Jump to content
Urch Forums

salamonger

Members
  • Posts

    5
  • Joined

Converted

  • My Tests
    No

salamonger's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

1

Reputation

  1. Other people should probably chime in about this, but from what I understand both the Federal Reserve Board RAship and the Chetty (Equality of Opportunity) RAship have second-round deadlines in the spring, maybe to catch PhD applicants who may be unhappy with their decisions. The Fed branches also technically have rolling decisions. (One of my TAs who worked for the Chicago Fed told me that he didn't know he would be working for the Fed until March or something. He would have started working for the Chicago Fed four or five years ago, though.) Of course, your chances of getting those RAships might be different than your changes in the fall. I don't know the decision-making process well enough to say whether the chances are higher or lower (I think either way can be convincingly argued, though I'm leaning towards lower). But chances are just chances, and it'd probably mean you just have to work a little harder to find those positions.
  2. I've been working for the professor for a few months now. By the time I graduate it would have been a year. So perhaps not necessarily enough, unfortunately. I think I would miss the work relationship we have though - can't complain about having a nice boss, even if the guy is pretty busy. There's also another slight concern I have: I would be working in a "pooled" system (rather than a match system) in the Fed branch subdivision, if I choose to do the Fed branch job. It might not be as optimal because you don't get the same one-on-one relationship with an economist. I've looked at a couple of the alumni of this subdivision and they seem to be doing fine, so it should be fine. Thank you for acknowledging the mental health thing I put in there haha. Earlier on in my undergrad career I didn't think it was something worth taking care of, but I think just personal experience and also seeing some of my classmates (esp. those thinking about doing econ PhDs) go through some of the ups and downs have changed my opinions somewhat.
  3. Re: jjrousseau No, thank you so much. A few of the points in your "rambling reply" are actually things that I didn't consider before, or didn't consider as thoroughly as I now think I should have, so this was really helpful. I am still wavering between the two options: every three hours I would lean against one option, then switch. But I think you are right that, as hokey as it may seem, the answer really lies within myself - I just have to do some soul searching haha. (Good thing that whatever choice I choose will maximize my utility according to revealed pref theory - or something like that.)
  4. I'm a college senior choosing between full-time RA positions for next year rn. Specifically, I can continue to work with a professor whose work I really enjoy and with whom I have a fairly good relationship, and a position at a "good" Fed branch. I've been told by others that this professor is "famous" (in the top 100 of Ideas/Respec ranking thing for the last-ten-years one), but I sort of hate my undergrad institution and the surrounding city. Not in terms of academic merit, or the people, just the environment. Working at a big city for a few years sounds incredibly nice in comparison. Also, since you are working for one professor and not with a larger team of recently graduated undergrads, staying at this job can be a little isolating, and part of the reason I'm taking a two-year break ish from academia is to do some mental health cleanup anyway. The letter of rec that would come out of the Fed job would probably be weaker than a letter written by this professor. I've been waffling a bit between what my intended field will be in the future as well, so that's not a huge dividing point. In terms of pay, time, etc. they seem similar. The professor job will probably have more interesting work associated with it. I also go a bit back and forth about whether I want to apply to a Top School, but in the end it comes down to funding issues that I'll probably encounter, so I think I will still have to strive for that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you guys in advance.
×
×
  • Create New...