mosquitonomics

Institution: University of Toronto Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 36k Notification date: 3/30/2017 Notified via phone, snail mail, or email: email from a prof This was my last notification. I'll be attending UBC though

I have offers from UBC and UC Santa Barbara for the economics PhD. The funding offer is the same from each school. My interest is in environmental economics, especially the intersection with development econ. I don't know much about UCSB, so I am having a tough time weighing the options. From what I read, it is strong in environmental econ -- most of the job market candidates list it as a primary or secondary field, and there is a collaboration between the econ and environmental science department. This makes me feel that I would get a lot of faculty support and guidance in this area. On the other hand, the placements are pretty weak - mostly at state schools or consulting companies. With UBC, they have less of a structured focus on environmental econ, and only 1 or 2 profs are experts in the area. However, the overall department quality is quite high. I know some professors, and they are very helpful and willing to invest a lot in your academic progress. The placements are stronger -- either decent Canadian universities or mid-tier american schools. Downside is that cost of living is VERY high. I'm wondering if anyone with more insight about UCSB could suggest more info about pros vs cons?

Institution: UBC Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: 28k first year, about 22k after that Notification date: March 17th Notified via phone, snail mail, or email: Email Comments: I posted on Gradcafe yesterday. Enticing offer, but still waiting to hear from Toronto.

You should also consider Canadian universities. Like European Universities, they are also heavily subsidized, for both domestic and international students. The top 2 (Toronto and UBC) are very competitive internationally and have good PhD placements as well. As a side point, I have been working at J-PAL SA in India for the last 2 years. While the research positions are great for aspiring academics like you, they don't do projects in macroeconomics. All the research is in development economics -- specifically in agriculture, education, urban economics, and environmental/energy economics. If you want to specifically build your research portfolio in macroeconomics, look to the organizations vbh cited. If you are open to expanding your research interest beyond macro, then J-PAL is definitely a great place to work. PM me if you want more info about J-PAL

Thanks for noting some of the pros of U of T. Some concerns include that the program is only 8 months and does not have any sort of thesis or dissertation. I am planning for a PhD and enjoy research, and thus want to go somewhere where I can apply all my coursework into some sort of major paper at the end of it. This would be even better if it is in direct supervision by a professor, because I am afraid that large class sizes may make it hard to be noticed. UBC has a summer "major paper" supplemented by a course in research methods, and UCL has a formal dissertation. Another thing I was recently thinking about is that at UBC the M.A. is part of the Vancouver School of Economics. Since it was absorbed into the school, there are now more resources available to students. For example, there are several research centres and institutes where students can seek opportunities to work with faculty. To my knowledge Toronto doesn't have something like this. Anyway, I have some final questions which I hope someone can answer. It would be nice to know the answers for the three schools, but if anyone has particular knowledge about any single one, that is extremely helpful as well 1. How approachable/available/accessible are the faculty? 2. Are the faculty more focused on their PhD students, or do they care about MSc./M.A. candidates as well? This is not only in terms of availability or interaction, but mostly about their involvement with our research 3. How helpful are profs for writing reccommendations 4. What is the MSc./M.A. Economic student body/atmosphere like, in terms of being cooperative and friendly? Or, are they outright competitive? Thanks

Thanks for the replies everyone. I heard back from Toronto today and they matched my funding package from UBC. I guess in a way this makes the decision even harder. I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on UCL vs. the other two. Assume that money is not an issue, so I am looking for an opinion solely based on the quality/rigor of the program, then name it carries, quality of faculty, and potential for getting me into a top 10 PhD. Setsanto, it seems you also applied to UBC and UCL, and chose to attend Toronto Doctoral Stream. If you don't mind, can you tell me what factors influenced your decision? Note that I am Canadian, and personally feel more comfortable going to a Canadian school (I have been working in a foreign country the last couple years and have a preference to study back at home). However, I would definitely consider UCL only if the high cost of tuition+living in London is offset by it being a much better school in all aspects and will get me into a better PhD program than UBC/U of T.

I have been admitted to University of Toronto (Regular Stream), UBC, and UCL for a Masters in Economics and could use some advice from you all to inform my decision. I have also applied to LSE for the MSc but have not heard back. I have to respond to the other offers by March 31st, so if I don't hear back from LSE by then I will withdraw my app. My goal is to attend a reputed PhD program in economics (for a career in academia) afterwards and specialize in behavioural or environmental economics. UBC has given me full-funding (and some extra for living expenses) while Toronto and UCL are unfunded. Of course, for the masters I won't be specializing but it would still be helpful to go somewhere with leading faculty in my area of interest. Since I am committed to going for a PhD afterwards I want to go somewhere which has good placements into PhD programs. So far my thought process is going like this: UBC pros: fully funded, #1 in Canada and top 25 wordwide (I think?), academic-oriented program with emphasis on research, vancouver is a beautiful city cons: not many leading faculty in behavioural/environmental econ (please correct me if I am wrong), lower ranked than UCL Toronto pros: Has good record of placing M.A. students into good PhD programs, I am from Toronto and love the city cons: waitlisted into doctoral stream, seems to be a professional-oriented program from industry rather than academia, not funded UCL pros: bigger name than UBC/Toronto, more distinguished and leading faculty (bigger names), good record of placing top students in top PhD programs cons: not funded, london is expensive, I plan to use my fully-funded UBC offer as leverage to increase my chances of getting into the Toronto Doctoral Stream (which is funded). If that doesn't happen, it will probably be between UBC and UCL. A couple final questions: 1. Does anyone have an idea of past MSc. --> PhD placements for UBC and UCL? Are they more or less similar? 2. Is there any difference in the rigor of the two programs 3. I would like to take as many technical courses as I can (advanced econometrics, more math, etc) as PhD preparation. Which school provides the most room for taking those classes? 4. If I graduated in the top of my class from either school (of the three), would it make a difference to the rank of PhD school I could get into? For example, if I graduated with top marks in any of the three schools, which would would have higher chances of getting me into a top (10?) PhD program? Thanks in advance