Ph.d : UBC vs IOWA

[xiao]

Hi, everyone. I am pleased to receive offers from UBC and U IOWA but it seems a little difficult for me to choose between these schools. Any opinions are appreciated.

My research interest is in macro right now. I know Iowa has a reputation but I think UBC is also great, although my infor only from the website, I find many professors' research interests match with my plan ( now I plan to do further research in areas of monetary economics or public finance); funding from Iowa is generous, 20K and UBC's is 22K, which covers about 4K tuition fees ( I am an international student ), so I guess the living in Vancouver would be tougher, but as long as the funding can cover my living, it's fine.

so, my concern is mainly about the teaching-research enviroment and the living cost in each university. And I prefer to a friendly program, in which professors concern their students, contact is close, etc.

Thanks and hope you all have a good future!

[Internationalstudent08]

Hey... I don't know much about the programs, but since you are an international student and there is a good chance you don't know much about either iowa (the state) or british columbia, I thought I should say that british columbia is a much better place to live than iowa. I don't know if this is a serious consideration for you though

[bigleaguechew]

Hey... I don't know much about the programs, but since you are an international student and there is a good chance you don't know much about either iowa (the state) or british columbia, I thought I should say that british columbia is a much better place to live than iowa. I don't know if this is a serious consideration for you though

I'm gonna second that. I would think that this would be especially true for international students.

[Internationalstudent08]

I think UBC is not very close to downtown vancouver (which is considered to be one of the top -if not the top- city to live), so it may not be that expensive. take a look at craigslist for prices craigslist: vancouver, BC classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

[can_econ]

I'm at UBC and I like it. It isn't too big a class, and there are a good number of students interested in macro. I think the international macro (Devereux, Lahiri, Hnatkovska) faculty is really top notch. In macro-monetary and macro-public finance, check out what Henry Siu and Paul Beaudry are doing (they co-taught 1st year PhD macro in the 2nd semester for the past couple of years). Both are very approachable and enthusiastic. Also, Giovanni Gallipoli is working in macro-labour and has a few students who seem to be doing well. For empirical public finance - UBC has a great group of empirical researchers doing labour/public econ, out of them, Kevin Milligan and Phil Oreopolous have taught a public econ grad class in the past. The environment here is friendly; while there's definitely pressure on you in first year to get through comps, the environment tends to be cooperative rather than competitive. Attrition seems pretty reasonable (2 people due to comps in my year out of 11 who wrote comps). I talk about research ideas with my classmates all the time.

UBC is typically ranked above Iowa in international department rankings, but Iowa has had some very good placements in the past couple of years at the upper end. I'm not sure what that reflects since I don't know the program so you'd probably want to ask around a bit more to make an informed comparison.

As a place to live - yeah, it's a bit expensive. A lot of PhD students live in Thunderbird apartments on campus, if you're looking to get an idea of how much rent would cost on campus - Thunderbird Residence

[xiao]

Thank you all for those useful information! I appreciate your responses!

And hey, can econ, hope we would meet in the UBC! ( I do prefer to UBC so far )

Yeah, as an international student, the chance to get to know a school and city is quite limited. so, I really love this forum for providing the chance!

Any more infor about Iowa is appreciated!

[vicarious]

Hang on, I will give some information about U of Iowa but I have a midterm early in the morning. After that I can help as much as I can.

And yes, I am a first year in U of Iowa

[GrowingLionel]

Hang on, I will give some information about U of Iowa but I have a midterm early in the morning. After that I can help as much as I can.

And yes, I am a first year in U of Iowa

good luck

[bheld]

BC is a much better place to live than Iowa? Not on $24k a year. Are there a lot of deep sea fishermen, sea kayakers, or mountain climbers on here or something? Didn't think so. Iowa isn't exactly devoid of recreational opportunities either.

I've seen so many stupid comments regarding location on here lately. In some other thread somebody said something about Ann Arbor being a poor place to live. People also complain about Minneapolis, St. Louis, when they are all decent towns. If you want an idea of what the living is like try emailing current grad students at each school because people here don't know what they're talking about.

[Internationalstudent08]

BC is a much better place to live than Iowa? Not on $24k a year. Are there a lot of deep sea fishermen, sea kayakers, or mountain climbers on here or something? Didn't think so. Iowa isn't exactly devoid of recreational opportunities either.

I've seen so many stupid comments regarding location on here lately. In some other thread somebody said something about Ann Arbor being a poor place to live. People also complain about Minneapolis, St. Louis, when they are all decent towns. If you want an idea of what the living is like try emailing current grad students at each school because people here don't know what they're talking about.

Thanks a lot on the condescending tone that came along with the rest of the non-sense that you posted here.

Iowa is in the middle of nowhere, very rural with no big cities. UBC is 10km away from one of the most beautiful and livable cities. Iowa is freaking cold, Vancouver is not. Is there any serious comparison between west coast (even the canadian west coast) and the midwest (except chicago)? Why are you talking about recreational opportunities, ann arbor, Minneapolis? I don't even understand what your point is.

About the 24k thing. There are graduate students who survive on 20+ in new york. I'm sure they can survive with that money a bit outside vancouver.