uwecon85

Wisc is not 20K first year (unless they changed it). I know a guy on fellowship and he did not get 20K. You start out around 11ish at Wisc if you're a first time TA. It goes up with experience and status (disertator). I don't think you'll ever get up to 15k but maybe close in your final years. I'm not sure the pay grade of RAs. You can get more money via summer or grading positions but these are quite rare. If you worked year round with 50% appointments you could get around that 15ish you talk about. Most people don't because they can't. I was at 44%ish and it was pretty low even for Madison if you ask me. I probably worked more than 7 but there were no meetings and I didn't go to lectures. 7 hours was probably just the sections, grading, and office hours. It's more if you add in proctoring, review sections and answering stupid emails. Most TAs work more because the profs require meetings, lectures, etc.

I guess econ depts use econ to make sure econ grads get w = mpl or whatever they teach at the ug level. actually no. cause the mpl of teaching 100 UG students (many in business) should be higher. it's probably some absurd game where for some subset of players taking a low wage is a signal of how badly they want to suffer for the phd.

The Chronicle: Stipends for Graduate Assistants, 2003-4

1) 20-30k high? for engin? LOL NO. My friend is getting nearly 30k as a CS grad. I got 10.5 teaching 4 sections of 24 [removed by mod] UGs who didn't give a [removed by mod] about econ. [removed by mod] per hour pay if you ask me (although i only worked maybe 7 hours per week on it). 2) Economics is mostly useless. I know this. However, those who enter a graduate program in econ are usually majors in math, cs, engin, stat, etc. They can be making a lot of money if they didn't go to grad school. Those who finish graduate school in econ make tons of money compared to those who finish in hard sciences (except physics guys who sell out for quant jobs). The average transfer pricing or consulting gig is like 100k+

Why are econ grad stipends so low compared to engin, sciences, even some other soft sciences? It seems like people in other fields are getting around 20-30ish on average while my stipend was like 10.5k

I wouldn't mind a job that involves solving PDE / ODE for asset pricing. I also wouldn't mind solving difficult games. The thing I hate most about graduate school was teaching - not the coursework.

I have a MS in econ. I'm looking for a non academic job that involves the equivolent of solving grad level problem sets. It can be micro, macro (rather not metrics). The closest thing I can think of is asset pricing - but I don't think ibankers / hedge people do such things. I also think you need a PhD for such positions (competition = phys, engin and math phds)

- being in a location you hate which increases the chances of you leaving; Unless you really like snow and cold weather and nature, Madison is a horrible location. Football Saturdays are horrible - they close down pretty much half the campus area. - being in a school with unsupportive faculty, which increases the chances of you leaving; The Sr faculty here are generally not supportive the first 2 years. I think after you pass the prelim and field papers, they definately help more. - being in a school with unsupportive peers?; Wisc is a good school because of the student community here. - having a *terrible* fit with faculty. Not just so-so fit, but really awful. Most people can find what they're looking for here. Nothing experimental or behavioral tho.

Hi. I'm wondering how econ grads can become quants. Before I got the boot, I took a class with Rody (Wisc) on what quants do (macro in continuous time). I would like to do this for profit because of the challenge (euphonism for bling). I'm an American citizen from a top 10 stat dept in UG, and MS in Econ at Wisc. But I know most Quants are PhDs from top math / physics / engin programs with an extra MA in fin. engin. Hence I really have to study my shit before I interview. So are any of you guys quants? Or know where I can go to find info about getting a job in the field?

What are ways to get back into the PhD after a kickout? In particular what post kick out experience could be the best? e.g. research jobs (such as the Fed) or GRE subject based math test (or maybe physics) or extra classes as a non degree student?

I believe the senior faculty really do support certain students who pass prelims and the field paper. But only if you do really good research. Otherwise you will fail out as a 6th year (a guy in my friend's office left as a 6th year, another guy couldn't get a signature and is not on the market). I'm not sure what you need to get the support of senior faculty, but I don't believe it's that hard if you're a 3rd year in good standing. Why? The class is really small by then - goes from like 30ish to 15ish - and hence the faculty to student seeking research guidance is good.

A friend of mine had a 1st year fellowship. That's just free money for the first year with no work. I'm guessing 12Kish? They won't cut the first year fellowship in the middle - but I'm not sure. TA workload depends on your professor and class. Some profs make you attend their lecture + office hours + grading + your own sections + review sections for 3 midterms and final. You can cram it all in on Friday and just TA that day. But you'll have to do review sections and extra office hours for stupid students. If you're lazy 4 sections of TAing (with a prof who doesn't care) is about 1 office hour + 2 grading + 4 hours teaching + 1 hour prep = 8 hours per week. But more like 2 office hours + 2 grading + 4 teaching + 2 prep + 1 responding to emails + 1 hour extra time on average for extra sessions + 3 hours lecture via prof = 15 hours per week RA workload can vary from almost no work, to alot of work. First year PAs (like RA with less money) don't do any work. It's like a fellowship.

There is no way IMO to get 14.4K even with a 50% appointment. I think only domestic students can get higher than 12Kish via extra grading, proctoring, PA (for profs) on top of being a TA. You can grade papers for other profs, you can get a per hour job for a professor, etc. if you want more money. But Ann Arbor is slightly more expensive than Madison if I recall correctly. Also I think your jr faculty get paid more - 90kish at Umich. IMO the funding here at UW is pretty horrible overall. You can get your funding cut at anytime (if you miss a prelim, field paper, signature, 6th year and on) depending on how many other students need funding.

I had about 100 students total. This was an intro class. Some people get extra money and take on more than 100 students. Other people have around 75 students and get paid less.

I don't blame Wisconsin for people failing out. My first year at Wisconsin wasn't so bad. Brock is horrible at teaching, but most profs aren't that bad. Do they care about you? nah. but why should they. You need to go out of your way to meet profs. Some jr faculty do care - but I don't really know anything about the senior profs. I can give you a list of things that made me miserable at Wisc: 1) Funding that depends on teaching as it is difficult getting RA type funding. Teaching load is 4-5 classes of 24 students each - you are lucky if 5% of your students care about learning. I can name less than 5 students who really cared about the material. One kid really did - and I took time to explain stuff beyond the course he wanted to know. You should see the type of emails you get from UGs. I should have stapled McD job applications to their HWs. 2) The culture is somewhat miserable. Not many people are really happy there. 3) The weather is horrible. You think it doesn't matter, until you realize how miserable you are in your free time (rare). Living in Madison isn't like living in a big city. Good things 1) Other grad students are really cool and smart. I think the students at Wisc really get along well. I respect many of my peers and hope the best for them. 2) It's hard. This is a good thing. Trust me. I think you should think about the sacrifices you're willing to make before you come to Wisc. I personally don't think anyone at Wisconsin is truly happy. They just really really want good placement - and they think it's worth 5 years of hell.