Cornell, Anyone?

[rvalchev]

As for insights on Duke vs Cornell ... well, Cornell's obvious weak point is the placements. If Duke's placement were equivalent with Cornell's, I would go to Cornell since their financial deal is better + you get the Ivy Label.

But given the current placements, as I said I have serious second thoughts about Cornell. I'd love to hear any explanations about them, if anybody knows anything.

[mathy backpack]

Yes, I have been having the exact same Duke vs. Cornell debate. I think part of my bias comes from a preference for Ithaca over Durham, but also the fact that I am 90% sure of what I want to specialize in. I keep telling myself that a couple of quality, current-publishing professors in my field, along with a solid training in the core is all I need to have a solid first placement. After that, my fate is entirely up to me!

Plus the 5 year funding (especially fourth year no teach) and ivy label are attractive as well!

[rvalchev]

What kind of financing did Duke offer you? I only got tuition and health insurance from them.

Btw, weak placements makes me question whether or not Cornell's core training is indeed solid. All I want is sold core training and good advisers from a graduate school. I don't know how to judge core training though ... may be placement is one proxy?

[ThJefferson]

I have been admitted to the AEM Ph.D. program and I have already accepted the offer. If you guys go, I will probably meet you in the fall because the AEM students take similar courses during the first year (micro sequence for sure, maybe the same math sequence as well).

[mathy backpack]

rvalchev, yes same deal from Duke, but I was told that they may have done this for those they thought would have better offers (they held back a good deal of funding to gauge interest first). When I emailed, they said that visiting and showing interest would probably shore up first-year funding.

As far as the core training at Cornell, this is something I am very interested in learning about. I think you have a great point regarding placement as a proxy. Someone (somewhere on TM I think) mentioned that they were increasing the rigor (starting this year maybe?) of the core. These are the kinds of things I am hoping to have open and honest conversations about when I go visit.

Maybe you can share what you learn at Duke and I can do the same for Cornell!

[rvalchev]

Hey thanks for sharing the info about Duke, that's very valuable! The biggest negative against Duke's side so far was the lack of funding in comparison with my other two offers. If Duke can spring up some sort of living stipend funding, then they would edge up the other two I think Certainly something I will need to talk to them about.

I will be happy to share any and all impressions I get about Duke. I plan on meeting mostly econometrics, finance and either micro or macro theory earthlings, whatever I can get. But I'll certainly let you know what I learn. Please post back here when you come back from Cornell too.

[macro dude]

I think most people would take Wisconsin fully funded over Duke with no stipend. Placements are better overall at Wisconsin (i.e. 25th-75th percentile), though Duke's top end is quite good recently. My ranking would be Wisconsin>Cornell>=Duke taking into account grad program, placements, and the funding offered.

[rvalchev]

I think most people would take Wisconsin fully funded over Duke with no stipend. Placements are better overall at Wisconsin (i.e. 25th-75th percentile), though Duke's top end is quite good recently. My ranking would be Wisconsin>Cornell>=Duke taking into account grad program, placements, and the funding offered.

I am not sure if that's true though. If you look at the couple of years, the academic placements for Duke (only tenure-track) are:

Berkeley
Kellog
Wash U (2)
U of Rochester
Texas AM
Southern Methodist
U of Oklahoma
U of South Carolina
U of Baltimore
SUNY - Stony Brook
East Carolina
Howard
College of the Holy Cross
Vassar College

So it's 2 top tens + 3 TOP30 +3 TOP50 +2 good liberal arts college. So 10 out of 15 people going into academia are placed quite well. While Wisconsin for the same time period:

NWU
UCSD
UCSC
Texas AM
U of Kentucky
U of St Thomas
Southern Methodist
Bates College

1 top 10 +2 TOP30 + 2 TOP50 so 5 out of 8 are placed well. If you use a TOP50 cut off point, I think Duke is on par with Wisconsin in placement. But Duke's stars are better placed on average.

The only part where Wisconsin has a clear advantage is placing with the Feds, IMF, World bank, because for some reason Duke does not place there. I am not sure why. Does anybody have an idea of why Duke graduates don't go in these jobs?

[macro dude]

The only part where Wisconsin has a clear advantage is placing with the Feds, IMF, World bank, because for some reason Duke does not place there. I am not sure why. Does anybody have an idea of why Duke graduates don't go in these jobs?

I think it is most likely because Duke isn't very strong in macro/international. They place their top finance, IO, and applied micro people well, but macro doesn't seem to be as strong.

In terms of average placement, I think two years is too small of a sample. Wisconsin is a well established Top 15 school, with placements to go along with that. Duke is breaking into the Top 20, but a couple of years of strong placements at the top end don't necessarily mean Duke's graduate program is "better" than Wisconsin. I should add that I was ranking them given the funding you've been offered. If you had a full stipend from Duke, it'd be a toss up between the three. For me, funding tips the scale in favour of Wisc/Cornell. Just my two cents.

Anyway, it depends what you're interested in, but Cornell, Wisconsin or Duke are all great options.

[rvalchev]

Thanks for the input macro dude, it's very helpful. I have reached the conclusion it is a clear toss up as well. (As a disclaimer, I kind of assume that at the end of the day i'll get same funding from Duke ... not sure if it is a safe assumption or not, but it's one thing i'll talk about when I visit)

Good point about the strong macro/international field at Wisconsin, I have really not seen much of that at Duke.