mate. I like the idea of Amsterdam though. :hmm: Can someone tell me when the academic year starts at Tinbergen and more importantly when does it end? Do the compulsory seminars run throughout summer as well or do they end with Block V? Basically I am asking because I would like to do an internship in the summer of 2011. :) For example 01.09.2010 to 01.06.2011???

Undergrad: Top 3 in Germany, BA in Economics Undergrad GPA: 1.45/5.00 (the nearer to 1, the better) Exchange: UW, Seattle Exchange GPA: 3.86/4.00 GRE: 800Q/560V/4.5AWA Math Courses: 2 Math courses for Economists, 2 Statistics Classes, Game Theory Econ Courses: A lot including Micro I & II, Macro I & II as well as Econometrics I & II. Grad courses: None even though advanced German courses are well above Econ 400 level. Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Profs with PhDs from Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. All should be strong. Research Experience: RA for one Semester (my LoR writer). Teaching Experience: TA for one Semester. Research Interests: International Macroeconomics, Finance. Statement of Purpose: Good. :) Other: Applying for Masters. Concerns: Maybe not good enough grades. Applying to: Warwick (accepted), Tinbergen (accepted, $$$), LSE (rejected), Oxford, UCL, UBC, Cambridge and SSE.

Thanks for the reply. So before I send an email to Tinbergen, which university is strong in international economics and macro? And what housing company? Is Tinbergen close to the beautiful "old" part of Amsterdam?

Can anyone (maybe current students) elaborate on this? How hard is the course, what is the attrition rate? The brochure says people who don't manage to do 48 ECTS in the first year drop out? Do people actually fail? How many finance courses can a MPhil Economics do? How do we determine if we live in Amsterdam (my preference) or in Rotterdam? How expensive is housing in Amsterdam if I would like to live in one of the nice old houses on a Gracht Street? Thanks for any answers. [clap]