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Toulouse School of Economics - Offers 2012


economist26

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Hey guys,

 

Just thought I would start a new thread for those students who are planning on attending the TSE this year, since I haven't seen any such thread at all. So, is anybody going there this year?

 

In this regard, how would you rate TSE's programme against Oxford's MPhil or Barcelona GSE's MSc in Economics?

 

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Thanks guys :)

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I did not apply to any of these programs but I did have thought about them earlier. If you wanna do PhD in US I would rate Ox > Barcelona > TSE. But all of them are nice programs. TSE is great in micro and Barcelona is great in macro (all relatively in my opinion) and Ox is a big name and is always useful if you wanna go to industry.

 

So it's all depend on your interest.

 

Congratulaions on your admission and hope you every success in future~

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Hey mate! Thanks a lot for your reply. I'm mainly interested in economic theory/mathematical economics, so in this regard, according to what you say (and many other members as well), TSE trumps the other two. I am of the opinion that this is the case too, although for some reason (which I do not know), my lecturer for micro has a preference for Oxford. If you do not mind my asking, why did you not apply to these programmes? Is it due to the lack of funding, especially at Oxford? Or is it because you found other unis that were better suited to your field of interest?
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I got an offer from TSE last week for the M1. That clearly trumps the QEM offer I got the week before that. Even with the Consortium Scholarship, the QEM tuition is 6000€/year whereas Toulouse is under 1000€/year from what I understand. However, even at Toulouse I would still need a hefty loan for living expenses. Does anyone know how one typically finances student loans in France? I would like to look into this.
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Well, at the TSE, if I'm not mistaken, the tuition fees are €200/400 per year, and I would tend to think that these depend on whether one is in the M1 year or M2. The big problem is definitely living expenses. I got in touch with Aude the other day, and she said you could look into the website of the French Embassy in your country. You'll find all the scholarships that are available to prospective masters students, the descriptions and the eligibility criteria as well. In my case, I am unfortunate enough to being ineligible for all of them. I thus wish the best of luck to all those applying for these various sources of funding.
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Guys, check out CROUS residences (In France, there is a rent subsidy called CAF, even on student residences so you should be able to rent a place in Toulouse for around €200 per month!). Indeed, Aude should have recommended them to you.

 

Use Google translate if you don't yet know French:

Logement | Le Crous Toulouse

 

JerseyGuy: it will be impossible to get a student loan in France without a French gaurantor. In fact, it will be impossible to find a place to rent other than CROUS without a gaurantor!

 

All of those diplomatic scholarships have dissapeared with the ongoing crisis! Bye Bye middle-class socialism....

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Hey guys, related to this topic: does anyone know how difficult/possible is to be accepted to the Ph.D. in Toulouse after pursuing M2?

 

I've heard that 60-70 students are admitted to M2, but there are just 20-30 places for continuing towards the Ph.D. Thus, I imagine a very competitive first year, and not such a good ambiance. Is this true? Are most of the 60-70 admitted M2 students aiming towards the Ph.D.?

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Hey guys, related to this topic: does anyone know how difficult/possible is to be accepted to the Ph.D. in Toulouse after pursuing M2?

 

I've heard that 60-70 students are admitted to M2, but there are just 20-30 places for continuing towards the Ph.D. Thus, I imagine a very competitive first year, and not such a good ambiance. Is this true? Are most of the 60-70 admitted M2 students aiming towards the Ph.D.?

 

Hey man, I'm sorry I do not know much about this issue. However, I have read that the M2 year is supposedly very competitive, with people tending to keep to themselves because they see you as a potential rival. So, as you can see, we have the same information. And no, the majority of students are NOT admitted to the PhD. At most, I would say about a third only. The rate of attrition is therefore quite high.

 

If you feel you can do very well on the M2, which should be the case if you've been offered a place, then I would definitely recommend enrolling into the programme. It is one of the best preparations worldwide before going onto a PhD. I'm sorry I forgot to ask: which M2 programme are you interested in? Because from what I have gathered, it seems that the ECOMATH students have a better chance of getting in.

 

I hope that whatever I have said above helps you in making your mind up. However, you should probably try and get other people's opinions on this issue as well, because I'm not even at Toulouse yet!

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Hey man, I'm sorry I do not know much about this issue. However, I have read that the M2 year is supposedly very competitive, with people tending to keep to themselves because they see you as a potential rival. So, as you can see, we have the same information. And no, the majority of students are NOT admitted to the PhD. At most, I would say about a third only. The rate of attrition is therefore quite high.

 

If you feel you can do very well on the M2, which should be the case if you've been offered a place, then I would definitely recommend enrolling into the programme. It is one of the best preparations worldwide before going onto a PhD. I'm sorry I forgot to ask: which M2 programme are you interested in? Because from what I have gathered, it seems that the ECOMATH students have a better chance of getting in.

 

I hope that whatever I have said above helps you in making your mind up. However, you should probably try and get other people's opinions on this issue as well, because I'm not even at Toulouse yet!

 

First of all, thank you for your post, it was very helpfull. I got an admission to the Ecomath track, but I don't really see how this rises your chances for being admitted to the Ph.D.. I think this track is probably the hardest, and if you compete with students from other (supposedly easier) tracks you should probably be in disadvantage.

 

On the other side, I'd like to know how many of the M2 students are really aiming towards a Ph.D. in Toulouse itself. Personally, I am a older applicant who already has master's studies, thus I don't see myself doing M2 for starting an American Ph.D. program afterwards. My aim in Toulouse would be directly the Ph.D..

 

In other words my question is: ceateris paribus, given the objective of getting the best Ph.D. preparation, would you rather attend M2 at Toulouse and aim to the Ph.D. (eventhough the high attrition rate), or would you rather attend directly a Ph.D. program from a lower ranked American university??

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Tse is not that good, System here sucks. I would recommend you not to come Toulouse.

 

Thanks for the post. It's not the first time that I have heard such negative reviews about the TSE. Would you care to enlighten us mate, please? It's good to know others' opinions, especially people who are already there.

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Classes consist of 50-60 people.(core courses) You learn nothing in the lectures. Teaching quality converges to zero. It's not a joke. The reason of this stems from two fact. 1. class size, 2. (most)professors here don't care about teaching.(some of them are best researchers). Do not come here to get good grades and good recommendation letters if you are not a machine who can deal with everything by oneself and do not care about the inefficient and competitve environment. Being successful is hard here. it is not because of the level of coursework ,but mainly because of the inefficient system,and disorganization.If you come here eventually, you will be surprised by the fact that no one gives you information about anything unless you are forced them to do so. I'm leaving TSE next year, moving to USA for phd. Many people I know are not content with their final decision of coming to TSE. Moreover, If you cannot speak french, this will create a problem in dealing with administrative issues outside the school. Most professors have strong french accent. So, be prepared!
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Hey man, thanks for these specifications. Many of my lecturers have indeed mentioned that the French are very bad at teaching. In fact, as you have stated, they do not even care about the latter. Their main concern is research, for which, however, they are renowned worldwide. I have heard that the environment is not friendly, and that competition is at its fiercest. What you say about the level of inefficiency and disorganisation is a cause for concern. However, if I may add, I did my bachelors from a university where the staff were incompetent to an extent you would not believe, and the lecturers did not give a damn about teaching. So, in a way, I could say that that is how a considerable chunk of my university experience has been so far, and that hopefully, I will not be affected so much by these inadequacies. Still, what you say about people not doing well, not because of the level of the coursework, but mainly due to the system, makes for a saddening read. Thanks for pointing these out mate, I really appreciate your advice. And I do speak French, and fluently so. Do you think that this could prove to be helpful to a great extent? I'm very happy for you that you gained admission to a US university, and I wish you the very best of luck in your future studies mate.
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hey guys,

so i actaully emailed someone from tse about continuation today and they said

60 students in doctoral path, 20 move down to standard path, 10 go to us/other places, and 30-35 are left for phd but only 20-25 can get taken up. so it sounds like... well, like it's going to be a lot of hard work and competition.

honestly this is quite discouraging... what scares me is that i went to a masters that was similar (top half get into phd if they want) and i thought surely, i can make top half if i work hard, but it turned out that, coming from a different country, my preparation was very different from the students who had been there for undergrad as well -- and they were half the program! turned out to be very hard to compete with them and i would hate to see the same thing happen at tse.

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hey guys,

so i actaully emailed someone from tse about continuation today and they said

60 students in doctoral path, 20 move down to standard path, 10 go to us/other places, and 30-35 are left for phd but only 20-25 can get taken up. so it sounds like... well, like it's going to be a lot of hard work and competition.

honestly this is quite discouraging... what scares me is that i went to a masters that was similar (top half get into phd if they want) and i thought surely, i can make top half if i work hard, but it turned out that, coming from a different country, my preparation was very different from the students who had been there for undergrad as well -- and they were half the program! turned out to be very hard to compete with them and i would hate to see the same thing happen at tse.

 

Hiya mate,

 

Thanks for the details. I am very sorry, but I am not sure whether I have correctly understood what you said in the third line above. Please correct me if I am wrong, but is what you tried to get across, the following?

 

Basically, 60 students enrol into the M2 programme. Then, after the M2, 20 students switch to the standard path; about 5-10 others go to the US, which therefore leaves approximately 30-35 candidates for the PhD. However, there are only 20-25 places that are on offer. Is that correct? Could you also please tell me what is the 'standard path'? Are you referring to the other M2 programmes, that is, those apart from the ECOMATH, as the standard path?

 

Well, although it does look hard, a 67-71% (based on what you say) chance of getting into the PhD means that it is perfectly doable. I mean that rate looks very high to me, because from what you say above, almost all of the graduating class gets to enrol into the PhD, which I think is pretty decent, considering how notorious the M2 is. However, as you correctly point out, competing against students who have previously received a solid grounding from that same institution could make things a lot tougher for incoming students, to whom the structure of the programme will be entirely new.

 

So, my advice would be to give it your best shot and not get discouraged, because what is true for one person might not be so for you.

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It depends on your aims. If you want to go to USA after M2, I do not recommend TSE.Why? Let me clarify, TSE does not advertise itself as being a feeder school to top programs in the USA. Instead, they claim that TSE's program is equivalent to USA programs in quality etc. Check CEMFI, it is not that well known, but it has an amazing placement record. There are many other good programs with small class size where you can interact with professors. Edited by gkhn
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It depends on your aims. If you want to go to USA after M2, I do not recommend TSE.Why? Let me clarify, TSE does not advertise itself as being a feeder school to top programs in the USA. Instead, they claim that TSE's program is equivalent to USA programs in quality etc. Check CEMFI, it is not that well known, but it has an amazing placement record. There are many other good programs with small class size where you can interact with professors.

 

Thanks for the post. What you have said about the TSE is true, you're absolutely right. CEMFI has a very good programme, and a very good placement record as well, but I'm afraid that without a scholarship, it could prove to be very expensive. UC3M has, in my opinion, a very strong programme, even stronger than that/those of the Barcelona GSE. However, the only reason why I have not applied to UC3M and CEMFI is that I have not taken the GRE test yet. For all of these programmes, they either put a lot of emphasis on one's GRE scores, or actually require the latter to be sent to them.

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Hiya mate,

 

Thanks for the details. I am very sorry, but I am not sure whether I have correctly understood what you said in the third line above. Please correct me if I am wrong, but is what you tried to get across, the following?

 

Basically, 60 students enrol into the M2 programme. Then, after the M2, 20 students switch to the standard path; about 5-10 others go to the US, which therefore leaves approximately 30-35 candidates for the PhD. However, there are only 20-25 places that are on offer. Is that correct? Could you also please tell me what is the 'standard path'? Are you referring to the other M2 programmes, that is, those apart from the ECOMATH, as the standard path?

 

Well, although it does look hard, a 67-71% (based on what you say) chance of getting into the PhD means that it is perfectly doable. I mean that rate looks very high to me, because from what you say above, almost all of the graduating class gets to enrol into the PhD, which I think is pretty decent, considering how notorious the M2 is. However, as you correctly point out, competing against students who have previously received a solid grounding from that same institution could make things a lot tougher for incoming students, to whom the structure of the programme will be entirely new.

 

So, my advice would be to give it your best shot and not get discouraged, because what is true for one person might not be so for you.

 

Sorry about the confusion regarding the standard and doctoral tracks. I have read on the TSE's website about these, and everything is clear now. Thanks anyway.

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It depends on your aims. If you want to go to USA after M2, I do not recommend TSE.Why? Let me clarify, TSE does not advertise itself as being a feeder school to top programs in the USA. Instead, they claim that TSE's program is equivalent to USA programs in quality etc. Check CEMFI, it is not that well known, but it has an amazing placement record. There are many other good programs with small class size where you can interact with professors.

 

Man, CEMFI is like hell. Has solid placement but if you come here, prepare yourself to doing nothing else than solving problem sets for two years. Academically it is very good but non-academic environment is very bad. I (and many other people) feel suffocating here

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Fellow posters, speaking of TSE admission results, if I have applied only this week, do you happen do have an opinion on when they might respond?

 

I am also wondering what are my chances of a positive feedback, given my application date, but I guess that is an ambitious curiosity...

 

I appreciate your feedback, good luck!

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How could I have missed this thread...?!!!

 

As a current classmate of gkhn (haha, gkhn, I know who you are:glee:), I just wanna second gkhn's comments on TSE. I came to TSE for its reputation in IO and it is thus far the worst decision about my future I have ever made in my life...

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How could I have missed this thread...?!!!

 

As a current classmate of gkhn (haha, gkhn, I know who you are:glee:), I just wanna second gkhn's comments on TSE. I came to TSE for its reputation in IO and it is thus far the worst decision about my future I have ever made in my life...

 

Exactly, how could you have missed this thread?? :glee: Thanks a lot for your comment man. Do you basically endorse EVERYTHING that gkhn said, from the poor placement to the bad lecturers, or is it only about the very bad teaching quality? Are the courses pitched at a very high level though? This is my only concern, because if the courses are not strong enough, then I would not bother going there, since I want to get the best preparation possible before undertaking a PhD. To be honest, all these negative comments about the TSE are starting to make me wary of the latter.

 

I look forward to hearing from you Jasonblue, and thanks again man, I appreciate your help. Thanks to everyone commenting on this thread as well.

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