Economics Masters-wheres best??

Poor_old_gill

I was on here asking about an economics masters previously.
I have an accountancy degree and worked at it for a bit but disliked it and decided to go back and do an economics conversion course in NUIG in order to be eligible for a masters.
I am after getting my 1st semester results and am well on course for a 1:1, which should allow me a good few options when choosing a masters- so I was wondering where is best to go in Ireland/Britain?
LSE seems to be what I keep hearing

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I was on here asking about an economics masters previously.
I have an accountancy degree and worked at it for a bit but disliked it and decided to go back and do an economics conversion course in NUIG in order to be eligible for a masters.
I am after getting my 1st semester results and am well on course for a 1:1, which should allow me a good few options when choosing a masters- so I was wondering where is best to go in Ireland/Britain?
LSE seems to be what I keep hearing

It really depends on what you want to do.

Generally, the top UK colleges (LSE, Warwick, UCL, Oxbridge) rank higher then the Irish colleges. But the rankings don't indicate teaching quality or student experiences.

Poor_old_gill

Deleted User wrote: »

It really depends on what you want to do.

Generally, the top UK colleges (LSE, Warwick, UCL, Oxbridge) rank higher then the Irish colleges. But the rankings don't indicate teaching quality or student experiences.

I know, thats why I asked the question my man!
What I want is either a vanilla economics masters or one with a specialistation in environmental economics!
I am still 50-50 on doing a Phd or going straight into the workforce but I want something that will look good on my CV while also giving me the chance to work under and learn from some top lecturers

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I know, thats why I asked the question my man!
What I want is either a vanilla economics masters or one with a specialistation in environmental economics!
I am still 50-50 on doing a Phd or going straight into the workforce but I want something that will look good on my CV while also giving me the chance to work under and learn from some top lecturers

Based on that, if you were to stay in Ireland then UCD would probably be better over TCD. However, there are people on here who have done both (I didn't, I was in the UK).

UCL has a really well regarded masters in environmental economics. Its meant to be very tough - but worth the pain!

Économiste Monétaire

How comfortable are you with maths? Have you taken a GRE?

Poor_old_gill

Deleted User wrote: »

Based on that, if you were to stay in Ireland then UCD would probably be better over TCD. However, there are people on here who have done both (I didn't, I was in the UK).

UCL has a really well regarded masters in environmental economics. Its meant to be very tough - but worth the pain!

Cool, thanks for the advice- I dont mind the pain of work!
Is LSE just a big name with little real extra benefit? Or is it worth the extra few shillings?

Poor_old_gill

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

How comfortable are you with maths? Have you taken a GRE?

Maths are decent enough- got 1:1's in both economic theory and international economics last semester which were both 50% maths.
Have econometrics this semester so that will tell a lot but I actually find it kind of interesting- testing the correlation between different factors.

So to answer your question- I'm decent enough at maths
I have no idea what a GRE is?

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Cool, thanks for the advice- I dont mind the pain of work!
Is LSE just a big name with little real extra benefit? Or is it worth the extra few shillings?

Again, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into academia then its probably worth it. If not - depends on what your ambitions are.

TBH, the course content in LSE, Oxbridge and Warwick were practically the same. The electives were different but the core aspects were the same. LSE would have the best rep though. Saying that, I've gotten three interviews straight off over the last while on the back of having an MSc from Warwick so not having gone to the 'best' college hasn't really hurt my future career chances yet. This would not be the same if you are going for academia and a PhD.

Économiste Monétaire

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Maths are decent enough- got 1:1's in both economic theory and international economics last semester which were both 50% maths.
Have econometrics this semester so that will tell a lot but I actually find it kind of interesting- testing the correlation between different factors.

So to answer your question- I'm decent enough at maths
I have no idea what a GRE is?

Have you covered differential and difference equations? Do you know what a Hamiltonian is? Have you taken any classes in measure theory? <- This kind of maths.

A GRE is a Graduate Record Exam. I'm pretty sure LSE requires one from all applicants to their MSc programmes, unless your primary degree is from the U.K.

Poor_old_gill

Deleted User wrote: »

Again, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into academia then its probably worth it. If not - depends on what your ambitions are.

TBH, the course content in LSE, Oxbridge and Warwick were practically the same. The electives were different but the core aspects were the same. LSE would have the best rep though. Saying that, I've gotten three interviews straight off over the last while on the back of having an MSc from Warwick so not having gone to the 'best' college hasn't really hurt my future career chances yet. This would not be the same if you are going for academia and a PhD.

Well I do want to keep my Phd options open

Poor_old_gill

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

Have you covered differential and difference equations? Do you know what a Hamiltonian is? Have you taken any classes in measure theory? <- This kind of maths.

A GRE is a Graduate Record Exam. I'm pretty sure LSE requires one from all applicants to their MSc programmes, unless your primary degree is from the U.K.

All the maths I did in semester one were game theory more or less.
I'll get on top of that GRE thing so- today is more or less step one in knowledge accumulation

Flamed Diving

UCD > TCD. I have experienced both.

Poor_old_gill

Flamed Diving wrote: »

UCD > TCD. I have experienced both.

to be honest- I'm kind of looking at UK colleges a bit more than Irish ones

Flamed Diving

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I was wondering where is best to go in Ireland/Britain?

Flamed Diving wrote: »

UCD > TCD. I have experienced both.

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

to be honest- I'm kind of looking at UK colleges a bit more than Irish ones

Oh, my mistake then... :rolleyes:

Poor_old_gill

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Oh, my mistake then... :rolleyes:

Dont be getting like that man!!
You input is much appreciated!
I'll be applying to Irish colleges also- but if its a choice between a good UK college and an Irish one then I'd prob cross the channel

PeakOutput

lse is easily ranked number 1 world wide for economics but you need to take that into consideration as well when you consider your chances of getting in

have more than one back up just in case

as far as employment goes i have a friend who graduated last year from lse has a great job now and gets headhunted every couple of months by various public and private organisations

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

All the maths I did in semester one were game theory more or less.
I'll get on top of that GRE thing so- today is more or less step one in knowledge accumulation

If you aren't comfortable with difference equations, hamiltonians*, set theory, vector space analysis and generally mucking about with tricky algebra you are going to find it very tough. Econometrics isn't the tricky part as you only use that in your metrics courses. However, general quants skills are required for pretty much all courses you are going to be taking.

*We didn't actually use these for macro, but we had a lecturer with a rather odd way of macro modelling. Hamiltonians are the normal way!

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/carvajal/ln/ln_micro.pdf is the manual from one half of my micro course presented in a relatively non mathsy way. Microeconomic Theory by Mas Colell, Green and Whinston is a standard graduate level micro textbook.

Poor_old_gill

Deleted User wrote: »

If you aren't comfortable with difference equations, hamiltonians*, set theory, vector space analysis and generally mucking about with tricky algebra you are going to find it very tough. Econometrics isn't the tricky part as you only use that in your metrics courses. However, general quants skills are required for pretty much all courses you are going to be taking.

*We didn't actually use these for macro, but we had a lecturer with a rather odd way of macro modelling. Hamiltonians are the normal way!

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/carvajal/ln/ln_micro.pdf is the manual from one half of my micro course presented in a relatively non mathsy way. Microeconomic Theory by Mas Colell, Green and Whinston is a standard graduate level micro textbook.

I dont mind it being hard to be honest- I'm just wondering will it hinder my application not having done quants??

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I dont mind it being hard to be honest- I'm just wondering will it hinder my application not having done quants??

Probably - though a good GRE would compensate

Économiste Monétaire

If you just covered basic linear algebra and set theory for iterating the solution to a game then that's not enough maths. These two books are worth getting:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematics-Economists-LAWRENCE-BLUME/dp/0393957330/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fundamental-Methods-Mathematical-Economics-Chiang/dp/0071238239/

LSE is known for the 'technical' nature of their courses, be aware that it will be a big jump from NUIG to LSE. Is that conversion course a Masters or HDip/MA Qualifier?

Poor_old_gill

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

If you just covered basic linear algebra and set theory for iterating the solution to a game then that's not enough maths. These two books are worth getting:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematics-Economists-LAWRENCE-BLUME/dp/0393957330/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fundamental-Methods-Mathematical-Economics-Chiang/dp/0071238239/

LSE is known for the 'technical' nature of their courses, be aware that it will be a big jump from NUIG to LSE. Is that conversion course a Masters or HDip/MA Qualifier?

Higher Dip- its basically final year undergrad economics.
I dont mind the jump, I have braced myself for a much higher workload!:D

Flamed Diving

From LSE:

Minimum entry requirement: One year/research – first class honours with concentration on economics and quantitative subjects and at least a year of calculus and statistics.

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/graduateProspectus2010/taughtProgrammes/MScEconomics.aspx

Poor_old_gill

Deleted User wrote: »

Probably - though a good GRE would compensate

Cool, I'll have a look at the GRE so- I'd imagine its on most college websites?

Poor_old_gill

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Cool, I'll have a look at the GRE so- I'd imagine its on most college websites?

No, its independent.

Be aware that a 'good' maths score is pretty much 800/800.

Poor_old_gill

Flamed Diving wrote: »

From LSE:



http://www2.lse.ac.uk/graduateProspectus2010/taughtProgrammes/MScEconomics.aspx

I have never sat a module called calculus before- but have done Maths, Stats and Financial maths as part of my undergrad- these might help?

Flamed Diving

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I have never sat a module called calculus before- but have done Maths, Stats and Financial maths as part of my undergrad- these might help?

Does this stuff look familiar? These are first principles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus#Principles

Poor_old_gill

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Does this stuff look familiar? These are first principles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus#Principles

yeah kind of alright, if worst comes to worst- I'd go work for a year and do summer school courses this summer at LSE to enable entry for the following year

Flamed Diving

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

yeah kind of alright, if worst comes to worst- I'd go work for a year and do summer school courses this summer at LSE to enable entry for the following year

Yeah, you do need to know at least the basics of these concepts. That said, if you are adamant on moving to the UK, it might do no harm to take a year off and work there, so that you get a feel for the place. It's hard enough to study for a masters without having to settle into a new city.

Poor_old_gill

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Yeah, you do need to know at least the basics of these concepts. That said, if you are adamant on moving to the UK, it might do no harm to take a year off and work there, so that you get a feel for the place. It's hard enough to study for a masters without having to settle into a new city.

I have relations in London, the plan would be that I'd live with them- they live close to a tube station, so I'd just commute from there!
The settling wouldnt be too much of a problem and a few of my mates work and play football there so will tag along to that!

Économiste Monétaire

A good grasp of calculus is a necessity. A really basic question like: integrate the following

[latex]\displaystyle \int_{a}^{b} 2 \omega d \omega [/latex]

would be assumed as prior knowledge by somewhere like LSE. The course doesn't need to labelled 'Calculus I', rather have you taken classes where you applied differential and integral calculus to problems. Are there no final-year quants courses in NUIG?

Poor_old_gill

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

A good grasp of calculus is a necessity. A really basic question like: integrate the following

[latex]\displaystyle \int_{a}^{b} 2 \omega d \omega [/latex]

would be assumed as prior knowledge by somewhere like LSE. The course doesn't need to labelled 'Calculus I', rather have you taken classes where you applied differential and integral calculus to problems. Are there no final-year quants courses in NUIG?

Quants option wasnt open to me

Time Magazine

I suspect that you might find it hard to get into LSE with an accountancy degree and a H.Dip in Economics unless you get, genuinely, something in the region of A+ in all classes.

It's also too late to get into LSE in September 2010, so you're looking at 2011 at the earliest. That leaves you with a year to kill.

My advice is probably look at doing the MA/M.Sc. in UCD or Trinity starting in September. UCD is probably a better course and four grand cheaper, but Trinity is a bit more quantitative and has a better reputation if you were thinking of continuing to PhD.

If you get A+'s in you H.Dip, A+'s in your Dublin-based masters and something in the region of 800/800 in the quantitative section of your GRE, then you have a very good shot of getting into the LSE PhD programme.

PeakOutput wrote: »

lse is easily ranked number 1 world wide for economics

No it isn't. Best in Europe, but a fair whack behind the best places across the pond.

Poor_old_gill

Time Magazine wrote: »

I suspect that you might find it hard to get into LSE with an accountancy degree and a H.Dip in Economics unless you get, genuinely, something in the region of A+ in all classes.

It's also too late to get into LSE in September 2010, so you're looking at 2011 at the earliest. That leaves you with a year to kill.

My advice is probably look at doing the MA/M.Sc. in UCD or Trinity starting in September. UCD is probably a better course and four grand cheaper, but Trinity is a bit more quantitative and has a better reputation if you were thinking of continuing to PhD.

If you get A+'s in you H.Dip, A+'s in your Dublin-based masters and something in the region of 800/800 in the quantitative section of your GRE, then you have a very good shot of getting into the LSE PhD programme.

No it isn't. Best in Europe, but a fair whack behind the best places across the pond.

No it is not, they operate rolling applications

Time Magazine

Mixed it up with the PhD, my mistake

Poor_old_gill

Time Magazine wrote: »

Mixed it up with the PhD, my mistake

:)
No problem man!
I was worried there for a second and had to go check the website to make sure that I hadnt got it wrong!

Deleted User

My general impression is that reputation wise oxbridge, ucl, lse and warwick are a step above the other UK universities. AFAIK all 5 do a one or two week crash course in maths and stats. Taking the GRE might be good move if your college courses don't reveal you have the required mathematical aptitude.

The core courses in most economics masters are fairly generic. The difference tends to come in the options on offer. It would be worthwhile exploring how the options and research specialities of the department align with your interests.

The LSE is very expensive and there is a lot of people in the course. What you pay for is the signalling power of studying there. In my opinion the cost is only really worth it if you a) get a distinction b) are looking to apply to a top 10 US PhD programme c) like your summers off.

Deleted User wrote: »

UCL has a really well regarded masters in environmental economics. Its meant to be very tough - but worth the pain!

They don't do that anymore. They've replaced it with an economic policy msc. The LSE has a multidisciplinary environmental research group, led by Nick Stern, which includes economists. Not sure if they have a connected masters programme though.

nesf

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

A good grasp of calculus is a necessity. A really basic question like: integrate the following

[latex]\displaystyle \int_{a}^{b} 2 \omega d \omega [/latex]

would be assumed as prior knowledge by somewhere like LSE. The course doesn't need to labelled 'Calculus I', rather have you taken classes where you applied differential and integral calculus to problems. Are there no final-year quants courses in NUIG?

The more and more I look at places like LSE etc I think that an undergrad in Applied Maths & Statistics combined with a H.Dip in Economics would be an ideal starting point!

Oooh, Latex tags! Didn't notice we had them.

Time Magazine

nesf wrote: »

The more and more I look at places like LSE etc I think that an undergrad in Applied Maths & Statistics combined with a H.Dip in Economics would be an ideal starting point!

Trinity Maths & Economics tbh. Known to get people straight into Harvard with full scholarships.

Oooh, Latex tags! Didn't notice we had them.

Another excellent service prompted by the constant complaining of yours truly :pac:

randomer

I think you should also look at Oxford. The calibre of speakers that come to the business school is quite amazing. The chairman of Cadburys is coming to the business school on Tuesday to speak about mergers and acquisitions.

Also, a few months ago at the Silicon Valley comes to Oxford weekend, Biz Stone (founder of Twitter), Reid Hoffman (Founder of Linked In), Tony Fadell (inventor of the iPod) and many many more high flyers from Silicon Valley were at the business school. Students had unlimited access to some of the most influential people in the valley.

Slippers 2

Time Magazine wrote: »

Known to get people straight into Harvard with full scholarships.

Into the PhD? I can't find a masters.

Économiste Monétaire

Slippers 2 wrote: »

Into the PhD? I can't find a masters.

Harvard doesn't have a stand-alone A.M. programme.

Hasschu

The centre of economic gravity insofar as a sustainable career is concerned is shifting out of NY and London to Frankfurt, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Mumbai and to a lesser extent Paris. You can forge a good career working for a German bank headquartered in Frankfurt managing projects in Latin America, you would need English, German and Spanish with some knowledge of Portuguese. England is destined to become an isolationist backwater unless of course it can be towed and anchored between Bermuda and New York. The US has lost its ability to coast to prosperity rolling on rubber and floating on oil. It is necessary to think outside the confines of the parish and the language. As a member of the Irish tribe you are perceived to have certain advantages in negotiation, communication, sales, legal concepts, understanding of contract law and in additon an ability to defuse explosive situations. Don't ask me where foreigners get their ideas from but that has been my experience.

nesf

Time Magazine wrote: »

Trinity Maths & Economics tbh. Known to get people straight into Harvard with full scholarships.

Yeah but that'd require people to actually study in Dublin. I mean, some sacrafices just aren't worth it!

BESman

Are you people for real? You will NOT get into LSE with a H Dip in Economics from NUIG. They have thousands of applicants, it is near impossible to get in there. I did the M.Econ.Sc in NUIG, good course and I'v a decent job in Corporate Finance now. I'd recommend that Masters.

Poor_old_gill

BESman wrote: »

Are you people for real? You will NOT get into LSE with a H Dip in Economics from NUIG. They have thousands of applicants, it is near impossible to get in there. I did the M.Econ.Sc in NUIG, good course and I'v a decent job in Corporate Finance now. I'd recommend that Masters.

H Dip is equivalent to final year economics- if you have a 1:1 in that then you should have a good chance

SEANECON

Hi Gill,

I studied a masters in economics at LSE in 2007/2008.

Ideally, you would have that 1.1 your averaging in a strong undergraduate economics programme but if you are near the top of your class and maybe you could swing a reference from somone like Prof. Ahern over at NUIG I cant see why you wouldnt have shot.

Some other people on the thead have pointed out that the course would be very mathematically demanding. This is true but you dont need to worry about this since you simply wont be accepted unless you can demonstrate a strong mathematics background - which you may well have with your undergraduate in accounting.

nesf

BESman wrote: »

Are you people for real? You will NOT get into LSE with a H Dip in Economics from NUIG.

With a good enough GRE you'd stand a good chance of getting into LSE. With a maths intensive undergrad on top of the H.Dip (i.e. Physics etc) your chances would be even better.

BESman

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

H Dip is equivalent to final year economics- if you have a 1:1 in that then you should have a good chance

No. No its not.

PeakOutput

BESman wrote: »

Are you people for real? You will NOT get into LSE with a H Dip in Economics from NUIG. They have thousands of applicants, it is near impossible to get in there.

its not all about were you went for undergrad though there are far more things to the application then that if you stand out you stand out

BESman

PeakOutput wrote: »

its not all about were you went for undergrad though there are far more things to the application then that if you stand out you stand out

Don't get me wrong, NUIG is an excellent university, its my alma mater and the economics department there is very good, up there with the best in this country. But I just think we should be realistic here, LSE is world class and very popular = high standard of applicants = difficult to get in.

Poor_old_gill

BESman wrote: »

No. No its not.

Yes, yes it is.
Look it up