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MA Economics course with Politics at Ba?

How realistic is it to get accepted onto an Economics or Political Economy graduate course at Oxbridge with a good degree from a decent university in UK with Bachelor degree in Politics or International Relations? Would either of the two be more beneficial to do for masters in Politics?
Reply 1
The Oxford Dept of Economics doesn't offer any MAs. They offer a two year MPhil Economics, a one year MSc Economics for Development and a one year MSc Financial Economics.
http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/graduate/graduate-courses

The MPhil doesn't specify an undergrad degree subject, just a First or 2:1. The Economics for Development course is more specific, requiring good mathematical skills http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/study/courses/mscde. This implies that your undergrad degree needs to have a significant maths content, which Politics or International Relations probably won't give you.

Be aware that fees can be sky-high. The MPhil for a UK student is £10,815 per year, £14,755 for Economics for Development and a whopping £31,500 for Financial Economics. Better start saving...
Original post by Klix88


The MPhil doesn't specify an undergrad degree subject, just a First or 2:1.


While the MPhil doesn't require a first degree wholly or partly in Economics the course site implies an expectation that most will have. Yes, it mentions as well that others have successfully converted from subjects such as mathematics and engineering. I suspect what is meant by that "such as" is disciplines requiring a high degree of numeracy, and Politics isn't one of these.

Original post by Klix88
a whopping £31,500 for Financial Economics.


They'd be better served, and anyway more honest, in simply quoting that fee in RMB, Dinars, or the Saudi Riyal on the website. Just a cash-cow for the milking of international students supporting the British undergrads below them and the UK, EU, and American doctoral students above.


My own advice to a student looking to transition from Politics to an Economics Masters would be to have a tilt at this to strengthen the application: http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/courses/diploma-graduates/lse/diploma-graduates-economics

That's a £1400 risk and can be done in your own time. But do well there and you'll see people take notice of it.
Outside of Oxbridge, Political Economy, yes, Economics, no.

For Economics you need quantitative skills, which you won't have unless you've done PPE or maybe even studied Politics at Essex, as they love quantitative social science.

Although some courses do offer an extra year for those wanting to do an Econ masters that don't have the quant skills (e.g. SOAS, QMUL).
That't a great link, thanks! Do Oxford and Cambridge institutions recognize it if I were to enrol onto their Economics grad scheme?
Also like the poster bellow have said, is doing a PPE as an undergrad would be enough to pursue an economics/political economy at either of the two institutions?



Original post by cambio wechsel
While the MPhil doesn't require a first degree wholly or partly in Economics the course site implies an expectation that most will have. Yes, it mentions as well that others have successfully converted from subjects such as mathematics and engineering. I suspect what is meant by that "such as" is disciplines requiring a high degree of numeracy, and Politics isn't one of these.



They'd be better served, and anyway more honest, in simply quoting that fee in RMB, Dinars, or the Saudi Riyal on the website. Just a cash-cow for the milking of international students supporting the British undergrads below them and the UK, EU, and American doctoral students above.


My own advice to a student looking to transition from Politics to an Economics Masters would be to have a tilt at this to strengthen the application: http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/courses/diploma-graduates/lse/diploma-graduates-economics

That's a £1400 risk and can be done in your own time. But do well there and you'll see people take notice of it.
Original post by CupiditasMetam
That't a great link, thanks! Do Oxford and Cambridge institutions recognize it if I were to enrol onto their Economics grad scheme?


They would of course recognise it but I notice now that you'll have to enrol at a course provider at which to do it, and that'll bump the cost up. And the only one in the UK is in London.

Original post by CupiditasMetam
... is doing a PPE as an undergrad would be enough to pursue an economics/political economy at either of the two institutions?


Since Oxford offers undergraduate economics only in combination, they'd be cutting their own throats (and as well de facto suggesting their own undergrad provision as inadequate) if they'd take for postgrad only students who'd studied straight economics. And, as mentioned, they're ready indeed to consider applicants converting from another numerate discipline.

For Cambridge, it's perhaps rather different: their MPhil is a year long, as opposed to 2 at Oxford, which means it doesn't really allow time for converting. You're expected to have the basics down already, and not just the mathematical grounding to pick them up readily. Cambridge's provision for this circumstance is this: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/prospect/diploma/ That course serving as the conversion feeder for their MPhil (such that their MPhil can as well be had in 2 years from a scratch start). Again, though, they're asking for evidence of mathematical aptitude.

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