Hi, everyone I am an international student and really want to do a PhD in economics. But most likely I will only get a pass degree at University of Manchester this year. Is there any chance I can get into self-funded PhD program, maybe in less reputable universities? What universities should I look into? I do have 2:1 for my undergrad.

If I eventually got a merit degree, What is the chance then? I have friend with overall 60 plus but still got rejected by Man uni because he failed to achieve 60 in the first term.

Thanks!

You will get on to a self-funded program at most universities. They just want the money.

I would strongly caution against anyone doing a full-time self-funded PhD if their motivation is to improve their employment prospects. Is that your aim?

As a student of economics, I would encourage you to consider whether your investment (time, money) and the opportunity costs (loss of earnings, loss of chance to gain experience that employers would value more highly than a PhD) is worth it. Taking into account all of the above I estimate the total cost as upwards of £90,000 for a home student. Is that a worthwhile investment for whatever your end goal is?

TreeofLife's position may sound cynical but I wouldn't disagree.

Improve employment prospect is only small part of my motivation. I really want to do development economic research in the future and contribute something. But with only a Master degree, it proves to be extreme difficult.
So I would rather say that PhD is a way fulfil my lifetime goal.

Have you done much investigation into the employment prospects of people with economics PhDs in development research? Are there many opportunities out there?

When you say it is difficult with 'only as Masters'... are you sure that employers are looking for 'Masters + PhD' or 'Masters + further experience'?

Sorry to be negative, but read around on this forum about the number of people who do not succeed in obtaining the academic research career they desire, despite having a PhD. There are various non academic avenues for research, but those employers may not be that fussed about whether you have a PhD.

If you are determined to self fund I would recommend doing it part time while carrying out part time work which is relevant in some way to your long term aims - it will enhance your skill-set and give you a wider range of options at the end of the process.

Just don't. Seriously. You will end up in high debt and you most likely won't work in economic research after all. There are only few positions after a PhD and they look for high performers. There is no situation where I would suggest a self funded PhD. You are basically paying an institution to work for them and this is just ridiculous. Nobody would pay a company to work for it. Yes, you are in some way still a student, but you contribute to the department in a completely different way as bachelor or master students do. There are enough funded positions and the people who can't secure a funded position are usually the people who would have only little chance in research. I don't want to paint it too black but give it some thought. We are talking about an incredible amount of money and an almost non existing chance to fulfill that lifetime goal. There has to be some compromise.

Have to agree with the above. I'm extremely fortunate to have a scholarship (Arts subject), but I know a number of people in my department who are funding their PhD's. Most do so part-time so that they can study and work, and take the teaching that the dept gives them. Do the course part-time. You will likely find it more rewarding and gain vital industry experience.

Manchester isn't the only university to not accept pass Masters degrees for a PhD - my own institution has the same rule for humanities and social sciences at least, as experience has shown that such students tend not to finish the PhD, which is bad for the university's completion rates. A merit would given more opportunities, but unlikely to produce funding. You really need a 1st or a distinction at Masters to stand a realistic chance of ESRC funding.
There are many ways in which you can work on development issues without it being on the research track. Indeed a lot of development studies research has no impact whatsoever, if my practitioner friend is to be believed. It might be that your skill set is best suited to a more practical application of development work. I'd certainly be hesitant about assuming a PhD will do anything for your employability in that field, and agree with the others that you need to think long and hard before you invest time and money into self-funding a PhD. I'd double and treble the run away now advice if the courses you've found difficult are methods or theory courses, as you'll really need to be good at both to survive the PhD.