Masters in Econ for Phd recommendation

[Noelc]

Hello I'm a 3rd year Business Administration (specialization in Finance) bachelor student from a top University in Netherlands. I am planning to attend a Masters degree in Economics that would be a stepping stone to a good Phd in Economics. My GPA right now is 8.98/10 in dutch scale which will translate to 4.0 in US scale (at least that's what I found in my uni website)

The relevant courses I took are (*- All letter grades are taken form my unis approximate transfer matrix from Dutch to US grades)

Economics/Econometrics (42 EC)

- Intro to Econ 1 9/10 ~ A+* (6 EC)

- Intro to Econ 2 7.5/10 ~ A (6 EC)

- Intermediate Econ 9/10 ~ A+ (6 EC)

- Behavioral Econ 8.5/10 ~ A+ (6 EC)

- Social and Econ Policies - TBD (6 EC)

- Economic Methodology - TBD (6 EC)

- Applied Econometrics - TBD (6 EC)

Maths/Quantitative methods (18 EC)

- Statistics and probability 1 9.5/10 ~ A+ (6 EC)

- Statistics and probability 2 9.5/10 ~ A+ (6 EC)

- Quant research methods 7.5/10 ~ A (6 EC)

- Linear Optimization models - TBD (6 EC)

Plus additionally 42 ECs in Finance

At this moment Cemfi, RoME and Bocconi grabbed my attention, what are the chances to get in / get scholarships. What other masters should I consider applying to if my goal is to get into top Phd in Europe or US? I know that I most likely cannot apply to top programs in UK as they require Econ degree and specify that Business Administration will not be enough. I appreciate any response!

Thank you in advance

 

[Useless]

Hi. Note that CEMFI and Bocconi is very competitive, so it will be a hard work to become a top-3 student there. Also from what I've heard Bocconi faculty is biased towards Italians in US PhD placing. RoME is in decline after a couple of good US PhD placement rounds. But remember that it is better to become top-1/2 in mediocre school than top-10 in superb school, but also don't forget to compare median placement of superb school with that of mediocre school. 

And you can also consider some French schools (like Toulouse). 

[Noelc]

On 9/17/2023 at 11:38 PM, Useless said:

Hi. Note that CEMFI and Bocconi is very competitive, so it will be a hard work to become a top-3 student there. Also from what I've heard Bocconi faculty is biased towards Italians in US PhD placing. RoME is in decline after a couple of good US PhD placement rounds. But remember that it is better to become top-1/2 in mediocre school than top-10 in superb school, but also don't forget to compare median placement of superb school with that of mediocre school. 

And you can also consider some French schools (like Toulouse). 

Unfortunately, Toulouse M1 require a bachelor's in economics, thus I have little chance of getting in with my Business Administration degree.

Do you think that excelling in master's in Economics in Rotterdam would be more beneficial for my future PhD admissions, than being 70th percentile of RoME/Bocconi etc.?

Furthermore, I was researching more universities where I would meet requirements, however most of them are ultra-selective programmes, such as Oxford Mphill in economics etc. How much disadvantaged I am compared to a normal BSc in Econ student because of my BBA? Are my good grades worth anything compared to person with Bsc in Economics/Econometrics?

I tried to go to Master's fairs, where I got invited to interviews with good schools, however always to their business sections, that do not offer Master's in Economics. Is it even possible for me to get a good (top 30) PhD placement with BBA on my CV?

Edited September 19, 2023 by Noelc

[startz]

41 minutes ago, Noelc said:

Is it even possible for me to get a good (top 30) PhD placement with BBA on my CV?

American econ PhD programs don't much care what area your undergraduate degree was in.