What makes WUSTL so special?

[JohnMcClane]

I am considering applying to WUSTL. I see that many people in this forum love WUSTL. However, it seems to me that WUSTL's placement is anything but impressive (please correct me if I am wrong) and I don't see it improving significantly by the time I graduate with a PhD. If your ultimate goal is to get a good placement in academia, is WUSTL really worth applying?

[walt526]

I think that it would be fair to say that WUSTL is still in a rebuilding phase of sorts. They had a lot of turnover/retirements/deaths in the 1990s. They have a new building, seem to be aggressive in hiring junior faculty, and still have a very good core faculty even if it's not what it was in the 1980s.

The advantages of WUSTL are that the department is small, well-funded and is fairly flexible in research interests for a program of its size. It also has a reputation of supporting interdisciplinary research, which is an important consideration for some.

But it's not a good fit for everyone and it's certainly true that it's academic placements over the past 10 years have not been all that impressive. Personally, I think that there's some evidence that it's an improving program and expect that the placements over the next 10 years will improve.

Finally, because of its small size, it's not going to fare well in literature-based rankings, like econphd.net or Grijalva and Nowell (2008). USN&WR ranks it 28th, which is a pretty accurate IMHO: just inside the Top 30.

[zshfryoh1]

WUSTL went on a senior faculty hiring binge in 2005-2007 which included Boldrin, Levine, Azariadis and Williamson. The students who will be on the job market this year and the following year are the first students who really had access to the new faculty for thesis work, and the students who entered after the new faculty came on board -and therefore were possibly higher quality students drawn in by the new faculty- will not hit the job market for 2-3 more years, so their placement record really does not reflect the department new students are entering, and I would expect their placements in 2011 and 2012 to be as good as other top 30 schools.

Both econphd.net and G&N only base it on faculty as of 2004, so the rankings fail to capture the new faculty.

[talkdirty]

Originally Posted by zshfryoh1

WUSTL went on a senior faculty hiring binge in 2005-2007 which included Boldrin, Levine, Azariadis and Williamson. The students who will be on the job market this year and the following year are the first students who really had access to the new faculty for thesis work, and the students who entered after the new faculty came on board -and therefore were possibly higher quality students drawn in by the new faculty- will not hit the job market for 2-3 more years, so their placement record really does not reflect the department new students are entering, and I would expect their placements in 2011 and 2012 to be as good as other top 30 schools.

Both econphd.net and G&N only base it on faculty as of 2004, so the rankings fail to capture the new faculty.

Isn't ST.L pretty bad to live? terrible weather, high crime rate..etc.

[Gecko]

Originally Posted by JohnMcClane

I am considering applying to WUSTL. I see that many people in this forum love WUSTL. However, it seems to me that WUSTL's placement is anything but impressive (please correct me if I am wrong) and I don't see it improving significantly by the time I graduate with a PhD. If your ultimate goal is to get a good placement in academia, is WUSTL really worth applying?

with either of the 4 names as your advisor you won't do too badly on the market - unless of course none of those suit your interests..

[applicant12]

Originally Posted by talkdirty

Isn't ST.L pretty bad to live? terrible weather, high crime rate..etc.

Not that bad.. the weather sucks, and I think crime is a problem too. However, I've lived here for 2 years and haven't had any real problem. As long as you don't walk outside after 10p or something you should be ok I guess