Best place to go to university in USA? (Esp. California)

[istewart]

If you end up going to school in New Jersey, obviously. But you really shouldn't want to do that.

[jason_t]

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If you end up going to school in New Jersey, obviously. But you really shouldn't want to do that.

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Correct.

[istewart]

EuroTrash you're my stalker.

[MortalNuts]

Hi --

How competitive is economics, job-wise? By this, I mean are there 10 PhDs for every faculty job, or 100, or 1000? Are you even interested in academia? The more competitive the field, the more you may want to bias your search towards the most highly-regarded places (or at least to places that have one or two really world-class people that you have a realistic chance of working with). I'm not talking about going to Stanford because it's number 4 instead of Berkeley because it's number 7 or something; that kind of precision is silly in this context. But if the field is extremely competitive, you may need to stay within the top 10 or 15 to have any realistic hope of getting a job afterwards. Talk to your profs about this.

As for everything else, I pretty much agree with everything Sucker posted. Apply to everywhere in the top 20 that sounds interesting; see where you get in. Visit everywhere that admits you; in physical science departments this is always paid for, but even if that's not the case in economics, you should still visit everywhere. Usually, when you do this, one or two places will really resonate with you in a way that the others don't.

Ultimately, you'll want to grill students and faculty at these places to find out how you "click" with the department as a whole. Are there good advisors? Are you given latitude in determining research projects? Are you well-funded? How's the teaching? What do you do for fun? Etc, etc. Find out where recent graduates of the program have gone -- the odds of you doing better than their most successful grad of the last 5 years are pretty poor, no matter how good you are.

But all of this comes much later, after you actually get in to any of these places. I don't mean that as a crack at you at all; just telling you that it's really not worth worrying too much about this stuff until you are admitted.

good luck.

later,

mn

[Eurotrash]

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EuroTrash you're my stalker.

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explain? I not stalking anybody. I made that statement based purely on stuff I've seen you post in various forums here; it's not like you've been trying to hide where you go to school/live.

[jdl22]

I'm not trying to be a dick here, but just let you know about the process. Most top schools get well over 1000 applicants for usually 20-30 spots. Most all of these applicants have very high grade point averages, very high GRE scores, and good letters. What sets you apart?

In my case I thought I would have an outside chance at top ten schools outside the top five, a reasonable chance at the top twenty and an excellent chance below that. I had a crappy GPA (3.35/4) but my math prep was far above average (I was a math major, had taken advanced courses in topology and real analysis). I also had excellent letters including a one from a professor with several publications in top journals (AER etc) and had done research with him, and two from professors I had taken classes from that were normally just for grad students. I also got an 800 on the quantitative section of the GRE, which isn't very hard to do but is one of the things they look at. Due to my research interest I was most interested in Cal Tech (one of the fifteen or so schools in the top ten), Virginia (20s), Wisconsin (somewhere in the teens probably) and Pitt (low 30s or 40s). I also applied to Michigan, Duke, Maryland, Carnegie Mellon, and Texas. I got flat rejections from Michigan and Maryland, made the waiting list but got rejected from Cal Tech, Duke and CMU, got accepted without funding at Virginia, Texas, and Wisconsin and got funding only at Pitt.

Hopefully you find the information useful.

[partygirluk]

OK. I have to go to the doctors now, so I won't list my qualifications in full. But I got offered a masters place at Camrbidge, UK. They had a similar application ratio to what you mention. I think if Cambridge would offer me a postgrad place, then it is not ludicrous to think I have a chance of getting into an elite American university.

[diddle]

UCSD is a commuter school. Most people drive to school.

There is nothing fun to do at the school itself. Parties etc are all off campus.

UCSD is lame. San diego is not.

I would not go to school at UCSD, but I would live in San Diego.

[jdl22]

Fair enough. Just wanted to let you know the process since basically everybody overestimates the probability of getting in to top schools.

[augie00]

You need to come to beautiful Peoria, Illinois for Bradley University. Once you come to Peoria, you never want to leave. Ever. You're instantly converted to a townie. The transition is easier if you grow a mullet now, and knock a few of your teeth out before you get here.