mlc27

Thanks all for your advice! I am asking mostly for Masters programs, but also LSE's MRes/PhD which allows for direct admission. I was wondering if anyone had any insights on the likelihood of funding for Masters (except LSE MSc) and the PhD. Once again, any advice is much appreciated

Hey, thanks so much in advance. I'm a UK student looking to apply this round for UK Masters/PhD programmes. So far, I'm considering Cambridge MPhil Econ Research, Oxford MPhil Econ, LSE MSc Econ and LSE MRes/PhD. Any honest feedback on prospects or other options including funding (except for LSE MSc) would be greatly appreciated! Interested in research in development and political economy mostly. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA Economics, Cambridge University, UK - currently going into 3rd year so just have 2 years of exam results Undergrad GPA: 1st Class in 5/5 papers (1st Year), 1st Class in econometrics project (2nd year), no 2nd year exams due to Covid but 1st Class in 3/3 mock exams. GRE: 170Q/157V/6.0W Math Courses (list the grades for each course): Mathematics and Statistics - first year course in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, statistical inference (1st Class) Mathematics and Statistics - second year course in static, dynamic optimisation, further linear algebra, set theoretic probability, inference, Bayesian methods (No exam due to covid, not even mock exam) Econ Courses Undergrad (list the grades for each course): Intermediate micro - first year (1st Class) Intermediate macro - first year (1st Class) Economic history (1st class) Game theory - second year (no exam, 1st Class in mock exam) Intermediate macro - second year (no exam, 1st Class in mock exam) Intermediate econometrics - second year (1st Class in coursework, no exam but 1st Class in mock exam) Other Courses: Politics and Social Aspects of Economics (1st Class) Letters of Recommendation: 1 from RA, relatively young researcher 1 from supervisor, fairly established 1 from supervisor and lecturer, fairly established Research Experience: 2 month summer RA (not a formal RA setup, just did some data-based work for a professor at my Cambridge college) Did an undergraduate research project in development studies part time during my first year. Tried to write an applied theory paper (still very early stage working paper) in first year, but without supervision. Other (Notes, concerns etc.): Self-assessment: Weaknesses: My main concern is the lack of second year exams due to covid. In particular, no formal maths course beyond multivariable calculus and linear algebra level stuff. I haven't done any formal pre-doc RA either because I've just finished my 2nd year. Any insights as to how this may affect my application are greatly appreciated! I'm looking to stay in the UK for PhD and so LSE is obviously the best option, and they're the only one with a direct application from undergrad so I thought I'd give it a try while I'm also applying to their Masters. Any advice about where I should think about applying too would be amazing as well. Strengths: Quite good grades in first year. Good Quant GRE.

Your grades look excellent, especially if you're averaging 80+ which is a very high First. Your maths prep is very strong, and econ prep is good having done intermediate courses. I think you should work on maybe trying to get a research assistantship for a year or so before applying for PhD programs, or you could do a Masters at LSE/UCL/Oxford/Cambridge etc to further strengthen your application and give you more time to get useful references. With your grades though, I think you would be competitive for the top 10.

It depends on what your purpose of ranking departments is. As an aspiring PhD student, the best rankings are probably the RePEc rankings for graduate prospects since the rankings here are/should be highly correlated with placement: Economic Institution Rankings | IDEAS/RePEc (Overall) Economic Institution Rankings | IDEAS/RePEc (Last 10 years, probably more representative of recent placement) For overall faculty quality, the RePEc rankings of institutions by fields are good. Similarly, the Tilburg Ranking is good as an overall indicator (you can play around with years to see most recent/longer term trends etc): Tilburg University Economics Ranking - Tilburg University

1) If every average rating is an arithmetic mean, it means that the total is the (number of travel agents)*(mean score). So in reliability, airline A has a total rating of 780, B has 750 and C 490, adding to 2020. In promptness, they add to 1750. Therefore, we see that reliability ranking totals exceed those for promptness by 270, which is approximately 250. 2) So there are 21 coins. Nickels are worth 0.05 dollars, and quarters 0.25. So letting the number of nickels be n and the number of quarters be q, we must have 0.05n+0.25q=3.05 and n+q=21. Solve these equations by substitution - you should find that n=11, q=10 so the number of nickels is greater. 3) So both faculties have the same number of staff. Let's call this number x. The number of male faculty at school A is 2x/5 and the number of female faculty at school B is 4x/9. Clearly for all x, 4x/9 is bigger than 2x/5 and so the number of female faculty at school B is greater.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone was familiar with these two programmes at the LSE? I had two main questions (I'm an undergraduate hoping to apply to these programmes later this year): 1) Is the difference between the MSc Econ and MSc EME very significant in terms of technical material. For example, you can choose the same optional module in both courses but the core micro, macro and econometrics courses are different. I've heard EC484 Econometric Analysis is particularly challenging, but are any of the other courses (micro or macro) that different from the MSc Econ ones? 2) LSE's current policy is that students who get a Distinction in either the MSc Econ or MSc EME are permitted to continue directly to the PhD. Is anyone aware of the situation with regards to funding for this? Does a separate funding application need to be made? And is the continuation to the PhD with guaranteed funding or not? If not, does rank compared to your cohort in the MSc influence your chance of securing funding? Many thanks in advance!

This ranking should give you a good indication from the perspective of faculty: Economics Field Rankings: Positive Political Economics | IDEAS/RePEc

I am currently in the first year studying for a 3-year undergraduate degree in economics at Cambridge University. I am aspiring to study at a top 5 Ph.D. programme in economics in the US. From my knowledge, Cambridge has admitted very few students to US Ph.D programs straight from the undergraduate degree. I feel that this is partly due to a lack of applicants though, since very few students seem to intend to pursue an academic career. The level of mathematics in the degree is mainly covered through a year-long Mathematics and Statistics course in both the first year and second year. We have year-long econometrics courses in both the second and third year. Hence, the most mathematically rigorous combination of subjects I can study throughout the three years is: Year 1 (all 5 compulsory - no optional modules) - Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Mathematics and Statistics, Political and Social Aspects, Economic History Year 2 - Microeconomics (compulsory), Macroeconomics (compulsory), Econometrics (compulsory), Mathematics and Statistics (optional) Year 3 - Microeconomics (compulsory), Macroeconomics (compulsory), 7500 word dissertation (compulsory), Econometrics (optional), Further Micro Theory (optional) The main problem about applying straight from undergraduate is that I would need to apply for Ph.D programmes by the end of the second year/beginning of third year, meaning that my grades from the more mathematical modules will not be available to Ph.D. programmes. Also, since I'd be applying between my second and third years, I would need research assistantship experience hopefully between first and second year. However, there are no official opportunities for this kind of research in my economics department. And I'm unsure as to how to go about obtaining research experience. Especially since research assistantships are the best way to demonstrate aptitude for your letters of recommendation. Any advice for my current studies, research opportunities or further study would be much appreciated.