meatweaver

Profile: Type of Undergrad: Top 10 LA - Economics and Biology Undergrad GPA: 3.70 Type of Grad: M.S. Resource Conservation, did a non-market valuation study in a forestry department Grad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 770 Q, 680 V, 4.0 AWA Math Courses: Multivariate calculus (A-, at college level--previous calc was in high school), Statistics (A), Econometrics (A), Econometrics (A, at graduate level). Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro, Econometrics Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (A-), Intermediate Micro (B+), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A), Environmental Economics (A), Poverty & Public Policy (A-), Tax Policy (A), Public Economics Seminar (A) Teaching Experience: Taught 1 1/2 undergraduate-level courses following my Masters. Taught 4 8-hour days of an undergraduate-level economics class US Forest Service employees. Research Experience: Master's thesis and 1 1/2 year of research experience with the USFS Research Interests: environmental and resource, behavioral and experimental SOP: About my long varied path toward deciding I wanted to pursue a PhD Letters of recommendation: Master's advisor (PhD - University of Queensland), Master's econometrics professor (PhD - University of Oregon), current supervisor (PhD - Oregon State University), none of them well known Concerns: Math Applying to: University of Washington, Oregon St Applied, Berkeley ARE, Davis ARE, UCSB, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin AAE, Texas A&M ARE Results: Accepted: University of Washington ($), Oregon St ($), UCSB ($, funding off waitlist), Wyoming ($), Minnesota (?), Wisconsin AAE ($), Texas A&M ARE ($) Rejected: Davis ARE (rejected off waitlist), Berkeley ARE Attending: UCSB What would you have done differently? I would have started following this forum earlier. Seriously, this forum was an invaluable source of information for me. I found this place in August of last year and at that point I was relatively clueless about the level of competition I would be facing in applying to graduate school. This forum guided me through the admissions process and helped me choose a school that I feel will be a very good fit.

Congrats resource!

nat_resource and resource - Thanks for the thoughts. My impression is that Wolff has been incented to stay, and that that will be stable in the medium term, but obviously it's hard to know that for sure. resource, I have thought about the selection issue with respect to west coast placements, but without having gone through the process, it's hard to know what role that plays and what role other factors (networking, etc.) play. Another thought relevant to the econ vs. ARE choice: It's been suggested to me in a few places that liberal arts colleges (which I think would make nice places to work), prefer students who come out of economics departments and students with significant TA experience, because these students have more teaching experience and a more diverse education in economics (enabling them to teach a broader suite of classes). Would it be possible to take some extra classes in an ARE program such as Wisconsin and make one's self attractive to liberal arts colleges?

I posted a while back on my decision, but I thought I'd seek feedback again, because its crunch time. I'm down to Wisconsin and Washington, and both offer very different things. As we've talked about on this thread, Wisconsin is currently a very promising young program, it offers plenty of folks to work with with interests somewhat similar to mine, and everything I've heard from professors and students there has been very positive. People seem happy, and I think I would do well academically and be pretty happy there also. Washington is nearly the opposite. They offer one professor within the department whose research interests would align with mine. He seems like a great person to work with, but there is frequently competition to work with him among students interested in environmental and natural resource economics. There are also folks who do relevant work in other departments, and I think I would find it fairly easy to make connections with them. At Washington, I would earn an economics (not an ARE) degree, and this might alter my prospects on the job market and the diversity of the education I receive. For instance, I wouldn't mind taking the sequence at Washington in labor economics. Washington has offered funding as a TA, which might be helpful in seeking work at a liberal arts college, but is perhaps less preferable in the short term. The four students I have talked to at Washington, all of whom have interests in natural resource/environmental, have expressed varying degrees of dissatisfaction with their experience there, primarily due to scarcity of resources in their areas of interest. The placement pictures at these two places seem quite different. Wisconsin's placements recently are not extremely impressive, but it's difficult to tell how this will change with the new faculty who have been added. While Washington's placements are not outstanding either, they have placed more people in academic jobs, and more in jobs on the west coast, where I would like to ultimately live. At the end of the day, It think I face a choice between opposites on the spectrum - one offers the breadth of an economics degree, in a preferable location with potentially better placement prospects but perhaps more stress and difficulty along the way; the other offers an ARE degree and the potential hit to placement prospects that comes with that, in a nice location with what seems to be a very supportive department. Am I thinking about this correctly? Does anyone have any input into how to choose between opposites?

Just curious: There seem to be several folks likely to head to Wisconsin on this thread. Do any of you know what size cohort they're aiming for?

mainine - I haven't been able to take a visit to Wisconsin, but I've gotten a similar impression that they are very attentive to their admitted students. The graduate program coordinator was very aggressive about setting up students and faculty for me to speak with in lieu of a visit, and everyone I spoke with was very friendly. I wonder, though, if this is less an indicator of the attentiveness of faculty to their students and more an indicator of attentiveness to recruiting. Don't get me wrong, I'm very impressed with Wisconsin and am strongly leaning toward going there--especially in light of positive things I've heard from students in the program--I just wonder how much stock can be placed in these sorts of signals.

My interests are primarily resource econ. If you're seeing UCSB and thinking enviro, I primarily applied there because of its simultaneous strengths in enviro (and to a lesser degree resource econ) and behavioral/experimental econ, which is another interest area of mine. It does seem that the economics department at Washington has relatively few resource/environmental economists, but the business school includes several folks who research in that area. I would like to go to a dynamic environment where many have similar interests to mine, but part of me thinks I could create that sort of environment at Washington by going outside the economics department a bit.

I've heard from the majority of my programs (In at: Texas A&M ($), Oregon St Applied ($), Wisconsin ARE ($), University of Washington ($), UCSB (?), and Minnesota Applied (?)), but I'm still waiting for Davis, Berkeley, and Wyoming. Of those, the one I think the one that could really change my decision is Davis (Berkeley seems unlikely and Wyoming isn't an especially attractive place to live). Since it's quiet around here, perhaps y'all could give me some input into my decision. Of the schools that have offered me funding, Wisconsin and Washington stand out, but both come with significant downsides. Cost of living is high in Seattle, and funding would not cover living expenses. I have a strong preference for the west coast, which diminishes the appeal of Wisconsin. What are the opinions of folks in ARE-land on University of Washington? Its reputation for producing researchers in natural resource economics seems to have declined, but they still have several good people (especially when you consider the folks in the business school there).

Institution: Wisconsin Program: AAE PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Yes Notification date: 2/24/12 Notified through: E-mail from professor Posted on GC: No Comments: Surprised, excited

I have a question about funding. I've been admitted to Texas A&M ARE, Oregon State, UCSB, and Minnesota Applied. UCSB and Minnesota seem to be the more attractive programs, but for both, the letters of acceptance made no mention of funding. I don't know if this means (1) I'm not a candidate for funding, or (2) if funding decisions have not been made and the letters simply failed to mention their process for this. Does anyone here have opinions about this, and whether it's appropriate to contact the department regarding their process for funding. I'm excited about the admissions to UCSB and Minnesota, but these are only options for me if I receive funding.

Institution: U. Minnesota Program: Applied Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Not mentioned Notification date: 2/24/12 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments:

Institution: UCSB Program: PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: ??? Notification Date: 2/21/2012 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Excited! No mention of funding though...

Institution: Oregon State University Program: Applied Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: ? Notification date: 2/17/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No Comments:

Institution: Texas A&M Program: ARE Decision: Accepted Funding: RA Notification date: 1/27/12 Notified through: Phone call Posted on GC: No Comments: I think this department looks good, but its reputation and placements aren't as impressive as I would hope for, and the location isn't ideal for me. They gave me a respond by date of March 15. I'm hoping to hear from some other schools before I decide.

I received an e-mail asking that I apply. I think they thought I might be a good fit in that program due to my expressed interest in decision-making under uncertainty. I decided to apply to the program--the stipend is great!), but if I am admitted to UC Davis I'll have to do some thinking about whether the IGERT track is right for me. OP, did you apply to the program?

I'm asked in a few applications to write a personal statement that is specifically concerned with diversity issues. Ie. Do you come from a background that will contribute diversity to the campus population? Have you lived in a multicultural environment? Will any of your academic interests aid underserved populations? Etc. My question is: does anyone even read these? General consensus seems to be that SOPs are not a major determinant of an applicant's success. I can only imagine these essays matter even less, and that they may only be read by the graduate school.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll think about pushing my number of applications up to 6-8 and adding UCSB, Arizona, and Minnesota. Texas A&M is appealing to me specifically because they have a few profs. who have studied risk and uncertainty preferences in a natural resource context, and this is an area of interest for me. From what I've read, Maryland is a great program, but location is a big factor for me. I'd like to stay in the western U.S. in order to stay at least somewhat close to family, and because I would like my eventual placement to be in the western U.S.

Hi all - I just found this site and it looks like a great place to get input on my application profile and the schools where I am planning on sending applications. I'm looking at AREC program due to my interest in natural resources economics, but I also have interest in experimental and behavioral economics and decision science. Here's my profile: Bachelors: B.A. in Economics and Biology from a top U.S. liberal arts college. 3.70 GPA, cum laude. Received an award for a top essay in economics. Masters: M.S. in Resource Conservation from University of Montana. My masters thesis was a discrete choice experiment questionnaire I used to estimate non-market damages of invasive plants. 4.0 GPA. GRE: Q 770, V 680, A 4.0 Math and statistics courses: Multivariate calculus (A-, at college level--previous calc was in high school), Statistics (A), Econometrics (A), Econometrics (A, at graduate level). Econ courses (undergrad): Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (A-), Intermediate Micro (B+), Intermediate Macro (A), Econometrics (A), Environmental Economics (A), Poverty & Public Policy (A-), Tax Policy (A), Public Economics Seminar (A) Econ courses (grad): Econometrics (A), Economics of climate change (A), Advanced Micro (A) Letters of recommendation: Graduate advisor from University of Montana (Asst. Prof, PhD University of Queensland), current supervisor at my job (US Forest Service Research Forester, PhD in Economics from Oregon State University), and either a current colleague (US Forest Service Research Economics, PhD in Economics from University of New Mexico) or my econometrics professor from University of Montana (PhD in Economics from University of Oregon). Other notes: Since completing my Masters, I've been contracting as a research economist with the US Forest Service. I have one article in review (though not in an economics journal), and another (which I will be first author on) close to being ready for submission to an applied economics journal. Also, I taught an undergraduate Forest Economics course last spring at The University of Montana as an adjunct instructor, and this fall I'm co-teaching another course. Schools: Cal-Berkeley (AREC), UC-Davis (AREC), Wisconsin (AREC), Oregon St. (Applied) Others considering: Texas A&M (AREC), Arizona, UCSB Strengths: Strong research experience, teaching experience, and experience in economics. I have a start developing a publication record. Weaknesses: I'm a bit too awesome. But seriously…Math. No linear algebra or math beyond calc. Hopefully my GRE quantitative scores help me out a bit here, but I know this will be seen as a weakness on my application. Questions and Requests: 1) I would really appreciate any general input on my profile and the schools I'm applying to. 2) How many schools should I think about applying to? I see some people on this board who have really long lists of schools. Is this because they just want to go to the best school that let's them in, or is this because it's THAT hard to tell where you'll be admitted? It seems like applying can cost $100 per school, so I'd like to apply to 6 or fewer schools, unless people here strongly feel that would be a mistake. 3) What are people's opinions on contacting professors prior to applying? I've read that this can actually hurt you by making it seem that you don't understand the process, but some posts here have mentioned this can okay in some situations. Thanks a lot for the help