Koch Associate Program

Applications Now Open

A reminder- the Mercatus Center Master's Fellowship Program

The deadline for applications for the Fall 2008 semester is April 18, 2008.

The Mercatus Center Master's Fellowship Program is a competitive fellowship program for students in George Mason University's MA economics program (thesis option) who are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in applied economics in preparation for a career in business or public policy. Our master's fellows take specialized courses which provide analytic training in applying economic ideas to solve problems in the world.

The Mercatus Center Master's Fellowship program is targeted toward students with an interest in gaining advanced training in economics, but who do not anticipate a career in academia. Students who anticipate working in public policy or in a decision making position in business are ideal candidates for this fellowship.

Scholarships

New Zealand Development Scholarships

# (for those applying directly from secondary school) have completed their senior schooling in their country of citizenship
# (for in-service applicants) have been working in their home country, preferably for at least two years prior to application
# have worked for two years in their home country since completing their highest qualification gained to date
# be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to their home country's public, private or civil society sector (as relevant), and to the development of their home country in general
# be able to take up the scholarship in the academic year for which it is offered.

Master's Fellowship Program- GMU

Scholarships

For Americans;

DHS Scholarships and Fellowshps

International:
Study in Britian: Chevening Scholarship

Assorted Scholarships

The German Academic Exchange Service is one of the world's largest and most respected intermediary organisations in its field. Scores of students, teachers, researchers and scientists supported by the DAAD have been able to gain valuable experience abroad. However, there are also many other sides to the work of the DAAD.

Stanley M. Schoenfeld Memorial Scholarship
The scholarship is available for students who are enrolled in a postgraduate program in public affairs/management (with a concentration in finance) at an accredited college or university in New York State.

Humane Studies Fellowship

Hayek Fund for Scholars

Funding for US Study Online

Study Governance in Berlin

The Master of Public Policy Programme in Governance
The Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme is ideal for students who want to pursue careers in modern governance. The interdisciplinary two-year degree combines traditional classroom education with real-world training to develop candidates' practical and analytical problem-solving skills. Prospective students have typically studied economics, law, or political science, but the HSoG encourages candidates from every field to apply.

Hertie School of Governance

Law and Economics in GMU

I'm Going to Law School!

Is it that good a program? And is the The Robert A. Levy Fellowship in Law and Liberty open for international students?

Presidential Management Fellows

If you want to work for the Federal Government;

“The purpose of the Program is to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs."

The application closes on December 4, 2007.

Yahoo! Ph.D. Student Fellowship Program

Yahoo Announces 2008-2009 PhD Student Fellowship Program;

Our fellowship program sponsors candidates conducting advanced research in the following areas: search (information retrieval, web analysis, graph theory, data mining, and recommender systems), machine learning, community systems (social extraction, social search, large-scale databases and distributed systems), media experiences research, and computational microeconomics (online markets, prediction markets, sponsored search auctions, and query incentive networks). We strongly encourage students working in any of the above or related areas to apply. Yahoo! Fellows will not only benefit from our comprehensive financial support but will also have access to top Yahoo! researchers in their fields and exclusive invitations to important research events.

The highlights of each recipient’s award benefits include full tuition and fees for two academic years, a $1,000 gift to the recipient’s academic department, an optional summer internship, and mentorship from our distinguished scientists.

We will begin accepting applications on October 5th, 2007

Why MIT is Great

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US will today announce a $50m -fellowship programme aimed at creating a new class of business leaders from the developing world.

The programme provides financial support to aspiring entrepreneurs from developing nations to spend two years studying at one of the MIT's graduate schools.

During their time at the Institute, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, they will create a business plan for an enterprise-based start-up to be based in their home country.

Legatum, an emerging markets investment firm based in Dubai, made the gift, which will also establish the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the university.

The announcement comes as MIT - a university whose research and technology has been central to the development of many big US companies - seeks to increase its commercial visibility in the developing world.

About 150 new MIT-related companies are founded each year, according to the school's technology licensing office. Last year alone, the US government granted 149 patents to the university.

While the vast majority of these new ventures are based in the US, MIT has in recent years spun off several companies in the developing world, such as Cell Bazaar, which provides localised, Ebay-type markets on cell phones in Bangladesh; and blueEnergy, which provides low-cost energy to underdeveloped communities in Central America using locally made micro wind turbines.

This programme aims to produce 30 for-profit companies a year for the next 10 years, according to Alex Pentland, a professor at the MIT Media Lab and the new faculty director of the Center.

"There's a false dichotomy in people's minds that if you want to help people, you have to be non-profit. It's patronising," he said. "What we want is for poor people to get rich. We want to see some kid in Paraguay start a company, scale up, start exporting to Brazil, and make a nice life for herself, her family and her village."

The students are encouraged to return to their home countries after their studies at MIT.

"If a student came to the US [from a developing nation] to get training, then of course they could become an employee of this country, and get some cushy job," said Iqbal Quadir, founder of GrameenPhone, a company that provides universal telecommunications access in Bangladesh, and the executive director of the Center.

"But if they go back to their home countries, they can make millions of dollars. We're incentivising people that way. We're saying the entrepreneurial career is more lucrative."

-MIT to tutor emerging leaders

Innovation doesn't grow on trees

On a marshy peninsula 50 miles from this Red Sea port, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is staking $12.5 billion on a gargantuan bid to catch up with the West in science and technology.

Between an oil refinery and the sea, the monarch is building from scratch a graduate research institution that will have one of the 10 largest endowments in the world, worth more than $10 billion.

Its planners say men and women will study side by side in an enclave walled off from the rest of Saudi society, the country’s notorious religious police will be barred and all religious and ethnic groups will be welcome in a push for academic freedom and international collaboration sure to test the kingdom’s cultural and religious limits.

This undertaking is directly at odds with the kingdom’s religious establishment, which severely limits women’s rights and rejects coeducation and robust liberal inquiry as unthinkable.

For the new institution, the king has cut his own education ministry out the loop, hiring the state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco to build the campus, create its curriculum and attract foreigners.

Supporters of what is to be called the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or Kaust, wonder whether the king is simply building another gated island to be dominated by foreigners, like the compounds for oil industry workers that have existed here for decades, or creating an institution that will have a real impact on Saudi society and the rest of the Arab world.

-Saudi King Tries to Grow Modern Ideas in Desert

Advice for Applying to Grad School in Economics

Advice from Susan Athey, the winner of The John Bates Clark Medal, on choosing classes;

-Graduate schools care much more about what hard classes you've taken and how you've done in them than about overall GPA.

-If you have taken difficult classes its probably a good idea to point this out in your application essay because schools might not know what the math classes are, which economics classes are the advanced ones, etc. ?

-Real analysis is an especially important class because it tends to be demanding everywhere, and forces you to do logical and formal proofs. Get a good grade in this class.

-Taking some graduate classes can be a good thing, but be prepared. You will be at a disadvantage since the grad students will all have study groups. Try to join a study group and devote serious time to any graduate classes you take. More and more applicants are taking graduate classes.

-Students from top universities who have the bare minimum coursework (an undergraduate major, no graduate economics or math classes, and only basic undergraduate math classes) will need something really outstanding -- like a thesis that is publishable in a top economics field journal--to get fellowships at the top two or three graduate programs. Typically the strongest applicants have some distinguishing feature, like scoring near the top of a graduate class at a top PhD program, very strong math (e.g. graduate level real analysis and topology), or an outstanding thesis or coauthored research.

-Undergraduate classes at most U.S. universities are much easier than graduate classes. To be a strong applicant you should be getting mostly or all As in undergraduate economics classes--with grade inflation even A-'s are not going to help you. Some poor grades your freshman year won't disqualify you though, doing really well in very advanced classes will more than compensate

Scholarships for Muslims

Islamic Development Bank offers some scholarships in the field of science and
technology- thought might be of interest to some of our Muslim readers;

Scholarship Programme for Muslim Communities in Non-Member Countries

Merit Scholarship Programme for High Technology

MSc Scholarship Programme in Science and Technology for IDB Least Developed Member Countries

I don't have a clue why their focus is only on science and technology, not on economics or finance.

Assorted University Blogs

The MorningSide Post - SIPA Columbia

FLETCHER Reflections - Tufts

SAISgeist- John Hopkins

Database of Scholarships at American Universities

This seems an interesting project- IECG is developing a database of scholarships at US universities;

“There are an estimated 65,000 scholarships valued at more than 3 billion dollars available for U.S. and foreign students of American universities. ICEG is compiling a comprehensive database of these scholarships, which will be online in late 2006. Students will be able to search these scholarship data by area of study (major), gender and ethnic preferences, qualification requirements, and choice of college. They will also be able, in most cases, to apply online.”

Searching under Economics brought about 87 scholarships.

I’ll try to document scholarships available in the developed world in this blog and readers help in the matter is very much appreciated.

Related;
Gates Cambridge Scholarship; ‘may come from any country of the world except the United Kingdom’