curious george Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Hello all, This is my first post here. I am just curious to see what everyone thinks about the relative merits of the Syracuse econ PhD program over the Pitt program and vice versa. On what dimensions do they compete? On which is one clearly better than the other? etc. Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronicus Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Pitt is better in overall ranking (by maybe 10-15 places), and very good in experimental economics. Syracuse is on the borderline of the top-50 overall, but it is excellent in urban economics. I have never been to Syracuse, but I'd imagine Pittsburgh offers higher quality of living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious george Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 That's about what I had gathered. It seems as if for applied micro in general Syracuse seems to be a bit more solid. That is, fields such as urban, public, and labor. Whereas Pitt is better when it comes to theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaleddie Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 There are rumors that pitt is declining these years, will it recover? especially in the fields of exp econ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3ohto4oh Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I'd imagine Pittsburgh offers higher quality of living. I cannot think of many places less appealing to live than Pittsburgh. Take a look at the demographic trends... its population base is shrinking (inflows + births With that said, I wouldn't give this a ton of weight when picking a school. I just would not use this is as an argument for Pittsburgh - there are much better ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious george Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 Better arguments such as? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corolla09 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Again I hear Syracuse is good in labor/public/urban with a few people in metrics but doesn't have a whole much else. Don't know anything about Pitt. City wise Syracuse is smaller and colder with less amenities but does have some nice aspects. When did you hear from Syracuse, some people including myself are still waiting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious george Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 I got an e-mail from the director of graduate studies on Feb 15. Their fly out is this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3ohto4oh Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Better arguments such as? Everything else Andronicus wrote. Here's another angle: Placements. Pittsburgh: Graduate Job Placement | Department of Economics | University of Pittsburgh Syracuse: Maxwell School : Economics : Ph.D. Program : Job Placements Pittsburgh's specific outcomes (good ones) versus Syracuse's dated aggregates. Interestingly, Syracuse's paragraph lists 22 institutions that "recent graduates have chosen," but only 11 total academic placements over that same time period. I call shenanigans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronicus Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 I cannot think of many places less appealing to live than Pittsburgh. Take a look at the demographic trends... its population base is shrinking (inflows + births With that said, I wouldn't give this a ton of weight when picking a school. I just would not use this is as an argument for Pittsburgh - there are much better ones. Pittsburgh is frequently rated as one of the most livable cities in the US (e.g. Pittsburgh rated 'most livable' once again). I think the demographic trends are due to the decline in the American steel industry rather than quality of life issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICECOLDECON Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 The best reason to attend Syracuse would be if you are interested in Urban/Reg economics, as their placements for that field have been strong and the editor of the Journal of Urban Economics is there.....actually, unless you can get into Harvard and work with Ed Glaeser, I dont think that there is a better place to go for Urban Econ.....if youre not interested in urban econ, then youre looking at 50-75ish dept (in my opinion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peot Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Pittsburgh does have an aging population, but the numbers are skewed a little bit by the droves of students that bolt once they get a degree (Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely city, but I fully intend to be one of those people). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmoney Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Is it bad that I saw this thread and thought it was about the NCAA basketball tournament Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GymShorts Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I just got back from U Pitt fly outs, and here's my impressions.U Pitt is very strong in experimental economics and game theory. They even have their own experimental lab. U Pitt is a small program, and the placements on the website are complete to my understanding (they graduate about 5-6 people per year). Some of the most recent 30 placements or so include U Minnesota, U Toronto, Queen's U, Carnegie Mellon, and UVA. I searched the internet to make sure that these placements were tenure-track and that none of them have gone to lower ranked schools since. The only one of those that have moved is the U Minnesota placement, who is now at U Penn. Pittsburgh is not a good city. However, the neighborhoods around U Pitt and Carnegie Mellon both seemed very nice. So I wouldn't worry about the location. Just don't expect a glamorous downtown scene. Plus, rent is dirt cheap.I know little about Syracuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaleddie Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I just got back from U Pitt fly outs, and here's my impressions.U Pitt is very strong in experimental economics and game theory. They even have their own experimental lab. U Pitt is a small program, and the placements on the website are complete to my understanding (they graduate about 5-6 people per year). Some of the most recent 30 placements or so include U Minnesota, U Toronto, Queen's U, Carnegie Mellon, and UVA. I searched the internet to make sure that these placements were tenure-track and that none of them have gone to lower ranked schools since. The only one of those that have moved is the U Minnesota placement, who is now at U Penn. Pittsburgh is not a good city. However, the neighborhoods around U Pitt and Carnegie Mellon both seemed very nice. So I wouldn't worry about the location. Just don't expect a glamorous downtown scene. Plus, rent is dirt cheap.I know little about Syracuse. Do you intend to attend pitt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unitroot Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Hello all, This is my first post here. I am just curious to see what everyone thinks about the relative merits of the Syracuse econ PhD program over the Pitt program and vice versa. On what dimensions do they compete? On which is one clearly better than the other? etc. Thanks for your help! Both are very small departments, so you should go by your interests. I don't know about Pitt, but Syracuse's department is housed in the school of public policy and focuses on applied micro subjects . Only trade, public econ, i/o, urban economics, and perhaps applied econometrics (panel data and such) are offered as fields. Pitt's placements look better. Perhaps you should check the fields that were responsible for Pitt's best placements, look at the faculty interests and then decide. Regarding the cities it can be summarized as follows. Both are in the rust belt. Pitt is a large industrial city that was on a decline for decades with cold winters. Syracuse is a smaller/medium sized industrial city that has been on even a bigger decline for decades, with even colder and grayer winters. It seems like Pitt should be a better city overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayern Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I just got back from U Pitt fly outs, and here's my impressions. Do you know anything about how many offers have they made and how many students they are expecting to take this year (also funded/unfunded)? Also were there many students at the flyout? I am currently waiting on funding from UPitt, thats why these questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious george Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 The best reason to attend Syracuse would be if you are interested in Urban/Reg economics, as their placements for that field have been strong and the editor of the Journal of Urban Economics is there.....actually, unless you can get into Harvard and work with Ed Glaeser, I dont think that there is a better place to go for Urban Econ.....if youre not interested in urban econ, then youre looking at 50-75ish dept (in my opinion). I am definitely fairly set on urban and regional which is why Syracuse was ever on my radar in the first place...and also why I am questioning whether Pitt would be the right place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICECOLDECON Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I am definitely fairly set on urban and regional which is why Syracuse was ever on my radar in the first place...and also why I am questioning whether Pitt would be the right place. Yeah, Rosenthal is out there (the editor of JUE) and if there ever was someone who would have connections in the field, it would be him. I was interested in Urban for a lil while and I know that if I wanted to do research in that, there would be little doubt in my mind: I would be heading to Syracuse. Their placement in urban has been fantastic (UConn, UTor, Univ of Georgia, along with a bunch of Fed Reserve banks). My only concerns would be Yinger retiring or Rosenthal leaving. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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