pseudo-random

Econ 204 has a website where you can see last years handouts and some previous years' exams. I'm guessing that it's intensive enough that you shouldn't miss it unless you're really confident about your math, but lax enough that you can still do some apartment hunting and basic settling in while attending it.

A bit worried about whether the graduate stipend is enough to live off. Does anyone know approximately how much it pays (per month) to work as a research assistant during the summer break?

You're absolutely right about this. The point, however, is not that you are directly competing with more "soft" economics undergraduates when applying to PhD programs. Rather, it is that if there is a correlation between the quantity of economics undergraduates and the quantity of economics PhD applicants then the competition over spots in the top programs will be more intense. This is because the number of top programs has hardly changed over the past decades, nor have they increased their intake of students. So more people are competing over less spots, and as this forum never ceases to demonstrate, the price in terms of required signals increases. Once again, the key is that the supply of spots in top programs has generally stayed put, while demand for them has not. As for the connection between the number of undergraduates and the number of PhD applicants, Cassin brought up one possible tie - increased demand for teachers. It's also possible that just having more undergrads exposed to economics means that the small percentage which is drawn to academia now includes more people (and perhaps this affects how many non-economics majors hear about economics PhDs second hand, too).

According to this link from the Wall Street Journal, there has been an explosion in the number of economics majors all over the world during the past decade. If the number of economics graduates roughly follows the same trends as the number of undergraduates, then this year's competition is likely to have been more fierce than in previous years (regardless of how it compares with last year in particular).

Israeli masters programs are also quite good at getting people into the top economics programs. I know of at least five students who got into top 5 economics programs this year from the Hebrew University alone. Of these, two made it into Harvard/MIT, and a sixth student made it into Northwestern. Moreover, there are other students who applied whose outcomes I don't know about, and there are likely similar numbers from Tel-Aviv University.

I turned down Yale's offer last week.

I plan on attending Berkeley, but not the visit this week. It's quite a distance from me plus I'm already decided, so I'm skipping the whole flyout ordeal and I went ahead and notified them and the other schools last week. I'll be glad to hear about it, though. PM if you want.

I think you're missing the point argyecon. We don't just say that MIT is the better school because of what we've heard, we also believe it because of what we've heard, and so will anyone who observes you later on in life. True, Princeton is an excellent school, but MIT is perceived as being even better, regardless of what actually takes place there, and that is a good enough reason to make it the better choice for you. Both schools are terrific and will give you an excellent opportunity to do anything you choose, so you're guaranteed the best education either way, but one of them has a clear advantage over the other that totally eclipses any other differences between them. Trying to figure out which school is truly better, putting aside for a moment how they are perceived, is both futile and emotionally costly (you're worried, uptight, and might forever regret the road not taken). Spare yourself the deliberation, go to MIT and never think of it again. (Apart from that, even if MIT's education is not better, the whole Cambridge clique - MIT/Harvard/NBER - is hardly just a matter of perception, but can actually provide you with very concrete benefits.)

delete - triple post

delete - double-post

I'll be 29 when I enter the PhD program this year (Berkeley). I'm international and I spent 5 years in the military, 2 years studying for a non-economics BA, 2 more years doing an economics BA (shortened by taking summer semesters) and 2 years doing an MA. Where I come from, most applicants are in this age region because of military service and because people usually take a year or two to save money and travel the world once they're released (I am an exception to this).

Thanks. Can I assume that refers to pounds, or is it 14K dollars?

Sorry for being so straightforward, but what is full-funding at the LSE? (for MRes/PhD economics)

Thanks!

Thanks j1j2, floplo and all the others who replied. As I wrote, I'm going with my gutt, which means Berkeley (although I'm still waiting for a response from one of the Cambridge schools - but at this point I honestly think I'd rather be rejected ;)). As I see it (and as j1j2 wrote before me), rankings and placement records may be useful at categorizing schools, but they're not really fine enough to tell apart the three schools I was deliberating between. The three are close enough that what will really make a difference in the end is the quality of what one writes (and one's choice of advisor). While Berkeley may have a somewhat less rigorous program (as the rumor has it - but does the rumor have substance?) it also offers many more options of the kind that appeal to me - which means economics applied to people, be it through micro or econometrics. I know from experience that the most satisfying, fun and in the end important type of learning is the kind you do on your own rather than through coursework, and I believe this strengthens Berkeley's case. Apart from that I think enjoying life a little is called for, and bubbling Berkeley seems to offer just that, especially in comparison with all these wintery places. I mean, whoever's talented and motivated enough will most likely become a professor and enjoy a lifetime of self-motivated research even if he doesn't attend one of the two Cambridge schools, so we might as well live a little on the way. Cheers again!