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Europe/international - Econ/Public policy/International Finance


kevin j

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Ten years ago I graduated with a BA in French and proceeded to be a vagabond/hippy/wandering monk-eventually turned massage therapist. Now I'm looking to go back to school and get a masters. What I most like to do is look at the world from a birds-eye-view and understand how all the moving pieces fit together. Subjects that interest me most include: International Finance, Economics & Public Policy. I'm not that interested in getting quantitative with the Econ.

 

I really like the sound of this MPA program at Columbia:  https://bulletin.columbia.edu/sipa/concentrations/ifep/

But I'm not interested in spending 200k to get my masters. 

 

I also wouldn't mind at all going international. I'm fluent in French and passable in Spanish, but I'm open to any program anywhere in the world. 

 

Other things I like:

- Low cost

- Flexibility to take the classes I'd like

- Strong faculty/well renown university

 

I don't know how much it will hurt me that I have not been working in a relevant field nor do I have a relevant undergrad degree. I have not taken the GRE but if I do, my scores will likely be excellent (SAT was 1470 for reference). My undergrad GPA was 3.8. I also never even took an econ course in undergrad, although I've self-taught far beyond econ 101. 

 

Any thoughts/advice?

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Kevin, your story is not dissimilar to mine (BA in English, traveled outside of the US for about four years).

I think I understand where you might be coming from--perhaps looking for a way to make a solid contribution to the world and having some educational credentials to help.

Problem is, many master's programs, especially the competitive ones, will want someone who is a safe bet, someone with a track record of doing what they're interested in and who has a clear vision of where he wants to be after graduating.

I know many universities do allow you to construct your own major of sorts, so you may want to seek those out. One potential problem with those is that you may find it hard to find employment, even with a master's degree.

I do know a guy who did a PhD in social economics, which fits a lot of what you describe.

For study outside of the US, you should look into the costs; they may be much lower than what you'd pay in the US. Oh, you probably know this already, but it's harder to get funding for a master's degree than for a PhD.

 

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Yea, I'm mostly looking just at the two year or even one year masters programs, in europe. It doesn't need to be fully funded by any means, as these sub-20k/yr programs wouldn't break the bank. I'm intentially looking at some of the more obscure programs that might not be as competitive, given my unlikeliness to impress the admissions department. 

some interesting programs I've found so far...

barcelona school of economics

graduate institue of geneva

PANTHEON-SORBONNE

 

 

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