econphdhopeful2

In regard to rankings, I'm not sure if you've looked at the field rankings on IDEAS but personally I think that's a good way to not only get a sense of a schools ranking but to point you in the direction of the senior faculty you should look into at each school (to see if they're doing things that interest you). I'm obviously biased but I think if you're definitely thinking of International Finance/Open Economy Macro then I think there's a strong argument that your choices would go more like Wisconsin>Davis>=Maryland, but I won't contest the fact that Maryland is stronger in general. Also it's hard to argue with the fact that the proximity to DC is a huge plus if you think that the IMF or World Bank are places you'd like to end up, and it looks like they do place a lot of people there.

A lot of great options! Wisconsin is definitely one of the best possible places to be for those fields, with a lot of big names so if funding came through there I think that would be hard to turn down. I don't know much about Maryland but I'm at Davis and I can answer any questions you might have. The best thing to do is probably look at recent faculty research and see what interests you the most. I'd say that for international topics Davis is probably slightly better and definitely has an edge if you're also interested in trade (I think that the lines between int. finance and trade are getting blurrier).

As I mentioned in another thread I'm a current student at UC Davis and would advise anyone interested to take a serious look at our applied micro group. You'll see we've got more than one person and I don't think that they're going to let it decline (especially given that the current department chair is applied micro). As a first year I probably can't offer a whole lot more information than what can be searched online, but I'd be happy to share any insights I might have if people want to PM me. In terms of people interested in applied Micro (I am myself) we've got a lot of people doing Public/Labor as well as IO and a few professors who do work in Health (although that's not primarily what they do as far as I can tell). Check out Stevens, Miller, Page and Carrell. Off the top of my head I know that they are very active in the Public/Labor group. Also check out the poverty center, It's not just for economics but it is a great source of funding for research in poverty economics if that's something that interests you (certainly one of our strengths).

Hey I'm a current student at Davis. To say that we're going to fall in the rankings because one faculty member is leaving is a bit silly. I'm fairly certain that schools like Davis are regularly having faculty come and go and it's a bad idea in general to pick a school for one person. PM me if you have any questions about the program.

That's pretty much the impression I had. They really tried to emphasize their open door policy and it seems like the grad students can just drop in on their advisors on a regular basis. Another thing I personally liked was structure of the work required for funded students. Apparently first years only have a grading responsibility which is done as a group and I was told it amounts to 3-4 hours a week which is nice. Then years two and three you work as a research assistant and in years four and five teach a class per semester. (although apparently quite a few students were able to get other funding from the university so that they wouldn't have to teach in year 5). They said that everyone is out in five years (or occasionally four) and that they work really hard to make sure that no one has to stick around longer than they have to.

Did you attend their flyout this past weekend? If so we probably met and if not I can tell you that I was personally very impressed with the department. They made a compelling argument to me that their department is at least as good as the higher ranked department that I'm also considering. They also seem to really be willing to go the extra mile for grad students and seem to have a lot of incentive to place them well since they're trying to establish their reputation as a new department. I've still got to see the other school I'm looking at, but I must say that I really like Notre Dame and am seriously considering them.

I'm no expert but having just gone through this I'll throw in my two cents. You and I have very similar profiles except that I had less math, more econ. But in terms of letter writers (from what I can tell from your description), test scores, and GPA we're very similar. I was primarily targeting sort of mid 30-50s US News rankings type schools. I was accepted at UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, Notre Dame and UIC and am still waiting on a few. I'm sure you can aim higher than I did with the math that you've taken and I honestly don't think a the B+'s are going to hurt you all that much and you'll be above most schools cutoff for the GRE Q which is the only thing that matters in terms of getting them to look at the rest of your application.

As someone who is coming from an undergraduate who are unorganized about such things I feel for you. I wouldn't worry too much, just contact the schools that you're applying to, in order to confirm that there won't be a problem. Some schools (like mine) don't even have spring graduation until mid june so I can't imagine that a grad school would even think twice about receiving proof of graduation in July. I had a similar kind of moment when there was some sort of error in the electronic receipt of my degree conferral application that caused me to be registered for summer graduation instead of spring (which would mean that I would have gotten my degree in August despite being completely finished) I'm still trying to iron it out but I know that at least one of the schools I was accepted at says that they just need my proof of graduation to be in before the end of fall semester so I'm trying to not lose any sleep over it. Also if a school that you've been accepted at says that there would be a problem perhaps that would better place you to go to a dean and argue your case since you'll be able to say definitively that they're going to cause you a major problem.

Institution: UVA Program: phd economics Decision: rejection Funding: na Notification date: 3/2 Notified through: email to check site Posted on GC: no Comments: meh Institution: UW - Madison Program: phd economics Decision: rejected Funding: na Notification date: 3/5 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: kind of glad I don't think it was a good fit for me, but would have been hard to turn down Institution: UC San Diego Program: phd economics Decision: rejected Funding: na Notification date: 3/9 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: sad but expected

Hi everybody, I'd like to get people's input and opinions on notre dame. It looks like the department is on its way up, and all of my professors tell me it's underrated at the moment and their placements this year look pretty good considering their low ranking. Placement History // Department of Economics // University of Notre Dame Do you guys agree that it's a department on the rise? It's increasingly looking like my choice is going to come down to either Notre Dame or UC Davis. I prefer Davis for a number of reasons, but I'm on the waitlist for funds while Notre Dame is offering me 18,000 plus tuition and health subsidies. Thanks for the input!

yep, I figured I'd give it a late night check after last nights results and it said that the decision would be available on the first but there was a link to the rejection already up. Honestly I never expected to get in there so it's not a big deal. I hope that if they're sending more rejections tonight that it means they'll start accepting some of you guys soon!

Institution: Northwestern Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: na Notification date: 3/1/12 Notified through: application Posted on GC: no Comments: so much for hoping that not getting it yesterday was a good sign

I can't speak to getting into top schools and haven't heard from most that I applied to yet, but I know that math requirements were my biggest concern when I started applying. I have to say that for the range of schools I applied to it didn't seem to be something that would kill an application. I got an acceptance at Davis and at Notre Dame and Santa Cruz, still waiting on the couple long shots I applied to (Northwestern, Madison, San Diego) but I don't have high expectations but I would say that as long as you have realistic expectations given your profile you'll get into somewhere that you want to go. I had a very good GPA and lots of Econ including some masters classes but I had decided late that this is what I wanted to do and couldn't take a lot of the math I wanted in time due to prerequisites and sequencing. Because of this I didn't even have linear algebra on my transcript, just lots of single and multivariable calculus class, a math reasoning (proofs) class and some statistics (no calc based probability although we previewed a lot of calculus applications to probability in my second multivariate class). I'm going to have linear algebra and differential equations by the end of spring so I'm hoping that I'll be reasonably prepared.

I got the same email, kind of a bummer, do you think that this means we're close to the top of the waiting list? Davis is my top choice right now but it would be difficult without any funding.

Institution: UC Santa Barbara Program: Phd Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: na Notification date: 2/23 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: would have been nice but not too disappointed Institution: UC Santa Cruz Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 20k (that number includes tuition remission) Notification date: 2/24 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: I'm excited, great school in a great location, but in-state tuition is barely covered and I'd still have to pay out of state