Prospective Phd student...some questions

[inknit]

I'm currently a senior in high school who will be entering college in the fall (UVA). As you might have guessed, I plan to get a Phd in economics after college, and I know the importance of a strong quantitative background, which is why I plan to major in economics and math (w/ a statistics concentration).

However, I also got accepted to NYU, but I turned them down for financial reasons. I'm well aware of their strong economics department and insanely good math program.

You can be blunt. Did I worsen my chances of getting into a good econ Phd program by going to UVA instead of NYU?

Some grad schools I was thinking about:

-UC Berkeley
-MIT
-UChicago
-Princeton
-Stanford

[tm_member]

Worsen your chances? Maybe a tiny bit, but UVA has enough great people for you to get a great education and great letter of recommendation's... if you want to go to those places you have listed, you will be able to do it from UVA, if you don't get there, it will certainly be more your 'fault' than the university's...

[Gecko]

Well. Since the financial constraint was binding, no point thinking about that ^_^ The top 5 schools are a hard nut to crack - even for someone coming out of the top 5

[inknit]

By the way, US News actually ranks UVA higher than NYU (undergraduate) - 25 vs 32.

Finances not considered, would NYU give me a better shot at those top tier schools?

[Gecko]

From the viewpoint of potential faculty letter writers, NYU seems stronger than UVA.

[tm_member]

UVA may outrank NYU as an undergrad institution, but your PhD admissions will not be a function of how you do in History and English classes. It will be the economics classes and the LORs you garner that have an effect. NYU is a borderline global top10 Econ program, and as such you would have opportunities to learn from, and take classes with some of the very best Econ professors out there. However, you only need 3 good letters, and UVA has more than enough to offer... neither institution will impede you from your goals as long as you don't impede yourself

[inknit]

Thanks for the replies. I plan to work my *** off in college and hopefully, I can get some good LORs.

A good portion of the econ faculty at UVA are graduates of MIT, Stanford, UChicago, and Harvard.
I will try my best to establish a strong relationship with them.

[Galoisj]

UVA does not have Courant and Stern

By the way, US News actually ranks UVA higher than NYU (undergraduate) - 25 vs 32.

Finances not considered, would NYU give me a better shot at those top tier schools?

[inknit]

^^^I was never interested in Stern.

[Galoisj]

^^^I was never interested in Stern.

me too.

But Courant!!!!!!