Economics Postgrad - Where?

All four are fine unis. In terms of gerenal prestige Warwick, Durham and York are in the top 10 and fairly equal. Bath is just behind them. In economics Warwick is perhaps slightly ahead in terms of prestige, then Durham then York and Bath as fairly equal. There's not much in it.

York, Bath and Warwick are all 1960s unis and campus based. Warwick and York are just outside the cities themselves. York is known for its concrete buildings, lakes and ducks. York, the city itself, is a historic small city and quite beautiful. I don't know a great deal about Bath. It's not a large city (quite historic, lovely Georgian 18th/19th century architecture). Bath's campuses are a mixture of rural and urban. I'm not sure where the economics school is located though. Much of its campus is also quite modern, I think.

Warwick's campus is possibly more visually appealing but still very modern. It's based at the edge of the city of Coventry and also realtively close to Birmingham, the second largest city in the country. So, if you want to travel, there's certainly plenty of nightlife to be found in Coventry and Birmingham. Warwick university itself will probably have the higher number of international students, if this is important to you. This is certainly true in the university and I'd imagine it's true for the economics department.

Durham is city based, so the teaching is done in the city itself. It's also a historic city, quite small and very beautiful (with one of the finest cathedrals in Europe :smile:

. The university is the oldest of the four (1832) with a great number of old, beautiful buildings but also more modern buildings (of varying aesthetic appeal) in newer departments and colleges. It is collegiate so you belong to a college. Its social environment is limited admittedly. The city doesn't have the nightclubs, no, but it offers plenty of student bars in its colleges plus societies (music, political, sport etc clubs), formals and is also one of the top unis for sport. Most students take part in a sport during their time at the university, although it's not mandatory :smile:

So there's still plenty to do. If you want the big city life then Newcastle, arguably the party capital of the country, is 12 minutes away by train. However, it's not really realistic to travel there on a regular basis/ Say more than once a week (just like it wouldn't be realistic to visit Birmingham too often if you're at Warwick).

I would personally recommend all of them, not knowing more about you it's hard to really give more advice. Are you interested more in purely the academics? Do you went a city based uni (even if it is a small city like Durham!) or campus based? Do you like old and historic cities (such as Durham and, even though their campuses aren't in the city, Bath and York)?

Reply 2

Oh, I forgot to say, unfortuantely you won't be able to study a joint honours postgrad course. Masters are usually specialised. I very much doubt one with a great amount of philosophy certainly.

Reply 3

River85

....
I would personally recommend all of them, not knowing more about you it's hard to really give more advice. Are you interested more in purely the academics? Do you went a city based uni (even if it is a small city like Durham!) or campus based? Do you like old and historic cities (such as Durham and, even though their campuses aren't in the city, Bath and York)?

Thank you, I really appreciate that you have written down all that, really nice!
To tell you more about myselfe:
I'm from a really small town (something less than 25.000 inhabitants), but went to city based uni in a bigger city (250.000 inhabitants), well also spend 1 year at National Ballet Accademy (which was more of a campus).
I'm doing my final year in Sweden - Linköping University (campus based). My decision will be mainly based on academics, however campus and old/historic environment would be a plus.

Thanks again :wink:

Reply 4

If you are a serious economist, I don't recommend you to Bath because UK just have many more better places for postgraduate Economics than Bath. I believe Bath attracts mostly the undergrad economic degree due to its industry placement for a 4th year. In postgraduate, it's not very appealing compared to other departments.

Warwick and York are very good choices. If you are interest is in furthering towards a Top 5 UK PhD then Durham wouldn't be a good choice, otherwise Durham, I heard in this forum, is brilliant in job prospect in UK.

I don't think there's a joint Economics with mathematics in postgraduate since Economics itself in postgraduate is intense in mathematics. (The mathematical standards should be generally around 1st-2nd year of undergraduate pure maths - but it varies in different universities)

Economics and Philosophy can be done in LSE. Other than LSE, I am not sure where such joints are offered.

I don't think I can comment on the student life's difference amongst the universities as I haven't been to all of them.

But in terms of Economic Research standards, Warwick is the better out of the other four.

Reply 5

TSRreader

...

Warwick and York are very good choices. If you are interest is in furthering towards a Top 5 UK PhD then Durham wouldn't be a good choice, otherwise Durham, I heard in this forum, is brilliant in job prospect in UK.

I don't think there's a joint Economics with mathematics in postgraduate since Economics itself in postgraduate is intense in mathematics. (The mathematical standards should be generally around 1st-2nd year of undergraduate pure maths - but it varies in different universities)

Economics and Philosophy can be done in LSE. Other than LSE, I am not sure where such joints are offered.
...

Why Durham wouldn't be a good choice ? Well, yes, eventually I will want a PhD.
I was assuming that there are joint Economics with Mathematics (as it's offered by many US universities), but I guess my mistake :smile:

I was trying to avoid LSE for personal reason, but if it's the only one offering Economics and Philosophy I guess I should take it in consideration.

Thanks!!

Reply 6

TSRreader

If you are interest is in furthering towards a Top 5 UK PhD then Durham wouldn't be a good choice, otherwise Durham, I heard in this forum, is brilliant in job prospect in UK.

I would argue that Durham's business school, and also possibly its economics department, doesn't match most of its other departments in undergrad prestige. It's at postgrad level that Durham's business school shines, especially its MBAs. I can't really comment on economics too much but I really don't think it's all that different to York.

OP if you haven't already read this

http://www.dur.ac.uk/economics.finance/postgraduate/taught/why/

Academically wise Warwick would possibly be the stronger option, it just a case of whether the modern campus is to your taste otherwise I'd say Durham).

Here's LSE's Maths and economics course. I don't think there'll be too many of them around though.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/graduateProspectus2008/taughtProgrammes/MScEconomicsAndPhilosophy.htm

Reply 7

bella0123

LSE, Cambridge or oxford. depending on your grades. did you do IB?

Reply 8

bella0123

LSE, Cambridge or oxford. depending on your grades. did you do IB?

Read the original post. This is also for postgrad.

Reply 9

bella0123

LSE, Cambridge or oxford. depending on your grades. did you do IB?

My entry to university was achieved under another system, but my university transcripts are near perfect.

Reply 10

If you want a PhD I recommend you to not do a joint with Philosophy unless you have already covered maths content like linear algebra, real analysis etc already in undergrad. Most of prospective PhD from UK institution undergrad with no pure maths tend to use the master to catch up on maths. So if you do a pure master, I think you will get a lot of maths training, though of course it will be more applied but the the topics are like pure.

UK, unlike US, is less flexible in course choices etc.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/dbs/degrees/msc_programmes/structure/
As you can see, Durham don't offer a straight Msc economics but a Msc Economics and Finance. Its has econometrics but econometrics is the not the only maths requirement for MPhil/PhD for top economic department. You won't cover as much of mathematical contents in Durham than in other top economic department.

I am not sure why you are avoiding LSE but if it's because it's in London then UCL will also be out of choice. Other than London Unis, Nottingham, Southampton and Essex are also good choices. Of course, you can also try Oxbridge.

Reply 11

prospectivEEconomist

The research intensive economic schools are:

Nottingham/UCL/Oxbridge/LSE/Warwick/York/Southampton and Essex.

Reply 12

Btw, I am not sure if it's true but I heard Warwick ex-master in economics complaining about its harsh grading and not committed teaching in master.

Reply 13

TSRreader

Ok here's the link to what I've covered with undergrad. click

About LSE, it's not because of London :biggrin:

Now I have some serious thinking to do.

Reply 14