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Hi everyone, Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I searched around through past threads for a bit, and couldn't exactly find what I was looking for, which is some help in selecting schools I should apply to next year from the preliminary list I have at the moment, with a focus in IO. I've looked at a lot of rankings online but I feel like I've narrowed down my list as much as possible without others' input. I know that for IO, business school programs tend to have quite good faculty and groups (i.e. Booth, Wharton, etc.), but I'm focusing primarily on Economics programs at the moment. After a long time researching these programs, I came up with the following list of 24 schools I'd potentially be interested in applying to: Harvard MIT Berkeley Princeton Chicago Stanford NYU Columbia Yale Brown Boston U Northwestern UCLA U Wisconsin U Maryland U Minnesota UVA Johns Hopkins Vanderbilt Georgetown Penn State Duke U Washington Obviously, the list is ambitious both in sheer number of schools and in their respective rankings. I'm trying to balance applying for the very best programs while also having some programs further down the rankings that I also feel are good schools and I would be comfortable attending (hence why my list is so long at the moment). Without my profile I know it can be difficult to make an assessment as to what schools make sense for me to apply to, so let's just say I feel confident enough that I'm competitive for programs in the top 10 (so I'm not being 100% delusional in being interested in almost all the top 10), such that I feel there's a decent probability I get into at least one of them. I also figured grad school apps is the one moment I shouldn't be too stingy, so money isn't itself that much of a problem and I'd rather give it a shot at a good number of the top programs. Having said that, based on my interest in IO, are there any schools from the list above that I should definitely not remove from my list, as I try to cull down my list to 15-20 schools? Are there any that you feel I should be comfortable removing? For example, I think Northwestern's particularly strong in IO, and I've heard good things about Wisconsin in that respect as well. Minnesota, on the other hand, is more of a macro environment. Are there any schools I may be overlooking? Thanks for any help!

Decision Time, Schools and Choices, and Planning for the PhD, Advice / HELP Hey everyone, as a reader of this forum, I have utilized it in the past for my planning regarding PhD admissions for economic programs, and right now, I am transferring schools (undergraduate) and looking to make the right choice for attaining my goals in graduate school. Ultimately, I am shooting for a Top 5 school and realistically wanting to gain admission to those in the Top 15. At the present, I am graduating my sophomore year of college, and I will be transferring to a 4-year school. My reason for transferring is that I graduated from Northern Virginia Community College (with a 4.0 GPA), and I need to transfer to get my degree. Relative to economics and math, I have completed 200 level Micro and Macro as well as Calc I, Calc II, Vector Calc (Calc 3), Lin Alg, Intro Stat, and Diff Equations, all with A's. I plan to pursue a double major in mathematics and economics in order to receive the rigorous math preparation for an economics PhD. Additionally, I would like to take some introductory graduate level economics courses to be competitive for top tier schools. I'd like to work extremely hard to finish my next two years with 4.0 and if not then hopefully a 3.8-3.9. By dilemma is in choosing the best school from my choices. Ignoring for a moment the differences in price, funding, and college environment, which school will be best with respect to the following: · the availability of upper level mathematics and economics courses, · availability of professors (notable or otherwise those willing to work with me so I can attain excellent LORs), · ease of graduating with a high GPA (the school doesn’t have issues with GPA deflation) · the overall undergraduate ranking and reputation of each school · the departmental rankings of each school in mathematics and economics · the graduate rankings of each school in mathematics and economics My choices of admitted schools and some of my thoughts wrt each school are as follows: · Vanderbilt University: o U.S. News Ranked 17 in overall undergraduate education o Fair availability of upper level math, but not to the same extent as NYU of UW-Madison o Professors are supposed to be readily available and willing to work with students on projects and research o Ranked significantly lower in undergraduate mathematics according to Gourmand Report Rankings o Ranked much lower in grad math at #51 by U.S. News o Ranked at #34 for Graduate economics programs o Concerns over reported grade deflation at Vanderbilt and difficulty or likely impossibility of graduating with the GPA I want · NYU o U.S. News Ranked 32 in undergraduate education o Exceptional availability of upper division math and econ courses o Wondering if professors are as approachable and willing to work with students? o Undergraduate ranking of Math department by Gourmand among the very best in the nation o Grad school rankings by U.S. news put NYU in the top 5 for analysis and top spot for applied mathematics o U.S. News puts NYU overall at #10 for grad math rankings o Ranked at #12 for Econ Grad program by U.S. News o Unknown about the difficulty of maintaining a high GPA? · University of Wisconsin Madison o U.S. News Ranked 39 in undergraduate education o Exceptional availability of upper division math and econ courses o Thinking that given the school’s size and environment, there will be good professors to work with for LORs o Undergraduate ranking of Math department by Gourmand among the best in the nation but not as high as NYU but in the top tier o Grad school rankings by U.S. news put UW-Madison at #10 in Analysis and #16 Overall o #14 in Grad Econ overall by U.S. News o Suspect that getting the GPA I want will be easier than at either Vanderbilt or NYU · College of William and Mary o #33 overall in undergraduate education o Not really considering due to the lack of availability in upper division mathematics and introductory graduate economics courses I guess the issue I’m really struggling with is the idea of going to a collectively lower ranked school over Vanderbilt. Similarly, I know that NYU and Wisconsin have better math and economics departments and will probably be easier on my GPA. Would top graduate schools rather see a top GPA from Wisconsin or NYU over a lower GPA from a reputedly more rigorous school (even if the departments aren’t as well recognized)? Or am I better off period where I can graduate with the highest GPA? Also, would making close connections with professors at either NYU or Madison be as feasible as at Vanderbilt and would those connections help with graduate admissions to those schools’ economics programs? While I’d ultimately like to get to a top 5, I’d be perfectly happy with NYU or Madison’s grad program so I’m wondering if going there would provide an inside edge with admission and funding, assuming I meet all the other criteria. I know this was a long post, but thank you to anyone who reads this and offers advice!

Decision Time, Schools and Choices, and Planning for the PhD, Advice / HELP Hey everyone, as a reader of this forum, I have utilized it in the past for my planning regarding PhD admissions for economic programs, and right now, I am transferring schools (undergraduate) and looking to make the right choice for attaining my goals in graduate school. Ultimately, I am shooting for a Top 5 school and realistically wanting to gain admission to those in the Top 15. At the present, I am graduating my sophomore year of college, and I will be transferring to a 4-year school. My reason for transferring is that I graduated from Northern Virginia Community College (with a 4.0 GPA), and I need to transfer to get my degree. Relative to economics and math, I have completed 200 level Micro and Macro as well as Calc I, Calc II, Vector Calc (Calc 3), Lin Alg, Intro Stat, and Diff Equations, all with A's. I plan to pursue a double major in mathematics and economics in order to receive the rigorous math preparation for an economics PhD. Additionally, I would like to take some introductory graduate level economics courses to be competitive for top tier schools. I'd like to work extremely hard to finish my next two years with 4.0 and if not then hopefully a 3.8-3.9. By dilemma is in choosing the best school from my choices. Ignoring for a moment the differences in price, funding, and college environment, which school will be best with respect to the following: · the availability of upper level mathematics and economics courses, · availability of professors (notable or otherwise those willing to work with me so I can attain excellent LORs), · ease of graduating with a high GPA (the school doesn’t have issues with GPA deflation) · the overall undergraduate ranking and reputation of each school · the departmental rankings of each school in mathematics and economics · the graduate rankings of each school in mathematics and economics My choices of admitted schools and some of my thoughts wrt each school are as follows: · Vanderbilt University: o U.S. News Ranked 17 in overall undergraduate education o Fair availability of upper level math, but not to the same extent as NYU of UW-Madison o Professors are supposed to be readily available and willing to work with students on projects and research o Ranked significantly lower in undergraduate mathematics according to Gourmand Report Rankings o Ranked much lower in grad math at #51 by U.S. News o Ranked at #34 for Graduate economics programs o Concerns over reported grade deflation at Vanderbilt and difficulty or likely impossibility of graduating with the GPA I want · NYU o U.S. News Ranked 32 in undergraduate education o Exceptional availability of upper division math and econ courses o Wondering if professors are as approachable and willing to work with students? o Undergraduate ranking of Math department by Gourmand among the very best in the nation o Grad school rankings by U.S. news put NYU in the top 5 for analysis and top spot for applied mathematics o U.S. News puts NYU overall at #10 for grad math rankings o Ranked at #12 for Econ Grad program by U.S. News o Unknown about the difficulty of maintaining a high GPA? · University of Wisconsin Madison o U.S. News Ranked 39 in undergraduate education o Exceptional availability of upper division math and econ courses o Thinking that given the school’s size and environment, there will be good professors to work with for LORs o Undergraduate ranking of Math department by Gourmand among the best in the nation but not as high as NYU but in the top tier o Grad school rankings by U.S. news put UW-Madison at #10 in Analysis and #16 Overall o #14 in Grad Econ overall by U.S. News o Suspect that getting the GPA I want will be easier than at either Vanderbilt or NYU · College of William and Mary o #33 overall in undergraduate education o Not really considering due to the lack of availability in upper division mathematics and introductory graduate economics courses I guess the issue I’m really struggling with is the idea of going to a collectively lower ranked school over Vanderbilt. Similarly, I know that NYU and Wisconsin have better math and economics departments and will probably be easier on my GPA. Would top graduate schools rather see a top GPA from Wisconsin or NYU over a lower GPA from a reputedly more rigorous school (even if the departments aren’t as well recognized)? Or am I better off period where I can graduate with the highest GPA? Also, would making close connections with professors at either NYU or Madison be as feasible as at Vanderbilt and would those connections help with graduate admissions to those schools’ economics programs? While I’d ultimately like to get to a top 5, I’d be perfectly happy with NYU or Madison’s grad program so I’m wondering if going there would provide an inside edge with admission and funding, assuming I meet all the other criteria. I know this was a long post, but thank you to anyone who reads this and offers advice!