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Just wanted to share this fellowship call for applications for next year. It is for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico. The fellowship is open to incoming and existing PhD students at UNM in economics (as well as a few other fields). The benefits include $24,000 pay, full tuition, health insurance, conference travel, a laptop computer to use, etc. You must be interested in health economics and/or health policy. I actually transferred to UNM last year because of this fellowship and have to admit that it is top notch. They bring in world-class speakers to talk about health issues and facilitate an open dialogue on health policy in relation to the social sciences. Feel free to PM me with any questions. To read-up on it, please visit the following: Doctoral Fellowships | RWJF-UNM Center for Health Policy

An econ PhD is more versatile than an AREC PhD. You can work in an econ department with an econ PhD, while the same is not always true with the AREC degree. I have been told again and again that an AREC degree limits your placement options compared to the regular econ degree. Out of your choices, NCSU is the clear winner. The EPA has a huge faculity down the road from Raleigh, which would probably work well with your research interests. Climate change is also a huge research topic at Duke just down the road also. You cannot go wrong with NCSU over your other options given your research interests.

NCSU has my vote too. The research opportunities in the Triangle are second to none!

@blackwhite: I do not have any more info than a few weeks ago when I was told that they might send out 1-2 more offers depending on if students who currently have offers turn them down. @ARE: I agree. Not sure why they are not admitting more environmental people. Maybe they are still waiting another year until they get their faculty lined up in the department. That would be my guess. They have a post-doc here right now doing environmental and a few pre-docs. Not sure if they are doing any RA work or not.

This past Friday, the ASU potential PhD students came for their flyout. From what I could tell, there was only one person interested in doing environmental. I thought this was interesting as the school is ramping up its environmental side. Not sure what to take from this.

Penn State ARE is good at development and environmental from what I remember. Had a funded offer there last year.

I agree. NCSU is having trouble, but it is still a top school and has a better record than OSU. In addition, as I have said before, you are in Research Triangle Park, which is one of the megacenters in the world for environmental and resource economics. You can't go wrong with NCSU. Raleigh is a beautiful city too. I love North Carolina and would love to live there again.

alecia: I will send you a PM as I'm curious to know which MA you are in at Duke.

Congrats on the funding at NCSU EconOld! I was at Duke last year and took several Nicholas School classes. They have some amazing talent there doing great work in environmental economics. While NC State might have hit a "bump" I would not count it out at all. Kerry Smith told me in his own words that if you want to do environmental economics, the Triangle is the best place in the nation to do it (even with him gone, LOL). The sheer number of academics in the area working on environmental issues is staggering. Remember, the EPA and RTI all have presence in that area. UNC and Duke are just down the road too. Yes, you can easily take courses at Duke, the Nicholas School, and UNC if you are at NCSU. They all work together like a big family. Of course there are funding issues at NCSU, but since you have funding, it should not affect you. It was a tough choice for me last year NOT to go to NC State since I too had a funded offer. Yeah, Phanuef left, but they still have great people there including Taylor, Von Heafen and Duke is down the road with its own set of top notch faculty. Not sure about Cornell or OSU. Don't know much about them because they do not have a large non-market valuation group like NCSU, which is my interest.

arcot: Your admissions look like mine last year! I got into VT AAEC and Penn State AREC with funding last year. Both look like good programs, but I favored VT because I want to research non-market valuation, and Kevin Boyle is there. Penn State AREC seemed to be better at global environmental/ag issues, which is like Duke in some ways. Lots of international focus.

Did anybody here get funding at NCSU or admission to ASU? Just curious. I always said that I would go to Maryland over Davis, but it never came to that for me. Just couldn't see myself living in California!

@Refused: Not sure about this. I was there for only 1 year and applied to PhD programs in that time. You should ask Dr. Becker this question as he will be able to give you a good answer. @eco girl: My understanding was that only a few students had funding with a waiver. Maybe 30%? I do not know for sure, but it varies from year to year based on their funding situation.

No, I did not take the PhD courses, but you can and are encouraged to. Not sure about the grading. Sorry. Ask the director, Dr. Charles Becker. Probably one of the nicest professors I have ever met. He will be very happy to help you with questions. Congrats to those admitted. Duke is expensive, but worth it. I loved it there.

For those waiting on ASU: I ran into the admin secretary Terri Beck just now and asked about the decisions. She said that almost all of them have gone out, but a "couple more offers will be made in the coming weeks." So, don't hold your breath she said, but you still might be one of the lucky few!

I did not know this at all. Where did you get this information from? My understanding is that they want a class of 10-15 for next year. What they will probably do is send out some admissions, wait and see who accepts and rejects, and then send more out as needed to get that 10-15 class size. It is not over yet even though admissions have been sent out. Also, we have spring break next week, so it might be a little slow.

To add to your list, I know of somebody who had an offer from Vanderbilt, but not sure if they flew out there or not.

I know a little (because I'm at ASU), but a member on here that goes by "friendlyskies" could help you much more as he has been here longer. Send him a PM.

I went to UT Austin undergrad and was considering TAMU for my PhD (strange, right). Their department seemed to do a lot of heavy ag stuff (dairy, grain, livestock, fisheries, rancher problems, etc.). In Texas, they are known for this line of research (and are very good at it). If you are interested in more environmental issues such as global warming, biodiversity, water economics, non-market valuation, air pollution, etc. I would not look at TAMU for it. This is my impression of the program.

Yep, though you may have to wait until the 2nd or 3rd semester. They are pretty open about taking classes outside of economics and math.

If any of you have questions about the Duke AM program, feel free to shoot me a PM. I was in the program for a year. In short, it is excellent!

Their goal is to get 10-15 class sizes now. Before, they were getting 5-10 depending on the year. Yes, there are many job market candidates this year. Some of them have really good offers too (though none of them are environmental economists).

Yes, the class size was a huge problem for this year (my class). There were 21 of us at the beginning of last Fall, which was 4 times as many as the year before. However, the attrition rate is quite high here in my class. And yes, they do fund all incoming students.

For those who applied to ASU: I heard through the grapevine here that results have slowly been coming out. Some people have been notified of their acceptance, but not all. So, if you have not heard anything don't count yourself out yet.

This may be true. Dan was originally scheduled to come to ASU for a job market flyout this month, but cancelled at some point (about a week before he was to come). I assumed he either got a better offer or decided that ASU was not for him.

@ARE: I have no idea when ASU decisions are coming out, though it should be very soon. Overheard some conversation regarding them at the front desk yesterday. Final stages it appears. @Elliephant: If the students from other English speaking countries can pass the speak test on the first go-around, then they can be TAs, I believe, the first year. Otherwise, they are graders for their first year and TAs afterward.