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MSc Economics at Queen Mary vs University of Birmingham

Hi everyone, I have received offers from both QMUL and UOB for MSc Economics. I was wondering, which university has a better Economics course and department, how the support from lecturers are and which university has better career prospects.

I would also like to know which area of Economics these two institutes are mainly known for if anyone has information regarding that.

Appreciate any assistance provided.
Original post by oooshiii
Hi everyone, I have received offers from both QMUL and UOB for MSc Economics. I was wondering, which university has a better Economics course and department, how the support from lecturers are and which university has better career prospects.

I would also like to know which area of Economics these two institutes are mainly known for if anyone has information regarding that.

Appreciate any assistance provided.

QMUL has a decent to good rep for postgrad Econ/Econ department. Birmingham really doesn't have much of a rep at all at postgrad level.

QMUL tends to specialise in Macro and Finance. Legit have no idea what Birmingham specialises in, maybe game theory? QMUL is generally top10 in the UK for Econ at postgrad level so has some pretty good research centers and you do actually see some decent research coming out of there. Birmingham is maybe top20 at best, in the UK only really the top10 actually produce decent research consistently.

QMUL also has the advantage of being in London so naturally does pretty well in recruiting, plus the macro and finance helps given London being such a financial hub. Recruiting naturally depends a lot on the individual rather than department but I reckon at best it's equal to QMUL and at worse a fair bit lower. Although this all sorta depends on what kind of jobs you're looking to apply for. Downside is that QMUL is generally in a crappy part of London.

I've never studied at QMUL nor Birmingham mind so I'm unbiased but obviously can't give a perfect comparison but the general ratings of UK department quality are fairly well known. Worth saying that there are at least half a dozen UK unis that are better for postgrad Econ than QMUL, even if it's better than Birmingham
Reply 2
Hi, thanks for your reply. I visited QMUL's post grad open day and I quite liked it. Don't really mind the area personally.

I will be starting my MSc in September. I was particularly concerned about the quantitative aspect of the MSc Economics. Given that I have completed my final exams now, I wanted to be a bit prepared about the mathematics in post grad Economics. By any chance, do you happen to know some topics I should prepare for and any particular book I can go through over the summer to prepare?

Thanks a lot.
Original post by oooshiii
Hi, thanks for your reply. I visited QMUL's post grad open day and I quite liked it. Don't really mind the area personally.

I will be starting my MSc in September. I was particularly concerned about the quantitative aspect of the MSc Economics. Given that I have completed my final exams now, I wanted to be a bit prepared about the mathematics in post grad Economics. By any chance, do you happen to know some topics I should prepare for and any particular book I can go through over the summer to prepare?

Thanks a lot.

Well naturally it's hard to know what topics you should prepare for if I don't know what you've already done, nor what is in the QMUL syllabus. Best strategy would be to email the course director asking for an outline of the topics in the pre-sessional/introductory maths and stats classes.

I've listed some reliable textbooks that are suitable for MSc Economics prep:
- Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, A. Chiang
- Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, Sydsaeter and Hammond
- Mathematics for Economists, Simon and Blume

- Baby Wooldridge and Stock & Watson for econometric revision revision
- Econometric Analysis, W. Greene
- Time Series Analysis, Hamilton

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