thepeedler

I think seminars are by far the best way keep up. Plus usually there is free coffee and food at seminars! Otherwise, I think its very difficult to keep up with the "state of economics" since economics is quite broad. I try to keep up with the topics I am interested in by knowing which profs are generally working on them in various universities, and then just periodically browsing through their working papers. Journals are also good, especially top journals, because then I get research that is pre-screened for importance. However, papers in journals can be a few years behind the working papers. I think pod casts, blogs, and columns are nice and usually quite interesting, but I think they are generally not helpful in terms of actual research.

Yes, they did say they are looking to hire more faculty, specifically in macro. However, they did say that two of their junior faculty have outside offers, so it seems the macro group will be undergoing some flux in the next couple of years. As for the current research, it wasnt too clear how active they were (though their descriptions of their current research put me to sleep). I would suggest checking their website for working papers or emailing them.

I was at the UCLA flyout, and yes the funding situation looks bleak for the first year. From some more private meetings, it sounds like there MIGHT be some money if a prof there really likes you and you have a funded offer elsewhere, but this is just a maybe. If you dont have funding from UCLA but do have funding elsewhere, I would suggest emailing the grad vice chair, and CCing any profs with whom you may have more personal conversations where they expressed interest. However, I dont know why anyone would want to go to this awful school. First, the "field talks" and open house were extremely unorganized. The faculty clearly didnt seem to give a damn about the prospective students and hadnt prepared much. The current graduate students seemed bitter, and the first years made it very very clear that they had ZERO interaction with the faculty, and dont attend any seminars. This lack of communication was reinforced when someone asked the applied micro group their level of interaction with grad students, and the response was not good. Even more troubling, it sounds like almost NO ONE gets an RA position in the summer! Not sure about anyone else, but I would rather not have to flip burgers in the summer. Basically, the faculty and grad students seem to pride themselves on the difficulty of the first year grad classes. Its like mental masturbation for them. Not a pleasant place to go if you ask me.

I got a similar email from CUNY as well as another school. I didnt talk to CUNY but when I talked to the other school it was more them pitching the department and measuring my interest rather than evaluating me as a candidate.

On grad cafe, it looks like last year there were no acceptances sent in the mid march wave. Just rejects and waitlists. Plus they already admitted a few people on grad cafe at least in feb. So yeah, looks pretty grim. But hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised on Friday!

I'm not sure. I got some letter that "decisions are still being made" last week I think, but havent heard since.

For anyone waiting on these schools, I am withdrawing my acceptance so hopefully my spot goes to someone!

Well maybe econ is different, but I remember from physics that if you dont know how to do the math, then you cant do the physics. You just need the framework and rigor that mathematics provides to move forward. Its just a tool, and of course you need more than just math, but still you need the tool to do the work.

My bad :) I just remember some picture of a haggard looking guy living in his mom's apartment solving some crazy math problem.

Sure, just because everyone thinks something doesnt make it so. So yes, being skeptical is good. But is the group consensus more likely to be correct or incorrect? I would lean towards correct. I would just say that if all econ programs stress math, you might as well assume there is a good reason for it.

Yeah, maybe next year I'll come back here and post something like "what was I thinking going to econ grad school! its awful! All we do is play golf, drink whiskey, and count our money down at the country club!"

I think its amusing that it seems like I am the only one that has some faith in the field of Econ, and I dont even have an econ background! I have plenty of faith that the admission process is in fact a meritocracy. After all, adcoms are looking at 20 page packets of info for each person (letters of rec, essays, scores, awards, writing samples, classes, grades). Even placements are just more indication of how well the screening process is working. It might be an opinion that its sad that most people at Harvard and MIT havent read famous old books, but its like saying its sad that physics students dont read Newton, Feynman, or Einstein. Sure those are important works, but they've been updated, streamlined, and rewritten now in much better forms. And I am guessing that if pretty much all the econ departments stress math, then there is a good reason for it. And not getting into a top school does not mean you wont do some amazing research later in life, but it probably does reduce the likelihood. Sorry. I hate to be the one flinging the sour grapes here, but the original post just seems to be a bunch of complaining. Unless you are happy to work/live in isolation like that guy who solved fermat's last theorem, you should probably get used to marketing yourself and your ideas.

I hope this is just an angry vent because this post is the most ridiculous waste of space ever. Re read it yourself and then edit out the parts that sound silly ... which is all of them.

I got the exact same email. I took it to mean that they are waiting for other people to decline before offering out more stipend money. Not sure what the point of a tuition waver is without a stipend. Lame. Wish the UC system had more money!

Crap, maybe I should have posted this before sending an email starting with "Hello First Name". I guess now I'll find out how mellow the faculty is!