kobe

https://www.facebook.com/ben.kobos/videos/vb.550145804/10153711012395805/?type=2&theater&notif_t=video_processed&notif_id=1460747839232530 hope the link works haha. didnt quite turn out as well as I wanted, but I'm not really worried, I'm just excited to be getting a PhD

While that does align well with my interests, Aguilar is a lecturer for undergrad classes and thus I will likely not have much interaction as he cannot serve as an adviser for me. That said I have heard great things about him!

As decision time comes around, if you have chosen UNC let me know! I am excited for the fall and would love to meet any future classmates that may be browsing this website.

congrats! i did not have a profile that would've merited U Chicago, but I wanted to say I like this idea and will be stealing it and starting a thread for my school

haha I'll post a link here when it's complete then!

Later this afternoon I'm making a "signing day" video to announce what school I've picked to all my friends and such. Pretty excited. For those who don't know what signing day videos are: (start at like 1:00) but I'm not a highly recruited college athlete, so I figure there is only one time in my life I'll get to make a video like this haha

Well guys, I was Carolina born and Carolina bred, looks like when I die I'll be Carolina dead. Decided on UNC. Best of luck to everyone else :)

Fairly similar profile to my own you beat me by a point on the Q section and likely have better letters/research my only bad semester was freshman year as well i got in to schools around rank 25-40 only higher I applied to was UCLA as a reach i had a bit more programming experience but SAS and stata are the biggest id talk to your advisers for better advice but I'd recommend apply to a few top 1-20 a bunch from 20-40 and then a fallback or two there are others more fit to offer advice but that's my two cents i also didn't have real analysis, so you very well could place into a school in the higher tiers of rankings. I regret not applying to more up there

I have very similar interests and am likely going to UNC! Maybe we will meet at a conference or if I take a few classes over there. If I had the option between Duke and BC it would be a no-brainer. Duke is a fantastic school and their program appears decidedly better than BC from what I've observed/heard.

Hello all, I was unable to make the UC Davis visit day, can anyone give me a rundown of what it was like and what sort of info you got as well as general vibe etc?

department culture as in availability of professors, general attitude of the department, openness/collaboration, etc. And I got the same email regarding things moving slower than usual

One constant piece of advice I keep getting is to pay attention to department culture. Have you guys heard the same? How important do you think it is in factoring into a decision. I am currently leaning towards Davis, but if UT takes me off the waitlist I may consider going there.

one thing that worries me to an extent is the lack of a name tied to the department. I'm from the east coast and had never heard of UC Davis until I started looking into Econ honestly, but I'll agree it is a beautiful town and life there would be relaxing outside of the stress of grad school

Nobody is replying, but just as an update I have rejected all offers that aren't USC, UNC, or Davis

My situation sucks. USC has a few advisers I would really want. I am fairly certain of my research interests due to prior exposure to graduate coursework and reading a good amount of papers. This is a huge draw. Their offer also guarantees 5 years and requires no TA/RA the first 2. LA is nice and even if I don't end up in academia the name carries weight in private sector. Strong in time series metrics and has great macro faculty in their business school, also is working on hiring more macro people, including senior faculty. UC Davis is the best location and department culture, which means quality of life might be a bit better. Their macro is fairly strong, but less oriented in the direction I'd like to go with it. Larger department though so more open to changing direction. Probably the highest "ranked" department of my options. UNC has a fairly sizable macro group and is focused on the macro-finance type stuff I'm interested in, they also have lots of metrics people doing financial market types of things. Their business school has economists also. I have yet to visit there, but will be doing so soon. Every day I find myself leaning towards a different school, which is worrisome. I'm going to face a bit of buyer's remorse regardless of my choice. I will be meeting with some of my professors this week so that should help, but one of them went to Davis and very much supports it. Another says of the three, Davis is the one I shouldn't consider at all. I wish I could quit this last semester of undergrad and focus on this decision, at least for the next two weeks.

mind elaborating?

Declining: GWU, UF, UGA, Clemson today. Best of luck to those hoping to hear from them.

Oh wow, the two body problem must be a nightmare during this part of admissions season. I too felt a bit of self doubt at visit days, its hard not to when you see people with impressive backgrounds. I'm sure you will do well wherever you and your partner decide to go! They wouldnt have let you in if they didn't believe in your ability to succeed!

I would assume that means you are part of an implicit waitlist at this point. I received a rejection a little while back, as did many others.

I am declining my admission to GWU this week, so hopefully that bumps you up on the list for funding! I've got three schools I'm juggling between and am starting to lose sleep constantly thinking about it!

haha same here. Some of my profs are biased, since they have ties to the programs I'm choosing between, others are less involved, and nobody seems to have real advice. Each program has benefits over the other and have placed somewhat similarly. It's rough.

Is anyone else going absolutely nuts trying to pick between their offers? I can't stop thinking about it and am having a horrible time really deciding. Rough stuff.

The department was cool too I guess

The low Q score and the low grades in math are rather strong signals in the wrong direction, I'm afraid to say. do really well in your masters to prove the math isn't a barrier to success and maybe some schools will take you, but admissions committees seem to heavily value quantitative skills and those are the two primary indicators. talk to your professors in your most quantitative Econ courses for your masters once you've done well and maybe they can vouch for your quant skills to help overcome that. Would highly recommend a GRE retake

USC visit day was very very attractive and I'm not just talking about the campus.