All of the decisions for the schools I’ve applied to have come out and I have literally no idea which school I want to go to. I’m looking for a school with a solid Economics department and great study abroad opportunities. In addition, I’m trying to get a good undergrad GPA for Grad school.
-Notre Dame ( 8 hours away though, the rest are relatively closer to DC (where I live))
-Carnegie Mellon (got into the Humanities Scholar Program)
-UVA (close)
-William and Mary (free tuition as a WM scholar)
-NYU (still have to pay like 10k a year though) I got waitlisted at G-town so although it is still possible to be admitted, I’m not getting my hopes up.
Free tuition at W&M seems awfully attractive. I assume Notre Dame, CM, and UVA are full tuition?
What type of grad school?
I have gotten great financial aid at UVA and I hope to get good financial aid at the other universities. But yeah, free tuition is definitely a very big plus @IzzoOne
I’m trying to obtain a masters in Economics so I want to try my best to get a high undergrad GPA @PurpleTitan
Why a masters in econ?
What goals/possible goals do you have?
I possibly want to become a Federal Economist, but considering I’m 17 years old my plans may change haha @PurpleTitan
Then you’d want a PhD in econ.
Big difference: PhD programs take straight out of undergrad and are funded (and are generally tough to get in to). They also like quantitative/math majors.
Masters Econ programs you have to pay for, but a Master’s in econ may not make much sense.
Not spending a lot on undergrad may make sense.
Thanks for the run-down! So would you suggest going to William and Mary to save money? If I went to CMU I would be majoring in economics and mathematical sciences @PurpleTitan
Do you know what you have to pay for each of them?
I‘ve only received W and M and NYU as of now. I have to pay under 10k for William and Mary (academic scholarship covers tuition), NYU came out to 12k, UVA will likely be around 10k, and I have no idea when it comes to Notre Dame and CMU but their calculators have the same numbers as NYU (but they’re usually lower than the actual amount they ask for) @PurpleTitan
Go with fit if costs are about the same.
I haven’t visited the campuses of a few of the schools (I’ve visited William and Mary and it was a little too quiet for me) but I was wondering if there was a school that stood out among the list/ was better for my major than the rest (it could be possible that they’re all around the same though) @PurpleTitan
I can’t say one stands out. If costs are pretty close you should visit where possible and go for best fit for you.
NYU math and econ are very strong.
CMU has a well-earned reputation for being strong in quantitative areas.
W&M is among the top 50 schools in per capita sent to PhDs (up with the Ivies and elite LACs).
UVa is a top public and Near-Ivy.
So no, none of them stand out as clearly better or clearly worse.
I’ll visit all of them and hopefully I’ll know which one I belong too! Thank you for all your help! @PurpleTitan @IzzoOne
As noted above, economists are expected to have a PhD, and on the road to the doctorate they acquire a masters degree.
An important question to ask at each school is whether it’s difficult to get the econ classes you want. If you are an Echols Scholar at UVa, you get to register for classes before others in the same year. Not sure about W&M Scholars.
^ for an econ PhD, math/quantitative classes would be more important.
I’m not an Echols scholar and I don’t know about William and Mary but I doubt it. I’ve heard that the scholar program I got accepted to at CMU gives me priority when it comes to registering for classes @prodesse
CMU Economics program is almost like a Math degree…Stats and Economics are a popular combination too. The interdisciplinary flexibility is a key to modern learning… I wished to combine Stats, CS, Math and Eco/Finance all under 1 roof when I get to college. CMU is very strong and unique in that regard.