Ibn Abbas Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I got a 16.5k offer with full tuition waiver from U Houston and I am very inclined to take it up. But before I sign off the letter and send it back to the grad prog administrator, I was wondering whether I need to consider anything in particular about U Houston, the city of Houston or Texas in general? I am currently in Ottawa, Canada and the other universities I have applied to are Carleton U (my own uni.), U of Ottawa, UW Milwaukee, UT Dallas. I haven't heard back from the others except UT Dallas which has offered me admission but no news yet about funding. U Houston is clearly better than the other 4 and it seems obvious to take up their generous offer. But, just to be on the safe side, I was wondering if you guys have any advice to give. Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thursday Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Congratulations, my potential classmate! :) I don't know much about UH, except what is available on their website...Their comparative advantage is in international macroeconomics, I suppose? What else can I say? Don't know... Insiders info would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsi Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I knew a Turkish guy living in Houston, and he used to praise how great Houston is everytime he opened his mouth. Basically he said: 1- It's the 3rd biggest city in the US. Yet life is much cheaper than other big American cities. House prices and rents are cheaper than other big cities. 2- There's a lot of new construction going on, most of the city is consisted of new buildings unlike cities in Northern states. 3- He also said there's many Turks but I guess that's irrelevant for you. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaye09 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I really don't know much about the school, but I worked in Houston for one very long, very hot summer a few years back and I wasn't a huge fan. I lived on the UT campus and it may have been the weather and the stress of my job, but the place felt dirty. The city has strange zoning laws as well so as a newbie it was hard to identify night life or any sort. That being said, the cost of living was definitely reasonable, there was great mexican food, and the view of the oil dericks from my dorm room was... well... interesting. Being such a big city, I'm sure anyone with the time and motivation can find more good stuff than I was able to in the summer I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singmeat Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 It's one of the fattest cities in the US! 6ish I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thursday Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Actually, Houston is the 4th largest. :p Anyway, thanks for your input, guys! :tup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untitled Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Actually, Houston is the 4th largest. :p Anyway, thanks for your input, guys! :tup: It is a very diverse city, black, hispanic, south asian, etc... I think that the grad cafe forum has good threads on cities (here is houston), you should look there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thursday Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Thanks for the link, untitled. A short synopsis of the discussion on that board (very similar to the comments posted here): Mild winter, but too hot and humid summer; cheap, but not bad food; reasonable prices for housing; a car is needed, most likely... Anyone about UH econ PhD, as an academic program? i.e. profs, environment, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibn Abbas Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Thanks a lot for the info regarding the city of Houston. However, as thursday said, it would be helpful if someone could talk more about the Econ Ph.D program at UH. In particular what textbooks they use for the core courses, what is the level of difficulty of the prelims etc. Thanks a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeb.3 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 hey I am also your potential classmate:) I got an offer from UC Santa Cruz , but it is without funding:(((-who could afford Cali as an international!?!) so it seems like I will be joining you next year:) I dont know much about Uni of Houston, so I am planning to send e-mail to Turkish students studying there....(yes!!! I am from Turkey:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungEconomist Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Why are you gonna accept an offer without knowing all the other options? Unless of course this is your reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thursday Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Hi, YE! Do you refer to someone in particular in your question? Well, generally, no one, I guess, is gonna accept an offer without knowing all the other options (including myself). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungEconomist Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Hi, YE! Do you refer to someone in particular in your question? I was referring to this: I got a 16.5k offer with full tuition waiver from U Houston and I am very inclined to take it up. ...I haven't heard back from the others except UT Dallas which has offered me admission but no news yet about funding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibn Abbas Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Hello YoungEconomist. I am indeed going to wait until I hear back from the others. But it's just formalities because UH is the best among the 5 universities that I applied to. Whether UH is a 'reach' for me or not is debatable. I didn't expect to even get a offer from them, let alone funding. Now that I got admission with full funding, I am thinking whether I should have applied to higher-ranked universities. But anyway, I am not going to cry over it. UH is good enough for me. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibn Abbas Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 hey I am also your potential classmate:) I got an offer from UC Santa Cruz , but it is without funding:(((-who could afford Cali as an international!?!) so it seems like I will be joining you next year:) I dont know much about Uni of Houston, so I am planning to send e-mail to Turkish students studying there....(yes!!! I am from Turkey:) The impression I have so far is that UH, and in particular UH Econ is dominated by Turkish students. :D I don't mind at all. I had Turkish classmates during my MA too.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungEconomist Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Hello YoungEconomist. I am indeed going to wait until I hear back from the others. But it's just formalities because UH is the best among the 5 universities that I applied to. Whether UH is a 'reach' for me or not is debatable. I didn't expect to even get a offer from them, let alone funding. Now that I got admission with full funding, I am thinking whether I should have applied to higher-ranked universities. But anyway, I am not going to cry over it. UH is good enough for me. :) I shouldn't have used the word "reach," but I didn't know what other word to use. I should have just said the best school you applied. So yeah, your original statement is completely understandable, meaning if you already know you're gonna take the UH offer even if you get into every other schools with (realistic) funding, then sure, accept the UH offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeb.3 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 hey:) I got some replies from PhD students, they told me that University of Houston is a place for empirical study...not really good in theory... international econ and macro are strengths(also labor!)...and people seem to be really happy with their department..that is great:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramgadget Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I see that almost everyone on this thread has been accepted. But I would like to know if heard of similar situation than mine: Yesterday late night UT Direct Site stated that I have been denied admission, and now it only states that they have received all the credentials. So am I out or just in the limbo that it was a mistake??? Does any one heard about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econominee Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 The impression I have so far is that UH, and in particular UH Econ is dominated by Turkish students. :D I don't mind at all. I had Turkish classmates during my MA too.:) I did not know this fact. I wish I had applied to UH too :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asianeconomist Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 One of my professors did his PhD at UH. He specialized in growth and macro (mostly monetary). I think it is a reasonable place for doing both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibn Abbas Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 UT Direct Site Did you apply to UH or UT (Austin, Arlington, Dallas, etc.)? From my personal experience, Ph.D and M.A. offers are usually sent by email or phone or by post. It is unusual for departments to just post the news on your student account (application status section) and not contact you directly. On the other hand, since rejections are more than acceptances, they tend to be put up on the website only. If you are in doubt, call or email them or clear things up. I have spent some time going through the faculty websites of UH Econ and found Vollrath and Ozcan to be strong in growth theory (not surprising....given they both graduated from Brown). Labour Econ is also another strong point. This suits me well since development and growth is my preferred field. And given that I have to choose a secondary field, I might want to work on 'immigration' which is part of Labour Econ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeb.3 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Hey Did you hear anything from University of Ottawa?? Did you apply to UH or UT (Austin, Arlington, Dallas, etc.)? From my personal experience, Ph.D and M.A. offers are usually sent by email or phone or by post. It is unusual for departments to just post the news on your student account (application status section) and not contact you directly. On the other hand, since rejections are more than acceptances, they tend to be put up on the website only. If you are in doubt, call or email them or clear things up. I have spent some time going through the faculty websites of UH Econ and found Vollrath and Ozcan to be strong in growth theory (not surprising....given they both graduated from Brown). Labour Econ is also another strong point. This suits me well since development and growth is my preferred field. And given that I have to choose a secondary field, I might want to work on 'immigration' which is part of Labour Econ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibn Abbas Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Nope, not yet. They sent me an email acknowledging receipt of my materials nearly a month back. Since then, silence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeb.3 Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Hey , I accepted their offer today:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRod Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Actually, Houston is the 4th largest. :p Anyway, thanks for your input, guys! :tup: Now it's 41st... thank you wikipedia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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