andrew2006

I got offer from BU (boston university) (20.5k + summer) and JHU (johns hopkins) (28k). I plan to study macro, timeseries, international economics and hope to work as an economist in FRB or IMF. I am also interested in working in the academic field but I heard that it is not easy to have a good placement in the academia unless you are in top schools. I reviewed the recent placements and professors who are the main advisors of the recent candidates but it is really hard to make a decision since both schools are ranked at the same. Macro people from BU get a job in FRB while macro people in JHU usually get a job in IMF. Also, I know that JHU has a very small program, as small as Brown, while BU has a very large program. I have a good source of information about JHU since one of faculties in my undergrad is an alumnus. BU, however, I do not have any source of information and it has not yet invited me for the campus visit. Does any one have some inner information about BU? I wonder how they treat graduate students, how many students are dropped by prelim, how many students in the first year of a graduate school. Does someone have any good advice for choosing a school? Before I write this post, I visited econjobrumor (not wrote any thing though) and saw helpless blame to each other. I hope to get some good advice. Also, I am currently waitlisted (or conditional offer) from Cornell. Is Cornell much better than these schools? Should I choose Cornell if they give me admission before April 15th?

Hi. I am also a Korean student but currently attending US undergrad. I also got the offer from BU and one other school. Since I am in the same position as you are, I do not have much information about it. However, what I have heard from other people is this... Even if you attend the first tier schools (such as Harvard, Princeton...) it is not easy to be placed to top research schools in the U.S. Many people are placed to the second or third tier schools or liberal arts colleges. Except top research schools wages are not considerably high, similar to that of an economist who works in Bank of Korea or other government agencies. I assume many Korean and Chinese PhD candidates cannot find strong motivation to stay in the U.S. unless they get a job in good research schools. Why do you want to stay in the U.S. without your family and old friends? (Maybe you have a different opinion but many people don't.) Anyway, I hope you make a good decision on your schools. :)