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Here are my options: Georgetown – admitted, fully funded Wisconsin – waitlisted, but likely admission Maryland – waitlisted, unsure of admission UCLA – waitlisted, unsure of admission, but would likely be without funding I expect to hear about waitlists this weekend, before I need to make a decision Monday. Interests: urban economics, real estate finance, and more broadly, applied micro Job hopes: federal government (Fed, Census, etc.), tech firm, or think tank I think UCLA and Wisconsin might have the best opportunities for urban and real estate. Both have big real estate teams in their business schools. There’s a recently-tenured associate professor at Wisconsin, who does my exact urban interests and seems interested in working with me. However, I’m very concerned about living in a small town like Madison for the next six years and much prefer the DC area. For my job interests (non-academic), the placements at all the schools seem fairly similar, so I'm wondering if rank matters much? Also, how important is it to be at a school with a professor doing the exact research you want to pursue rather than just something similar?

I have been accepted both in Maryland (21k) and Minnesota (23k), and I do not know what to choose. I know Minnesota is great in Macro, but even though I used to like Macro I like it less and less every day. So, nowadays I think I do not want to focus on Macro for my research, and neither I want to focus in empirical IO which is the other strength of Minnesota. I am more interested now in applied micro and issues of Development and Political Econ. Because of these reasons now I am leaning towards Maryland rather than Minnesota. Also in terms of location I prefer the weather of Washington DC than the one of Twin Cities. However I am afraid of taking that path, since in terms of placement Minnesota is far better than Maryland. Am I crazy if I choose Maryland over Minnesota? Please share your opinions.

Hi all, I am an international applicant (with absolutely no experience with America) and I have received funded offers from both programs. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me decide between the two. I am likely going to continue to focus on macro (monetary) and applied (time-series) econometrics, and both schools seem to have good macro faculty. In particular, Maryland with Aruoba and Rochester with Kocherlakota. Furthermore, they seem to be rather even when it comes to placements too. Indeed, they are also tied according to US News. I know winter in Rochester is particularly challenging, but I do like the cold. While Maryland's weather seem to be more predictable. Nonetheless, I doubt weather would play much of a role in my decision. Thank you in advance!

I have received offers from University of Mayland, University of Pittsburgh and University of Virginia. I am interested in experimental and behavioral economics, and would like to work in academia after graduation. I am more inclined to accept the offer of Maryland; yet Pittsburgh and Virginia also have some strong faculty members who work in experimental and behavioral area. Any suggestions on which one is a better option?

Hi folks, let me be clear since the very beginning, as the thread title may potentially look misleading: this is not going to be a thread aimed at scaring offer holders from U Maryland so as for me to successfully get off the waitlist. It would be a very mean attempt to benefit from this screwy admission process and I am not that type of person, believe it or not. Period. I am just another applicant like you all, with no work relationship whatsoever with any grad school and no intention to mess things up on this forum. I have continuously considered whether opening this thread or not since two days ago and have always postponed the moment in order not to interfere with other applicants' decision process as well as not to look selfish (see first sentence above). Evaluating admission offers is very serious stuff indeed and many people rely on this forum to look for an advice before April 15. But at the end I thought it would be actually in the interest of all those involved in the admission process at Maryland to have a place in here where to discuss what has been going on at this school since at least one and a half years, so as to ultimately help everybody make an informed decision. This may really benefit lots of people, I believe. These are the facts I would like to start with: Office of the President, University of Maryland and Office of the President, University of Maryland . Also, many top-class senior professors left the department in the last years (first Guillermo Calvo, then John Rust, Enrique Mendoza and Carlos Vegh) as well as promising assistant professors like Anton Korinek and Pablo D'Erasmo. It is not clear if this was due to financial issues such as pay freeze or salary cuts though. This actually seems to be the case according to many posters (some of them being alleged insiders too) on EJMR, even if it may very well be 99% pure trolling. The department website does not help shed light on the current situation either. It is impossible to find an update of any sort about new hires or existing financial hardships. Except a brief post on two faculty promotions (Faculty Promotions | Department of Economics ), there is simply nothing right there. Last but not least, I was contacted yesterday by one faculty member (whom I prefer not to reveal) and asked about my availability to accept an unfunded or limitedly funded admission offer (unclear if valid only for the first year or for the entire program) in case they end up not being able to make more funded offers. The tone of the email was pretty gloomy. So my concerns are: is the Economics department going to be directly affected by the planned budget cuts? Are other professors about to leave in the near future? Is the situation for the next years really worrisome as it seems like? I would love to hear from insiders and/or people with first-hand experience about all this. Many thanks in advance.

Hey guys! Please help me! I have been driving myself crazy trying to decide between these two programs. I managed to get accepted into the PhD program in Agricultural and Resource Economics at Maryland. It is a fully funded offer. I also got into Yale IDE and MESc (research track) with a $30K/year scholarship from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. I am completely torn between the two programs. One on hand you have Maryland AREC which is a great program for environmental and development economics--my areas of interest. I also visited the school and absolutely loved it. The professors were all fantastic as were the graduate students. On the other hand, there is the joint degree program at Yale. Yale is great for environmental economics and the MESc program is flexible so I can make it a hybrid policy and science degree even though it is an MESc. My assigned research adviser is pretty awesome as well. Also, I have the chance to learn more about development economics through the IDE program. I am completely torn between these two programs. Any help or additional information would be extremely appreciated. I have to make a decision soon and I've never been more lost. Thanks guys! :)

Hi everyone! What would you say about Maryland's rank, still T20? It seems that they keep hemorrhaging faculty these years. No idea whether Maryland will rebound or not. My interest is applied micro (development/labor/public). Is Maryland a good place for me?

Anyone here going to Maryland this fall?

Based on my perfunctory research, it seems like development at Maryland is on the up-and-up, with Jessica Goldberg and Pamela Jakiela having joined the faculty just this semester. Is there anyone on this board who could provide a closer perspective? I've looked into development faculty at Maryland (and the AREC program) before, but the faculty page doesn't let you sort by field, so I'll try to post a list of other faculty when I have a little more time, unless someone a bit more knowledgeable would like to beat me to the punch. Thanks much in advance.