Econ Ph.D. vs. Business School Ph.D.

[cogito]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

I tend to regard Economics programs at top-schools (i.e., Economics at NYU Stern, Economic Analysis & Policy at Stanford GSB, Economics at Chicago GSB, Applied Economics at Wharton, Managerial Economics and Strategy at Kellogg, and maybe less so Global Econ at UCLA Anderson) similarly to their Econ Department counterparts, referring to prestige and/or placement. What do you people think? Be as honest and sincere as you can

so anyone?

[Gecko]

wharton program is pretty new, so its hard to say. for Kellogg its placements are impressive.

[terryZ]

How do you people think of the Phd. in Econ under Tepper B-School at CMU, they don't have a separate econ dept. It seems like such a small program and so few people here applied and will go there.
I don't know if it's good or not, since it's my only offer so far, I might go there anyway in Sep.

[nzecon]

Business Schools are significantly smaller; while the econ department may get a few top placements I doubt all get top placements.

On the other hand, its my understanding that the smaller business school programs really want to get you through, and they want good placements too, so they really push for you. I would say some b-schools might actually be better than the econ departments; if you rank on percentage of good placements within each year.

[jeeves0923]

I would argue for Kellogg => NWU Econ and Stanford GSB > Stanford Econ... but that is for the things that I'm interested in...

[nzecon]

Originally Posted by jeeves0923

I would argue for Kellogg => NWU Econ and Stanford GSB > Stanford Econ... but that is for the things that I'm interested in...

yep, IO and/or micro (game theory maybe?) are better at the business schools. macro better at the econ departments.

[terryZ]

Originally Posted by nzecon

Business Schools are significantly smaller; while the econ department may get a few top placements I doubt all get top placements.

On the other hand, its my understanding that the smaller business school programs really want to get you through, and they want good placements too, so they really push for you. I would say some b-schools might actually be better than the econ departments; if you rank on percentage of good placements within each year.

Would this applies to CMU, giving CMU is not a prestigious school as many other top ones and their econ program ranking is around 20th?
Since I may also choose to work for one year and reapply next year with new (presumably higher verbal and AWA) GRE, I wonder if the ranking and small size of the program will put me in a disadvantageous situation on the job market upon graduation.
Many thanks for people to share their ideas on this question, I couldn't figure it out on my own with my limited resources and prospects on this field (I am a cross-major applicant).

CMU historical placement: Initial Placements of Tepper PhD Graduates : Tepper School of Business

[rogueeconomist]

If you have the luxury of choice between B-school depts and Econ depts in the same school do note one thing. Do not make the mistake of assuming that there is a great deal of flexibility in terms of being able to choose advisors, committee, etc, between departments. It is certainly true you can usually take all the courses you want offered by the Econ dept (in many places, the B-school faculty won't cover your core Econ courses at all).

However, the faculty at the place you're not 'home' at could be very reluctant to put much effort into advising you. Many faculty have some stake in the success of their own PhD program and all else being equal, would rather devote their time to helping their 'own' students succeed. You may find that you have to put a similar amount of effort into connecting with them as you would if you were trying to get 'external' (other school) faculty onto your committee.

In addition, many B-school depts do not take part in the practice of 'ranking' their job market applicants. This, of course, may not hurt you if you are not the school's TOP prospect that year. But nonetheless, it's well known that most of the top economics departments rank their job market class and being known as the top prospect is a great signal. Conversely, few people want to be an unranked prospect from a top economics dept but statistically 75% of the class will be like that! But it may not be such a negative signal if you are one of 3 prospects from a B-school dept.

Finally, you won't share office space, administration, and classes with the other grad students from the b-school or econ dept. Many successful economists form productive relationships from this sort of interaction, so you will have to work at it to talk to people from the other side.

[Bored]

I think most posters have noted the upside of business schools. For me the downside is about flexibility.

Essentially all the top placements out of business schools are for students doing hardcore micro theory. Brett Green and Eric Budish this year come to mind. The people who do more applied/empirical work rarely place well in economics departments (though many who specialize in finance place at other business schools).

For many students it is hard to make a commitment to micro theory before having seen any graduate level economics.