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Learn about the experience of former MSc Economics students - read their testimonials below
Will Dison (went on to the Bank of England)
“After a spell as an academic mathematician, I joined the Bank of England in 2010. In order to further my career there, I wanted to deepen my economic skills and knowledge. I chose the UCL Economics MSc for three reasons. First, the UCL economics department is an internationally recognised centre of excellence and the MSc is at an advanced level. Second, UCL offers a wider choice of courses than many other MScs I considered. Courses I took in monetary policy and asset pricing gave me the background I needed for my future role at the Bank. And third, the UCL MSc places particular weight on the dissertation, which is worth a third of total credit and takes over three months. This gave me the time to specialise on a particular topic (in my case the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing policies) that was of particular interest and relevance to me. It was also an opportunity to put into practice the theory from the taught courses. After the MSc I returned to the Bank of England to a role in the Bank’s Monetary Analysis directorate, working on financial markets, derivatives and asset pricing. The training I received on the UCL MSc has been invaluable to my subsequent work there.
Kieran Larkin (went on to the MPhil Economics programme, UCL)
“The UCL MSc in Economics is a challenging and rigorous programme that thoroughly prepared me for the exciting world of academic economics. The course covered a lot of material particularly in the first semester, from game theory to GMM, providing me with a solid grounding in all of the key concepts. In the second semester, there was the opportunity to focus on the areas that interested me the most, whilst maintaining a balance of technical and practical/policy orientated material. Having not studied economics during my undergraduate degree, I found the course accessible and, with hard work, achievable. For example, the early maths and statistics course enabled everyone to get to the same starting level. The support from the lecturers, tutors and supervisors was fantastic - whenever I had a question there was always someone available to help me and clear up any points of confusion. From a professional standpoint I feel the course provided me with a far more sophisticated understanding of macroeconomic policy and a wealth of useful technical econometrics skills. Most importantly from my own perspective, the MSc equipped me with the knowledge and tools that I needed to begin a PhD in Economics, which I am currently undertaking also at UCL.
Sophia Latsos (went on to the European Central Bank)
“After completing my BSc Economics, I worked in Japan for one year before pursuing an MSc in Economic History at LSE. Ever since this course I was determined to work as an economist in an international institution. However, I quickly concluded that I would need to enhance my analytical skills further, possibly even pursue a PhD in Economics. Therefore, I chose the MSc Economics at UCL. The program immediately appealed to me due to its extensive and rigorous training in econometrics, with specific courses in Time Series Econometrics and Microeconometrics. Moreover, I was excited about the extended period of time (from mid-June to mid-September) I would be able to allocate to my MSc Dissertation project. This is not the case for every MSc Economics program. I also enjoyed that I was able to specialize in Macroeconomics while maintaining a broad range of topics ranging from Labor Economics to Monetary Policy. The MSc at UCL was a fantastic preparation for my present work. Since I am currently a trainee at the Monetary Policy Strategy Division of the European Central Bank, I really need and use the analytical skills I gained during the program on a daily basis. Owing to my education, I also feel more confident and sure of my future endeavors as an economist.
Susana Parraga Rodriguez (went on to the MPhil Economics programme, UCL)
“I decided to join the UCL MSc Economics for its internationally recognized academic quality and the enriching experience that studying abroad involves. It was an arduous and challenging programme which changed my analytical reasoning. The courses I took provided an excellent training in economic theory. I would have never imagined that I would learn so much and would grow so much not only as an economist but also as a person. Being a master’s student spurred me on to seek further opportunities for research and currently I am part of the PhD programme in Economics at UCL. The MSc certainly helped me to be more prepared for this new challenge.
Tim Willems (went on to psotgraduate research in the University of Oxford)
“After having completed an undergraduate degree in my home country (The Netherlands), I was very keen to continue my studies in Economics at UCL – attracted by both its academic reputation as well as by its amazing location in London’s Bloomsbury area. Looking back upon this decision, it is probably one of the best choices that I have ever made. As of Day 1, I felt very much at ease due to the friendly and helpful UCL staff, while my class provided me with another comfortable (yet stimulating) environment. I found the programme to be of very high quality. It offered a wide variety of courses, often taught by world-leading researchers in the field who were very approachable for us students. Being surrounded by many talented class-mates made the experience even better. Five years later, as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, I still benefit from the skills and contacts that I acquired during my time at UCL and I expect to be doing so in the future as well.
