Oxford/LSE MSc Economic History - Australian Applicant

[rayuela]

Hello!

 

I've recently been accepted into the following programs: MSc in Economic History at LSE, MSc in Economic and Social History at Oxford.

 

However, much to my disappointment, I haven't been offered any funding for either program.

 

I'm an Australian citizen, currently living in Spain. Unfortunately, scholarships for Australians to undertake study overseas are thin on the ground.

 

I am wondering if any Australians (or anybody coming from a third country to the UK to study) have any advice about alternative funding sources? I would be willing to borrow the money if the interest rates weren't too prohibitive and I could work part-time while studying.

 

Another question, of course, is whether it is rational to pay 30k+GBP for a one year MSc. Anybody have any experience with these programs? I plan on doing my PhD afterwards, and I assume that taking one of these programs would greatly enhance my chances of securing funding (in this manner I look at the MSc as an investment in my postgraduate education as a whole). Is this actually the case?

 

Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

 

Have a nice day!

[Slutsky_Walrus]

I can only speak from the little bits of info I've seen on cases like this. With that said, I have not heard of a single applicant accepting a LSE/UCL/Warwick/Oxford offer over a funded one from a decent school - UBC/Toronto in Canada, and I've seen cases of people choosing BGSE, Toulouse, U3CM, etc.

 

Obviously those schools don't have quite the brand name as LSE or Oxford, but as long as you go to a decent enough school for your undergrad/MA, it's really not as big of a factor when applying I think. 

 

With that all said though, as a Canadian applicant I chose an unfunded UBC offer over funded offers I had. Not necessarily to better my chances at a PhD, but for other reasons. 

[rayuela]

Hey thanks for the reply.

 

Yeah I'm currently at UC3M in Spain - funding here is also extremely thin on the ground as one would expect.  I'm thinking of looking outside of Europe next season.

 

Something that kind of bothers me a bit here is that when applying for a funded PhD position an awful lot of weight is put on the quality of the Masters degree. This is kind of unfair when there is generally a paucity of funding for good Masters programs (especially in Econ Hist). I get the impression somethimes that the whole Masters system is a bit of a cash-grab (especially for intl. apps.).

 

Anyway, good luck with with your studies!