zach98 Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 Hi Everyone! I am a junior from China who is participating a visiting program in the US right now. Trying to finalize my application list for graduate schools next Fall. I am interested in PhD programs near Chicago for some personal reasons. I am a top 5% Economics major from Wuhan University with some research experience in Applied Micro, IO, Labor and Micro theory are my top three field choices. Any suggestions are highly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zshfryoh1 Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 It depends on your definition of "near". If you mean the immediate Chicago metro area, you have two top 10 programs, UChicago and Northwestern as well as the B-school Econ PhD programs at those schools, and one top 75 school, University of Illinois - Chicago. I am not sure if Nothern Illinois U is commutable to and from Chicago, but it is definitely outside the top 100 and if you are a top 5% student from Wuhan you should be able to get into someplace much better so I don't think you should apply there. If by near, you mean someplace within a 2-3 hour drive that would also include UW Madison (top 15), UW-Milwaukee (top100) UIUC (top 30), Purdue B-school (Krannert, I think it is top 50ish), and Notre Dame (They are a relatively new program, but I think they are top 75, maybe top 50). As someone who was regionally limited when I applied, your personal reasons should be extremely strong to limit yourself that severely. In my case, I am married with kids and my wife has decent job, so I limited myself to schools that were commutable from where I live. If I had not gotten in somewhere, then I would have considered applying more widely next cycle, but I got into a school I was happy with, so it was not relevant. But a much weaker reason (i.e. your girlfriend of two months is in grad school there, or having a sibling who lives in the area) should not stop you from applying more broadly to schools that are a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach98 Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 Thank you so much for sharing your life story and knowledge, I really appreciate your help. Yes, I do have a strong enough reason to limit my search regionally. Will probably try all these programs you mentioned to see what will happen next year. Thanks again and have a wonderful weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mweretka Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 Hello Zach, I am on admission committee this year and I strongly encourage you to apply to our program here at UW Madison. The Wisconsin Economics doctoral program ranks #12 for economics doctoral programs in the U.S. according to U.S. News and World Report. We have a funding model of fully funding students for 5 years of study, and more than half of the students have fellowship funding their first year of study. Our job placement continues to produce top academic placements at schools like Yale, Berkeley, University College London, and Northwestern, and we continue to hire and retain prominent faculty who have been published in top academic journals in recent years. Last but not least, Madison is a fantastic place to live (goggle the best place to live in USA, in most rankings we typically come up in top 10). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach98 Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Just saw this, Thanks a ton! What should I say, Christmas comes early this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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