Marco30

The amount you ask to be competitive is not one you think. A competitive salary for the world bank reffers to endow you with enough money to have a decent life so it will be between 75 to 85 k dollars. the ranks you mention (100k or more) will be pay to you after probably 8 or more years of experience and if you proof that you are one of the best project managers in the staff. Otherwise it will take you long. That is how a friend of mine graduated from LSE and actual employee of the world bank

Jremy, I think that what will matter at the end will be the quality of your research. As an example let me give you a specific situation that happened here at Duke. Last year a recent PhD guy from Duke got a position as an Associate Professor at MIT but what distinguish this guy is that his GPA was about 3.2 and that he failed both qualifiers in the first round and that in the second round he barely pass both so nobody gave a sh....t for him at Duke but in the third year he came up with a really good research topic in the field of microeconomics tha get him the chance to be at MIT which makes him the guy with the highest placement for Duke graduates in some years. As you see at the end what matters will be you research skills

InstrumentalVariable, Good for you that the picnic was fun. I would like to get the name and email addres of the guy you met at Davis. Hey I have a question for you do you think it will be necessary to have a car in Davis? and also what cell phone company do you suggest me to hire? I heard that not all companies have service in Davis, is that true? Thanks

Hi, I am in Durham, NC so I will not go to the picnic. I applied for the appartments at Solano Park does anybody know how if the apartments are ok? Also I think that all of us who are going to Davis can comunicate through this forum while we meet on september for the math camp. What do you think?

Hey guys, I have really bad news for those who are in the Duke waitinlist for the PhD in economics. Since I am a Duke student I just found out yesterday that 20 students have already decide to come to Duke that means that they are not going to offer admission to anyone on the waitlist. However, since some administrative people is on vacation the emails will be sent on Friday or Monday so I suggest you to accept other offers you have.

Hey IVO I did get nothing on my private messages box. Send it again please

Hi, I am a Fulbirghter like you and I have met a lot of fulbrighters who are in the same situation like you. Now if UC Berkeley is giving you all the money you need then you should not accept Fulbright's offer. However, I have known some fulbrighters that have arrange to remain in the US after they finished so you do not take the contract that serious. Specially if you are going to need some extra money.

Guys I probably did not make myself clear hahaha I used to be like that sometimes when I write. Well I am not talking about staying on Academia. I am talking about finding a job in the government. Probably you do not know this but outside the academic world and specially in countries like my friends' Thailand or even my who is really close to the US. They do not care about your research or even less if publish or not. If they did my friend would not want to change from DUKE to a top ten school.

My friend have just red your commets about her situation and well she wants you to know that Duke is not giving her money. She will be paying for it using a scholarship she got from her country. In addition I would like you to know that I strongly agree on what you say that name is not as important as research but I think you should realize that for internationals students that is something we cannot do. Some are required to go back to their countries to pay for the scholarships they got and usually in poor countries the research market is obsolet or nobody gives a sh.... for it so we have to go back to work for the government. The idea is not to finish with a PhD and working making the equivalent salary to 2000 dollars per month and doing administrative issues and nothing of what we learn, not even research. About Duke placement let me tell you that their placement is not that good overseas Duke is not well known yet. My friend and I really understand what you said but maybe your are looking at it as the point of view of someone who is going to finish their PhD and will be able to stay in the US which in that case I will say that you are 100% correct. But what about the people in my firend's case. By the way if you haven't notice she is really shy even for typing jejeje but indeed she is a really good person and as her friend I am really care about her. Thank you all

I think that all your posts state the reality of the academic environment but the case of a friend of mine accepted at Duke she is worry because she will have to come back to her country after the PhD and life as a professor or researcher in her country is really bad (she is from an underdeveloped country) her only hope is going to a better school than Duke and that also is know in her country in order to get a job in the goverment. It is not that she doesn't want to stay at Duke but is the problem of comming back to her country and find at least a decent job what troubles her. What would you say about it?

Hi, thank you every body for your answers. I show her yesterday all your comments and she thinks is a good idea to tell you the whole picture so that you can give her a better advise. She is an international student who came to Duke in 2004 and got the MA in economics, her grades weren't that good in the first semester since her background didn't endowed her with enough math. However, her grades were improving during the program but since the first semester was really bad she got a GPA around 3.4. That is way she want to spend the first year at the PhD at Duke but try to transfer to a better school next year. Now I do not have enough experience in this matter so I would like you help her since all you guys are so nice an well informed. Thank you again

Hi every body, I would like someone to help me answering the following. One of my friends got admission at PhD in Economics at Duke University. However, She really wants to go to a better school. We were talking and the following question came up: Is it possible to change to a better school for the next year? I mean she would like to stay the first year at Duke but going somewhere else after it. What do you think? Thanks;)

Hi, I am going to answer your question with something my professors at Duke told me. One more year outside academia will have a big impact in adcom's decision. Also you have tu consider your age, if you are older than 26 waiting another year will be less favorable for you. About the characteristics of this year I heard the same than this year was a difficult one with a lot of applications but I do not think that next year will be less difficult that this year just think into account that the number of students going to masters in economics, statistics and math is increasing and that a lot of this people will be applying next year too. In my opinion you shoul go to Davis, finish your PhD and at the end the most important think will be the quality of your research.

Hey kmhickey, if you are just graduating and you want to be in the job market I strongly suggest you to find a job first, gain some experience, applied for the MBA and then get a better job. The job market is not like academics at all. I know because I have 6 years of experience in consulting and what is most important for consulting firms is experience followed by an MBA. As an example I can tell you that a guy in my previous company got an MBA from MIT but still his boss was a guy with a BA from USC but with years ahead of experience. So think it really carefully in what you want to do and as I told you the MA will be less valuable in the job market than the MBA but experience will beat them all.

Hi, I saw you guys thinkins about the MA program at Duke. I am finishing my master in economics at Duke and so far I can tell you that the programm here is not that good. Most of the classes you should take are undergraduate classes. So far there are only two specific master classes. I know the MA program at NYU and it is way better than Duke's in preparing you for a professional carrier.