walt526

Erin and asquare, Thanks for all the hard work it takes to run these forums. It has been a tremendous asset to me and countless others for our graduate application process. We have a difference of opinion (not the first time that an issue like this has come up), but I respect that it's your prerogative to establish whatever policies you feel best serve the greater community and/or make it easier to manage. But if I can't have what I (and many other posters) feel are on-topic discussions in our regular forums than there simply isn't much for me here. Given that the nature of this particular topic revolved around expectations of the housing market (current topics in economics are regularly discussed) as well as a topic of interest to many posters who frequent it, I respectfully continue to disagree about whether its germane or not. But regardless, it's your house and we're all just guests, so it's incumbent upon us to either accept the policies or find some other internet board to frequent. At this time, I am choosing the latter (and not simply because of this little disagreement; whether to continue frequenting TM now that my admissions process is complete has been something that I've been debating for a while now). But again, I am very grateful to the entire TM community for the help over the past few years (especially the last 10 months or so). I eventually scored an 800Q on the GRE, got into a school that I think will be a great fit for me, and even managed to secure a very generous funding package during a very tight financial environment for universities. I'm not sure that all of those things would have happened without TM and so I am very appreciative of all the time and energy that you and asquare put into making this such an awesome resource. Best regards, -Walt

I voted for GFU, but I'd definitely suggest finding out definitively about whether the math courses are taught in German (that's possibly a deal breaker if your German isn't proficient enough to understand instruction in a difficult course).

While that's true of a vast majority of MPP programs, there are a handful that are at least as rigorous as a MA Economics (from a well-respected program). Respectfully, since the OP did not identify where he's headed, I'm not sure that your advice is necessarily well-founded (although in most instances I would tend to agree).

It would be like wanting to buy a Honda Ridgeline rather than a Ford F-150 because Consumer Reports prefers the Civic to the Focus. Honda may be the stronger brand overall, but Ford clearly dominates when it comes to trucks.

Why are you looking at rankings for undergraduate programs rather than graduate rankings (that are specific to the Economics department)?

My mistake. In that event, then definitely UTD. I had no idea that there was even a Middle Tennessee State University. I'm not sure which rankings you're looking at, but for USN&WR Economics rankings has both MTSU and UTD as unranked. In any event, either EconPhD.net or Grijalva and Nowell (2008) do a better job, IMHO. MTSU is unranked in the former and ranked 125th in the latter, while UTD is ranked 214th in the former and unranked in the latter. So neither is especially well-positioned to get you into a top PhD program. Point about being in Dallas being better for finding a job afterward remains (although I'm not sure whether I'd rather suffer in Tennessee and Texas, but that's just me)...

It depends. There isn't a hard and fast rule and it depends on the individuals on the adcom. An academic economist from an unranked school that consistently publishes in a top field journal may be better known to a particular adcom member (if that happens to be his/her area of expertise) than a bigger name (according to IDEAS) in another field. I suspect that the fact that LORs are weighted differently and randomly (if not inaccurately, at least based on an IDEAS ranking or whatever) contributes a lot of the "noise" in the admissions process.

Of the two, UTD probably has the higher profile, particularly if you're interested in behavioral/experimental (but I have no idea how involved MA students are in that research though). FWIW, I think that there is a poster who either a current or former student of MTSU (not sure if undergrad or grad) who has a very favorable opinion of the place. But neither of them are really considered among the top MA programs in the US, particularly if you're looking to advance to a PhD (not saying that to be mean, just offering you a candid assessment of both choices). Based simply on the academics, I think that they're probably equal in terms of rigor and prestige within academia (both are 150-200ish schools), except for the fact the UTD is well-known for experimental stuff. I'd probably choose UTD since you said that you wanted to get a job immediately after (obviously there is a lot more happening in Dallas than Bozeman and geographic proximity is key to landing a job right out of grad school). But in terms of where I'd want to live (and cost of living), MTSU has the edge in that respect (at least IMHO--you couldn't pay me enough money to live in Dallas).

Are you planning on the MA being your terminal degree or setting the stage for admission to a PhD in Economics?

Sounds like you should probably make some other plans for the summer (although there's an outside shot that someone will choose not to attend or they'll locate additional funding). :(

There have been a number of threads that have discussed the utility of this text at length (we may have lost a number of them in the crash, but there were discussions before mid-May 2009 and/or since mid-February 2010).

When I said "massaging the design" I was thinking mostly in terms of choice of your covariates.

I don't have any suggestions for topics, but for a MA thesis I would suggest sticking with some sort of panel analysis simply because it's more likely that you'll be able to get a statistically significant result with far less aggravation. Last fall, I had two econometrics courses, both of which required term projects. I did a probit for one and panels for another (same data set) and the probit gave me 10x the number of headaches (needless to say, I'm focusing on the panels for my thesis). I think that DCM can be deceptively simple: it seems very straightforward what the marginal effect of X is versus Y or in affecting choice A, so how hard can it be? But "massaging" the design of your model to get useful results from the data is much harder than it looks. YMMV.

I haven't taken a PhD-level Economics course, but I did take a PhD seminar in Political Behavior in Spring 2008. It was a very small class (4 grad students and 1 senior, who was starting his PhD in Political Science at UCSD the following fall), so it was a little weird at first. But I was able to keep up, ask some pertinent questions (I think), and did well enough. I didn't ask as many questions as I would if I were taking it for my GPA, but I don't think that anyone resented my presence or anything.

For serious work (PhD or professional academic), you want to find the issue, identify the model, review the literature and then gather the data. For an undergraduate or even MA thesis, I would STRONGLY recommend surveying what data is available before you invest a lot of time in reviewing literature. Partly because you have far less time and partly because students who haven't completed PhD field courses don't have a very good sense of what types of data are easily accessible.

I just located the actual property tax record and it looks like I overestimated what it considers taxable value. Based on Summer 2009 and Winter 2010, taxes would be $185/month, rather than $300/month. So $585/month for a place that would probably rent for at least $800/month... Looks like it was foreclosed on in early 2009 ($127k owed) and bought by an investor who is now looking to sell it (been on the market for about a little over a month, property tax is current as of February). Hmm... (obviously need to see the property in person to figure out whether or not it's something worth considering, since I really don't want to get into a fixer-upper as a first year grad student).

Well we sort of have a feel for the neighborhood, in that we looked in that area for rentals when we were out there a few weeks ago (but we decided that a $850 rental for a multiple bedroom place wasn't worth it if it would just be me). It's part of the residence zoning area where they have pretty tight restrictions on how many people can rent it (I talked to someone who owned a few properties and said that although a homeowner has to "apply" for a license to rent, it's usually not a problem if the prospective landlord doesn't have a history of being fined or whatever. And they almost always approve applications from someone moving out of state who can't sell, as they'd rather not have the property be vacant. Also, fwiw, it's one of the smallest/cheapest places in the neighborhood. Renting it out after we moved out-of-state would be a contingency plan if we couldn't sell... I just can't see the local economy getting any worse. The major private sector employer (Oldmobile) closed up shop years ago, so that shock to the local economy has already been absorbed. Within 5-6 years, I would be very surprised if overall, national economy hasn't improved; even if growth isn't occurring in Central Michigan, it's hard to see how it could get any worse (since the major employers are the university and the government).

From what I've gathered both here and a rlife friend who applied, UVA offered first year funding to very few people for Fall 2010. Basically, on April 13th they said that it was possible (if enough people who were given funded offers declined), but on April 15th enough people accepted their funded offers that it was not going to be a possibility. They gave you this information so that you could potentially have accepted an offer to another school (if you had one). For example, my friend received a funded offer from Colorado and waitlisted for UVA. She didn't commit to Colorado until she heard definitely from UVA that they wouldn't be able to offer her funding. Now, of course, it's always POSSIBLE that someone who did accept a funded offer will ultimately not attend, in which case an unfunded admitted student will get that TAship or whatever. But that's pretty unlikely, particularly given how tight finances seem to be at UVA. At this point, you're most likely going to have to self-finance your first year.

It varies by state. CA is a non-recourse state. MI has what is called "Full Bid Credit Rule." As I understand it, at the foreclosure auction if the lender bids for the full amount owed, then they essentially forgive any difference between what is owed and what it ultimately sells for. It's essentially a judicial foreclosure (i.e., non-recourse) and happens most of the time. It looks like a lender might have the option of going after someone for the difference, but on a I guess that my perspective is that being a tenant in an affordable apartment complex along a bus line will entail having to deal with mostly undergraduates, and that's something that I'd prefer not to have to put up with. And at the same time, renting a comparable place would be at least a hundred more per month (possibly more) and there's a good chance of rent increasing over the 5-6 years of the grad program. Also, there is some potential upside from a financial standpoint (i.e., the value of the property may appreciate). If the house is in decent shape for a 30 year-old home, then maintenance and upkeep shouldn't be exceptionally much. I'd be comfortable doing most of the routine things (and know enough to hire a professional for something major)--I worked for a number of years in the construction industry (purchasing agent for an electrical contractor).

Even if the rental isn't quite enough to break even, we're only talking about a "cash burn" of $100-150/month. Which would basically be the portion of the mortgage payment going toward principle (in Year 6+), so we'd basically be breaking even on the balance sheet even if it's a negative cashflow. And even if it is negative, -$150 is annoying, but manageable (especially if we're both working full-time at that point).

Absent a major repair bill or housing market crash, I have trouble seeing how we're going to come out worse off. Our closing costs would be about $2000 and figure that a commission when we sell would be 5% or less (no one pays 6% anymore). So the transaction costs for both buying and selling would be about $7000 if it sold for $100,000 (it would be a little less if did not appreciate). At the same time, we'll have built about $5400 in equity over five years. The local housing market did not really appreciate much in the "boom" part in the earlier part of this decade, but it did decline a bit from 2005 (although nowhere near as bad as other areas, like Sacramento). I don't really know if it has anywhere lower to go (seems to be similar prices to mid-1990s). And if it does, the rental market seems pretty stable (there's not a lot of new construction--12 new residences built in East Lansing last year--but the undergraduate population has stabilized after about a decade of slightly decreasing). As I said, I'm pretty sure that we could hire a property management company and rent it for something around break-even if we couldn't sell for whatever reason. At the same time, I think that there is a very good chance that we're looking at high inflation once the economy starts to recover in earnest. In which case, the house would be a decent hedge against that. And if inflation does take off, rentals (which usually increase at the same rate as nominal wages) would likely increase while the mortgage would be fixed (although property taxes might increase). There's some degree of risk (as there is with any real estate investment). But it seems to me like it's relatively minimized... is that just wishful thinking?

The last time this came up it involved a discussion (pre-crash) over a new ereader. I got about a dozen responses in the first hour or so it was posted in PhD Economics. And one post in the month or so after you moved it. As an experiment, I started a thread in the Lounge about that after the crash... after being up for two months, no responses. Anyway, Erin said then that it was pretty much at your discretion. I'll get helpful feedback on this post if it remains in PhD Economics. That won't happen in the Lounge or other places. Most of the topics that will interest me (and the rest of this "cohort" of TM posters) going forward may be things that could potentially expand outside of strictly PhD Economics... of course, that's true of a sizable number of posts ("how do I get an LOR?," "how do I manage a long-distance relationship?," etc) that aren't moved, so there certainly is some degree of subjectivity on your part involved. I don't envy your task and I'm sorry for having to be a pain in the butt about it. But if I can't get helpful feedback in a regularly frequented forum on topics that are of interest to both myself and others, then there simply isn't much point in me (or other established posters) sticking around to help answer questions of future TM posters. This place works so well because people like you, Jeeves, Wind Up Bird, and others continue to frequent it even after you are well into your own graduate programs. I'm not taking anything personally and I'm not upset or anything with you on a personal level... it's just a simple matter of the fact that I feel strongly that both my interests and that of the PhD Economics forum are best served by affording people (particularly established posters) some latitude when it comes to posting on topics related to our graduate students--including the personal life stuff. Now if Erin feels differently, it's his forum and I'll abide by whatever he wants. But if he's going to impose a rigid delineation of topics that minimize the utility of the forum for those who have transitioned from applicant to future graduate student, then I don't see a place for me (or many others, but that's a decision that each person will have to make for him/herself). Peace.

Thanks, Mark. I realize that I might be in my final hours on TM. If so and this is my last post, thanks to everyone who has helped me over the past year, in particular asquare (despite our disagreements over what qualifies as "on topic"), jeeves, tm_guru, and wind up bird. I've really enjoyed it and learned a lot. But if we can't discuss topics of general interest to people who are getting settled into grad school, then there's really no point for me hanging around. Which is too bad, as I enjoyed helping other people who are preparing for the Fall 2011 admissions cycle and beyond. Hope to be still be around in a few hours... but to quote Conan, I absolutely have no idea what happens next. If I can't post topics that are of interest to me and other future grad students, then I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this forum is... except that I'm pretty sure that I don't have a place in it. Best of luck and thanks to all if this is my final TM post. :) -Walt

It is certainly more of a "PhD Economics" topic than Lounge. It has been reposted in the proper forum and will continue to be until either you leave it where it belongs or Erin terminates my account.

So I've been evaluating my housing options for East Lansing, and I'm starting to think that it would make sense to consider buying. For instance, e could get a 3bd/2ba around 1000sqft in East Lansing (plus basement and two car garage), right on a bus line (that drops off right in front of where most classes are) for a little over $90,000. From the pictures, it looks like it's in pretty good condition (obviously we would fly out there to see it and have it thoroughly inspected before making an offer). There's a $7500 downpayment/closing cost assistance from the state (basically, it's a no-interest loan that has to be repaid when the house is sold). At 5.125% (rate from the credit union affiliated with MSU) for a 80/20 30 year fixed-rate loan, we would be looking at a monthly mortgage payment of about $400/month (about $90 going against principal, $310 to interest). Property taxes would be about $300/month, so total payment would be around $700/month. There would be other tax breaks (besides the interest deduction of around $3750 in year 1, it appears like there might be other credits that would lessen the taxes). Now my wife will most likely be staying in Sacramento for the year and we'll just keep our current apartment. But between my stipend and her salary, we'll have the income to make it work. And I could potentially rent out a room the first year to make it work. We have sufficient saving to have enough to cover any unexpected repairs even after putting down a downpayment. I had been looking for a decent apartment (either 1 or 2 bedrooms) along a bus line, but that would probably be around $650-700/month. I guess that the big drawback is what happens if I fail my prelims... but based on what I've observed with the rental market, a house like this would rent for ~$800, so we could basically break even if/when we had to hire a property management company. But that's a worst-case scenario. I'm very confident that I'll be able to "survive and thrive" at MSU over the next 5-6 years. Any thoughts? PS: asquare, a discussion on housing options is very much "on topic" for graduate students. I am interested in hearing the thoughts of other PhD Economics students and will continue to repost it in this PROPER SECTION until you leave where it belongs or Erin terminates my account. It will get NO attention in the Lounge and we both know it.