Economics: Cornell v. San Diego (v. Davis)

[Salty_Jelly]

Hi there,

 

I have been accepted into the Economics PhD program at Cornell (stipend + tuition) and UC Davis (no word on funding at the moment).  I am also waiting to see my result for UC San Diego.  Assuming that I get into San Diego as well, I am hoping that current students at Cornell and UC San Diego can help me decide on which school is a better for me.

 

My goal is to eventually become an academic.  I really enjoy microeconomic theory.  My undergraduate background is mainly in theoretical economics and mathematics (mainly analysis).  I would much rather live in San Diego than Ithaca.  However, I'd rather attend Cornell if it were a better fit for me than San Diego.  I have not researched either university beyond browsing the two websites, reading a few working/published papers, and finding out the schools' locale through Youtube and Google Maps.

 

From what I have been told, both Cornell and UC San Diego strictly dominate UC Davis.  Therefore, I am not considering UC Davis unless someone convinces me otherwise.

 

Any comments/criticisms is much appreciated. 

[kechemukwa]

I'd look into the programs to figure out which is the best fit before making a decision. That being said, I don't think you'll sacrifice much program quality wise by going to UCSD but you do gain a hell of alot location wise. San Diego is basically paradise, especially compared to the frozen wastes (for 6 months of the year anyway) of upstate NY.

 

I'm hoping to be faced by a similar decision since my two top choices are UC Irvine and Cornell.

Edited March 6, 2014 by kechemukwa

[TheCakeIsALie]

Can't really contribute much about economics PhD in particular.

 

Went to Cornell for undergrad - why I didn't apply there for grad school. I loved it because I had really good friends and fun extracurricular activities. All of my grad student friends were miserable though (across all schools) and spent whatever time they weren't working drinking themselves into oblivion. I majored in multipe subjects including economics so I got to meet many of the professors. The economics professors are stellar - my favorite class was Game Theory...the professor is now the Ben Bernanke of India.

 

Interviewed and ended up withdrawing from UCSD - the campus itself is beautiful and they actually have a surprisingly academically motivated campus for a California school (not to be offensive, it's just a different mentality from the Northeast). It's not the cutthroat atmosphere of some of the Eastern schools (which is good and bad) and I don't know about the economic professors, but wow it was beautiful! Everybody there seems genuinely happy. I only picked a different school because they had stronger PI's in my particular field of interest. UCSD is in La Jolla, which is on the beach. Downtown is like a 20 minute drive away and there is a lot of good food and things to do. LA is 2 hours away, Vegas 4. But I don't know if that really matters to you. Coming from Cornell, where the most exciting thing was Dinosaur BBQ/Syracuse mall an hour + away, this was something important to me.

Edited March 6, 2014 by TheCakeIsALie

[Salty_Jelly]

Thanks Kechemukwa.

 

I'm not sure if there is much information available online beyond the research that I have done already.  Hence, I am hoping that a current student/teacher or alumni can shed some light on the programs.  

 

I would much prefer the school that is a slightly better match.  If they were perfectly matched, then I would go to the one with the best stipend and weather.

[Salty_Jelly]

Thanks TheCakeIsALie - that was insightful.  

[Rantar]

UCSD is better for economics, go there. Don't torture yourself in Ithaca for a slighty less reputable program.

[Salty_Jelly]

To Ranter: Could you please elaborate?  Some ranking systems put San Diego ahead; others' say that Cornell dominates UC San Diego. 

Edited March 7, 2014 by Salty_Jelly