Masters in Economics for a student in India.

[Veena]

Hey guys! I'm from India and would like to pursue an Msc. in Economics (focussed on finance and development economics). The are some basic constrains that I face while applying for universities. I shall list them as follows:

1) I have completed my Bachelor of Commerce degree in India (3 years) and am also a Chartered Accountant (member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India). Now both these courses contained basic economics and math. Thus, i do not satisfy the advanced level of math and economics honours criteria that most top economics program's have.

2) Most courses in US require a four year university prequalification. However since Chartered Accountancy is not considered as a university level qualification by some universities, I do not fit that criteria (3 year Bachelor of Commerce degree).

I'm also pursuing the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program from the CFA Institute, USA.

Thus, based on my field of interest and the above mentioned limitations, please advice suitable universities that I should apply to. Further, please review the masters program's in Canada and Scotland. They seem to offer prequalification courses in my country and aren't very expensive.

Regards.

[Seeking]

Indian students usually apply after completing one year of Masters in India, or after getting a Masters degree - precisely because of the 1-year discrepancy in the Bachelor's degrees in India and in the US.

 

You need to find out whether your CFA course credits will compensate for the 1-year's shortage. For this, you need to write to the Graduate co-ordinates of a couple of universities and ask if they will accept the credits from CFA towards the eligibility of 4 years pre-Graduate training. If not, then it's better to get credits for the remaining one year before applying. You may be able to find pre-qualification or bridge courses for this purpose.

 

So, you need to get this sorted out first, before you actually begin to apply.

 

Another option for you can be to get a Masters from a reputable university in India and apply for an MS or PhD in the US.

[thelastgoal]

Applying for Masters after CA will be waste for you. If you can align your expertise and interests very well, PhD is better option for you. Try looking for PhD to those who value your qualifications. Also, I will suggest you to contact WES with detailed qualification enquiry.

Source:
India, Know about CA, CFA etc and Familiar with people in these careers

[jeffster]

There are a few other threads in the econ forum here where people ask for help figuring out what schools they should apply to based on their profile.  Check those out for some more perspective.