prismaticrefraction

Hello! I just got my waitlist notice from UC Irvine about 3 hours ago... have you heard back from them since as well?

Thanks for your insights, @startz — it’s so valuable & much appreciated!!

I'm not expecting anything from UC Irvine until at least next week because their application portal now states that there will be a quick maintenance update this Friday and specifically mentioned that this is "including [the] status page," which seems to imply that there won't be any changes until next week.

One of the UC schools!! 🤐 BTW, the email I received was a reply to one that I had sent on my own initiative rather than one that they had sent en masse, for what it's worth!

Yes, I feel this way completely as I was expecting to hear from a school yesterday and was instead told in an email that all applicants will be notified by April 15th... I feel as though this is the deadline for students to make decisions and not for the schools, at least for their initial offers. 🤡

One of the starting points might be to look at how well-published/highly-regarded the faculty who specialize in that specialty are at the school. And then see if that school has designated programs specifically for that specialty, like a laboratory (for behavioral econ, etc.), academic concentrations, and maybe also infer from the website as an additional reference point to see how the school presents that specialty (one of their strongest, not mentioned, or somewhere in between). And of course there's word of mouth, e.g., learning from people currently/previously affiliated with the specialty at the school, etc.

I think based on historical results we can expect UC Irvine results tomorrow! *crossing fingers*

But even the top schools have yield rates around 50% I think, so looking at matriculants vs acceptances makes a huge difference.

Thanks for your insights! I also kind of noticed that the West/Southwest states (CA, AZ, TX, etc.) offer experimental econ while the East/Northeast don't really and are more labor and possibly health econ focused (which seems to be less emphasized west of the Mississippi...). I suppose there are reasons for this phenomenon, unless it's entirely coincidental, although the lack of experimental research facilities/institutions to the extent of CA, for example, did stick out to me.

I noticed previously that UCSB has high Quantitative GRE mean scores as well -- what are the main reasons people apply to UCSB's Econ PhD program?

Maybe the applicants who got screened out for GPA/GRE/etc. got notified right away?

To answer my own question, I believe the minimum stipend amount at UCI currently is between $21k-$22k based on extensive online research!!

Does anybody have any information on the range of stipends recently/currently awarded at UC Irvine's economics PhD program? It seems like a few years ago it dipped as low as the mid $10ks but I think I've seen someone with $$$ next to UCI which I interpreted as $30k+? Thanks!

I also had a very risky approach of applying only to UC Irvine because it also made the most sense for my future goals and if I do not get accepted this cycle I will reapply and likely more broadly, perhaps also considering my current home university. I will receive an MA in economics this coming spring so I hope to work remotely as an economist if my application gamble doesn't pan out well. I hope you receive multiple offers though!

Where did you end up applying to??