NWU versus NYU

[Chicunomics]

Hehe, yes I was a bit harsh, so I apologise for that. I acknowledge that I speak from my own particular perspective, and that I am biased. Perhaps a blanket statement for my view is: if you wanted to go to the 'better department', then you should probably go to NWU. However, I freely acknowledge that NYU has some advantages to NWU -- specifically its strength in a couple of fields, and its location. Sadly I haven't come up with a good way of weighing up 'pros' and 'cons' between departments, or else my life for the past month would have been much more relaxing.

[appliedtheorist]

I can totally understand that, dude. I am just waiting for April 15...and then I hope this will be over once and for all.

[appliedtheorist]

Please look at this: Recent Placement Outcomes

I mean, just judging from those statistics, in what way does NYU under-perform? Their number one got offers from UPenn, Berkeley etc. - and Yale's number one obviously got into NYU. NYU's number two, however, got into Virginia - and Yale places accordingly for the respective ranks of its class. So, why do we talk about placements if we are not going to H/MIT/Stanford GSB?

[Stuy]

Please look at this: Recent Placement Outcomes

I mean, just judging from those statistics, in what way does NYU under-perform? Their number one got offers from UPenn, Berkeley etc. - and Yale's number one obviously got into NYU. NYU's number two, however, got into Virginia - and Yale places accordingly for the respective ranks of its class. So, why do we talk about placements if we are not going to H/MIT/Stanford GSB?

I think that this comparison is very hard to make. NW and Yale are both well established top 10 programs and NYU has improved a lot in the last 5/6 years but very few would have considered it top 10 at the beginning of the 00s. So I believe that NYU in terms of placement is not at its long run equlibrium, there is still a lot of adjustment going on and it takes time to see the outcomes in the market. Contrarily, both Yale and NW are in that long run equilibrium and sometimes they have a better or worse year but they are consistently producing good researchers. So this year's Yale placements look worse than those of NW. And this year NW placements were amazingly great. On average I believe that both schools are clustered in the same group.

[econphilomath]

All I can say is I am very glad I went to fly-outs because it turned my preference relation on its head. I'm probably going to Yale if Harvard doesn't call soon (note i stopped hoping for MIT... )

But its still hard to say no to places you onces dreamed about. I have a coffee mug from most places I applied too. I would use NYU for a math day, Chicago for a macro day, Yale for a metrics day, Harvard for a....hmmm day; anyway all this just suddenly happened so fast. (BTW my Harvard mug broke the other day....bad omen!)
Sometimes you just get to the point when you say...forget this and flip a coin!

[representative_agent]

All I can say is I am very glad I went to fly-outs because it turned my preference relation on its head.

I know what you mean! Actually, I didn't go to the official flyout at NWU but to the inofficial event on April 3rd. I was very disappointed. The faculty tried to impress students by saying bad things about other schools. And students didn't seem to be very excited about what they were doing. Of course, they were "happy about their choice", felt "well-trained", and enjoyed the "friendly atmosphere" in the department. But there is something between the lines that was missing. I just didn't find the intellectually stimulating environment I am looking for. I still don't know how much this should count against the their placement record (which is why I started a thread on placements ). But I'd be grateful to hear the opinion of someone who went to the official thing (maybe econphilomath...).

[econphilomath]

I know what you mean! Actually, I didn't go to the official flyout at NWU but to the inofficial event on April 3rd. I was very disappointed. The faculty tried to impress students by saying bad things about other schools. And students didn't seem to be very excited about what they were doing. Of course, they were "happy about their choice", felt "well-trained", and enjoyed the "friendly atmosphere" in the department. But there is something between the lines that was missing. I just didn't find the intellectually stimulating environment I am looking for. I still don't know how much this should count against the their placement record (which is why I started a thread on placements ). But I'd be grateful to hear the opinion of someone who went to the official thing (maybe econphilomath...).

Hmmm I think I felt something similar although I thought it was just because everyone I talked to was doing micro theory or something I am not particularly interested in. Maybe its a general feature...

I still think you get a great training there, but i agree on the "atmosphere".

[asianecon]

What's wrong with the atmosphere? I've only attended a single class and hence my contact with students is pretty limited to that. Can you guys expound? I don't want to commit the biggest mistake of my life..

[Fatrapa]

I do not think you will commit a big mistake by going to NWU. I mean this is a great place and it is certain that you will find some people with whom you like hang out. The worst possible option is that you will not spend the best years of your life. But if you like to do research, I think you will be fine everywhere where there is a great atmosphere for research. And this is the case in a huge number of universities particularly in the States and the UK!

[econphilomath]

What's wrong with the atmosphere? I've only attended a single class and hence my contact with students is pretty limited to that. Can you guys expound? I don't want to commit the biggest mistake of my life..

Don't get me wrong, I thought NWU was a top notch place. We were at Yale together, right? Well I just didn't get that feeling of excitement. It might be because I didn't share much research interests with the guys their or something so don't let me stop you form going to a great place like NWU. But I did get the feeling described by representative_agent.