Monody

I would recommend Europe and preferably German universities given that there is no tuition and such approaches are quite popular outside the few quant-heavy departments in Mannheim, Konstanz, Bonn or Heidelberg.

As some have noted on PSR, you should also note that a drop in the ranking does not necessitate a drop in the program's quality given first the low response rate of the survey (around 30 or so percent I think), second the possibility that other programs simply became better, and third similar to second that no tie to tie need also not be a downturn.

Let's not kid ourselves. Everyone knows that the C in CHYMPS stays for Columbia, just as much as the P stands for PSU.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: Somewhat known international university Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science Undergrad GPA: 3.8 Type of Grad: N.A. Grad GPA: N.A. GRE: 163/169/5.5 Any Special Courses: Statistics I, Statistics II, Social Science Research Methods, Survey Design, Econometrics I, Econometrics II, Causal Inference, Analysis of Panel Data Letters of Recommendation: Method prof whose lecture I took and who heard very positive things from others (was the first one in years who aced all the Statistics exams), IR prof at my home university with whom I had two courses, AP at my exchange university for whom I am an RA (free of charge) Research Experience: thesis, sent one manuscript off before my applications, lots of long term papers (16 times 4500 to 6000 words with original research questions and quant methods) Teaching Experience: None though the department of the Method prof offered me a TA but I transferred which made this impossible Subfield/Research Interests: Civil Wars Other: 3 languages more or less in addition to my mother tongue and English RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Columbia ($$), Penn State ($$), ETH Zurich MACIS (MA, $$) Waitlists: NYU Rejections: Duke, MIT, Stanford, Princeton Pending: None Going to: Columbia LESSONS LEARNED: It's probably a two-tale story. On the one hand, you can get into your preferred university if you work really hard. There have been few days on which I didn't do anything and I always took 1.5 times the regular course load or more and could have probably had my degree after 2 years were it not for a technicality with the transfer and funding requirements. That may have shown and now I am really happy with the outcome. Also never wait for others or blame limited opportunities. If you are interested in something be it advanced methods, game theory or a specific substantive subfield, just google for good introductory books, the main journals, and so forth and start reading. You won't get any younger and it will never hurt to have learned/read more than it would have been required. That said I would not advise anyone to do the same as I did, because the probability that you shoot yourself in the foot is too high if you first transfer and then take an exchange year, because there will be few profs who know you well, few opportunities to get a RA position, and it will send a lot of mixed signals as some others also mentioned to me I would probably just recommend a lot of hard work and a stable undergraduate degree and you should be set. SOP: You dont want to read it. It becomes worse by the second.

On 2., Yale may be an option. Slovik is there as far as I can remember.

Yeah, I did. Best offer and best fit arguably, and the stipend suffices for everything I will need, so who am I to wait or to complain. Also closure.

It was meant as a reply to an earlier post regarding the funding/endowment reduction.

I think that it is important to note that given the low number of admitted students, 4% turns out to be about 1 spot. Of course, it can be the difference between an acceptance and a rejection, but the chances do not become that much smaller.

I don't remember any but given the limited variation I would not give it too much thought.

In March according to what I read on PSR.

Going to Columbia. I am quite certain that I haven't misclicked anything.

1) I can only partially speak for Columbia as it is the school I am going to, but it seems to me like funding after the fifth year is pretty certain given how regularly it is alluded to in the material they provide on the website. 2) I guess whether you feel overworked depends on what kind of person you are, how you work, and how fast and efficient you are at it and maybe less on the program. Personally, I wake up every morning at 6 and work from 8AM (10AM on the weekends) to 17:30+PM and then go to bed at 10 PM. Some would say that this is excessive (my grand-mother), others would consider it as normal. I would be bored if I wouldn't do it and if I were to only focus on the courses I am taking now, I would only do stuff on two days a week which would feel frustrating. In sum, in your place I would ask myself what kind of person I am and then contact current graduate students at the departments to ask about their experience to do some comparisons. 3) Given their rank, I would say that they may be both generally good. But again, it depends on what you are actually interested in. I do IR and for example didn't apply at Havard because they quasi-literally have nobody who is working in my field of interest. Columbia on the other hand is practically a dream come true.

Person of interest

Oh, I misread that. Sorry.

How come? Only the quant training? I've 4-5 persons in my area at Columbia and only 1-2 at NYU.