A Poll + Another Safety School Question (Rice vs. Michigan State)

[YoungEconomist]

Ok, so as some of you have probably noticed, I'm in the final stages of deciding which schools I'll be applying to this fall. Essentially, I have room for one more program and I want to make sure it's the best choice. In case it helps with answering questions or giving advice, this school would be a safety (in fact, it'd likely be my last place safety, meaning I'd only accept the offer if rejected everywhere else).

1. This question pertains to the poll. Essentially, I just want to know which school is easier to get admitted to (and also, how much easier). Notice I did not say anything about funding. I'm just interested in knowing if Applicant X applied to both schools, where would he/she be most likely to get admitted.

2. Which is a better program given my interests in IO and Metrics? Obviously MSU is well known for their Metrics, however, on the econphd[dot]net rankings, they also have their IO program ranked 34th. I didn't know they were supposed to be any good at IO. Can someone confirm the validatiy of that ranking?

I would really like to get some infromation from someone that is/was in MSU's program. I'd also be interested in hearing from people that will be starting there in the fall, as well as people who did their undergrad there. Obviously, if you aren't affiliated with the department but you still have some answers to these questions, speak up. The main things I'm curious about are questions like the following: Is MSU fairly strong in IO? Are they known for having high attrition? What do you think of the faculty in general? What have recent placements looked like? How is it living in East Lansing?

[ICECOLDECON]

Last years IO candidate at Michigan State was placed at Georgia Tech.

Byung-Cheol Kim – Faculty (Georgia Tech School of Economics)

[unitroot]

Just from the few things I know from top of my head about MSU,

Econometrics is better MSU
Labor is better at MSU
Development is better at MSU
(the relatively average but broad) macro/money/international is still better at MSU.

MSU is one of the relatively few big non-top 20 departments, which is a good place to apply for students whose interests aren't settled yet. Unlike Rice, they also have PhD-granting Finance and Ag.Econ departments which should supplement the economics department resources. Rice seems like a nice small department with good environment, funding, etc. But it is too small, and this could potentially be problematic. I would say apply at Rice only if you already roughly know your field of interest and if you know they have two-three specific people who really interest you as advisers and they dominate MSU's top 3 people who you would also like to work with. In fact, I would suspect that the adcom at Rice goes over the applicants statement of purpose and LoRs more carefully to make sure they are well matched with faculty interests. Rice still has some very unique people whose presence could sway an applicant's decision (for example, they have at least one very solid person working in energy economics, some specific applied micro people, theorists, etc). Also, Rice probably funds everyone while MSU used to offer funding to something like 7-10 students, and the rest are not offered 1st year funding. Notheless, I heard that the students who make it to third-fourth year at MSU are relatively satisfied with this department.

I think being admitted at MSU is relatively easy, but you need to be among their top applicants to get first year funding.

[econ1hopeful]

I agree with unitroot. While Rice is certainly a good department, MSU is much better than Rice in basically all fields. One of my friends studies there and says he has the feeling that MSU is also on the rise, probably at the level of top 25 departments.

[YoungEconomist]

Thanks a lot for all the information guys, it's been helpful. I've been doing a lot of think over the past couple days, and I'm leaning towards MSU because it seems to be a better fit, and if I do change some of my interests I won't be pigeonholed at MSU. Furthermore, MSU has a PhD program in Business, and I might want to take some PhD Finance courses.

If anyone has lived in or visited Lansing, I'd love to hear about it since I don't know anything about the city.

Also, does anybody know anything about the attrition rates at MSU?

[ZomgRogged]

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

Thanks a lot for all the information guys, it's been helpful. I've been doing a lot of think over the past couple days, and I'm leaning towards MSU because it seems to be a better fit, and if I do change some of my interests I won't be pigeonholed at MSU. Furthermore, MSU has a PhD program in Business, and I might want to take some PhD Finance courses.

If anyone has lived in or visited Lansing, I'd love to hear about it since I don't know anything about the city.

Also, does anybody know anything about the attrition rates at MSU?

I know the MSU campus is absolutely massive even for a major state university. They have one dorm that houses 4,000 students I believe (someone please correct me if I am wrong). And I imagine then campus lifestyle is fairly nice.

[unitroot]

MSU's campus is very large and pretty. A river flows through it. There are many brick buildings built something like a century ago. The Lansing area is relatively small, but it still has everything for a happy graduate experience. East Lansing is a small college town, right next to Lansing. Next to campus, in East Lansing, you will find lots of cozy non-chain coffee shops, restaurants, lots of ethnic food, student housing and other businesses that cater to students. The Lansing metropolitan area as a whole has something like 200,000 people, so you will have no problems with finding shopping, dining, or entertainment opportunities during the relatively few days when you're not busy. Lansing itself is the state capital of Michigan with a reputation of a rustbelt kind of town, which I assume makes it a less exciting college town area compared to say Ann Arbor, but recently the city supposedly has been working on attracting high-tech businesses and redeveloping its downtown. Winters tend to be bitterly cold, and below-freezing temperatures may persist on an off well into April.

[sonicskat]

I applied to both...
Rice was the second school I heard from...flied me down to houston and wined and dined me. MSU on the other hand, never offered me financial aid. From my knowledge, MSU is considered a higher tier school than rice

[YoungEconomist]

Originally Posted by sonicskat

I applied to both...
Rice was the second school I heard from...flied me down to houston and wined and dined me. MSU on the other hand, never offered me financial aid. From my knowledge, MSU is considered a higher tier school than rice

Good to hear from you sonicskat, I was really hoping you'd reply to this thread (because I remember you were accepted to both). In your opinion, which school is easier to get admitted to (again, I'm not saying anything about funding)? Also how much easier? Put differently, how would/did you answer the poll question?

[sonicskat]

To Rice might be better for private sector employment, especiallyy the energy sector.