Jayd

You want to get a PhD in a better program, you will have to transfer to a more prestigious undergrad institution. Personally for me, I am in a top 50 undergrad institution, I am a little bit regret that I didn't transfer to a top 30ish(Michigan/Virginia) undergrad. A 4.0 from top 50 undergrad is not the same as a 4.0 from top 30 undergrad.

I have to pick Chateauheart.

Not sure why yield rate is so high, we will see if we are going to have a much greater incoming first-year or not.

Thanks for your caveat.

What's the average attrition rate? 50% is definitely a very high upper bound.

50% is ridiculous. How will first-year PhDs be brave enough to actually go there?

I am currently an undergrad in a top 50 department. From what I see, I think the attrition rate is about 10-15%(at most 2 will leave the program, out of 15). I will be going to a top 30 department next fall and is horrified by its attrition rate. From what I heard, the attrition rate is about 33%(Although the coordinator says it's only about 20%, 20% still sound very high). Moreover, Out of 20 from one particular year, 8 were left. This rate is much higher than my perception. I am wondering if the attrition rate is higher in better departments? Please share attrition rate in top departments so I will have some idea and be more relaxed/horrified. Edit: Here I am only taking about the attrition rate for the prelim.

In my opinion: Duke places more than 20 masters into top 50 programs. BU, Duke, Columbia, UCLA, Tufts, and UWN place quite a lot into top 50 programs.

Much greater competition. Just look at how many economics master programs there are available right now. A great proportion of masters will apply for Econ PhD.

I would say it has been very competitive this year since I am having a hard time getting off the wait list. Usually top programs should at least admit a few from the wait list.

Seems like this year only a few waitlisted actually got off the wait list. In the previous post, I saw that UCSD admits no one from the wait list, which is surprising to me. From my experience, I think this is also true for many other programs. Please share more about the wait list. Is the wait list becoming futile since the acceptance rate is very high. Much greater competition I think.

Thank you. I will definitely take a look

Even though I don't have complete information about Duke and Tufts, I would assume Duke has better placements. Duke places more masters into top 20 phd program than Tufts. Same logic goes for top 10 or top 30.

Thank you very felpful

I am thinking about doing RA, but I don't know where to look for the information. Although my department sometimes send out flyers about RA, the position is limited and the field doesn't interest me. So I am looking for websites/organizations that hire RA on a rolling basis. Please share the information about where to apply. Thank you.