jklimek

I haven't seen any threads like this. Do you have a link? I'll vote for chateauhart.

This thread is about academic placement, not simply research output (which Ideas doesn't necessarily give a great proxy of anyways). So regardless of whether or not you think Stanford GSB has more "research output" than Queen's, Stanford GSB DEFINITELY has better placement than Queen's. In the last five years Stanford GSB has placed people at Harvard, NYU, and Chicago Booth. I guess I couldn't find anything on Queen's placement after a quick search, but I find it implausible that the placement of the two compare.

I can get things started off. I found the responses from past years really helpful so I'd encourage others who are reading to post their results! PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BS Math Econ Undergrad GPA: 3.52 Type of Grad: Grad GPA: GRE:165/155/4.5 Q/V/A Math Courses: Analysis 1, Topology, Calc 1-3, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability, Mathematical Statistics (Mix of A/B) Econ Courses: Standard Econ Major, Game Theory, Mathematical Economics Other Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Undergrad Advisor, Undergrad Professor, Work Supervisor (decently connected industry Economist) Research Experience: Two years at a health economics consulting firm. Teaching Experience: Research Interests: Open ended, but in my SOP I put Applied Micro because that's where my background is the deepest. SOP: Talked about interests and preparation, etc. Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: Oregon ($), NCSU ($$), UNC-Chapel Hill (off waitlist) ($$), Minnesota Applied Waitlists: UNC-Chapel Hill, Boston University (rejected later) Rejections: UW-Seattle, Boston University, NW-Kellogg, UC-Irvine, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Santa Clara Pending: Attending: UNC-Chapel Hill! Comments: Honestly, I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten into UNC. I was really excited and set to attend Oregon after the visit day, but got an offer off the waitlist the Wednesday before April 15th. Also, I think the only reason I didn't get straight rejected from BU was because I had a letter writer with a connection there, I don't think my profile is competitive enough to have gotten close to getting in. What would you have done differently? I am glad I applied to a wide breadth of schools and would have applied to even more if I had the resources to do so, like maybe apply to all schools in the 20-50 range that were appealing. I also would have maybe tried to get a job that would have given me a stronger application, like working for the Fed, but I don't know if that would have even been feasible for me. One thing I would not have done differently was email the schools I was waitlisted at expressing my high interest in their program and telling them that I had offers that would expire soon. I did this with UNC and Boston and received responses very quickly afterward, one positive, one negative. How accurate were others' predictions of your range of admissions? People who haven't been involved in the admissions process in a long time are completely clueless as to how competitive it is. One of my letter writers regularly writes for students at my undergrad institution and I think he gave me the best outlook on where I should be applying. I felt like my profile would be competitive enough to confidently expect offers at certain places for 45-60, which I think it was after looking at my outcomes.

Hi everyone, I got into UNC off the waitlist a couple of days ago and have been trying to gather as much information as possible since. The program seems really strong from an outsider's viewpoint, but I wanted to ask if anyone on here had a chance to attend their visit day? Basically I am trying to figure out how the graduate program fits into the Econ Department. How accessible are faculty as advisors? Things like that are what I got to see when I got to visit the other schools I got into, but I don't have any direct contacts of my own at UNC to ask about these things. Any info would really be helpful. Thanks.

Did anyone go to the visit day? In the same boat as OP and just trying to get a sense of how supportive the department is of it's graduate students, i.e. are they just cheap labor or do they develop students? Also, sorry for hijacking the thread with a comment, but I think it'd be pertinent for the topic!

Just got an offer off the waitlist from UNC. Anyone have inside info about the program or anyone go to the visit day that'd be willing to answer some questions?

@marblenm: I heard back from the graduate student services director saying that I am waitlisted, and that the waitlist is long. Did anyone else hear anything different from UNC? I think I'll probably just go with what I've got at this point.

Awesome thanks for the info. I'll probably just move on with what I've got then. I emailed the Graduate Coordinator Assistant to get a firm response but haven't heard back yet, if I do I'll let you know what she says.

Is there anyone else who hasn't heard anything one way or the other still from UNC? I haven't been accepted/rejected and it looks like a bunch of both in multiple waves have been sent out. Or can anyone confirm the UNC rejections? What did your application status page look like? Thanks.

This is helpful. I think the examples got cut off but this makes sense. MOD: I was going to put examples but I don't think it's necessary.

What's a typical path from first year to doing research? Do students usually come in with their interests set in stone and move from there? I've heard varying things on the topic. At what point do you really start to specialize. After first year? Second year? First semester? I have a couple of different specific interests, but they could lead down one of two paths. For example, I'd maybe I'm interested in Macro Growth/Development OR health and mechanism design.

I don't know yet, but definitely planning to ask for who/what classes 1st years TA for on my visit.

Hi,I have received a few offers, narrowed it down to two. Both of the schools are of similar rank (45-60) on US News, IDEAS, whatever. They are both funded offers, but one is with a first year fellowship while the other is with a TA where they say the maximum number of hours dedicated to the TAship is 20 but in practice usually much lower. I am visiting both and hope to have a clearer understanding, but for people who have made it through the first year I was wondering if you could weigh in with how valuable having the extra time to study and adjust to graduate school is. Also, for others in similar positions what are your thoughts? I've talked with professors and family so have a good grasp for some of the pros/cons but just want to hear what others are thinking and how they are processing through these decisions.Thanks

These were both really helpful, I appreciate the thought out responses. I did notice that pattern with SMU.

I'm interested as to where this opinion comes from, that programs I've looked at all the placement pages (when available) for programs and these are the conclusions I came to: 1. If I am the best student that has ever attended this school then I will place at a similarly ranked research university. 2. If I am a good student, I will place at a worse ranked research university (80+), a good LAC, decent government jobs, or a good industry job that pays very well. 3. If I am an average student, I will place at an average LAC, lower down government jobs (possibly state government), state universities, non-tenure track(VAP/teaching/lecturer) at research universities, or a decent industry job with more restricted options. 4. If I am a bad student, I will place at a LAC/state university in a bad location, or industry job. 5. If I am a really bad student, I won't be on the list. When I say bad, I mean just a worse ranked student in the cohort. I'd be interested to see what more seasoned people on this forum think about these conclusions. I've also noticed that certain specializations tend to fall into certain types of jobs more, but I can't speak to that at all. Edit: I don't know where post-docs fall on this list.

Right. If 10 people are all doing that then on April 15th someone's going to get missed in the backlog. Granted that seems like it's probably an extreme case. If this person does have interest in the program though then there is no problem waiting until he/she get a better picture, and it seems like he/she has had a change of heart about the waitlist program.

Yeah, I'll probably do this. I was going to do this soon anyways. I was looking on their website and they say to send all application questions to the arts and sciences school. Is that who sent you the rejection email or was it a grad econ coordinator?

Yes. People have lives, families, and a bunch of unique circumstances that would make this a possible outcome. With that said, do what you want but don't be under the false assumption that it will certainly not affect anyone else's welfare/outcome.

Great thanks for the update. I guess I'll just sit on my hands until they respond, or have people had success reaching out to the department in these situations? It could be one of those rejected from PhD but accepted to Masters deals or something.

Can anyone confirm the waitlist/rejection on Gradcafe for Boston U?

Congratulations on the offers. From everything I've ever seen/asked people have been telling me to pick the stronger department overall because who knows what the next five years will bring. UBC is definitely the stronger department. Is the cost of living that much higher in Vancouver than in Santa Barbara? I genuinely don't know, figured it would be comparable to Seattle (which is high, but so is Santa Barbara). The environmental connection at UCSB seems cool though.

In past years they have admitted a lot of students without funding for the first year (I applied there 2 years ago and received this result). Just looking at Grad Café from past years plus my observations from two years ago, it looks like they are adding a waitlist this year. If it were me, I'd give it a couple of weeks after receiving the email and then I'd ask them what admittance would look like.

Anyone had any interviews for funding and been successful? I have one and don't know what to prepare for/expect for questions. I did a little searching but wasn't really able to find much on funding interviews.

Which ones? Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Irvine have all released acceptances from the looks of it on GC.

One thing that I did in all of my applications when looking at schools was look at whether people on GC had been accepted with similar quant GRE scores in the past two years. If they had, then I figured I had a pretty decent chance of my application actually being looked at. I did this for GRE as well, because both of them are sticking points for my profile.