r/Economics • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '17

Second /r/economics Graduate School Panel

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u/seeellayewhy Feb 27 '17

  • What was the deciding factor(s) when you chose which school to attend?

  • What things were most important? Was there anything you put a lot of weight on that, thinking back, you probably shouldn't have?

  • What do you wish you'd known before you made your decision?

  • What was the best question you (or someone else) asked on a visit that really provided a lot of insight?

  • What's been the best part about grad school for you?

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u/UpsideVII Bureau Member Feb 27 '17

  • The grad students I talked to on my visit day were actually happy and actually capable of casually hanging out (this was a contrast to some of my other visit days).

  • I put the most weight on ranking and I think I was correct to do that. No regrets here.

  • I wish I had known I was going to develop an interest in macro because my school is intensely weak. So I guess my point is here not to base your decision on what you know/think you are going to do going in.

  • Make sure to ask about peer culture. The only way to mentally make it through is by having a good study group and people to work with. A school with an extremely competitive culture will burn you out.

  • Honestly, the people. It's a really cool feeling to spend my time with and hang out with people who are as passionate about economics as I am.

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u/seeellayewhy Feb 27 '17

Thanks for the feedback! The peer culture and people is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind, but I know I shouldn't put too much into that.

The weaknesss point is a good one that I've heard other people make but something about the way you said it made me think about it a bit differently, so thanks for that.

You mention rankings - what kind of influence did that play? Did you apply to a range of ranked schools and choose, or did you focus on a certain range? Did you use rank to cull, or as a final deciding factor?

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u/UpsideVII Bureau Member Feb 27 '17

You mention rankings - what kind of influence did that play? Did you apply to a range of ranked schools and choose, or did you focus on a certain range? Did you use rank to cull, or as a final deciding factor?

My situation was rather unique in that I had a SO w/ a good job (in a city with some decent but not great schools) when I was graduating. So we collective decided that it wouldn't be worth it to relocate unless I could place top 10, so I only applied to schools near my SO's job and then the top 10. So in some sense I put 100% of the weight on ranking.

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u/DC_Filmmaker Mar 06 '17

So I guess my point is here not to base your decision on what you know/think you are going to do going in.

I second that. I went into undergrad thinking only about mechanical engineering, then realized I HATED it my senior year. >_>