Study Center Gerzensee and Programs

Transcription

1 Study Center Gerzensee and US PhD-Programs Programs MA Lorenz Küng, May 15 th 2006

2 Content 1) Program for Beginning Doctoral Students in Economics at the Study Center Gerzensee ~ 10 2) Ph.D. Programs in the U.S. (and partly in Europe) ~ 5

3 Gerzensee What is it? Micro, Macro, Econometrics sequence (4 weeks each + 1 week math crash course) Micro Sequence Klaus Schmidt, University of Munich (MWG 1-6) Jean-Charles Rochet, University of Toulouse (MWG 10,15-17) Mathias Dewatripont, Bruxelles and MIT (Tirole; Fudenberg & Tirole) John H. Moore, London School of Economics (MWG 13, 14) Macro Sequence Bob King, Boston University Sergio Rebelo, Northwestern (Kellogg) Jordi Galí, Pompeu Fabra and MIT Econometrics Sequence Mark Watson, Princeton Bo Honoré, Princeton see program description

4 Gerzensee Past Performance 10 (resp. 7) Completed the Full Program: 4 (resp. 1) student from the Economics Department Name Year Department Schmolck Björn 1995/96 Quantitative Redondo Maria José 1999 Quantitative Mueller Jeannette 2000??? Cerratti Roberto 2001 Quantitative Karusisi Diane 2001 Quantitative Wunsch Johannes 2003 Business Kueng Lorenz 2006 Economics Schnyder Simon 2007? Economics Wasmer Malgorzota 2007? Economics Selvarajah, Shauna 2007? Economics 11 Completed only Parts of the Program: 3 students from the Economics Department Name Year Department Course(s) Ranaldo Angelo 1997 Economics Macro Schmitz-Esser Valerio 1997 Quantitative Micro Hosp Gerald 1998 Economics Macro Krause Andreas 1998??? Metrics De Gottardi Curzio 1998/99 Economics Metrics/Macro Sturm Andy 1999/00 Economics Metrics/Macro Glauser Manrico 2000 Quantitative Metrics Zanetti Attilio 2000/01 Economics Metrics/Macro Karagök Yavuz 2002 Quantitative Micro Babalyan Levon 2003 Business Metrics Zainhofer Florian 2005 Business Metrics/Macro Comparison with the University of Bern (~ same department size): 28 completed the full program, 13 only parts of it.

5 Gerzensee Past Performance (2) Potential reasons for poor performance? weak (mathematical) backgrounds of students graduating from Fribourg - compared to students from other Swiss universities (ï high drop out rate) too little time allocated by advisor insufficient incentives for PhDs to do the program and insufficient incentives for advisors to encourage PhDs too few benefits from program for PhD-thesis

6 Gerzensee Requirements for the PhD student: acquire sufficient mathematical background (either through self-study or through courses at the Math Department) willingness to work hard (also on areas that are of minor interest with respect to his thesis) willingness to work in groups and to actively look for cooperation (because of lack of other participants from Fribourg)

7 Gerzensee Requirements (2) for the doctoral advisor: willingness to free the PhD student from most/all of his administrative duties at the chair for one year (because the PhD program is a 100%-150% job, depending on the student s background!!!)

8 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz. Benefits for PhD student: thorough formal training of basic economics and of econometrics (intellectual) access to papers not accessible before contact to first rate faculty contact to other PhD students with similar (technical) backgrounds increased chance of good performance on job market (private and academic) possibility to obtain Letters of Reference

9 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(2) Benefits for doctoral advisor and the Economics Department: more qualified assistants (for research collaboration and for teaching assistance) attract qualified students who would otherwise choose a university that offers the possibility to do the Program PhD thesis of higher (academic) quality reputation gain for department for placing students at top departments, (government) institutions, and at top positions in private sector and also reputation gain in academics due to increase in publications ï IT IS AN INVESTMENT!!!

10 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(3) Let me be more precise about the last point, the reputation gain, because you might say that you don t want your PhD students to leave the University of Fribourg: accept the fact that the University Fribourg will never compete with Harvard as a research institution strategy as an excellent teaching college (in the sense of a Liberal Arts College ) Therefore, I see 3 markets where Fribourg can serve as a supplier:

11 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(4) The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as 1. supplier of students for PhD programs at research universities (Europe & USA). In order of decreasing relevance, the requirements are: - mathematical background (courses at Math Department with excellent grades) - Letters of Reference from first rate economists know in the US - good scoring at GRE and TOEFL - good grades at Gerzensee or at equivalent graduate program - Statement of Purpose & consistent selection of universities - excellent grades in economics courses - teaching experience - publications & undergraduate thesis

12 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(4) The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as 2. supplier of research and PhDs for institutions in (Swiss) policy oriented private and public sector: - interested in policy oriented research of high quality (theory and empirics) - public choice perspective ( consulting policy makers) - ability to work empirically using Swiss data - capability to work independently

13 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(5) The Econ Department of the University of Fribourg as 3. supplier of undergraduates and PhDs for research departments in private firms (not policy oriented): - show command of logical reasoning - ability to work empirically - capability to work independently

14 Gerzensee Benefits from Gerz.(6) The strategy and the 3 job markets graphically: Research Universities with PhD programs Private and Public Sector interested in (Swiss) policy related research (e.g. Credit Suisse research, SNB, BAK, Ecoplan, ) with Master or after 1 st year PhD after PhD Economics Department during or after PhD Private Sector not (directly) policy oriented (e.g. research in banks, consulting, )

15 One last Advice Marketing!!! inform potential future Bachelor and Master students about their perspectives on the job markets when holding a degree from Fribourg (output instead of input orientation ) list placements of past students from Fribourg on homepage ( increase transparency) with BA/MA system, competition between universities becomes tougher students will choose universities according to their position in the market! (remember graphic) offer them as much flexibility/perspectives as is realistic (as opposed to possible) for a small university like Fribourg encourage students to do Gerzensee and/or equivalent graduate courses/programs

16 2 nd PART - U.S. Ph.D. Programs What is it? The Admission Process

17 What is it? The standard PhD program consists of: 2 years of course work (1 st basics, 2 nd field courses) 3rd and 4th year: attending research seminars work as Research or Teaching Assistant completion of thesis (and job market paper)

18 The Admission Process The admission process takes ~ 1 year. It is as follows: 1. collect information [internet] and select universities [~ 5-15] (December March) 2. ask for Letters of Recommendation (April December) 3. GRE and TOEFL (Graduate Record Examination; Test of English as a Foreign Language) 4. order official (sealed) degree/grade translations 5. write Statement of Purpose (and Diversity Statement) 6. fill in application forms (October December) 7. application deadline (December for US) 8. admission offers (March 15th) 9. visit days (March April) 10. acceptance deadline (April 15th) 11. preparation for 1st year (April July/August) 12. start of PhD program (July/August)

19 THANK YOU!