2Iron

Applied Econometrics is just as vague as Empirical Economics. You need to be more specific. Some examples of subfields that may interest you: Urban Health Labor Educational Environmental Development Public Finance There are some other fields that aren't as purely empirical (a lot of their best papers try to include some theory) but are still applied, namely IO, political economy, and trade. Empirical macroeconomics and empirical finance are also popular, but probably not the sort of empirics you had in mind. So, overall, empirical economics and applied micro is a broad enough term where you can find that sort of stuff in any department. With that said, the only advice I can really give you is a listing of some of the better-known programs that are less empirical, but even these programs have empirical faculty. Northwestern is one of the few theory-heavy departments remaining in the top 20 where you may actually struggle to find support for a purely empiricial research agenda. Stanford has a comparative advantage in theory, but they're good at everything. Caltech is more tightly focused on behavioral and experimental economics, so I'd avoid applying there. Minnesota has some great empirical macroeconomists, but, again, I get the impression that this is not what you meant by "empirical." Again, though, you'll find some great empirical folks at any top department. Harvard and MIT are obvious choices as the best, but a place like Michigan has a department that is heavily focused on applied micro fields. Almost all of their job candidates last year did health, education, labor, development, or environmental. Outside the top twenty, overall quality decreases, but departments become increasingly empirical in focus. This is because there are more jobs outside academia for empirical folks. I should add that this is not necessarily the case with European programs. Some European programs outside the world's top 20 (i.e., programs that aren't LSE) are theory-biased. Look at the Tinbergen Institute for an example of a place that probably wouldn't be for you.

Ooh, that's a tough one. I'm not sure if that Social Choice class would be what you expect it to be. I think that at a mainstream program like BC, it will be more concerned with Arrow's impossibility theorem than with the writing of dead white guys. Have you considered Harvard's Public Policy Ph.D.? It gives you a solid foundation in applied microeconomics, but then allows you to branch out beyond the traditional bounds of the discipline.

This doesn't sound like anything an economics program will offer. Look into public health, sociology, and public policy programs.

I got a couple of private messages asking where I ultimately chose to go, so I figured I'd post it here. For the record, I'm going to Northwestern! Congrats to all.

Really tough call. UCSD > Wisconsin for metrics. Dead heat for theory, but they do different sorts. UCSD has a strong behavioral/decision theory group, while Wisconsin is stronger in dynamic games and evolutionary games. Wisc is probably better for applied micro, should your interests change. UCSD placements and weather are generally better, BUT placements this year were really weak for UCSD, which may be a result of the decline in support for (non-Berkeley) California public schools. I can't make a recommendation, but perhaps this info is helpful anyway.

Business casual is a safe bet, though I may go outright casual because I don't think I would want to go someplace where they judge me for wearing jeans anyway.

PROFILE: 2iron Type of Undergrad: Top 30 US, Top 5 Public, Top 35 Econ Undergrad GPA: 3.97 Overall, 3.97 Econ/Math Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE: 168 Q, 166 V, 6.0 AW Math Courses: Calc II (A), Multivar Calc (A+), Mathematical Probability (A), Mathematical Statistics (A), Linear Algebra (A), Diff. Eq (A-), Real Analysis (A+) Econ Courses: Principles of Micro (A+), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A-), Advanced Econometrics (W), Auction Theory (A), IO (A), Environmental (A+), Info and Uncertainty (A+), Honors Seminar (A+), Honors Thesis (A+) Other Courses: Discrete Optimization (engineering) (A+) Letters of Recommendation: 1 from professor for two classes, top 10 Ph.D.; 1 from research seminar professor/thesis advisor, top 15 Ph.D. and well-known; 1 from research supervisor, well known in field Research Experience: Honors thesis (won highest honors for it), RA for econ think tank one summer Teaching Experience: Some tutoring, not much else Research Interests: Applied micro theory, environmental, IO, structural SOP: Very thorough, gave a lot of research ideas and faculty suggestions. Other: National Collegiate Fed Challenge competition RESULTS: Acceptances: Princeton, Northwestern, Berkeley ARE, HKS, Wisconsin, Michigan, Duke, UBC, UC Davis, Arizona Waitlists: Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, UCSD Pending: Attending: Probably Northwestern, maybe Princeton. Comments: What would you have done differently? To beat a dead horse, taken more math instead of all of the humanities electives I thought would make me more well-rounded. Maybe gotten to know some other professors who have better ties to Stanford. Done my homework in high school so I could have gone to a top ten undergraduate institution. But, my grades were good, my thesis was good, and my SOP was very good, and I'm pretty happy with how things turned out! Oh, and I would have applied to Columbia and maybe Stanford GSB and not applied to Davis and Arizona. I underestimated how well I would do.

Hmph. UCSD rejection...was not expecting that. Oh well. Sort of a depressing end to the admissions cycle.

Institution: University of British Columbia Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: Yep. Pretty decent. Notification date: 3/13/2014 Notified through:Email Posted on GC:No Comments:Part of me was hoping to not get into better programs so that I could go to school in Vancouver. So this acceptance is perversely bittersweet.

Wait, UBC admissions are out. Nevermind.

Wow. How are people who applied to USA programs that have decision deadlines of April 15 supposed to handle this?

Rhode Island, I think? Sorry, I'm a wiseguy.

Anybody attending the Kennedy School visit days this week?

Of course they schedule if for the 4th. Like every other program.

I have officially declined my offers from Michigan, Duke, Wisconsin, Davis, and Arizona. Hope this helps some waitlisted people out!