ekonomiks

Disagree on the last statement. Being a prof is a pretty sweet job, and econ departments pay better than most other departments. That's a good reason right there. If changing the lamentable state of the field was the reason you wanted to get a degree, you might as well give a shot at professional football. :) Besides, other social sciences are pretty lamentable too, probably way more so than economics.

Oh, that ranking is published now? Good to know.

UPenn is Ivy, but it's freshwater. It seems to be the case that only old profs do saltwater, so if a department has a lot of young people, it's most likely freshwater. The sad thing is, some (if not most) freshwater departments don't teach any saltwater stuff, but Keynesian macro has been around for so long, and there's so much knowledge to gain from it. If a PhD student was an undergrad econ major, he'd be fine. But if he wasn't, being in a freshwater department would be like not learning economics at all. I bet he wouldn't even be able to understand a New York Times article on business/economics.

What's the problem?

Well, best of luck, then. :)

Which school has the biggest stipend? I'm not talking about class average, but the very top guy's stipend.

Another thing about the decision you're having to make, pedovki, is whether you wanna be a top/near-top guy at WUSTL or an average guy at Minnesota. Being a top student as an undergrad by no means guarantees you'll be a top student in a PhD program. The only valid signal you're having now is what the departments think of you: apparently, given the fellowship, WUSTL thinks you have the potential to be a top student; on the other hand, Minnesota admitted you off the waitlist. Personally, I've always thought Minnesota had THE best econ department (check out my post on a thread about rankings). But in your case, I think you'll get more added value from WUSTL (including the signaling value).

If that's the way you treat being a TA, that's cool. Personally I feel the opportunity cost of feeling smart once in a while that way is pretty high. Tutorials, discussion sessions, preparation time... it's gotta take like 6 or 7 hours a week. Hell, you can review an entire intermediate course in a couple of hours or so. Think about what you can do with 150 hours of TA duties a year. I've met TA guys who thought it's fine, but I've never met a guy on fellowship who would rather be a TA.

Wikipedia. Or this: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online: Dictionary Home

Go to the place with more money and less work. TA duties suck, if you ask me.

Okay, now that at least makes some sense. They wanna admit Canadian students so that they can get more money.

In at WUSTL, but out at UWO... Unless you're an international student, I don't see any justifications for this. This rejection shouldn't matter to you since WUSTL strictly dominates UWO anyway.

Is it easy to get a one-bedroom apartment, or are we talking about sharing here?

Any decision made before April 15 is not binding, according to a resolution passed by the Council of Graduate Schools, of which U Mich is a member.

For Stuyvesant housing, is there any reason to choose a bigger/traditional apartment (approx. 800 ft sq) as opposed to a smaller/converted apartment (approx. 600 ft sq)? Is the size of the living room the only difference, or the furniture and location are nicer too? And how does that lease guaranty work in reality? Do landlords treat it as some sort of a co-signer agreement? Suppose someone has no credit history and no references, is it likely that he can rent an apartment with a lease guaranty (and maybe a bigger deposit)? Thanks a lot for your very informative posts, Stuy.