Search the Community

I will be applying to economics Ph.D. programs this fall, but before that, my wife and I are moving to one of a few cities that are part-way between her new job and my likely eventual grad school. (Yes, I will be putting all my application eggs in one or two baskets, but that's another matter.) We need to choose a house based partly on location and commute times. Based on the houses that are available in our price range, our options are basically for me to have a 30-minute commute and her a 40-45-minute commute, or for me to have a 50-60-minute commute and her a 20-25-minute commute. She will be working at an 8-to-5 job five days a week for the foreseeable future, whereas I might have a more flexible work/commute schedule because I'll be in school. My question is: in most major U.S. economics Ph.D. programs, what is the weekly on-campus class and research schedule like throughout the five or six years it takes to graduate? I figured the students are on campus five days a week during their first two years when they have a heavy class load, but then maybe they don't need to go to campus every day after they start their doctoral research project. In your experience, do students and/or their mentors think it's acceptable, desirable, or feasible for the student to meet with their mentor in person once every week or two and communicate over email/Skype/phone the rest of the days? It seems like the internet would make writing, researching, and data-crunching from home quite easy. The point being, if I only need to make a long commute every day for the first two years, we would be much better off choosing a city that gives my wife a short commute. Thanks for any advice you can give me.