rdblots

Dismal- At VT, they use Simon and Blume for the Mathematical Economics course the fall semester. And they try (at least for micro and macro) to time the material so as to not give you any problem sets dealing with math not yet covered in the math course. Hope that helps.

Apparently this one's official: http://econ.duke.edu/News/Archives/Fall_07_arrivals_to_department_news_item.pdf Not a bad list of hires this season. At least makes up for Han Hong and Patrick Bajari leaving.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy around here today. All of the people that I hang out with are safe though, but I'm still worried I might hear more bad news today.

Profile: Gre: 800 Q, 570 V, 6.0 A GPA: Overall: 3.86. Math: 3.96, Econ: 3.94 (Econ major with math minor) Classes: Math: Calc II, Multivariable, Intro Lin Alg, Diff Eq, Math Stat, Intro Proofs, Linear Algebra (A's), Advanced Calc (A-) Econ: all the usual undergrad courses (A's). PhD Math Econ (A), PhD Micro (B+). Type of Undergrad: Virginia Tech Research Experience: this past summer and fall I RA'd for a professor at my school, I only did minor tasks, but it was still a pretty good experience Teaching Experience: 3 semesters of tutoring economics (principles and intermediate micro) LORs: All of my letter writers were encouraging and thought my choice of schools fit me well, so I am taking that to mean the letters should be decent. 1) Assoc. Prof/Head of Undergrad (PhD Stanford) who I tutored for and with whom I took a class, 2) Assist. Dean/Assoc. Prof who I worked with on my RA project (PhD Northwestern), 3) Prof., tutored his intermediate micro course, took intermediate micro and PhD Math Econ with him. (PhD Minnesota) SoP & Interests: I talked about being interested in applied micro research. I named some professors from each school who had research that I found interesting. Other: male/white/american. Boring. RESULTS: Acceptances: Funding- Duke (attending), Cornell, Boston College, UNC, UVA, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Georgetown No funding- Maryland, Boston U. Rejections: Brown What would you have done differently? I would have only applied to Duke.

Duke- applied micro/demographics/health (finally decided last night)

the only thing that i learned from the open house is that forkie is a giant nerd.

duke doesn't pay their janitors shit. I told Peter at the open house that was the deal breaker for me.

i'll be around. I think I should arrive at the hotel around 1ish, as long as traffic doesn't play a major factor. We can try to meet up in the lobby and catch the shuttle to campus together if you want. Just PM me and I'll get back to you before I leave tomorrow.

I'm not as familiar with the Ag Econ dept., however, there is a good amount of faculty in that dept, and the few people that I have met are very friendly and seemingly helpful. That includes the head faculty: Dan Taylor and Kevin Boyle. Not terribly helpful info, I realize, but I would recommend e-mailing Dan Taylor if you have questions about the department. I have no doubt he will give straightforward answers to your questions. Now about the Econ dept. I really don't know why it is the way it is. For some reason, they have trouble attracting new faculty members, while also having trouble keeping the ones they do get. I'm not sure what it is because, honestly, I think most of the current tenured faculty are great people who are really willing to help you out if you show them you're willing to work to get ahead. Part of the troubles are definitely funding issues. The whole school is experiencing large funding cutbacks, and I imagine this is hitting the Econ department particularly hard. With that said, the faculty is relatively small, and they seem to be very specialized in what they do. So this causes problems for graduate students trying to find advisors. However, if you want to go into research relating to these specific fields, then I think you can do VERY well at VT. The placements of VT grad students has actually been pretty decent, relative to similarly ranked schools. If you're interested in these fields, then I think it would be reasonable to consider VT: Dennis Yang has labor/demographics (specifically related to China), Sheryl Ball does experimental econ, Nancy Lutz does IO. You might be able to get by doing micro theory, and I think econometrics would be reasonable. With that said, there are rumors of faculty members leaving, so it would be best to talk to the faculty directly to see if the ones you would like to work with are staying.

Alright, here are more specific words of advice on this topic. Here's what I say: check out the top 3 placements from the lower university versus mid-pack placements of the higher university you're considering from each year over the past 5-10 years. Compare them against each other. Then look at the advisors for each of these JMCs. Are these advisors doing research you're interested in? Are the advisors even still around? What do you think the likelihood of attaining these advisors is? More advisors getting top placements would be a better choice than a school with 1 or 2 advisors getting ALL of the top placements for that school. Now, you are just going to have to assess probabilities, which is very arbitrary, but you have to work with what you have. Figure out what you think the probability of being at the top at the lower university compared with the rewards (job placement opportunity) there. Then do the same for the higher university. To get a better idea of these probabilities, talk to the faculty at the schools, talk to recent grads, talk to the current students, talk to the professors at your undergrad school. The more credible info you can collect, the better your decision will be.

these are all thoughts that I've been having. And I don't have anything even resembling an answer to that question. I think the answer rests on the individual. If you have high confidence in your abilities to work hard and you think you have been underestimated by the prestigious university, then go for the higher ranked school. But the fact still remains, there are plenty of people every year who say "I believe I am good enough to go to this program and succeed" and they fail out after the first year. This could be a result of lack of information about the university attended, or it could be poor information about yourself (over-estimation of your personal abilities). The funny thing about it all, you won't really know if you're over or under-estimating your abilities until you start graduate school (maybe some form of winner's curse?). Those with M.A.s already probably have a better idea of their own abilities, which relates somewhat to why those with master's have lower attrition rates (besides the obvious better preparation reason). I can definitely see the merit of turning down the prestigious university to go to a lower ranked school with particularly great placements (i.e.- penn state) if you have some reason to think you WILL be at the top of the class at the lower school (i.e.- penn state). However, this in itself is a risk. I guess my point is, no matter your decision, you're already screwed for life because you've chosen to be an Econ PhD. Congrats.

Congrats Dunny! I also heard from them, got the same offer I believe. It left it open to either an RA or TAship. My letter says student fees aren't included in the tuition waiver, so that's about 800 dollars, which puts the stipend at 13.6K, I suppose. I am still interested in visiting the campus, but I don't know what I would need to see to convince me to go there at this point. Great school, and I would love to work with Tom Mroz, but I'm not sure if that's enough. Sorry, just kind of thinking to myself. My confusion is at an all-time high.

Are you implying that you may regret going to Cornell, or are you loving the location?

yeah, that's the one I believe. I wasn't sure if she sent it out to everyone or what the deal was. For everyone waiting to hear, the e-mail did say they are close to finishing the review of the files. So, if I had to guess, many people will hear from UNC by the end of the week.

Hmm...did anyone else receive a precarious e-mail this evening from UNC?