MSc Economics @ Essex

Yeah there were a fair few unis outside of the elite ones that would've been a lot better than Essex and you would've had a high chance of getting in. Do you know why UCL and Warwick may have rejected you as I've actually found them to be less picky than I expected at master's level?

I can't tell whether you're an international student or not but Nottingham's crime rates would be about the last thing I'd be considering when picking my master's course. Especially when you're also considering London ones haha.

Birkbeck actually do have a pretty decent master's course as that's where the GES send all there economists who only have an undergrad, there you can also do in part-time if you wish which can be a handy alternative. There would be lots of GES people on your course but the opportunities might not extend to far beyond the GES. You might have a shot at some economic consulting firms if you're really good but it won't be easy and you'd probably have to rule out any bank or AM, not sure the BoE would be open either.

You should never consider City unless you want to do Health Economics, just don't think about it haha. Loughborough almost definitely wouldn't provide many opportunities beyond the GES and personally I think Essex is better at the postgrad level anyway.

In my opinion, you should only consider turning down the Essex offer if you think you can get into any of the excellent or good groups of unis for an MSc Economics degree below. It also depends on whether you have something useful and productive to do in your gap year. If you don't think you can get into any of these excellent or good unis and or don't have something decent to do for a year then I'd just take up the Essex offer tbh, especially if you've got the money.

Excellent (my order from best to worst):
LSE, Oxford, UCL, Cambridge, Warwick

Good/strong (my order of best to worse):
Nottingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester (MSc not MA), Exeter (for the MRes not MSc), Bath, QMUL, Durham and then Southampton. If you can't get into any of these then just take the Essex offer

I didn't ask for any feedback from UCL/Warwick- but I was hoping with my actual degree result I will stand a better chance if I apply again next year. Both unis just replied saying this year they had an unusually high number of applicants (probably stronger than me)! Quite a few people I know are doing masters in 2021 because of the state of the job prospects post-Covid. I can only SPECULATE but may be this increased the pool of stronger candidates who otherwise would have gone on to work for Goldman Sachs, etc.

Your point is valid. HAHA I know right. Maybe the biasness towards London comes from being a resident there for over a decade whereas Nottingham seems like a beast, due to the amount of people I know who seem to brand it as the "gun crime capital of UK" lol.

I think I will look at Nottingham and QMUL too now as they still seem to be open for new applications. I get my results next week so I will start researching the courses now. I thought QMUL was bad for Economics but seems to be doing well in the uni rankings for Economics and job prospects than Essex. In your opinion, do you think QMUL will open up more options than Essex?

Thanks Ben for another very informative post. I tried to rep you again but the system didn't allow me for some reason.

Places like Warwick and UCL tend to evaluate students using a mixture of degree results (i.e. a 1st, 2.1, etc), module results (did you badly in maths, econometrics and the adv micro/macro 3rd year modules) and the pedigree of your undergraduate institution (is it strong for Econ, can they infer that a first class result means you're decent). So your final degree results could change their opinion on your application, it also may not if you'll forgive the expression.

I've heard a couple of people jokingly refer to Nottingham as "shottingham". I haven't studied there but I know from visiting friends that the university isn't near the city centre and seemed quite green, peaceful and relaxing from what I could tell. It's not a city campus so when you're on campus you probably won't get randoms walking through the campus very much at all. Maybe the nights out in the city centre are different, I can't say really. However, two of the people I know who went there for a master's got good jobs after, one went into the GES for 3yrs and now works for an asset management firm, the other went straight into a hedge fund so decent prospects I guess.

I think you should consider universities also based on the area of economics that they specialise in and how this fits with your interests. For example, I know Nottingham specialises in behavioural, , computational macro, trade and econometrics (especially time-series and macroeconomics). QMUL specialises in macro. UCL in micro and microeconometrics. Warwick is more macro/finance. Bristol is more IO and education but with some okay metrics. Durham is basically a business school = AVOID. Avoid Kings unless you're happy being a lemon. Surrey is good for macro. Not sure about Essex, might be worth looking at their department's research centres. Edinburgh is very good for labour but more macro-labour than micro-labour. Bath is fairly good overall. City = health econ. Imperial = energy economics and public policy.

Imo QMUL would likely open more opportunities than Essex. It's strong in macro and it's location means you can easily go to insight events, interviews and network. Whether it's worth deferring for a year tho, I'm not sure, only you can answer that really. Btw please do avoid looking at most the uni rankings, their useless, I only use one or two but not the common ones like the Times, complete university guide, guardian, etc (AVOID THESE!)

You can't rep the same person multiple times without repping other people in-between. I'm guessing it's to stop people 'boosting' if you get the old call of duty meaning.

Great post again Ben.

Just signed upto QMUL's open day for tomorrow to get some more info about their MSc Economics course.

Nottingham is a cheaper place to live but probably also a lot tough to get into, so I will wait for my result and then e-mail them to see where I stand next week.

You are right my Mathematical Econ mark was below par last year but hopefully this year my overall mark should be good enough for a 2:1 (65+). I got a 1st in my dissertation already so that will bump up my mark for this year + the overall degree mark.

I am realising waiting another year to reapply to UCL, King's etc wouldn't be worth it financially if my end goal is to go to GES etc. So I will try my best to get into either Nottingham, QMUL or just go to Essex if all else fails this September.

Thank you once again for your posts-now I have a clear idea on where to go from here.