Hi all,

I am not sure if this is the best place to ask questions about
postgraduate studies, but I cannot find a better forum.

I am in a bit of a quandry here. I was an international studies student
at undergraduate level who is now making the change to economics at
post graduate level. It partly has to do with my interests and partly
to do with the job market (surprise surprise). I have offers in the
diploma program from

1. Queen Mary, London
2. The Univ of Brimingham.

I am at a loss to decide which one to go to. I have looked at the Times
and Guardian rating and also the RAE scores for these two departments.
The problem is that these scores are in conflict with each other. In
fact the guardian scores conflict with themselves when seen between
2004 and 2005.

I am not a resident of UK and have no idea whatsoever how these
universities are percieved by the public and potential employers. Hence
I need the your opinion in making a decision.

Please note that I plan to do an MSc or MA in Eco after the diploma and
how the department is percieved amongst the academia is very important
for me.

TIA
M

wrote in message 
news:1124209343.399782.81250@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Hi all,
>
> I am not sure if this is the best place to ask questions about
> postgraduate studies, but I cannot find a better forum.


This group formed a while ago and people have kind-of hung around. 
Interestingly, we've ended up gaining knowledge about a-levels as a result, 
which is a little odd. I think the majority of people here have graduated.


>
> I am in a bit of a quandry here. I was an international studies student
> at undergraduate level who is now making the change to economics at
> post graduate level. It partly has to do with my interests and partly
> to do with the job market (surprise surprise). I have offers in the
> diploma program from
>
> 1. Queen Mary, London
> 2. The Univ of Brimingham.
>
> I am at a loss to decide which one to go to. I have looked at the Times
> and Guardian rating and also the RAE scores for these two departments.
> The problem is that these scores are in conflict with each other. In
> fact the guardian scores conflict with themselves when seen between
> 2004 and 2005.


Well the first thing to do is throw the league tables in the bin. The one 
thing that we can all agree on in here (I think!) is that they're not much 
use.


>
> I am not a resident of UK and have no idea whatsoever how these
> universities are percieved by the public and potential employers. Hence
> I need the your opinion in making a decision.


I think that the universities are percieved similarly (It's not my subject 
so I can't tell you about the departments).

Alun Harford

wrote in message 
news:1124209343.399782.81250@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Hi all,
>
> I am not sure if this is the best place to ask questions about
> postgraduate studies, but I cannot find a better forum.
>
> I am in a bit of a quandry here. I was an international studies student
> at undergraduate level who is now making the change to economics at
> post graduate level. It partly has to do with my interests and partly
> to do with the job market (surprise surprise). I have offers in the
> diploma program from
>
> 1. Queen Mary, London
> 2. The Univ of Brimingham.
>
> I am at a loss to decide which one to go to. I have looked at the Times
> and Guardian rating and also the RAE scores for these two departments.
> The problem is that these scores are in conflict with each other. In
> fact the guardian scores conflict with themselves when seen between
> 2004 and 2005.
>
> I am not a resident of UK and have no idea whatsoever how these
> universities are percieved by the public and potential employers. Hence
> I need the your opinion in making a decision.
>
> Please note that I plan to do an MSc or MA in Eco after the diploma and
> how the department is percieved amongst the academia is very important
> for me.
>
> TIA
> M
>

I'd agree with Alan, both Unis have good repuations, and short of Googling 
the publication lists of the staff who are likely to teach you, there's not 
much you can do to distinguish them. You haven't said anything about the 
nature of the diplomas you intend to study - I presume you have looked 
carefully at the course content and have not found significant differences 
between them? I'm thinking particularly about the possible maths content. If 
one is more mathmatically based and your own background in that subject is 
not particularly strong, you'd need to consider the implications.


Ginnie