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tm_guru is absoluately right. funding at Rutgers is very limited especially for first year students......

Are there current first years here? So, we worked hard a year ago for admissions, and now we're taking qualifying/preliminary/general exams at each place we departed for. Now welcome back to the old nest. How did you do? Complain and release your frustrations! --- as for me, I failed the Microeconomics for the first try... I am organizing stuff again to pass in the second and last chance later this month!!

Ok, I got a place in Highland Park!! Excited. See y'all in this fall. Now, little bit of info about the entering class. There are 7 students under fellowship (like the email we received couple of wks ago said), and as of yesterday, we got 31 students in total (which is huge) though some int'l students are pending cuz they got to submit financial docs and visa applications etc. This is going to be so competitive. Guess what? They can't support 31 students so they got to fail many many students in qualifying. Average class per year is less than 15. They accepted too many cuz entering class was so small last two years... Haha...

Hey young_economist, thanks for your post. I am excited to see you in this fall. I guess that it's important to look for an apartment asap to get a good accommodation. I'm looking for a place in Highland Park and I figured that I need to bring a car. The headache is car insurance. It's so expensive in NJ... vbmenu_register("postmenu_751224", true);

I am really excited to seeing you guys all this fall semester!! We got awesome profs for our core courses. Hope we have such a wonderful time together. BTW, I am looking for an apartment right now. Where are you thinking to live? I think I like Highland Park, but I guess that I need to visit there once again. mmm...

FYI, Macro is very very weak at Rutgers. Let me know if you guys are coming; we should definitely chill out, New Brunswick is such a nice town.

mmm... I am not sure yet... I got to think about this over this weekend... I can turn down Rutgers by 15th w/o obtaining release... So... As for the change in admission level (MS -> PhD), I actually asked and I had a conversation with a prof at Iowa State, so it has been changed... But conditional admission to PhD provided satisfactory score in placement exam which will be offered beginning to the fall sem. Oh, untitiled. Thanks a lot! Your posting helps so much!

Yeah, these departments are so different. Iowa State is Iowa State. Excellent ag econ department. Perfect department without any deficit. Rutgers is just a mediocre department with only a few academic placements... But these placements come from ONE professor in health econ, who I felt in "love" with when I had a short meeting... (the prof has no intention of leaving Rutgers and there are some other professors in health econ so I should not lose my major professors on the way.) Rutgers uses the same admission criteria for PhD and Master's. Master's students are usually those sent from foreign governments; and they don't get to stay more than a few years so they come to get Master's. Their core courses are standard, and mathematically oriented. As for Micro, complete basic micro theories (quickly) in Fall (this course is accompanied with Math for Economists), and go into Game theory and some extra stuff in Spring. Macro starts in Spring and cover the basics and Macro II in fall of 2nd year. Health econ and Ag econ are so different but share some interesting features: both applied micro / econometrics and can be integrated in development economics (which is my interest).

Is anyone coming to Rutgers? PM me if you're! Hope to see some TMers at math camp!

Institution: Iowa State Program: Econ Decision: Admission changed from MS -> PhD Funding: $14,400 (TA) + $2,500 (Bonus) - $5,700 more than initial funding. Notification date: 4/10 Notified through: Phone Comments: They really really want me... I am so confused... Don't love me too much, I get scared...

It was really nice to see you guys all here. I never forget how much help I got from y'all. I am heading to Econ PhD, Rutgers University. Hope things turn out well for all of you. I am little sad how it turned out... But I am sure I am ok. I am flying to Rutgers next weekend to talk to profs and students there. Thanks a lot. I don't know if I come to the thread as often as I did... But I sure come back time-to-time. I really wanted to go to Davis...

is gtown suffering from budget crisis? so weird... they should be able to accept more... mmm...

Sigh... I did not get into Brown U... I was prepared but I am so sad... I want to cry... Davis updated reference letters this morning... I am ready for getting a heart breaking letter from Davis... I feel that it's like the last update. Tomorrow I'll receive an email from Grad Admiss Office directing me to check the online status... but no email from the secretary. :'(

Sigh... I did not get email. I am out... I was prepared but I am so sad... I wanted to go to Brown... :'(

Thanks guys, bheld, kinghalo, cjw, enviroecon, and others! I was reviewing their program. They say for PhD program, "Master’s Degree in Economics from well-known university preferred" so I applied to MS. But their PhD core program is nothing different from regular PhD 1st year core. I guess I should call them if I can start PhD immediately... BTW, my last name starts with a letter which falls in between 5th and 10th in alphabetical order. Side note: I was told by a professor that it's not a good idea to disclose identity on this kind of forums. Some professors are indeed reading this forum to aid their decision processes. I don't think they actually try to find individuals, though...

Institution: Iowa State Program: Ag Econ / Econ MS (Doctoral track) Decision: Accepted Funding: 1600 mo. for 9 mo. Notification date: March 16th Notified through: Email Comments: Yay! They have some good academic placements!! Excited!! > will be rejecting funded offers from Ohio and Penn sometime soon

Then, I am not Japanese :( My (ex)girl friend is an American citizen born in the state I am in. She is a Chinese American. People say I don't look like Japanese, so I might not be Japanese lol I went to restaurant last night and waitress asked me where I am from, and she got so surprised (and I don't get surprised at all because it's nothing special for me lol). I look like Malaysian, Thai, or Vietnamese. Congrats for you gf. Mitsubishi Bank is one of the largest financial institutions in Japan. I interviewed with them a year ago but I got rejected because of (possible) discrimination, and I hate them. After graduating from high school, I changed my job kind of frequently because of personal issues before I finally landed to a Uni in U.S. I was rejected by all Japanese firms I interviewed with but many American firms were interested in me and understood my special situations (but did not take job offer because I decided to go to grad school).

Haha, I can't teach u English lol I have a heavy accent so you gotta some hottie there lol If we both get in, that's SO SO SO awesome. Feels so safe!!

I am not quite sure why she emailed me. I last time emailed her a month ago, and never got reply. Then, she suddenly decided to email me... I phoned her several times last year about their program. And when I called her last time on the application due date to check if she has everything, she remembered me. I guess that she emailed me because she remembered me and my file happened to be on her desk and remembered she never replied last email... I don't know. It's just all guess...

I just got an email from UC Davis. "Your application is still under review... which is good. Many have been denied already. It shouldn't be too much longer. Good luck." Does it mean that I will hear from them tomorrow or so?

A lot of people got rejected, and some people got admitted. If you've not heard, I guess you are still in game. As for Davis, they touched my transcripts with their noodly appendage. I am not waiting anymore. I am sick of this waiting game. Just give me answer by April 10 or so :content:

Ohio State's Ag econ seems like a good program. But job placement is not really exciting, I guess... So, in a sense, Rutgers might be a better choice. Their job placement is not decent either though...

Ye Ye told me in early January that I was nominated for university-wide fellowship and if not granted, the dept funds me. I had an email from a prof a week ago and was told that I did not get the fellowship but they are in the process of making a decision regarding to funding and I'm "very competitive for funding (tuition waiver plus stipend)" and details will follow around March 15. So I regard this as a funded offer. I am not sure if I am going there. I am still waiting to hear from Davis and Maryland. I don't really think admitted though... I wait for formal decisions.

Thanks for sharing. And I'm sorry that you're having difficult situations, too. I was thinking yesterday, given a general utility function, U = s^a l^(1-a) + Ug where s is school, l is love, and Ug ismy (ex)girlfriend's utility. Then, what is my a in short-run and long-run? In short run, a is almost zero, but I felt that I need to think carefully what the real a is... I do not have a good idea of what the function Ug looks like either... You guys did a great job for the four years. I heard a lot of stories girls dump boyfriends cuz they don't stand with long-distance relationship. I have one couple in my department. They did master's together and husband moved to U Maryland ARE for PhD. Wife got a job in World Bank, and shortly after the husband got a job here in my department, the wife got a job offer, too (as a research liaison/Assistant Research Prof). This is one very fortunate case... Both are so smart and tough and independent... I really envy them. Around 12, wife comes to husband's office and they eat lunch together... They're both from Philippines. They came to the US after Bachelor's... So respectable. A lot of things to deal with. Cuz we are still young. There's no sadness in your life, there's no joy... As for U Maryland, my status is still pending... U Davis is pending, too.

Ha ha, but that's little miserable. Girlfriend = grad school? I once read grad school = patio of hell. Well, girls are sometime angels... Girls are sometime devils... Like drugs... Love and hate. But can't leave because u can't stand on your foot without her... Anyways, tomorrow should be a big day! I am sure! sigh...