<p>Hi everyone, </p>
<p>I'm an international student from Asia who just graduated Bachelor of Economics at University of Queensland in Australia, majoring in Quantitative Methods. At the moment I'm facing a tough time of deciding what to do next for my future. </p>
<p>My long-term aspiration is to work as a specialist/consultant in economics at UN/WB/IMF. I spoke to my supervisor at uni and he told me that a PhD in Econ was almost a MUST if I want to land a job in those institutions. </p>
<p>There are several paths I may follow to reach that goal, and I'm uncertain which one is the best given my circumstances. </p>
<p>My academic results (3 year Bachelor):</p>
<ul>
<li>GPA: an accumulated GPA of 6.5/7 (Australian grading system), which translates into roughly 3.7/4. </li>
<li>Few weak first year courses (GPA around 70%). Most of major and third year courses with grade 7 (GPA above 90%).</li>
<li>I selected mostly advanced and rigorous courses for my third year (Advanced Micro, Advanced Macro, Applied Econometrics in Macro/Finance, Applied Econometrics in Micro, Stat theory, Econometrics Theory, Game theory) and got all above 90%</li>
</ul>
<p>In terms of experience, I've been a tutor at the school of Economics and also working as a research assistant in Macro, though I didn't have any extra curricular activities during my degree. </p>
<p>My situation is that I originally planned to do Honours degree after Bachelor at UQ, which I got the offer. (Honours in Australia is equivalent to Master if not more valuable). Only 17 folks got into the program. </p>
<p>However, as unforeseen event happened, doing 1 year Honours is no longer within my financial ability since it costs a lot (AUD $28,000) and AUD foreign exchange has been skyrocketing. </p>
<p>Therefore I may turn down the offer and search for some other options. </p>
<p>My questions are:</p>
<p>In adcom's perspective, an Honours degree from Australia (UQ) and a Master degree in economics from, say, Canada (UBC), which one is more favourable? </p>
<p>(In terms of finance, UBC wins since the tuition is only around $7000, but I heard various inconsistent judgments about the MA program there, so I'm really uncertain about its placement)</p>
<p>Also, will it be better if I do a Master in Statistics to send adcoms a signal about my Maths skills? If so, which university in Australia/US/Canada will be a nice place to go to? (with reasonable price or generous financial aid?)</p>
<p>Or, is it possible for me to apply straight to PhD programs now right out of the bat given my background? (I haven't done GRE but I will spend the whole year working on that so I can apply next year) Will I have a chance in say Top 20 Econ programs? Or do I really need to improve my agenda by doing some further study and which path is the best for me?</p>
<p>Thank you so much in advance!!! I really appreciate your time and advice!!</p>