joaoneto

How would you compare Toulouse to UCLA and Michigan? Would you consider attending Toulouse? (forget about financial issues) And what if you had a weak math background? Would you consider going there to improve your chances to be successful on the American PhDs? (I am not suggesting that Toulouse is easier, but a one year program, so I could delay the start of my PhD program in USA, take a year in Toulouse, improve my background, and then return to Michigan or UCLA; so if I fail in Toulouse, it would not be that bad, since I would still be able to go to Michigan or UCLA)

Does anyone know anything about NYU? They already admitted some candidates as we can see at thegradcafe. Is it for sure an implicit rejection or should I still have some hope?

Yes, you are right! I think I've just got jitters, too. Even because the admissions are relatively recent. About Simon and Blume, I read it last month. The first 15 chapters are pretty easy, 16-22 have reasonable material (some parts are difficult; not exactly difficult, but hard to memorize/internalize; for example, some optimization theorems are ok, but the conditions of local maximum in constrained problems are hard to memorize), 23-26 (diff equations) are hard for me, and the rest of the book have reasonable material. About the TA, I sent an email to Michigan, let's see what will happen. Mathew952, thanks very much for the insights. I think my girlfriend is in a worse situation (not academically, but she is really nervous and anxious). She got TA from Minnesota. We heard that the program is the most math-intensive among the top 11 - 20 (but we are not sure if it is true). Furthermore, I would like to know about the importance of computer skills acquired prior to the PhD program.

I would like to get your views about Tinbergen. I was accepted by UCLA (fellowship) and Michigan (TAship). Do you think Tinbergen is as competitive as these schools? I do not know how should I interpret the fact that Tinbergen placed many students on postdoctoral positions (Pompeu, Oxford, LSE). Maybe they spend less time to conclude the PhD and need more time to be equivalent to a typical American PhD. Anyway, I do not know how Tinbergen students place after their postdoctoral positions. Because Tinbergen is not ranked and because I am not able to perfectly interpret their placement, I would like to get your views about Tinbergen.

Econhead, the reason why I think about UCLA does not relate to math intensity in the programs. The reason is because they offered me a fellowship in which I do not have to waste time TAing. I really do not know if I should put weight on it to make my decision. I do not even know how much work I will have (how many hours TAing? the amount they say in the letter sounds too much).

My last post was a reply to sulebrahim.

Well, I really did not know that a math major is just this math. I am not trying to reduce the prestige of the course, it is just because I thought a math major would require a lot more courses. I am not familiar with the American system. A bachelor of mathematics, in Brazil, studies just math for 4 years, so I think I came to wrong conclusions based on my beliefs. So, thanks for this information. And, well, I would not say I know differential equations. On my calc III course (yes, it is missing calc III in my original post), I was presented to first order ordinary differential equations, but it was really basic, I think just 20 hours for differential and difference equations. But, anyway, thank you. I feel a more confident right now.

Also, do you guys know how different is the attrition rate between these schools?

Santigarza, thanks for the advice. Yes, there are 7 years I am in Brazil. Well, my professors told me something similar to you, but it sounds really strange for me. How could guys who already studied Measure Theory, Dynamic Programming, Micro with Mas-Colell, Econometrics with McKinnon and with Hamilton, etc have similar performances to guys with just undergrad level economics? I really want to believe in my professors and in you, but it is not easy hehe

Do you guys know how much time do students usually spend on TA at Minnesota and Michigan? I was offered a TAship from Michigan and my girlfriend from Minnesota, but we are worried about the commitments. They state we may work even 20 hours per week and it sounds a lot. Also, do you know if this universities usually negotiate the conditions of the TAship? Our priority on the negotiation would not be the money, but the commitments.

Ok, but do you think a guy like me (think about my undergrad math and econ courses) is able to handle with the work load in Michigan? I will need to TA and to pass the prelims. Maybe my concerns look strange for you. The reason is because usually students from my country go to PhD programs after a master in econ and, by what I have seem in this forum, Americans usually major in math. My professors told me they believe I will need to work hard but that I am well prepared, but they concluded their PhDs 20+ years ago.

I am new over here. Unfortunately, I discovered this forum later than I wanted but I think I still can get some benefits from this forum. I was accepted by some schools from USA (for PhD) and Europe (for master) and now I have a "good problem"; I need to choose which school I will attend. Although I am Portuguese, I do not have preferences for Europe. My favorite options are UCLA and Michigan. I would like to get advices about which school I should attend, considering some points: 1) UCLA offered me a fellowship, while Michigan offered me a TAship. This means that I will need to work during my first year if I go to Michigan, but not in UCLA. Also, the TAship in Michigan looks a lot demanding. 2) My math/stat background is way worse than what I believe it is of a typical student. I did not major in math. I did not take PhD level classes. I have limited skills with statistical softwares (just basic Stata, Eviews and SPSS). I just had undergrad courses from econ department: real analysis, calc (I and II), linear algebra, probability, statistics, econometrics (I, II and III). By the other side, I have lots of econ courses, but I was already told that it does not help that much in an econ PhD program. Having said that, I am worried if I will be able to handle the prelims if I go to Michigan, since I will have to work a lot and I am not that brilliant (just dedicated. I really work hard, but I suppose most of the PhD students do too). I have some slight preference for Michigan (personal reasons, not academic). I would say that I would, I guess, go to Michigan if I had similar funding conditions. So I would like to know if you believe I should take the risk and go to Michigan or not, since the workload may be too risky for me.