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UCLA vs University of Wisconsin-Madison


shllemon

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Hi there,

 

So far I have got two offers from UCLA and Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Would you please give some suggestions to help me make my final decision?

 

I prefer econometrics and labor economics. Also recently I find macroeconomics is quite interesting.

 

Thank you a lot!

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Hey Shllemon, I think that they are both very strong in labor. If you find macro interesting, then you may also be more interested in structural work than reduced form work. Check out Moshe Buchinsky at UCLA and John Kennan at Wisconsin--they are both applied econometricians who do structural papers in labor. Wisconsin is ranked higher and is reputedly better at econometrics. If you're having trouble deciding make sure you exhaustively look through each department's website and faculty profiles. Good luck!

 

Hi there,

 

So far I have got two offers from UCLA and Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Would you please give some suggestions to help me make my final decision?

 

I prefer econometrics and labor economics. Also recently I find macroeconomics is quite interesting.

 

Thank you a lot!

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Thank you a lot dariusi.

 

You are absolutely right that I prefer structural work than reduced form. Also, I agree that Wisconsin is better in econometrics.

 

There are two problems that I worry about Wisconsin now: the cold weather (seems absurd, but I have never been a place that cold) and the bad placements.

 

There is also a question I am curious about: it seems Wisconsin does better in open macroeconomics but UCLA in macroeconomics. Seems weird.

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Wisconsin is indeed very strong in econometrics, but UCLA is also strong: Professor Rosa Matzkin is one of most creative econometricians in the world, Professor Buchinsky and Jinyong Hahn has very good publication as well. I got offers from those two schools as well but it's a pity that both fundings are poor (even the highest funding is very poor compared to other schools). UCLA has better placement besides.
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Hmm, I think you should look more closely at the placements over the past five years. The two schools seem to have pretty different macro strengths. Are you unable to visit both?

 

Wisconsin is indeed very strong in econometrics, but UCLA is also strong: Professor Rosa Matzkin is one of most creative econometricians in the world, Professor Buchinsky and Jinyong Hahn has very good publication as well. I got offers from those two schools as well but it's a pity that both fundings are poor (even the highest funding is very poor compared to other schools). UCLA has better placement besides.
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Than you very much Jerrybai,

 

Which school will you go? Yes, I agree that Prof. Rosa Matzkin, Jinyong Hahn and Buchinsky are all excellent faculties. But still it is difficult to decide.

Hi shllemon, actually I have a school that dominates both, so I'll go to that school instead. Good luck!

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I would look and see who their advisors were. Obviously the quality of work someone does will dictate where they get fly outs, but this is compounded by who their advisor is and who their advisors know. It is entirely possible (having not seen their work) to say that if they had not known their advisor, and their advisor was not so well connected, that they would have got fly outs at T10 or T20s instead.

 

My point is that you should not generalize a few good placements.

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