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I am currently in the second year of my masters degree (MSc. Economics) in India. I want to pursue a PhD (preferably in the US) that is funded. Post my PhD, I want to work in MDBs/International organizations for development, in research - mainly economic policy and macroeconomic research.

I absolutely love economics and have no qualms or fears about stepping into a PhD program - I am sure I will enjoy the rigor and the thrill of diving so deep into this discipline.

However, my chances of getting into a funded program in US/Europe do not seem great as of now. I come from a relatively lesser known college, and the econ-department here is quite small - the professors are mostly new and have just submitted their PhDs themselves. My LoRs will not be very strong, and I don't have any publications or anything else that will help my case. I have only seen a handful of alumni from my current college getting into PhD programs in the US- that too the lowest ranked ones.

Will a second master's degree in Econ, from the US, help my case? - (pros would be a more credible degree, better connections and chances of LoRs, etc.)

If not, could are there any alternatives I could follow to boost PhD applications?

Econ Enthusiast
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  • Have you applied already and been turned down or are you speculating about your chances? – Buffy Sep 30 '23 at 11:58
  • Speculating. I haven't completed my Master's degree yet. – Econ Enthusiast Sep 30 '23 at 16:14
  • I asked this because, applications tend to be expensive. I dont know if I can afford to apply more than once if I get rejected the first time (at least not in the next 5-10 years). – Econ Enthusiast Sep 30 '23 at 16:15
  • If you want any hope of acceptance you need to apply to more than one institution. I'll probably vote to close this as a duplicate of the canonical question on doctoral application, but note that in the US, no masters is required, so a second one isn't likely to count much. But think in terms of, say, five applications spread out over a range of university rankings. And, "funded" in the US means as a TA in most cases. – Buffy Sep 30 '23 at 16:19

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