Huzker Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 Hi, I'm wondering if anyone knows if the number of application increase or decrease this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahasky Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 No one knows but I am not as pessimistic as I was 6 months ago. My guess is applications don't increase significantly, and that with the vaccine rolling out, financial markets doing well, and universities not being as financially hurt as they thought, most programs are going to accept a normal class. I think the biggest issue is going to be the number of deferrals from last year. I'm not sure the extent of this either, but it seems like there were a fair number of 1st year PhD students who decided to defer entrance from Fall 2020 to Fall 2021. This might limit the number of incoming spots -- interested if any current students/faculty members can comment. Also: a number of programs have messages on their site that they'll be taking fewer students than normal this year. My assumption is it will be a tougher year, but not orders of magnitude more competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 Our applications are up about 30 percent. Of course, we don't know whether that is applicants applying earlier, applying to more programs, or more applicants applying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahasky Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 Our applications are up about 30 percent. Of course, we don't know whether that is applicants applying earlier, applying to more programs, or more applicants applying. yikes.. I wonder how this compares to spike after the Great Recession. Do you have any insight into the amount of deferrals from last year and the extent to which this year's target class size is smaller, at your institution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted December 19, 2020 Share Posted December 19, 2020 I really only know about UCSB. We have a small number of deferrals. We are not yet sure about the target size for our next class. Our hope is that it will be the same size as usual. However, we do not yet know for sure about the budget and there is some possibility that if this year's job market is particularly bad we might decrease the incoming class to use funds to support students who did not get a job (which in the past has been extremely uncommon.) My best guess is that our target will end up being the same size as usual, but it's only a guess at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahasky Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Understood, thanks for the insight here. Just gotta buckle in for the ride really, hoping other schools are also able to accept a fairly normal class size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp9290 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Our applications are up about 30 percent. Of course, we don't know whether that is applicants applying earlier, applying to more programs, or more applicants applying. Curious to know if this 30 percent increase is for Econ PhDs, Econ Masters+PhDs or grad school generally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huzker Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 Thanks for the insights! I also think that it's the demand side which makes the situation this year unpredictable. Finger crossed for all applicants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
startz Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Curious to know if this 30 percent increase is for Econ PhDs, Econ Masters+PhDs or grad school generally? For us the number is for Econ PhDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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