fatsho

Cool. Will keep that in mind. Can't visit, I am international applicant so visit days aren't feasible for me.

Thank you, I was considering doing that but was worried I would be populating the forum with duplicates.

Yeah, I think he was illustrating that when you're a theorist even a stellar CV ,like Collin Raymond's , doesn't cut it.

Hi, I'm currently considering WUSTL and Penn State, similar funding from both, though no TA obligation from the former. I keep leaning towards Penn State but I think that's only because all the hype over their placements (which seem to be great for only the top cohort). But I'm not sure placements is the right metric for a program I will be successful at. I don't have very well-defined research interests, I know I will never want to do macro. I like micro and I like theory more than empirics. I am very fond of game theory and applied game theory and I could see myself interested in behavioural and experimental (currently I have very little exposure to the last two). Given this, what would you do if you were in my shoes?

Hi! Thank you for that excellent suggestion! I did write to him and he replied with pertinent information which I'm sharing below (with his permission) for anyone else looking for the kind of information that I had been looking for: This is part of what I sent him: And that's his reply:

Thank you so much! That really helped.

I will do that, thank you. I have spoken to grad students who did their MA from the same college as me (one of them is at Penn State, other at Minnesota, and a third at MSU) and their unanimous advice is to pick Minnesota over Penn State because (i) the former will offer a much more relaxed environment, PSU is apparently cut-throat especially if you want to do micro theory, as there is almost no attrition at Minnesota ; (ii) the difference in ranking and placements is significant ; (iii) I'll have very little competition if I want to do theory (the downside is ofc that I lose the chance to be the "star candidate" that the department focuses on ). The advice in this thread is in stark contrast to the above. I guess if I can find a couple of people whose research interests me and who take on PhD students regularly, then I should go for Minnesota, right?

Hi. What I've gleaned from GC is that Minnesota ranks the students on the wait list and the order of notifications is indicative of relative ranks. So, my guess is that the first batch will be offered admission first!

And some questions I'd like to ask current students at Penn State and at Minnesota (Shamelessly picked off another post by asquare) 1. How well are first and second year students integrated into the department? How/by who are they advised before they have committees? 2. Are there any fields where the professors are really helpful to grad students? Where the professors are particularly bad about helping grad students? What fields are perceived as "strong" or "weak" within the department? 3. How often are classes canceled/not offered for lack of enrollment or lack of faculty? For which fields, is this most common? 4. What resources/opportunities outside of the econ department do students take advantage of? 5. What are some examples of research that current students are working on? Do students talk to each other about research? 6. Are students competitive with each other? Do grades matter? Are students ever required to repeat core classes? 7. What did you do the summer after first year/second year? When do most students start working seriously on research? 8. What is your usual schedule? How many hours a day do you spend at school? Weekends? How social is the department? Do people hang out together outside of school? 9. Where do first year students study? Do they have offices? What are the first year classes like? Are they well taught? Do they turn out to be useful? 10. Do faculty members co-author with students? Which faculty members? 11. For current students at Minnesota: are there grad students doing research in micro theory? how are placements for people with thesis in micro theory? Does the faculty doing research in micro (namely Beth Allen, Itai Sher, David Rahman, Aldo Rustichini) take on PhD students?

1. Also, are there any problems that you face in first year that you never really anticipate beforehand? 2. What is the atmosphere like in the first year? Is it cut-throat competitive, or does some kind of camaraderie develop out of the common distress? {This would off vary from department to department, and be affected by the attrition rate, so if you could just expound on what's it's like at your department.} 3. How much does the weather affect your productivity? {This might sound trivial, but it's one of the things I'm concerned about as an international student, the cold sounds dreadful!}

Here are the questions I'd ask: 1. What is the attrition rate in your school and why is that high/low? 2. How can I prepare myself for the PhD in the few months from now to when the program begins in Aug/Sept? 3. What I can do in the first two years to make the transition to research (i.e producing knowledge instead of consuming it as a student) less difficult? 4. Tips on choosing an advisor!

Is there any way that can work for me? Minnesota has about five people I want to work with, but given self-selection towards macro, I wouldn't really have to "compete" for these people to be my advisors. Well, it's hard to let go of the difference in ranking!

Well, no matter how much my interests change I will not want to do macro. I'm an international student so visit days aren't really a feasible idea for me. But I have spoken to someone currently at Penn State and they didn't seem too happy with it because of the pressure that high attrition exerts. But sample size of 1 doesn't yield the most reliable results.

I saw a thread with the same title in the 'PhD in Business' forum and thought economics too could use one. {I did a cursory search and din't find a similar thread, but do let me know if such a thread already exists}. I will be starting my PhD in Fall'15 and would be glad to have current students answer some of the questions. I'm sure other new admits share this sentiment.

Hi. I'd like to compare these two choices. While Minnesota has a much higher rank and a better placement record than Penn State, its forte is macro whereas I have a strict preference for microeconomic theory which is what the PSU department is strong in. Moreover, Penn State is a rising department so who knows what the placements will be like by the time I graduate. Another potential problem with PSU is the high attrition rate, they have a reputation for kicking out a non-trivial fraction of the entering class by the end of first year. I am indifferent location-wise ad funding is similar. Any insights would be very helpful!