Ucsc

[jlee7979]

I don't know anything beyond this year and last year's job market placements. I do know that many people come from central banks and are obliged to return to them.

Last year, there were 4 people on the job market. One took a job at a SUNY school, one had worked at the bookings institute but decided to take a job with the US naval studies doing economic research (and received an extremely nice pay package), another went to the WB.

This year, the job market has been terrible. 4 people on the job market. No one has gotten offers at policy places, though 3/4 had flyouts to Fed and WB positions. (there were some good academic flyouts too: University of Aarhus, Dartmouth, Oregon, etc). One person who was interviewed by the WB was assumed to be a shoe-in, but didn't end up getting the job. She is taking a post-doc at the HK institute of monetary research.

All the int'l finance profs (Aizenman, Hutchison, Dooley) are well connected in these organizations. In general, I think the odds of getting a policy job are much greater than getting a good academic position. (Though, it isn't impossible. We've had grad student receive tenure track offers at schools like Indiana, Purdue, and U San Francisco. One guy on the job market this year is taking a tenure track position in New Zealand over a job at Indiana.

Thanks a bunch for this useful information.

Indeed, this year's job market is extremely freezing. As top universities stopped hiring ***. professors, which brings severe competition. I wish the situation will be better especially when we are finding jobs.

However, why do only 4 Ph.Ds go to job market each year? I bet at least 10 students had started Ph.D course at first. Does it mean high attrition rate?

[jlee7979]

Sorry, i meant to say that I didn't receive a TAship in the fall quarter (i had been offered a TAship for the Winter and Spring). Then they offered me a TAship in the fall.

That said, there is always a demand for TAs... though, if alot of people without funding do accept offers from UCSC, the odds of getting funding are less.

OK. I got it. Thank you.

[TheBrothersKaramazov]

However, why do only 4 Ph.Ds go to job market each year? I bet at least 10 students had started Ph.D course at first. Does it mean high attrition rate?

I'd say each class has at most 8 or 9.. with many of the upper year classes smaller. High attrition in that people leave of their own free will. Only 1 person was kicked out in the last 5(?) years due to failing the prelims 3 times. Alot of people choose to go back to their home country, or are already committed to other jobs (eg. at central banks or government), and will not be counted as on the job market. We have also had a handful of phd students who got pregnant and are now taking longer than expected. Finally, some students become too focused on lecturing, and aren't making progress towards their dissertation.

As an aside, it seems that the people who did well on the job market this year are those who taught courses (not just TA'd). Their academic placements were significantly better.

[jlee7979]

I'd say each class has at most 8 or 9.. with many of the upper year classes smaller. High attrition in that people leave of their own free will. Only 1 person was kicked out in the last 5(?) years due to failing the prelims 3 times. Alot of people choose to go back to their home country, or are already committed to other jobs (eg. at central banks or government), and will not be counted as on the job market. We have also had a handful of phd students who got pregnant and are now taking longer than expected. Finally, some students become too focused on lecturing, and aren't making progress towards their dissertation.

As an aside, it seems that the people who did well on the job market this year are those who taught courses (not just TA'd). Their academic placements were significantly better.

Make sense. Those are already hired do not have to be on the job market. Also, if almost all students pass qualifying exam, it is a good news. I hate the kind of schools whick kicks nearly 50% of their first year students out of the school. Even one of my friends, who are a 3rd year Ph.D student at UT Austin, are made to stop study because his field paper was not qualified. It is horrible...

Thank you for all the information.

[Terra Firma]

If you don't get funding in first year, I am almost certain you'd get it in second year providing you had decent grades. I was offered 2 quarters of TA support in first year (+ necessary int'l student support to pay fees), but was not initially offered a TAship. I was later offered one once the fall quarter started.

It's goot to hear that there are many opportunities. From the grad school website, international student who wants second year funding also need to get the out of state tuition waiver too. Does the TAship position cover this or just the stipends? How hard is it if there are many international students in the same class? since there will be more competition plus given the budget cut across the state in California this might not be good but this assumes another budget tightening in Cal next year.

There seems to be no official visit date but from previous threats, people did visit and had good impression of the arrangement from the dpt and I think jhai did this. I will have to debate on this since it will be out of pocket .

[TheBrothersKaramazov]

I can't imagine the department offering an international student a TAship (which would cover the in-state tuition and medical fees) but not the out of state tuition waiver. That's such a tease. You will also have to pay ~$324 per quarter in campus fees. These campus fees pay for the mandatory bus pass, gym facilities (which are quite nice), and ... i'm not sure what else. You really feel the pinch when having to pay this fee.

I really have no idea how competitive it will be for TAships. There is increasingly more RA work for the upper year PhD students, so this may free up TAships for first and second years. Also, I'd recommend looking for RA work early on (don't ask now.. but if you do come, start asking around in the fall).
Poole, Fairlie, Friedman, Robinson are the ones that usually have plenty of RA work. Usually it's alot of STATA work.

Actually, I think the MA students entering in September will be even more unlucky with TAships. The department makes a conscious effort to fund PhD students, but not MA students.

Here is something else to consider for many of you: alot of other departments are desperately looking for TAs. It is unlikely that you'll find TAships in mathematics or statistics, but literature, philosophy, language, history, and art departments are always looking for TAs. (these depts don't take in enough grad students to cover all of their undergrad TA needs).

Yes, there is no official visit date. I think a visit is useful in determining how much you would like Santa Cruz as a town. It is VERY quiet and chill. Lots of old hippies, tree huggers, vegans. . (Eg. there were people living in a tree house way up in the redwoods nearby the Engineering Library. They were trying to prevent the trees from being torn down to build a bioengineering complex. It took the administration more than a year to negotiate with them). I keep stressing that this is not an urban place. It is a beach town first and foremost. It makes alot of us foreign students stir-crazy because we are all from busier/faster-pace environments. Albeit, if you like outdoor activities - particularly surfing or hiking - you can't be in a better location. As for trying to determine whether you'll like the academics, well... you won't really have a feel until you take courses. talking to faculty right now about your research interests is probably not worth the money because (a) your interest will change! and (b) you'll probably get more out of looking at their CVs.

If I had to guess who will be teaching your courses next year, it would be:
Macro:
A- growth: K. Kletzer
B -RBC/Employment/central banking: CenWalsh
C - NK macro/ central banking: Ravenna
Micro:
A- producer/consumer theory: McCalman
B- game theory: Friedman
C- social choice/mechanism design/auctions: Wittman
(Singh sometimes teaches one of the B, C micro).

[mysorelboots]

Hello all!

I am coming to UCSC and super excited about it. I have worked as a currency trader/structurer for a few I-banks and so their program which specializes in International Finance is ideally suited for me. Plus, having spent the last 5 years in New York, living in a shoe box basically, I cannot tell you how much I look forward to living in a beach town for the next 4 years or so...

For me, the biggest pros are low faculty-to-student ratio, high ranking in this field, location, strong faculty, plentiful research prospects... and did I mention location?

Congrats to you all. Look forward to brewing my own beer when I get there and sharing it with y'all.

PS - BEFORE YOU ACCEPT THOUGH, RENT THE 80'S MOVIE "THE LOST BOYS" AND WATCH IT 3 TIMES.

[gogol02]

That would be great if indeed we could get a TA position in other areas. Have other econ phd students done this? I assume I would be able to TA French or something.

I will probably wait another week before officially accepting the offer (though I doubt another school could change my mind).

I have not driven my car since October but that will def change with Cali

[constrainedoptimizer]

I am fairly certain I am going to be accepting the offer UCSC bestowed. The funding is pretty generous, the cohort is small, and they're ranked fairly high in one of my primary research interests. When I visited the department last year I left with a pretty good feeling.

I will probably give them official word on Monday morning after I drink this one over tonight.

[gogol02]

The possibility of TAing for another dept, do you think that would be possible for fall term, since I have econ TA offers for the other two?