What schools offer the Masters in Economics as a prep for a PhD in Economics?

Graduate School
1

I’m an economics related major graduate and gpa is over 3.5 GRE 152/162 not that high.
I have applied seven programs at
-UCLA,
-USC,
-Johns Hopkins University AAP,
-Georgetown,
-UIUC,
-Boston University.
-Texas Austin

I selected those schools to apply because they maintain high name values not only as undergraduate but also as grad schools for PhD degrees. I mistakenly thought their Master’s program would be very helpful to make me a strong candidate for the top notch PhD in Economics and lead me there if I succeed in masters program.
However, what I have noticed from my own research is that Johns Hopkins University AAP is more like a continuing academics(could be better than that but still you know what I mean), which could be a joke on my resume for applying to a PhD from the admission center’s perspective.
Not surprisingly, I guess many other programs I applied could be also just selling the degree than actually helping me land on a PhD program.
I started carefully investigating especially on the statistics of previously admitted students, which most of them reject to reveal, and the placements of the alumni.
Despite their rigor programs in undergraduate and PhD, well, I would say the only school worth to go above the list is Texas Austin. They relatively clarify where their alumni have gone on than other schools who never say anything about, and obviously the result wasn’t disappointing, if the info is true.
Ironically, from the ranking I thought of, Texas would be the least likely school for me, even though I already have been accepted by them with a scholarship, I’m not saying Texas Austin is a bad school, and I admit that itself is better than the school I went for undergraduate. I wanted the school for masters school would cover it so I could apply for a top tier grad school for PhD.

UIUC also looks ok as it offers an opportunity for students in masters to go for their PhD.
Rest of them, honestly, not enough information to make a choice and I think it’s very risky as they only look like a degree seller even though they are very good undergraduate schools.

Question is, if one of you ever attended those schools in Masters of Economics, did you really think it was worth to go and spend money and time, especially when you want to cover up your resume from undergraduate to land on a top 20 schools for Economics in PhD

2

My 2c:

  1. If you are serious about a PhD in economics, do a math major. PhD in economics nowadays is extremely quantitative.
  2. You really don't need to "cover up" your resume from your undergrad as the schools listed above are all very good schools. Using the school I am most familiar with, the University of Chicago Department of Economics current crops of Assistant Professors mostly do not graduate from the USNWR top 15 schools. In fact, as pertaining to your case, one Assistant Professor graduated from UT Austin with a BA with honors in Economics and Math. What matters for the academic career of any Econ PhD is where you go to for graduate school. Almost all of the Assistant Professors at UChicago Department of Economics get their their PhD from top programs like MIT, Standford, Harvard, Princeton, etc.

In summary, go to any of the above schools and study well in Economics AND Mathematics. Then you will be eligible for any top PhD programs in Economics.

P.S. Master in Economics is generally not offered in any top programs. From what I understand, it is a consolation prize for people who may have failed the qualifying exam to advance to PhD programs.

3

If you already have a bachelor degree, I would suggest going to a school that offers the best Master Degree in Math and then apply for a PhD in Economics. There are many Econ PhDs with engineering and science background.

4

For a PhD in economics 1) you need to take at least as many classes as a math minor and preferably have more courses in math than even that 2) quantitative econ skills, econometrics, statistics, etc are necessary 3) you don’t apply to a master’s first - if you haven’t graduated, it’ll be cheaper to do summer classes and a few math and stats classes in college than go for a self-funded master’s thzr wouldn’t hold much weight, plus it’ll help raise your GPA 4) you apply straight for the PhD.

So…what math classes have you taken and what grade did you get in each?
Are you a college senior or have you graduated?