deciding2015

Contrary to the other poster, I think you should retake it as long as it's not too much of a financial hindrance. With your score, it's basically chance given the questions you get whether you get a 170 or not, and if you're reapplying you should retake so that you won't get questioned on your gre. For reference, I took the GRE only once last summer and got a 168 quant and stopped; I really think that having a 170 will be better for you

I was including the summer RA figure in that number. ccfinance: it may be a silly question, but are the MA students treated any differently from the other students? In terms of seeking certain professors as advisors?

They don't actually state that it's for funding reasons, but it seems clear that that is the reason. Since Brown promises all PhD students full funding ($30k) they can't offer any smaller funding packages like other schools can, so this is a way around that. Do you know where you read that about the MA track? or how I could get in touch with any MA people? Edit: on the FAQ page, it says that they aim for a class size of 12, with 9/3 PhD/MA split.

To clarify (received a couple of pm's) it is an actual offer for the Brown program that I received earlier this week.

So I have two options that I am considering right now. I have a PhD offer from UCSD that would pay about 20k/yr with a readership/ta position after the first year. I also am considering the "MA" track at Brown (which, from what I gather, is a way to get around the promise of full funding to all PhD students, I'd have to pay 50% tuition + living expenses), whereby after the first year I would receive full funding and be in the normal PhD program (about ~29k/yr). Now, considering my interests in micro theory and development, Brown is the more appealing program without considering funding. Of course, I'd be more than happy to go to UCSD, and I consider myself lucky to have admits this cycle since I really limited myself by only applying T20 (I had very unrealistic expectations). I am unsure if I should actually be considering the Brown program, and am very conflicted. I intend on visiting both schools, but I'd like to start weighing my options as soon as possible.