Econ PHD programs in NYU and NYU Stern, what's the difference?

[ededo]

Does anyone know about the Econ PHD programs in NYU and NYU Stern?

Is there a big difference in courses/prof./funding/admission?

Is it true that the funding at NYU Stern is much more generous?

Suppose you can only apply to one of them, which one will you apply?

[Zeno]

I have several friends at NYU, and the word is that all of the 'on paper' stuff is the same. Very similar course requirements (mostly taking first year courses together), very similar degree requirements, very similar stipends. I have no idea about admissions; Stern has a smaller class, but that doesn't tell us anything about which is harder to get into.

Students in both departments have access to both departments' profs, if proactive. I would say the main distinction is whether you'd rather be in a class of 2-3 or a class of ~20 students.

If I'm not mistaken, one can apply to both.

[kipfilet]

I'm first year at NYU. In the first year, class sizes are around 30 people - 19 from GSAS Econ (the "regular" NYU Econ), 2 people from Stern Econ and around 10 people from Stern Finance. The first year is the same for everyone with one strange exception: Stern Econ people take the Applied Econometrics sequence, while NYU Econ take the regular sequence, as well as most Stern Finance (even though I believe that the Finance people can choose between both).

From the 2nd year onwards, the programs start to diverge: while the NYU Econ has the regular field requirements as most other PhD programmes you have to choose a primary and secondary fields, etc), Stern Econ is much more flexible and focused on applied stuff.

We never discussed funding directly among each other, but I have the impression that Stern Econ funding is better. Like Zeno said, I don't know which program is the most competitive, as Stern Econ has a much smaller class size (2 people) but also gets much less applications (even though, comparatively, the admit ratio is certainly lower than for NYU Econ). The average quality of students in the two programs appears to be similar (very good) if you let me take an average of two observations, but it may still be too early to tell.

At the end of the day, the general opinion is that there is a comparative advantage in going for Stern Econ if you want to do applied economics (healthcare, labour, IO, etc.), but NYU Econ would be a better choice for those interested in Theory, Macro, etc.

[ededo]

I see. Thanks a lot!

[mathenomics]

Given that 7 years have passed, I'm hoping to get some updates on this info.

Does anyone else have insights on this?