Tinbergen Institute vs West Virginia University

[PSJ]

Hi everyone,

I have offers from both Tinbergen Institute (Mphil/PhD in Finance) and West Virginia University (Phd in Economics). Both Tinbergen as well as WVU offer enough to cover living expenses, but Tinbergen offers a scholarship while WVU offers a graduate assistantship (implying 20 hours per week of academic work duties). WVU asks for a GPA of at least 3.0 to maintain the assistantship, while Tinbergen asks for a GPA of 7/10 or up to maintain the scholarship (otherwise one has to compete for second-year funding with other students at Tinbergen).

My impression is that Tinbergen's degree of difficulty is comparable to that of any top 15 institution, but with regard to WVU, I don't know how difficult it is when one works 20 hours per week, I may benefit from your insights here, but I presume that it is considerably easier.

The placements of Tinbergen and WVU are the following:
WVU Overview
Tinbergen Tinbergen Institute - Job placement record and job market candidates

My dilemma is if probably "killing myself" to study at Tinbergen, where I think that even holding the scholarship is difficult, is worth the effort, given that this institution is probably not so well known (or is it?) or if taking a probably much easier and more secure path at WVU is a better choice, since I would probably excel at WVU. Finally, I am highly risk averse, although I like to think that if I go to Tinbergen and lose the scholarship, I still could go to a place like WVU afterwards, (I wonder if that is true).

Thank you in advance for your ideas and insights.

[corolla09]

Tinbergen is clearly the better institution. However, the quality of life at each university is extremely different, this should definitely be taken into account. Tinbergen placements seem much better. But if your goal is a good liberal arts college or private placement than WVU should be fine, they also have some decent faculty (however WVU doesn't seem to rank very well at all). Assistantship duties (depending on the school) are pretty modest and is the common form of funding for US institutions.

I would examine your reserach interest and career goals as each institution is very different.

[3ohto4oh]

you could maybe make the case for wvu if you were interested in regional economics????????

but, if you are also considering a finance degree, then this is certainly not the case.

[Gecko]

er, tinbergen strictly dominates virginia for finance in this case

[PSJ]

I may end up working in the third world where I presume that people don't know any of the two institutions well. (My primary interest is in finance, but I am willing to adjust my interests if needed.)
Anyway, in case I work abroad (in USA or Europe) what is the average salary gap between universities and liberal arts colleges? I also understand that scholars have more time for their research at universities than at LACs?
BTW, is it valid to assume that if I lose my scholarship at Tinbergen and have to drop out, I could still be admitted into another institution similar to WVU if I try later, or is this view too optimistic?

[YoungEconomist]

Go Tinbergen. Even if you want to teach or work in the private sector, institution reputation matters. If you have funding from both schools, then choose the better one.

[Epanechnikov]

Studying at WVU would give a very bad signal to your future employers

[rvalchev]

TI is one of the premier European PhD programs ... definitely go there. They even give you a scholarship - this means they are confident you'll succeed.

In the off chance you do not, you can easily transfer from TI to a TOP100-150 institution, which would be something similar to WVU no?

[asianeconomist]

TI is definitely the better option.

From their program, it looks like that the faculty puts in a lot of effort in placing their students well. Therefore, if you are convinced that you want to work in a third-world country, then the placement efforts at TI can get you into a place like WB/IMF/UN (which I think is among the top jobs in the third-world).

[Bees]

Tinbergen no question.