Thank you both for the feedback on each of the"Big 4" programs. I completely overlooked the fact that at UBC, U ofT, & Queen's you get to select courses that are in-line with yourinterests, whereas at Western, the course selections are predetermined.
Congratson your acceptance to UBC sevet! Do you have any more insight on Western's MAprogram? Does the guy from your program (headed to Western) plan on doing hisPhD there as well? Or, is he thinking of applying elsewhere or heading to thejob market after receiving the MA?
Fromwhat I've gathered on these forums, it seems that from all the "Big4" schools, along with McMaster, Waterloo, and SFU, it doesn't matterwhich program you attend, you should have some good public & private sectoremployment opportunities. With this in mind, I would like to attend the programthat would give me the best shot at acceptance to a Top 30 US program. I thinkeither Western's PhD Stream MA, or U of T's PhD Stream MA would provide this.However, I do agree that doing superbly well at any of the "Big 4"would most likely result in good offers.
Doesanyone know which "Big 4" programs are best for Microeconomics? I'vecome across threads that discuss schools that are good in Macro, and Metrics,but I haven't found a thread discussing Micro.
Also,does anyone know what the typical funding package looks like for the "Big4" MA programs in Canada?