Purdue vs. U of Iowa

[Pranvi]

Hi! Could you please help me decide if I should attend Purdue or U of Iowa for PhD in Economics? I am interested mainly in Macro, mathematical economics and economic theory. Both offered me full tuition/fees + stipend. Purdue is giving me 18k per year as a stipend and Iowa is giving me 20k per year.

I think that ranking wise, Iowa is little better than Purdue. Also, for macro and mathematical econ, I think that Iowa is better than Purdue. Moreover, Nicholas Yannelis is teaching at Iowa.

However, Purdue has a really big public name, mainly because of its business and engineering schools. Its placement history is awesome. Most importantly, I found its department really amazing. The faculty is very diverse and huge. Krannert is well known everywhere.

So, in my opinion, both schools are pretty good from different regards. And, I might change my mind regarding the area of specialization after a year or so. So, I don't want to be too focused on this while choosing grad school.

Finally, how about the location? Has anyone been to both Iowa city and West Lafayette? How do these cities compare? Which city is a better place to live?

Keeping all these things in mind, can anyone please suggest me which college I should choose? Right now, I am so confused and really can't decide. I would appreciate your help!

[Behavioral]

I don't know anything about Macro (I was a Game Theory dude throughout undergrad), but it already sounds like you prefer Purdue (at least just based on this post).

Both schools are in college towns surrounded by mostly farm/corn fields. Iowa City would win out slightly (in my opinion of visiting both campuses only once) in terms of things to do and night life (besides just drinking; both cities have large bar scenes from what I remember). It's all about personal preference. The two cities don't really differ too much, but that's based off two weekend stays.