nikopol

I've heard that one of the professors that most students complain about will be replaced with another one. While we were taking that class, we had a lecture with the new professor instead of the former for once, and I think he was much better than the former.

That's more important than writing your opinions about the program, aye? .)

I'm starting to think that by trying to answer everything, we're creating sort of an info pollution. If you want to get exact info for issues like attrition rate or funding, you should better ask this to the director of graduate studies. I've already told Wooky that what he wrote on attrition is not correct. Last year, they wanted a couple of people to drop out of the program, but these students wanted to stay and they managed to stay. These year, I know that they've already wanted some people to drop out of the program (at the end of the year) since these people have failed "too many" courses. I don't know how many is too many, I don't know the institute's exact policy or whether again these guys will be allowed to stay in the program after some bargaining. I've also heard that the new director told some students they will cut the scholarship if a student has failed any course (except for the compensated 5) or finishes the year with an average lower than 7. Again, we don't know how strict they are, because there was no student who had the TI scholarship and was not able to satisfy the funding criteria last year. The ones who failed the courses or ended up with a low GPA were already either self-funded or externally-funded. Commenting on overall teaching quality is quite dangerous and difficult, because our opinions will be very subjective (especially for some professors). As a student who has only bachelor's degree and so far able to satisfy only the bare minimum criteria, I can't say that I'm satisfied with the teaching quality. Most of the courses, I'd say, are not designed for people who haven't seen these topics before and overall pace of the courses are really high. Some professors are really bad (though they might still be internationally renowned researchers). What's disappointing for me is the fact that they know some of the wrong-going things, but they are not doing (or not able to do) anything to change these. For examples, during my interview with the new DGS, I told him about some professors that students traditionally have complaints. He said that it's like diplomacy and it's not easy to tell professors who have been teaching at TI for many years that TI does not want them to teach any more. Anyway, if you go and talk to top students, probably they'll tell that they're quite satisfied with the education (or maybe they won't, I'm just speculating here). As a side not for Adam_Schmitt, within "Scholar" professors, you should check the work of Erik Plug and Hessel Oosterbeek. And did I mention that our facilities are not restricted to offices and computers, but also include a kitchen where you can get free tea, use the fridge, dishwasher and (except for the office hours) the microwave?? .)) EDIT: After talking to Wooky, I'm convinced that I should add a few things. I didn't mention the classes I found useful here, because I already wrote them somewhere else, I guess. But anyways, among the courses we've seen so far, Math courses, Statistics, MetricsI and MacroI were really good. Besides, my GUESS is that the quality of education would be as good as (if not better than) similarly ranked programs. Though they admit that they have some rigidities (other programs might also do), they still have a very large pool of professors/instructors, the Dutch professors have zero problem in use of English, and TI is trying to be innovative by introducing elective courses or organizing seminars for first year students, etc.

Ok guys, I'd try to answer your questions. But I'm just a first year MPhil student, not an expert, so it's better for me not to make comments on everything. The sum of the three faculties is quite large, so you'd definitely find somebody in your area of interest (in broad senses). But it's likely that these people will be relatively less renowned or productive, etc. This is the website of the macro and international economics group at UvA, check the faculty there: MInt Amsterdam - Macroeconomics and International Economics I dunno about Tilburg. Check those websites: Educational and Labor Economics group at UvA Home SCHOLAR - Home Scholar - University of Amsterdam Development Group at VU Development Economics - Economics - De Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Bedrijfskunde, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam That would be gross salary I guess (without tax reduction). I don't know much about PhD salaries. I remember talking to a first year PhD student from UvA, and she said that her salary is 1400€ per month. (Dunno to whom her case applies, but due to some reasons, actually she was getting 1600€) As you've already read, the salaries increase with year. Can not help more on that topic, sorry. I might ask other PhD people afterwards, if you guys are still interested.. I don't think so, the finance track is in line with Duisenberg School of Finance, they have their own spots, own funding, etc. However you can do your PhD on Finance, without actually switching tracks, I guess. Anyways, for such a technical subject, I'd adress you the Graduate School Coordinator, Judith van Kronenburg. If she can't answer, she'd know whom to ask. (PS. I agree with Lecast's comments:D) If you're asking about the placements, the relevant info is already provided in the website: http://www.tinbergen.nl/graduate-school/placement-record.php Note that the really big names are actually post-docs. "How hard" is very subjective. I only have a bachelor's degree, and for me it's really hard. Another Turkish friend of mine has already a master's degree (a two year research master's), and he's doing really well. It all depends on your background. Anyway, from what I read on that forum, it's still nothing like doing a PhD in the States. Yes, people actually do fail. I dunno about the attrition rate. Why not asking this to the director or the coordinator? And then you can also inform us :D Same is also valid for the finance courses question. According to your research interests, they'll affiliate you to one of the universities, and then that'll determine where you'll live. Of course, you can be affiliated with EUR and live in Amsterdam; however, in that situation you can not use student housing. So you need to find your own place. I guess you'll pay around 500€ per month for a (normal, not a fancy) room in Amsterdam. Check those websites (you might need googletranslate): kamer huren | kamer verhuren | Kamernet.nl craigslist: amsterdam / randstad classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events If you tell TI people about your situation, they'll affiliate you with UvA and that'll solve your problem. I'm a "he", and IMO, the best guide for you is the coordinator of graduate studies (or for some questions, maybe the director himself). UvA. I gave a website address above, check that. If you're affiliated with UvA, your housing company will be DeKey, for VU, it'll be DUWO. One more thing about housing: If you decide on finding your own place, remember that it's very difficult and expensive to rent a room. If you've some savings (because you'll need to pay some deposits), or some friends who are also in need of accomodation, it's better to rent a three-room apartment. That will be more economic, and you'll easily find some tenants for the spare rooms in Amsterdam. (But of course it's very difficult to find your own place, when you're actually not in the city. Anyway, almost all of the first year students go with the student housing.) Currently Tinbergen is close to the old beautiful part of Amsterdam, however, latest by January 2011, they'll be gone to the business district of the city (Zuid). Sorry for the bad news.

I guess the admissions will be announced next week. As for game theory and IO, I don't know how strong they are. Our game theory professor was Peter Wakker, and IO professor is Jeroen Hinloopen Checking their websites might help a little bit.

I disagree with ArthurBlair in a few points: I don't think GRE requirement is trivial. It's very difficult to compare students ONLY on the basis of the grades or references. The grades and references depend on many different things like your home institute, your professors, maybe your relative stance in the class, etc. However, comparing GRE scores of two applicants makes sense, because we all know that they more or less took the same test. If you claim to be a good candidate for grad studies in economics, getting a high GRE-Q score shouldn't be that much of a problem. Hence it's being used for filtering applicants. As a first year student, I'm not in a position to make certain comments on professors. However, I doubt that there is big difference between TI and Tilburg professors. At the end, professors here are approachable I guess (I do not approach professors). The professor ArthurBlair mentioned is one of the extremely caring ones (even I went to him and asked questions). Plus most of the time, you can not walk into the office of VU or EUR professors, because TI is next to UvA, whereas VU is on the other end of the city and EUR is in Rotterdam. You should ask to a Tilburg guy to learn about how things work there. Lastly, there is certrainly solidarity among all students and I'm learning a lot from my classmates, but mainly from Turkish ones. The studying together and being full-time TA for friends stuff is "by the Dutch, for the Dutch". (It might also be valid for the Chinese group, but I honestly do not have much idea about what they are doing).

Sorry for the confusion. I meant to write "quantitative", not "verbal".

I understand that you are bitter due to rejection, but there is no point in behaving like a troll and spreading wrong information about TI. Firstly, the results of metrics class haven't been announced yet. Besides, I've never heard of such a high failure rate in ANY TI course! (In Advanced Econometrics 1, I know that out of approximately 15 people, three guys failed the course with the grade 4. This year there was a new professor, and the grades for this course were somewhat low. Anyway, so two of the guys who failed changed track, and the other one decided to continue with the advanced one.) Secondly, in our cohort, I guess we only have one guy who hasn't seen metrics before (a physics major). Thirdly, in the past I had a small chat with the former director, Prof. Plug, about their admission policy. And yes, it's true that they put a lot of emphasis on the quantitative part of the GRE, so it's necessary to have a high score in order to be admitted, but contrary to your claims, it's DEFINITELY not sufficient. Lastly, I don't know what kind of experience you had with Judith, but she has always been very kind and friendly towards me and others. Cheers and good luck with the rest of your application.

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I sincerely wonder if you indeed think so. Or you are just being funny again?

qwer, one of my professors mentioned that German's are investing heavily in Humboldt in order to create a brand name like Cambridge or Oxford. Have you heard anything about that? He also told professors there have connections with LSE and other good institutions. It's odd German studs here haven't mentioned that programme.

You may want to provide the facebook link .) I bet we have such a link somewhere.

econominee, as far as I know you're a Turkish poster, right? In which university and program are you now? I think you should consider taking a master's degree in Turkey if you are currently a bachelor's student.

I hate you adcoms! Do you hear me?? Don't pretend not to read what we write here.

A Turkish guy mentioned that he pays 430 euro for accomodation (including all other expenses). He has a flatmate and they are sharing a 2+1 house. So I guess 450-500 euro would be more realistic than 350 euro .) (at least for the first year) I haven't accepted their offer yet, either. But most probably I will. Keep in touch, Wooky!