MSc. Econ

thee glitz

I'm thinking of doing the MSc in Economics in Trinity. Has anyone
here done this course or know much about it? It would really help
if I knew which books were used or any other info to help judge the
standards and topics of the course. Thanks

Time Magazine

It's relatively tough, quantitatively.

You can find a lot of details on the lecturers' pages. Look around. Here's a start for you:
Micro
Macro
Econometrics

godtabh

The Economist wrote: »

It's relatively tough, quantitatively.

In what sense?

If you werent coming from a Economics background how would you find it?

Running Bing

kearnsr wrote: »

In what sense?

If you werent coming from a Economics background how would you find it?

Looking at the website I'm actually surprised they are so lenient on people from different backgrounds.

I did economics in tcd (and my subject choices erred on the quantitative side) and looking the material for the Msc I would've thought people from Business, Psychology, Political Science, Law, Sociology, History backgrounds would really struggle with it.


It does say evidence of mathematical ability is required and people from those backgrounds have obviously had success on the course in the past if they are accepted so it must be doable.

godtabh

It listsengineering as one of the accepted courses

EGaffney

I am doing it so I can answer any specific questions.

There is a month of intensive maths classes in September - about 5 hours a day - and they are examined at the end, so that explains why the requirement for taught mathematics is not so high. Having said that, it's obviously easier if you have already covered the material at undergraduate level. In Trinity terms, the material in the maths course is at about JS Economics or JF to SF pure Maths level - e.g. matrix algebra, integration and differential equations. Most people on the course have an economics background, others have qualifications like CS or engineering.

The course is comparable to other good Masters courses in the UK and Ireland, though it's not as good as Oxford, Cambridge or LSE, all of which involve waaaay more work than the courses in TCD. If you want to get into a top PhD course, then going to one of those is your best bet.

It is fair to say that the course material of Masters courses at this level is standard across different universities, even including Oxbridge/LSE. There will be a course in Microeconomics, one in Macroeconomics and one in Econometrics. There will be mathematics involved throughout and the questions/exams will be mathematical in nature. There will also be a written component, often involving reviews of papers in the literature. TCD specialises in international economics, so if you are interested in that field there are plenty of supervisors when you eventually have to do your dissertation.

Running Bing

kearnsr wrote: »

It lists engineering as one of the accepted courses

You would expect engineers to be comfortable with the mathematical component though.

People from courses I listed not so much.......as EGaffney says though theres a month of maths classes with exam so that explains it.

thee glitz

Thanks for the info guys. Maybe getting a head start with a Calculus book would be the best bet. I'd imagine that brushing up on econometrics
would also be a good idea for prospective students if they specialise in International Econ. I'd consider doing a phd if I found an area which interested
me enough and if I though I'd be good enough. For me, this could be financial econ or IO (so I really havn't narrowed it down much).

Time Magazine

thee glitz wrote: »

For me, this could be financial econ or IO (so I really havn't narrowed it down much).

Trinity have a world-class finance professor in Patrick Honohan (and a lovely man, too.) However Ireland is pretty woeful at IO (and micro, more generally) and thus you're far better looking abroad.

thee glitz

The Economist wrote: »

you're far better looking abroad.

Like maybe Warwick or KU Leuven?

godtabh

Babybing wrote: »

You would expect engineers to be comfortable with the mathematical component though.

Different types of maths I'm sure but what are we talking about? Any examples?

Running Bing

kearnsr wrote: »

Different types of maths I'm sure but what are we talking about? Any examples?

We're talking about an engineering grad going into a quant heavy course after doing four years in a quant heavy course versus a history grad going into a quant heavy course after four years of reading history books....guess who the transition will be easier for.


I imagine it would mostly be stuff like Linear algebra and sequences and series on the maths side of things which I imagine a lot of eng grads would have used.....and even if they did not its still a way of thinking some grads will be more comfortable with.

Time Magazine

thee glitz wrote: »

Like maybe Warwick or KU Leuven?

I know you're in Maynooth so might be attracted to another Catholic university (:pac:) but look around for PhDs. Off the top of my head, here are some places that are good for IO:

Harvard
MIT
Yale
Stanford
Northwestern
Princeton
UC Berkeley
LSE
Barcelona
Toulouse
Chicago
NYU
Oxford

Running Bing

The Economist wrote: »

I know you're in Maynooth so might be attracted to another Catholic university (:pac:) but look around for PhDs. Off the top of my head, here are some places that are good for IO:

Harvard
MIT
Yale
Stanford
Northwestern
Princeton
UC Berkeley
LSE
Barcelona
Toulouse
Chicago
NYU
Oxford

Its not really a simple matter of deciding you want to go to one of those uni's though........Harsh as it sounds I imagine a pretty small % of the TCD masters course would get into places like Yale, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Oxford etc.

Time Magazine

Cram for a couple of weeks during this summer to get a GRE at-or-near 800. Then work your ass off, get a First and you have a very good chance of getting into one of them.

thee glitz

Babybing wrote: »

Its not really a simple matter of deciding you want to go to one of those uni's though........Harsh as it sounds I imagine a pretty small % of the TCD masters course would get into places like Yale, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Oxford etc.

That's what I was thinking, it could be pretty expensive too. I do know someone who did his A.M. (and Ph.D) in Harvard after undergrad in TCD.
He recommended me to apply to the top 40 Unis in the U.S. I already did a postgrad course in another catholic uni (:pac:) and got on ok, but I
think I'd have a much better chance of going further if I could beef up my CV, say by doing doing a more mathematical postgrad, hence MSc in TCD.
Or is the GRE the way to go?

Time Magazine

You'd need the GRE to get into US grad programmes, but it only takes ~2 weeks to study for.

It's a big move (financially, emotionally, etc.) to do a PhD in the US, but very often there is funding available. My friend (granted, he's a genius) is getting a full scholarship in Harvard worth maybe $20k a year and he left straight after his undergrad.

But another option is Toulouse. It is the third or fourth best university in the world for IO. If I'm not mistaken, their fees clock in at a whooping €300 per year.

thee glitz

That's interesting because I know people in the Uni Touluse, not in Econ tho.
I've heard their fees are very cheap but not that they were big in IO. I'll give it a look, thanks.

godtabh

The Economist wrote: »

You'd need the GRE to get into US grad programmes, but it only takes ~2 weeks to study for.

I'm considering doing this as well but probably not till next year.

Have to do a bit of research on it

sully-gormo

Do you know what you would want to have coming from trinity to get into a good US phd programme? Im generally considering postgrad study and im in 3rd year now; what are your chances if you do SH economics through bess, and take quants, econometrics etc.

Time Magazine

sully-gormo wrote: »

Do you know what you would want to have coming from trinity to get into a good US phd programme? Im generally considering postgrad study and im in 3rd year now; what are your chances if you do SH economics through bess, and take quants, econometrics etc.

Very reasonable.

Edited to add a list of BESS heads who went to further study in some nice places: Philip Lane, Paul Devereux, Morgan Kelly, Paul Scanlon, Alan Barrett, John Fingleton, Tim Callan. The list gets nicer if you can include Maths & Economics (trust me), but very good results in quant-based BESS isn't much below that.