Comments | applyingtograd: How did you decide which schools?

machuchu120 in applyingtograd

How did you decide which schools?

Feb 16, 2008 23:31

Most people talk about reach, realistic, and safety schools as well as using classifications like Top 10, Top 25, etc. I was wondering how everyone arrived at these labels or rankings. I'm trying to decide on a good spread of colleges for when I apply this coming year and want to incorporate a couple reach schools, some realistic ones, and of ( Read more... )

Comments 24

adequaticus February 17 2008, 08:00:17 UTC

Ask your professors how good of an applicant you are.

Of course I considered rank.

joyousandjuicy February 17 2008, 08:26:56 UTC

I think I'm going to be the anomaly and say: I have no idea of the rank or spread of the programs I applied to. Granted, this time around, I'm in a particularly cushy position relative to most people going through the app process: I applied only to MAs, only in Canada, and to very specific, niche-ey non-disciplinary programs. Several of the programs I applied to accept 15 students from a pool of roughly 50 applicants, which are great odds. So yes, I did just look up programs, decided if it was something I was keen about, and then, if I was interested in the program and people, I applied ( ... )

alicia666 February 17 2008, 20:10:13 UTC

this is my situation as well.

machuchu120 February 18 2008, 07:08:42 UTC

Awesome thanks.

evil_admiral February 17 2008, 09:19:27 UTC

In Economics, the top schools have tended to be the ones which have attracted the top scholars in the field, and which have been on the fore-front of developing theory and policy. Out of the American Econ Nobel Laureates, I would say that close to 99% of them are in top ten schools like Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Yale. Most of the post WW2 Federal Reserve chairmen have come from top-10 schools. Bernanke taught at Princeton (which you can't do without like a top-5 Ph.D.). I believe Greenspan has his Ph.D. from Chicago. Greg Mankiw, who has done a lot of publishing and has served on the President's council of economic advisors has a MIT Ph.D. and now teaches at Harvard ( ... )

bafooz February 17 2008, 09:52:29 UTC

I really suggest talking to professors who are 'plugged in' in your field. The rankings only tell you so much - many schools, at least in the humanities, coast on their reputation for years even though their programs may be a mess (ie, there are several top 10 schools in my field - which is ranked very broadly and encompasses several disciplines - that I didn't apply to since their programs are pretty 'eh,' though you do get the benefit of going to a name school). Plus, the profs who can really talk about various grad programs can frequently give you the skinny - who's thinking of retiring, who's thinking of leaving, what sort of program they have going on (quality of grad students and so on), what their grads are doing .... My undergrad advisor was a super resource & while I made plenty of decisions on my own, she really helped me figure out where I did NOT want to apply. Plus, profs that know you should be able to give you an idea of how competitive an applicant you'll be ( ... )

interinvention February 17 2008, 15:01:53 UTC

I think this is good advice. Also, since their are field subdisciplines and just personality differences between programs and applicants, a "top" program for some may not apply for others. Michigan is a great program for my friend who studied with me in my MA, and Harvard has been great for another person who graduated with me -- but neither of those programs offer the specialization or kind of mentorship I'm looking for, so I didn't apply.

interinvention February 17 2008, 15:02:59 UTC

*their

Sorry, that particular spelling error happens to drive me crazy, I had to correct it!

interinvention February 17 2008, 15:03:41 UTC

*ugh, THERE!

I'll admit I haven't had my coffee yet this morning :)

Thread 5

to offer a different viewpoint 3708 February 17 2008, 15:51:24 UTC

this is sort of unorthodox, but basically all of my nearest and dearest and seriously most dazzlingly brilliant (in the sense that often, i have no idea how i got lucky enough to stand in the same room as they) advisors said it to me ( ... )

Re: to offer a different viewpoint saralinds February 18 2008, 01:13:09 UTC

I agree with you 100%! That is actually how I approached the process. I love every one of my schools though the list is very short (for a reason). If I don't get in this round, then I'll try again next time (and maybe expand my list a little more, time's a-wasting...)

I also talked to people, not putting a lot of weight on US News because I was talking to people in the job field that I want to go into and they had connections to one school or another.

Also I'm in the same situation as evil_admiral that it just so happens that the professors that I want to work are placed in TOP programs at TOP schools in the country. It's unfortunate as chances go but if I win the game, then yay! Also there aren't many of those people so I don't have a big list to choose from.