Carlalier

Stat for Northwestern last year: 17/39 dropped....first year core exam..this is what I've heard..but since NW gives out the toughest core exams nationwide......

I'll ditto andyecon....unless somewhere along munkres' level....don't take it... Also, it doesn't make much sense to take grad econ this early.... math or CS (or even physics) classes will be more helpful on econ later on.... Also curious...you haven't take probability and stats? aren't they required for SP?

4 years (in MIT or Harvard) or 5 years( in UChicago) means "years on paper", which in turn has the connotation "if everything goes well (if not extremely well)". If you fail the first core exam or have a hard time choosing dissertation topics (not rare), then it easily takes 6 years to finish an Econ Ph.D..

definitely UVa

Good idea...anyone knows what the name of the Yahoo! group? Also glad to see another MN guy up there :P