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Macrojunkie

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  1. Anyone heard back from the RA positions at CBS after the interviews in early June ?
  2. I would strictly recommend not to apply during the MSc year as final grades of the exams and dissertation are only out in November. Firstly, Applying in the same year of enrolment gives no new information to the PhD admissions committee, except the maths and stats result ( which also cant be considered the final grade in that module as students are allowed to retake it in the summer to improve upon their initial score). However, this grade is present in the final transcript. Secondly, students sometimes do manage a recommendation from their personal tutor for applications during the same year as enrolment but the recommendation would only be able to mention your level of motivation and research interests which aren't as crucial as your performance in a particular module, percentile rank and your comparison to previous successful candidates to top PhD programs. Therefore, this holds little relevance. Thirdly, a popular choice followed by students to circumvent this issue is to enrol in the Mres at UCL ( with full/ partial funding but since, you're Non-EU this might happen only if you're exceptionally brilliant) and then apply for top PhD programs during the Mres year with your MSc grades in hand. Lastly, with respect to the issue of recommendations, if you apply after you have your MSc grades recommendations are not an issue at all. Most students would have developed a good reputation with their dissertation supervisor over the summer and some other professors and recommendations are easy to avail unless you have performed very poorly and don't deserve one for the school you are applying to. The MSc program director is very helpful in this respect and the PhD admissions director is available in case you need some guidance too. To conclude, you cant really signal anything new during your MSc year (except your potential that lead to your admission in the MSc program). This might not be a problem if you're aiming for very low ranked PhD programs but will definitely not be favourable for a top PhD application. Also, top students (top percentile) in the UCL MSc programs got rejections when they applied in the top 20- US PhD programs in their MSc year but were accepted to such programs after again applying in the MRes year with their MSc grades in hand,
  3. Well, Columbia starts its MA Economics course this year which will be good competition for NYU's MA Economics program. For one year MA courses these two look the hardest to get into however, the course structure, content and emphasis is slightly different for both courses.
  4. Try Barcelona GSE MSc Economics and UCL MSc Economics. As for the ones mentioned by you NYU looks slightly hard to get into but since you already have a Masters it might compensate for the low GRE quant score. Either way all the options mentioned by you look realistic in terms of probable offers. Good Luck.
  5. I think that you have an excellent profile and adding a reputed international dimension to it would increase your chances for getting into a top PhD (*top 30). BSGE MSc economics with funding looks likely provided you manage a quant score in the range of 167+. Also given your exposure to graduate level courses why dont you try for LSE's EME ? At the masters level specialization or the strengths of the school dont matter much, but what matters is how technical the course is and the likelihood of getting top LOR's. Both BGSE MSc Economics (advanced track) and LSE's EME are very rigorous, however I'd rate EME higher. The only advice would be to get a top score in GRE Quant and that should be enough to get you a good masters, after that the focus should be on getting great LOR's and securing a top rank in the Masters program.
  6. Well the course is new, but I'm not sure if it is going to be a feeder to the Columbia PhD (even in the future). The FAQ clearly mentions that progression to its PhD is not automatic, however the program claims to provide excellent preparation for PhD. I hope the last bit is true.
  7. One big positive for the program is that the course listing is very similar to the one offered by Barcelona GSE for its advanced track in MSc Economics. Even BGSE offers taking micro, macro and metrics in each trimester; also Columbia provides the opportunity to write a research paper which BGSE does not. This paper would be an excellent opportunity to showcase research skills for PhD applications. Of course the program at Columbia is damn expensive, but everything at the end depends on who is teaching the course and whether they are at the same level as PhD courses. From what I know, the material being covered in the Mathematics for Economists course is the same as the PhD course and is taught by the same faculty member. Hope other courses are at the same level as well.
  8. I am unable to take a decision and my BGSE deadline is this Thursday. Given I want to specialize in Macroeconomics and that both schools are strong in Macro, my assessment of the situation is as follows. Given the Program/department reputations and the cost benefit analysis, the only reason to choose the MA Economics at Columbia over BGSE would be because of it's brand name (Ivy League) and probable advantage in getting into a top PhD program in the USA. Although I'm not sure about to what extent the Columbia program (with all advanced courses as elective) would give me a better chance vis-a-vis BGSE (Advanced track) in getting into a top PhD. Plus it's their first year as a Masters program. Also I have questions as to what extent the Star Faculty at Columbia would be involved in the MA program. Plus there is another debate about the PhD courses oriented nature of a European masters vis-a-vis a professional bent of an American Masters. I would be grateful for any insights, suggestions and ideas. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
  9. We could make a facebook secret group. I'm interested too.
  10. Not sure about how much funding UCL has, but since non-EU students pay 17k pounds they are much harder to fund. They rather have 4 EU phd's paying 4-5k pounds than a non-EU student. Plus spoke to a current non-EU Mres student who suggested that there is not much funding for Non-EU students which only compounds the issue highlighted earlier. Sad but true.
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