kondratieff

In general, you should have a look at this and related threads: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/graduate-admissions/138856-toulouse-school-economics-offers-2012-a.html More detailed: 1. I didn't do M1 there, just M2, but judging from my classmates who did, it wasn't easy at all and French professors can be reluctant to give them or to write them detailed enough. 2. If you speak French fluently, it might be possible, not without. Please consider that time is very tight in the TSE programs. I actually think it's not possible to do a part-time job aside. I think you can apply for a "bourse" at the CROUS, kind of a scholarship. There's also Jean-Jacques Laffont Foundation, but I think they don't give grants to M1 students. 3. Rents are not low, but they are subsidized by the state (via an institution called CAF). If you're really really self-controlled with your money, I think 300-400 € a month are enough for daily expenses like food, public transport and so on. This excludes of course meals in (delicious) French restaurants. ;-) 4. See the linked threads. There are for sure better jump boards from Europe into the US than TSE, but they are more costly, of course.

:-D In general: no. Eiffel deadline is gone. The five best students from M1 got a scholarship for M2 plus three new incoming M2 students.

I was unclear: People now get admitted to basically the same schools and programs they were admitted to before going to TSE, but not to better ones. The question for many is now whether the courses from TSE can be taken to other programs, or whether the year has more or less to be considered as lost. For those who got admitted to the US (currently 5 - not that many), I am very sure that TSE didn't matter for their admission, but what they did before - as some of them had applied without having the first grades from TSE. But I guess you have to be here to believe it - good luck. :-)

Do what you have to do. :-) I just say TSE now turned out to be a dead end for a lot of students who cannot continue here and who do not get admitted to comparable other schools, despite the claimed TSE reputation.

This is partly right. In five out of the eight courses you do in the M2, the ECOMATH and the PPD do not differ (Micro 1, Macro 1, Econometrics 1 in first semester, and two out of the three Micro 2, Macro 2, Eco 2 in second semester). I agree that the Ecomath sounds more impressive nevertheless. And if you go for economic theory, I definitely recommend it over the PPD. The PPD has interesting options if you're into development, but their focus is not surprisingly more applied. Option courses as advanced economic theory, advanced econometrics, game theory... can only be taken in Ecomath (maybe some of them also in Finance). Additionally, there are also some development classes that can be taken as options in Ecomath - in fact, it's possible that the Ecomath and PPD course program are identical. A little note: You cannot(!) learn about mathematical methods in class, as this is done in M1 and all teachers in M2 assume you know them.

In addition to the statements of my two TSE classmates in this thread (I totally agree with them), I would like to refer to this thread where some of the mentioned points had already been discussed: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/137908-toulouse-offers-2012-a.html

You're right, Aude is definitely the most committed person at TSE (and also the one with the best English skills...); unfortunately she is not responsible for the master students besides the admission procedures. Don't worry about the nationalities, they are really mixed...though no Irish and only a few British people, which is I think simply due to the fact that they don't have to go to France to find good grad schools.

Yeah, your post pretty much reflects the level of organization at TSE: When you want to do a PhD, you have to choose the doctoral track, as you said. Doctoral track means that no matter to which M2 you are admitted, you have to take Macro 1, Micro 1, Econometrics 1 in the first semester and two out of three (Macro 2, Micro 2, Econometrics 2) in the second semester. As you have to take four courses per semester, this means you have one optional course in the first and two optional courses in the second semester. The choice of your options depends on the master, e.g. people in the IO master will have IO optional classes. EcoMath people have the largest choice, they can even take not very mathematical classes in development. So in the doctoral track, it will not matter that much to which master you have been admitted, as the options are only 3 of your 8 classes in total. Also with regard to the competition for the PhD places, it does not matter from which M2 you are. Regarding your funding issue: Yes, studying in France is cheap (one of the few pros), very cheap, but it definitely comes at a cost: a library with old computers of which 50% don't work, tutorials with more than 30 or 40 people, an understaffed administration that does most things by printed paper. So consider the trade-off. ;-)

If I may give you a little recommendation: If you get accepted to any comparable school else than Toulouse, there is not much of a reason to go to Toulouse instead. I just did the first semester of the Master 2 there and I cannot find many pros. The situation is very unpleasant compared to other grad schools, as about 100 people enter the M2, but only 20-25 will get a PhD placement at the end of the year. So it's likely you will find yourself writing applications again. As these placements are given on the basis of the grades, it does not really create a strong incentive to students to support each other if you get what I mean. Next, if you don't already know a lot and if you don't have the ability to handle a lot, your chances will be small, as exams are designed in a way that only the best can solve them well and the rest gets screwed - that's the French system, also benefiting those who already did the Master 1 there. Teaching quality varies a lot - some lectures were really not well-taught and a lot of the tutorials weren't well-prepared and full of mistakes and unanswered questions. A lot of lectures are cancelled during the semester, then their replacements are packed at the end close to exam session, and there is no brake between lectures and exams. The vast majority of professors does not have office hours, so you have to make an appointment with them every time, which I find quite annoying. Hope that was helpful in a way. ;-)

Institution: European University Institute Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: End of March Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: not my favorite program anyway and a weird application procedure (lost one of my LoR...) Institution: Universitat Pompeu Fabra Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Rejected Notification date: 04/26/2011 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC: no Comments:

Institution: Frankfurt Graduate School of Economics, Finance & Management Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Accepted Notification date: Beginning of March Notified through: e-mail Posted on GC: no Comments: no funding Institution: Toulouse School of Economics Program: M2 Development Economics and Public Policies Decision: Accepted Notification date: 04/21/2011 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC: no Comments: No funding, but nice one.

The migration of European economists is quite a funny process, especially considering that it were mostly German and Austrian economists who migrated to the US some decades ago and made Harvard and other places famous. Now we have to migrate again to get back the knowledge we once sent above. :-) (But well, the situation in Germany and Europe has clearly been improving in the last 10 years)

I don't know about Zürich, but I am quite sure that Bonn and Mannheim are more competitive than Frankfurt. But I don't get the idea behind selecting your PhD program according to the hardness of getting into it. :-)

Hi econinvest, I also got admitted to Frankfurt. My interests clearly differ from yours, but maybe my opinion is nevertheless worth reading: I also thought about applying to Bonn for quite a while, but when I browsed their faculty, I could not find almost any research that was interesting to me (same with Mannheim). They might be the big shot in game theory, experimental and behavioral economics, but that doesn't mean that they rank on every other German program. Btw, according to the latest Tilburg ranking, Bonn ranks no. 1 in Germany, but Frankfurt is no. 3 - not bad at all. So I think it does not make sense to go to a certain place if your interests are not represented there just because the name is great. Regarding the exchange program - I think Frankfurt has good contacts to St. Gallen, where they are also strong in finance.