ThatEconGuy

Your PhD level courses don't seem to be PhD level. As an Australian, I don't know of any institution that offers (or allows) grad.dip students to take PhD level courses. Micro II grad.dip courses are usually just undergraduate Intermediate Microeconomics/Macroeconomics with a few extra questions thrown in for the PG students during the final exam and maybe an extra assignment. Are you sure those two courses weren't undergraduate level? The group of eight uni I attend also offers a grad.drip in econ and all of the courses are undergraduate courses but are credited as post-graduate for some reason.

Does anybody have experience with Introduction to Industrial Organization by Luis M.B. Cabral?

I think your profile is quite strong. As previously said, try and get the better LORs. But here's some inspiration for you. Someone from my university (really unknown, just scrapes in the top 100 on SOME lists) did their honours and was accepted by Yale.

I have enrolled in Labour Economics and Industrial Organization this semester and have since found out that the texts we will be using are "Economics of Australian labour Markets" and "Industrial Organization in Australia". The macroeconomics course I have also enrolled in uses the text "Macroeconomics - The Australasian Edition" with Varian and Klein being the non-mandatory supplementary reading. Will using such texts put me at a disadvantage as I am only learning localized theories and studying local events? Should I attempt to find more broad field courses? I am a little concerned that my lecturer has decided not to use Varian and Klein..

I'm only talking about one professor. I can ask for a letter via email next year but I am not sure if they will be contactable since they will be running an NGO in the rural part of a developing country. Hence why I would prefer to have the LOR before they leave but am unsure if this will be acceptable by the adcoms.

A current professor has offered to write me an LOR without me having to ask them. I did outstandingly well in their course and am currently their research assistant. However, this person is leaving the country for good at the end of the year. My question is, will adcoms accept an LOR that has been written two years before the application date? I intend to apply for Ph.D programs in 2012. I only ask because the person offering to write my LOR is a professor in the field I am most interested in, they know me the best, the LOR would be very strong and they are only 1 out of 3 people in my institution's department which has graduated from a top 10 program. Additionally, the university they completed their Ph.D from is the same one that I wish to attend. They are going to a developing country to set up an NGO working in rural areas so I am not too confident how I will be able to secure an LOR from them in two years time.

I was surprised to see recently a lecturer position advertised in the UK with a starting salary of 33,000 pounds. Is that only 10,000 pounds above the average undergraduate wage?

Yeah that doesn't answer my question at all mate. How is your university allowing you to take graduate level courses (grad diploma and masters level) while you're still an undergrad? Which university do you attend? Because I had to research something similiar when a bunch of my courses were discredited and everyone I contacted said that they do not allow undergraduates to take graduate level only units. Lower entry requirement doesn't mean squat. It is still the number 1 economics department in Australasia in term of research, staff and student outcomes (employment, higher placements etc). As you said, the lower requirement is due to its location, not its ranking or ability as a department.

I'm guessing you're from ANU as the only recent top 10 placement I know of is an ANU student going to NYU? Did you do multivariable calc? I thought the standard sequence for math courses here was "intro math A, intro math B" first year, then MVC and analysis during second year. Lastly, how did you gain permission to enrol in grad level math courses during your undergrad? This is strictly against most universities policies (I've had trouble with something similar in the past and did some research). Feel free to PM if you don't wish to make the information public.

Are you sure? I have contacted UNSW and Melbourne asking for their placement records and was told that they do not keep such records. How did you obtain your information?

If you plan to do your finance Phd in Australia, you will need to do your honours. After that, depending on grade, you will have NO problem gaining admission to an Australia finance phd program. If you want to go the econ route, finish your finance B.A, do a graduate certificate in econ and then progress to a one year masters by coursework. This will gain you entry into pretty much any Australian econ Phd granting institution. If you complete your bachelor of finance or econ and do your honours year, you will have a 0.000111% of gaining admission to a top 10 Phd department. If you're from ANU, you'll have a better shot. They're highest placement in the last 3 years is one person to ANU IIRC. But I doubt you are from ANU. If you want to do either Ph.D at a top institution, do your honours year, then progress to a masters, whether in Australia or abroad, then progress to a Ph.D. That would be my advice. Also, why not do further study in your home country?

I think we have a situation..

I would take TA89's advice. I took multivariable calc and DE during the same semester and it only lead to an increased workload and a fair amount of confusion.

Our semester just finished and we have the exam in about 2 weeks. But from their other threads, all the questions they have asked have been word for word with mine so yeah. What a tool lol.

Lol I swear to God this is one of my tutorial questions for development economics this semester. I think the OP is my classmate.. :s

Whilst I haven't taken the MIT DE course, I am currently taking a DE course at the graduate level at a top Australian university. We use Development Economics by Debraj Jay which is a more than suffficient self study text. The course is not metrics heavy but you will be expected to know the basics. We used metrics the most while studying growth theories (Harrod-Domar, Solow etc), trade theories (HO, Ricardian) and insurance. However this may be due to our professor. I would expect MIT's course to be a lot more quantitative. Ray's book is great though and each section will give you sufficient metrics if that's your kind of thing. Is it an interesting field? I would say absolutely but it really depends on what your interests are. If you're more of a micro type of person then you will enjoy things like education, insurance and credit. If you're a macro person you'll enjoy the growth and trade theories. It's not for everyone but I would highly suggest taking it. I was planning to due my thesis on micrometrics and since taking the course, have chosen to go a more DE route. To backtotheUS, at the undergraduate level it would do you good to be familiar with intermediate micro and macro. Metrics can be picked up during the course. For the graduate and Ph.D levels, I will let someone more qualified answer that. However, my intermediate mirco, macro and metrics were suitable.

Is there anyway to extend your degree? I studied abroad and had to take extra classes when I came back to meet the degree requirements. It added another semester onto my degree. However, I had the absolute best time of my life. Sure you may need to work harder and will be stressed in the future, but IMO it's totally worth it. You'll never again be able to travel with 8-10 friends to various countries while learning about theirs and having a place to stay if you are ever in their home nation, all the while being in your very early 20's. Also, couldn't you take some advanced econ courses abroad and get a credit transfer?

Irony is a mother isn't it? If you used the search function you would know that I've already taken RA, without the pre-reqs, and got an A-. So I understand the advantages of taking it in your undergrad but was not aware that you could also take it during your graduate studies. Hence the question. I was not meaning to come off 'snarky' and if I did then I apologize. Quite frankly, if one is going to post "these threads need to seriously stop" without understanding the actual question (IE - not the everyday "should I take it etc) then they will be set straight. As far as I can see, this question has not come up recently (search function = 0, not in the sticky).

Read my post again, think about it, then look at your post. I wasn't asking if I should take it, I was asking what are the advantages of taking it during your undergrad if you have the option to take it during your Ph.D. I also asked if grad RA was a more advanced course. Read the OP and think before posting. Thanks for the contribution though.

I've been looking at a few terminal masters and Ph.D programs and the majority allow students to take RA as an elective after the first year. Unless this is some type of advanced RA, is it necessary for an undergrad to take it in their second or third year in order to be admitted to a decent program? I only ask because RA is heavily favoured on this site to boost your undergrad profile. If someone does not have RA but has multivariable calc etc, will they have the same chance at admission providing everything else is constant?

Yale University Master's Program in International and Development Economics (IDE) and Yale University Master's Program in International and Development Economics (IDE) might give you some information on where previous students have been placed. Seems to do well in the private sector judging by what the site says. Other than that mate I can't help you. Sorry.

Doesn't HK offer something like 30-40k USD funding? That is crazy.

Melbourne Weather • Climate, rainfall and temperatures in Melbourne Australia Generally around 10-15C. Canberra (ANU) is colder. Then add in the wind chill factor and it can get quite cold. However, there is nothing like an Australian summer.

Melbourne (Australia) can experience all four seasons in one day. It gets warm in the summer but is generally around fall temps and gets bloody cold in the winter. Fantastic city though. ACT is generally always cold and I guess the city itself is OK. Nothing special. However, I would forsee you having absolutely no difficultly obtaining funding at either school. Usual funding is 22.5-28k. Either school would provide you with accommodation which will be around 10k p.a. Very live-able.

University of Adelaide, Australian National University. Bit of independent research never hurt anyone.