ShamPain

plisar - regarding tuition waivers and taxes... as i said in my first post about it, i believe it depends on how your school counts the waivers. if they count it as a scholarship, then no taxes. but if they count it as part of your compensation for being a TA, then i believe it is taxable. it is certainly possible that different departments do it differently.

stipends are definitely taxable. in some cases, so are tuition remissions, although i think that depends on how your school categorizes it (i.e. as a scholarship vs. part of your compensation for service). as for how much the gov't takes out, that would depend on other factors.

60% seems high, but please be realistic: times are hard. state schools are losing state funding. private schools have had their endowments slashed. some will be affected more than others, but i would expect offers to be down across the board. in addition, there will likely be more applicants, since the private sector is hurting so bad. best of luck to all of you, and i mean that sincerely.

UNC just hired another Methods prof this fall, so their rankings might tick up into the top-15 or better for that. plus, they have a pretty strong IPE concentration and look for people with quant skills to admit (at least in my case; i did my undergrad in Econ). not sure what the Comparative people look at there, although i imagine that lot of places would want a healthy mix of qual/quant. Rochester would be good for you, and i'd recommend looking at WashU in St. Louis.

yeah, i actually live in Murphysboro. i bought a house there for cheaper than 4 years' worth of typical rent. if you can find/tolerate roommates, it's often better to rent a house than an apartment, even in Carbondale.

Lewis Park isn't too bad. there are a couple of little strip malls right next to it that have a few decent restaurants, a coffee shop, a laundromat, etc. there are like three bars and a liquor store close by, so things can sometimes be loud at late hours. but if you enjoy nightlife, then you'll have easy access. it's also very close to campus. i've only been in the foyer of St. Germain; never in any of the rooms. it seems alright, but i don't know that much about it. i don't know anything about Campus Square.

Luke - that is a tall order. obviously, the closer to campus, the more expensive. many places are pet friendly, although often an additional deposit or fee is required. personally, i've never lived that close to campus. my last year there, i actually lived in Murphysboro, which is about 10 miles away from campus. it's a bit more remote, but rents are a lot cheaper and landlords are better. in any case, i don't know much specific stuff about the availability of housing next fall since i'm not in that market anymore. most people i know lived several miles from campus, and if you are willing to do that and drive or bike then your options improve very quickly. whatever you do, do not rent from Mike Waddiak. i forget the name of his business, but i think it's "Heartland Rentals".

housing is very cheap by almost any standard. the closer you live to campus, the more expensive it is (of course), but even then rates are very reasonable. it is also fairly easy (and affordable) to buy a house, especially if you are willing to live outside of Carbondale in a town like Murphysboro (7 miles away) or Carterville (about the same). i can understand not liking the area; if you highly value city life, then you won't like it here. also, not much of the town is new, and major developments are rare. but if you don't mind a college town atmosphere, it's an okay place to be.

me too.

some people love Carbondale. some hate it. it is very much a college town; pretty much everything revolves around the university. it used to have a reputation as a crazy party school, although that has lessened in recent years. the house party scene is still really strong, and some of the best concerts are in basements. the local music scene is pretty strong (esp. the punk/indie scene and the jam band/hippie scene; there are a few good DJs and a few good MCs, but you have to seek them out), but few national acts make it here. the most popular bars are dance bars, but there are good alternatives. a few places have live music at least 3 or 4 nights a week. drinks are VERY cheap by national standards, especially Sun - Thurs (lots of places have "dollar nights"). the university sports programs are pretty strong. basketball is the biggest, but the football team has been a perennial I-AA powerhouse for the past 4-5 years. the baseball team is decent, but in a fairly small conference. there is also a Frontier League minor league baseball team. the areas surrounding Carbondale can be great, especially if you like the outdoors. there are a lot of great places for hiking and camping. and St. Louis, Nashville, Memphis, and Paducah are all 3 hours or less away, so you can always take weekend trips to those places. the trains and buses all go to Chicago everyday. the restaurant scene has improved tremendously in the past 2-3 years. there are high-end and low-end Asian restaurants (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Indian), several great coffeeshops, breakfast places, and diners. there's also the traditional subs-and-pizza college fare (go to Quatro's early and often). the mall kind of sucks, as does shopping in general. the major chains -- e.g. Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. -- are all here, but the clothing options don't go far beyond Gap and Hollister. but that's not too big of a deal if you get most of your stuff on the internet anyways like i do. what else do you want to know? i've been here for years, so i pretty much know everything about the place (there isn't much to know).

if you want to impress ad-coms, then take the math, esp. the stats (at least get past multivariate regressions) and then major in Econ. ad-coms seem love that these days. or, if that's too much work, then pick up a minor. and try to tailor it to whatever your future research interests are. if it's IR, then take a bunch of trade/factor movement classes. if american, then take a bunch of macro theory stuff and labor or environmental econ classes. if it's behavior, then take a bunch of micro theory stuff. if its theory, take a bunch of econ history/philosophy courses. get what i'm saying? the more focussed you can be, and the more you can tailor your classes accordingly, the more you can demonstrate to an ad-com that you know what you're doing and you'll be a good scholar. there isn't one or two classes that you can take that ensures you get in to a top school, but if you establish a pattern of taking and mastering tough courses in focussed direction, then that can impress.

i was rejected from UPenn. School: generic state school. Major: Econ (Specializations: Financial Econ; Intl. Trade) Minor: Poli-Sci GPA: 3.95 (magna cum laude) GRE: 720Q/640V/5.5AWA Awards/Scholarships/Courses: a bunch of awards and scholarships, but most relevant included undergrad honors research seminar and some grad-level seminar classes. more stats classes than a typical Poli-Sci undergrad. no publications, but some original undergrad research, used as my writing sample. LOR: two endowed professors with whom i had high-level/grad-level seminar classes with, plus another fairly well-known senior professor. Other: interesting personal history, including a career as a freelance journalist during my undergrad; extern at a state foreign trade agency. i actually thought i had a really good chance at UPenn, but i guess it wasn't to be. i got accepted into another program which fits me better anyway, and i would most likely have turned UPenn down even if i had been accepted.

scan that bastard and send it to me! or, at least, take a grainy pic so i can try to replicate it on my own? i've never seen anything like that. not to go too off-topic, but Hayek is one of the few thinkers that i respect despite the fact that his central theory has been mostly proven wrong by history. and, FWIW, and from what i can tell (FWICT?) i think New School would be a nice place to be. the copious amount of intellectual freedom alone is appealing.

i can't imagine that Columbia would let you have an outside job. it seems really rare that a top school would allow it (during semesters, of course). OTOH, if you're working for a journal, and the load is minimal, they might allow it because it's in the field. keep in mind, most grad students will either have the opportunity for additional summer funding or will be free to work their asses off for 3 months out of the year (nearly four, if you don't mind working over Winter break for a few weeks and can find a position). none of us will be rich while going to grad school, but then again, that's not entirely the point, is it? i guess it's easier for me, since i've been living pretty modestly for years now, and i've got a little bit of money saved up from my life as a poker player, so i know i won't starve. i'm used to a simple lifestyle, and i don't have any substantive debt, so the transition won't be very hard for me. for others, it may be harder.

yup.