Johnnie Walker

Definitely second Zubrus' opinion.

Actually I took it three times and every time the AWA score was posted on my personal ETS webpage exactly 14 days after the test day. To me it's a bit puzzling you managed to get your AWA result way earlier than usual...

Simon & Blume doesn't certainly contain everything you'll need to cope with econ phd courses, but I think it may work out for you given the intention to learn math described in a not-purely-abstract way you stated in your first post. That said, as always, the more you read over, the better.

Definitely go for Simon & Blume.

I have nothing against Essex, just to be clear. But, given what you wrote in your first post, it seems like you do not look very concerned about the time factor, i.e. the possibility to stay in grad school for a longer period by doing a 2-year MSc at Bocconi + a 5-year PhD program somewhere soon after instead of doing a (2+3)-year PhD at Essex. If this is the case, then Bocconi is definitely the way to go, as the MSc there will very likely lead you to a great PhD program in Europe (better than Essex's, I am pretty sure). It is perfectly possible to also consider the case in which you may not want to be finishing your PhD at Essex in 2 years from now after getting your MRes there, as the Essex grad school can't force you to keep studying there if you finally decide not to. However, as long as you are not 100% certain that the median PhD placement of the MRes at Essex has consistently been better than the Bocconi MSc's one over the recent past (which is something I honestly doubt of), then Bocconi is again the way to go.

Hi rms, and congrats for your acceptances first of all! I recently got admitted to Bocconi's Economics and Finance PhD program and had the opportunity to attend their Visit Day at the beginning of last March, so I am quite familiar with their econ graduate programs. As far as I heard from some grad students, faculty at Bocconi used to pay significantly more attention to MSc students' needs rather than PhD students' and this different treatment can be somehow seen in their master and PhD's placements, although the job market for people coming from the two programs is not the same of course. I think it would useful for you to consider that it is not uncommon at all to see many MSc graduates at Bocconi willing to pursue a PhD eventually ending up into top 10 US PhD programs and/or LSE, UCL or Oxbridge. Moreover, the micro faculty there is really good, with Botticini and Battigalli both very well known internationally. I can't be any helpful about the MRes at Essex as I know absolutely nothing about it, unfortunately, but I guess the ultimate purpose of any MRes program in the UK, which should ideally distinguish such a program from a MSc, is to keep all valid MRes students there for the 3+ years of pure research which they would be doing right after the MRes itself. So I guess a MRes may really not be what you are looking for right now, given your current plans. Good luck!

Thanks my friend! Hope you'll enjoy your stay in Houston!

So, it finally seems like I'll be heading to the UK next Fall! This application season has been a long and exhausting journey, but I am happy about how it turned out. Wish you all best of luck in your future!

I guess splitting up the nickname "chateauheart" into "chateau" and "heart", copying and pasting both words on Google Translate and then setting the translation of the whole from French to English and back may be helpful... Too few Europeans on this forum, what a disappointment! :)

This.

Most appropriate quote in these final days: "The longer you have to wait for something, the more you will appreciate it when it finally arrives. The harder you have to fight for something, the more priceless it will become once you achieve it. And the more pain you have to endure on your journey, the sweeter the arrival at your destination. All good things are worth waiting for and worth fighting for." (Susan Gale)

About BC, I also inquired about my application status by emailing the GSAS and got the following very generic reply: "Admissions decisions are sent by postal mail only to the local address provided on your application form in advance of the 15 April doctoral reply-by deadline". As far as I can see on GradCafè, mail notifications have been used to send rejections only, but it's been already a long time since the first rejections were sent out. I keep checking my post every day, but haven't gotten anything so far. Not that I am desperately waiting to hear back from this school, to be honest... I just want this draining process to end as soon as possible.

...aaaaaaaaaaaand it's finally THAT moment of the application season: the week of April 15. Let the mayhem begin.

Hi Namelessly, I did not apply to UW-Madison's PhD program but am quite familiar with the place. Feel free to PM me with any question about the environment, the faculty, etc.!

Thank you, chateauheart, I'll take your great advice. Yes, I am still on Maryland's waitlist with also other fully funded offers in my hands.

Hi folks, let me be clear since the very beginning, as the thread title may potentially look misleading: this is not going to be a thread aimed at scaring offer holders from U Maryland so as for me to successfully get off the waitlist. It would be a very mean attempt to benefit from this screwy admission process and I am not that type of person, believe it or not. Period. I am just another applicant like you all, with no work relationship whatsoever with any grad school and no intention to mess things up on this forum. I have continuously considered whether opening this thread or not since two days ago and have always postponed the moment in order not to interfere with other applicants' decision process as well as not to look selfish (see first sentence above). Evaluating admission offers is very serious stuff indeed and many people rely on this forum to look for an advice before April 15. But at the end I thought it would be actually in the interest of all those involved in the admission process at Maryland to have a place in here where to discuss what has been going on at this school since at least one and a half years, so as to ultimately help everybody make an informed decision. This may really benefit lots of people, I believe. These are the facts I would like to start with: Office of the President, University of Maryland and Office of the President, University of Maryland . Also, many top-class senior professors left the department in the last years (first Guillermo Calvo, then John Rust, Enrique Mendoza and Carlos Vegh) as well as promising assistant professors like Anton Korinek and Pablo D'Erasmo. It is not clear if this was due to financial issues such as pay freeze or salary cuts though. This actually seems to be the case according to many posters (some of them being alleged insiders too) on EJMR, even if it may very well be 99% pure trolling. The department website does not help shed light on the current situation either. It is impossible to find an update of any sort about new hires or existing financial hardships. Except a brief post on two faculty promotions (Faculty Promotions | Department of Economics ), there is simply nothing right there. Last but not least, I was contacted yesterday by one faculty member (whom I prefer not to reveal) and asked about my availability to accept an unfunded or limitedly funded admission offer (unclear if valid only for the first year or for the entire program) in case they end up not being able to make more funded offers. The tone of the email was pretty gloomy. So my concerns are: is the Economics department going to be directly affected by the planned budget cuts? Are other professors about to leave in the near future? Is the situation for the next years really worrisome as it seems like? I would love to hear from insiders and/or people with first-hand experience about all this. Many thanks in advance.

Did someone go to Maryland's visit day? If so, how was it?

Agree with the guy/girl who just wrote about UCL on GC. All this waiting makes literally no sense. C'mon UCL, give all of us our so-long-awaited rejections and cheers!

Any info on your field(s) of interest would be appreciated.

To Food4Thought and thagzone, who both seem to be well informed about Maryland: what's your opinion about the macro faculty at that school? From the school website I can see that John Shea often supervises grad students. John C. Haltiwanger is also quite productive in terms of research. What about the others in that field?

In case of your interest, I declined my funded offer yesterday morning. Good luck!

Folks, is there anyone else who has not been notified yet by BU? I still got nothing, although there are people who have already been waitlisted and even rejected twice (I am sorry guys). I am really sick and tired of waiting... EDIT: wow, got the rejection just 21 minutes after posting this, without even making an inquiry by email. Did they use to read this forum perhaps? Anyway, looking forward to the second rejection email! :D

Another fresh Warwick admit here! To the OP (and to all who are "in the know"): where can I find more info about Warwick's PhD placements over the recent past? Taking a look at the postgraduate brochure available on the Econ department website (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/economics-pg-brochure-2016.pdf ) the only names I can see are Oxford, UCL, Essex, Cambridge, Rochester, EUI, World Bank, Ministry of Justice, IMF and Bank of England. However, the description is quite generic, without any hint at the placement trend, and I am a bit afraid that these results may very well date back to decades ago. Google doesn't provide any help either. Many thanks!

I feel you, bro. But after all who needs to live in Manhattan, and go watch the NY Knicks matches, and see concerts at the Madison Square Garden, and.........

As simple as it may sound, the sooner you take it, the more the time you'll have to retake it in case you bomb the test at your first try. I took it at the beginning of September and did it again at the end of October to push up my Q score. Worked out well eventually. Good luck!