Quality of a Msc in Economics

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Well janjanmmm, to be honest UCL has dissapointed me a lot.
First, in my country is not well known. Here we are more used to the american universities and some of UK schools such as Oxbridge, LSE, LBS and to a lesser extent Manchester (maybe by the football team ) and Edinburgh, but when I told some friends that I was going to UCL, they asked me: you mean UCLA?.
Secondly, as I said before, UCL is superb in microeconomics, fiscal policy and microeconometrics, but if you go to Tilburg ranking and select just finance and macro journals to rank, UCL doesn't even appear within top 100. They just don't do macro, monetary or financial economics.
Besides, there is the "human" factor. When I tried to attend the pre-sessional english course (after my Toefl), this was closed just a couple of days before and when I begged for a place (self funded), do you think that they answered me: oh let me see what can we do?....Noooooo, they just told me: sorry, the pre-sessional is closed, you can defer your entry for next year if you are still interested in UCL . I don't think that's the proper way to answer a request from a person who is making big efforts to cross the atlantic to study there and who was previously selected by themselves.
There are many incidents like the above that I can tell about UCL. I am really pissed off with them. I think they are cold and arrogants.
I sent my request to be admitted with my current score to the programme director on august 20. She forwarded to the admission tutor. Still I don't have any response. I really can't f..ing believe it.
On the other hand Manchester has been exactly the opposite. I know perhaps many will say that's because it is a lower ranked university so they have to behave that way, but either way they make you feel comfortable and welcomed.
At least that has been my experience with both, and as you say, just looking at the programmes, for my interests the one in Manchester is much better.
Now I just have to wait my government response.

Cheers!

Finally!!!.....I am heading to Manchester ....My sponsor accepted the change of university!!

To UCL: So long ****ers!!!!

The admission tutor is a bold guy called "Lars Nesheim"... I have heared very bad things of him... He did not even turn up in an appointment he had agreed with the studet. And he rarely replied to students' emails which he thinks are unimportant.

Unlikely, Econla.

Oh hi Lalafell. Yes that's correct, that's the guy. I sent an email to Mrs. Carlin on August 20th and she told me that was forwarding my email to Nesheim (I saw him included in the email). Still I don't have any answer from him. Can you believe that? so rude!. Previously I spoke to Tina Fowler and she answered me like a machine: Sorry you can't, please defer your entry.
Based on my experience, UCL could be the best university in the world if you wish but they are impolite and lack of good judgment to say the least.
Honestly, if UCL now offers me a place, even with scholarships for living expenses and beautiful prospects, etc, etc., by no means I would accept the offer and I'm telling you from heart. I am not interested on studying in such institution.

Manchester's econ department is rising. They have spent a lot in head hunting recent years. Two of the best microeconometricians in the world left UCL last year and joined Manchester.

But I would still prefer UCL over Manchester. The student quality in Manchester is generally lower. Since the UCL MSc Econ admits a dozen of Ex-poly guys every year, I can expect there are even more ex-poly guys in Manchester. This particularly evidenced by the fact that Manchester has quite a few version of postgradaute econs to accomodate the different background of studnets. Manchester Econ department seems to have a much larger studnet body too.

I would like to know how Manchester students generally perform in their course.

Yes, Lars Neisheim is indee a t w a t. No reply means that you email has already been deleted from his mailbox...

Manchester's econ department is rising. They have spent a lot in head hunting recent years. Two of the best microeconometricians in the world left UCL last year and joined Manchester.

But I would still prefer UCL over Manchester. The student quality in Manchester is generally lower. Since the UCL MSc Econ admits a dozen of Ex-poly guys every year, I can expect there are even more ex-poly guys in Manchester. This particularly evidenced by the fact that Manchester has quite a few version of postgradaute econs to accomodate the different background of studnets. Manchester Econ department seems to have a much larger studnet body too.

I would like to know how Manchester students generally perform in their course.

Oh hi Lalafell. Yes that's correct, that's the guy. I sent an email to Mrs. Carlin on August 20th and she told me that was forwarding my email to Nesheim (I saw him included in the email). Still I don't have any answer from him. Can you believe that? so rude!. Previously I spoke to Tina Fowler and she answered me like a machine: Sorry you can't, please defer your entry.
Based on my experience, UCL could be the best university in the world if you wish but they are impolite and lack of good judgment to say the least.
Honestly, if UCL now offers me a place, even with scholarships for living expenses and beautiful prospects, etc, etc., by no means I would accept the offer and I'm telling you from heart. I am not interested on studying in such institution.

That's just unprofessional!

Yeah in any case I don't know what this snootiness about ex-poly people doing masters courses is. They've clearly done well enough to get accepted, and some people end up at these unis for reasons other than low grades. I know someone who did his BSc at an ex-poly with a terrible reputation, but ended up with a PhD from Imperial. I think one of the good things about the British system (unlike the US one) is that it effectively gives second chances to people who may have made bad choices when they were younger.

Oh, the person who claimed she got an offer from Cambridge but could not pay for it and claimed she was a "professional economist" but did not even understand the meaning of information set and had the ability to test statistical significance without actually having the data here again

The people who were struggling in the UCL MSc Economics are exactly those Oxford Brooks, Brunel, Lancaster etc etc etc guys...

You knew someone doing a BSc at ex-poly ending up a PhD at Imperial? Then the guy may be an outlier or that you are lying and trying to say something to make people impressed...

Whoops speak of the devil.

Not harsh at all, simply wondering what his reasoning was, 1 good reason why that is ' harsh ' ?




Your point here is a spurious one, since most MSc students are looking at IB as a career, therefore whatever you call it ' signalling ', brand name, pecking order, better quality - same difference.





So why don't you go back to Edinburgh ? Yes I know you did you UG there so give up your LSE place and go there, if you think the quality is ' negligible ' ?



No, disagree entirely, was at one of these so called OK places with profile very much alike the 3 and the course was crap and the students were very very average.
I pulled out of course and didn't give them 1 penny.




What does the bold part mean ?

Me? I can't understand why people who already have UG economics degrees have to take a diploma to top it off before going to do an MSc ?

Manchester has both an MA and a Msc in Economics. The first is for people with less than a 2:1 and/or less quantitative and economics background. Even more, the Msc in Economics (and all their specialized programmes) has as a core module during the first semester in Mathematical Economics, besides the typical macro, micro and metrics, and the dissertation is 12,000 - 15,000 words vs max 10,000 in UCL.
Something curious, UCL made me an offer in 1 month since I submitted my application but Manchester took almost 3, and I applied to both at the same time.

Lars who??....He should learn from guys like Mankiw. This guy is a "pope" and he still have time to answer emails and write on his blog asking sometimes "nonsense" questions.http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/

Yeah well, I have always believed that things happen for better.
Btw how's everything in Cambridge ? Are you comfortable?


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