[Breaking: Sources say programs scaling down this year]

I have a feeling that these anonymous claims on the rumor board are at least exaggerated.

This St. Louis Dispatch article explains why:

Two issues here.

1. "They" say. Of course administrators are not gonna tell the press that they are slashing budgets. I read that WashU lost about 1/4 of of its endowment, not an atypical performance: do the math.

2. "students can rest easy". Indeed, us PhD students can (mostly) rest easy as our funding will continue, although some perks are being cut. For those of you who are applicants, and not students, the situation is bleaker.

[Economics to Poli Sci track]

Let me reiterate a few points made here

1. For many programs, econ students will be welcomed. These include Harvard, Stanford, NYU, Rochester, WashU, Caltech, Stanford GSB. Any of these have good placements in formal modelling and quant methods.

2. At these schools you can specialize in methods or formal, so your lack of polisci is little to no problem.

[Breaking: Sources say programs scaling down this year]

Just to add my voice: in my dept at a wealthy private university, there will definitely be less offers this season. New admissions and summer funding are the first things to go.

[Do you actually know what depts. specialize in?]

Berkeley grad student here...

Like most of the Top 10, the department really isn't that specialized, at least not any more.

That view may not shared by those outside your dept. My view of Berkeley is that it is one of the bastions of qually work, especially in comparative.

The most specialized places tend to fall somewhere in the 10-30 range, with those schools generally looking to establish a real comparative advantage in one thing or another.

CalTech and Rochester, two places specializing in formal and quantitative stuff, are surely both in the top 10, just by looking at their placements.