[Fish.]

Hi everyone,

I’m new on this forum, and since I am facing a huge dilemma I permitted myself to ask you for some help.

I am French, and I already got an MRes in Economics (from the Paris School of Economics) and I am willing to pursue my study with a second master degree but in the UK this time, and more focus on political economy. My aim being to learn English, acquired some political economics skills and first of all to get a better signaling, ie getting a more competitive cv, in order to work into an European institution dealing with economics.

I already made my applications and I have been accepted in several universities. And here is my issue: I am totally incapable to discriminate between them in term of quality or reputation (in UK and in Europe). Herein is the exhaustive list of my offers:

King’s College: MA in European Public Policy

Manchester: MA in Political Economy

Exeter: MA in European Politics

Bristol: MSc in Economics and Public Policy

St Andrews: MA in International Strategy and Economics

Durham: MA in International Studies
MA in Politics and International Relations (Political Theory)
MA Research Methods (International Relations)
MA International Relations (European)

Warwick: Postgraduate Diploma in International Political Economy

Do you have any good advice for me?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[IlexAquifolium]

Hi!

First and foremost, you've picked some really good universities there, so I don't think you need to have any worries about the calibre of institutions.

Some specific comments:

KCL - you may benefit from being in London if you're looking to network.

Manchester - they have a huge department in terms of staff and there's a lot of faculty co-operation within the social sciences so that might be useful if you want to take an unusual combination of modules.

Exeter - beautiful university although quite remote so if you're there for a year you may find that it doesn't offer you the opportunity to do much beyond study.

Bristol - great University and great city although I wouldn't specifically peg their department for political economy (which is why it's a joint masters, presumably).

St Andrews - awesome department for IR (with good name recognition).

Durham - well known university, less well established department

Warwick - well known, great department, good business links - but only a PG Dip?

[M1990]

(Original post by IlexAquifolium)
Hi!

First and foremost, you've picked some really good universities there, so I don't think you need to have any worries about the calibre of institutions.

Some specific comments:

KCL - you may benefit from being in London if you're looking to network.

Manchester - they have a huge department in terms of staff and there's a lot of faculty co-operation within the social sciences so that might be useful if you want to take an unusual combination of modules.

Exeter - beautiful university although quite remote so if you're there for a year you may find that it doesn't offer you the opportunity to do much beyond study.

Bristol - great University and great city although I wouldn't specifically peg their department for political economy (which is why it's a joint masters, presumably).

St Andrews - awesome department for IR (with good name recognition).

Durham - well known university, less well established department

Warwick - well known, great department, good business links - but only a PG Dip?

A key issue is to look at the module descriptors. I found my undergrad and MA degrees at Birmingham in Politics to be very different. This might be more important than the actual general University profile!

[IlexAquifolium]

(Original post by M1990)
A key issue is to look at the module descriptors. I found my undergrad and MA degrees at Birmingham in Politics to be very different. This might be more important than the actual general University profile!

Yes, absolutely, particularly given the breadth of courses.

[Fish.]

Well thanks for your responses.

I think i will go to King's college, even if my choice remains quite indecisive ...

[IlexAquifolium]

(Original post by Fish.)
Well thanks for your responses.

I think i will go to King's college, even if my choice remains quite indecisive ...

KCL have just appointed Magnus Ryner so if you're doing the EPP course you may well be able to work in some IPE modules.

[Tasha1986]

Just a note about the ISE program at St Andrews (though you may already be aware of this) - this program is run solely in the School of Economics and Finance and is not linked in any way with the School of International Relations, so all the modules you take will be Econ modules, not politics ones.