Read the News --- GMU is #1

If you walk around GMU campus these days, you will see similar signs announcing that US News & World Report named GMU the #1 univeristy to watch.  After the Final 4 appearance, GMU invested in a giant electronic board on Braddock Rd, right outside of the campus to alert passers-by of events on the campus at the Center for the Arts or at the Patriot Center, or proudly announcing such distinctions bestowed by US News & World Report.

GMU is the largest university in the state of Virginia I believe, and the campus is currently building an amazing number of new dorms, a conference center, and new academic buildings.

For a relatively young university (still under 50 years of age), to have been able to distinguish itself in the realms of research in the natural sciences, social sciences  andl law, work in the humanities, in particularly literature, the arts, and athletics is something very unique.  Back in the 1980s, GMU was often referred to as an "upstart" university, but at the time there was barely 10,000 students all but roughly 1,000 commuted, athletic accomplishments were mainly in women's soccer and track and field, and James Buchanan was putting the school on the map with his Nobel Prize, Henry Manne was building the law school basically from scratch, and Robinson Professors such as Carlos Fuentes were bringing attention to GMU as potential Nobel Prize winners in literature. 

Today we have well over 30,000 students, Vernon Smith won another Nobel Prize in economics, the Law School is one of the best in the world for law and economics, the basketball program is highlighted on EA Sports games and plays on ESPN and consistently posts 20+ wins per season and draws close to 7,000 to home games on average (this year the team was undefeated at home, lost in the finals of the CAA tournament to a very strong VCU team, and lost in the NIT to Penn State in overtime -- Penn State was the eventual champions), our baseball team is among the top 25 teams in the country, swimming team has Olympic level performers, Track and Field has Olympic level athletes, women's lacrosse is among the best, etc., etc.  In short, GMU is a world-class institution in the US style of academia (which includes not just pure academics, but also cultural events, athletic events, living arrangements, etc.).

When George Johnson became President of GMU, he announced that he wanted to make GMU the Stanford of the East Coast.  We obviously aren't there yet, but who would have believed the progress that was made across the board at this school since 1980?  It is an amazing achievement in academic entrepreneurship.

Comments

[Zac]

As an alum (2005) I take pride in these accomplishments and I never regret my decision to take a full ride to GMU over admission offers from higher-ranked schools in the state. I think my parents appreciated that as well. I regret not going to more basketball games, although I am harboring a small grudge that they never made the NCAA tourney while I was a student (the Final Four run came the year after I graduated).

"GMU is the largest university in the state of Virginia I believe, and the campus is currently building an amazing number of new dorms, a conference center, and new academic buildings."

I believe both VT and VCU have a higher student enrollment, but all are rather close to 30,000.

Unfortunately even though the university seems to have a lot of resources to finance new construction, I am led to believe this year as a graduate applicant that the school is basically broke (or at least the high profile multi-Nobel winning Economics department is). Tuition remission rates are far, far below the average for even second-tier programs, and this year money is so tight that the department can afford to fund exactly zero new students (although the privately funded Mercatus Center made a small number of fellowships available).

I would probably be an incompetent university president, but to me the school's priorities seem puzzling. Sure, they're the #1 university to watch. But the school has lost most of Vernon Smith's experimental team to Chapman Univ. (including Smith himself although he retains a relationship to the school) and can't afford to fund any PhD students - so what exactly are we watching right now? As both an alum and a prospective student, I am concerned.

[Peter Boettke]

Zac,

According to this source: http://education-portal.com/articles/Virginia_(VA):_Overiew_of_Virginia's_College_and_University_System.html

GMU tops the list of schools for total enrollment.

You raise a good point about GMU and one that must be put in context however.

1. On funding. The university has never been the source of funding for GMU PhD students. A small number of PhD students were on university funds, the vast majority were on private foundation funds or on research grants associated with professors. Everyone has taken a hit this year as endowments have taken a hit.

2. Losing Vernon Smith and Bart Wilson were major blows to the department and the univesity. And now we have lost Larry Iannaconne as well. Chapman University made very attractive offers. I had the opportunity to move there with Vernon, and decided against it for a variety of reasons --- some that continue to make sense, others that don't. We will see what great things might come from Chapman.
But you have to remember that Dan Houser stayed behind, and this year we just hired two new experimentalists to join ICES. So I think ICES will remain a very strong part of our program. Dan is also doing work in experimental public choice with Thomas Stratman, which is a very promising area of research. And there are students who mix the Austrian theory of the market process, and/or the Buchanan research program in constitutional political economy with experimental economics and this is all very exciting and promising.

3. The bad times financially at GMU will not last as faculty adjust to the reality and start doing more to have funds for graduate students, etc. I think you are extrapolating too much from your unfortunate experience. And we still have a full class next year of kids coming into the program. I honestly believe that funding opportunities will be popping up by mid-year, though of course nobody can guarantee this. In your particular case, you have a close relationship with Bryan and Robin and you should be seeking them out for funds for graduate school. Let me repeat, GMU has NEVER funded graduate students at a significant level, it was always through the fund raising capabilities of gentlemen like Walter Williams, or James Buchanan and Bob Tollison, etc. Walter used to bring in $400K per year, which might have given people the wrong impression that the university was awash in cash for graduate students. Nope, Earhart, Bradley, Scaife, Fox, Koch, Weaver, etc., foundations and families, were responsible for our graduate program's ability to attract top talent to GMU.

The top talent is impressive --- GRE Q 780 or above; GPA -- 3.7 or above, and a consistent record of graduate student publications and placement. In order to keep this up, we need to raise funds. In that sense I agree with you --- that if we are unable to do that we are not going to be something worth watching, but instead something worth closing our eyes at in terms of the train wreck. But I also think we have historically had a very entrepreneurial faculty.

So I suggest you talk to Bryan and Robin and see what they are researching, what sort of grants they are operating under, and whether they have a need for a gradaute research assistant. As Walter Williams always said, the goal to make sure GMU economics operates efficiently was to effectively "privatize" the department. This is as true today as it was when he said that first around 15 years ago when he assumed the chairmanship.

[Zac]

Its a minor point but I decided to check it out, because I would love to brag to my friends from VT that GMU was the largest school in the state. According to http://research.schev.edu/enrollment/E2_Report.asp [virginia.gov] I'm right, but these things have a tendency to fluctuate from year to year (GMU was #1 in enrollment in 2005). More interestingly, GMU's _graduate_ enrollment is about 50% higher than the closest competition (11230 vs 7817 at VCU), a factoid I didn't know.

Losing good faculty is worrisome, and of course it would have been even worse if GMU had lost you Pete. I had not heard Larry Iannaccone was leaving, that is a major loss in my mind (he was my teacher and a mentor). I hope Pete's right and the departures just represent a rough patch and not a trend of losing top talent. With regard to the full class of kids coming in, I wish them well, but do wonder why they're by and large ignoring your (sound) advice not to accept admission offers not tied to funding.

As far as my personal experience is concerned, I only appeal to it as an example of the funding situation this year being quite dire. I had every reason to believe my application was strong (780Q/720V, math and econ degrees with solid performance, including graduate micro and public finance, and what I am led to believe were passionate letters of recommendation) and yet received no funding offer, not even a partial tuition remission.

Lest anyone get the impression that I'm bitter and ragging on the poor GMU econ department, that's really not the case. I'm encouraged that GMU attracted students with better applications than my own, I want them as cowriters! It would be a great place to study economics, the most exciting I could think of, and I've deferred my application to 2010 with high hopes for a better result.

[Greg Ransom]

Hey, you already have a better econ dept. that Stanford. ;-)

(And no Stockholm syndrome bowing down to Stanford.)

[Mario Rizzo]

Well, if bragging is permitted then:

http://thinkmarkets.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/nyu-economics-department-ranked-twelfth-in-the-nation/

[Peter Twieg]

Zac -

I empathize with your plight, I'm currently a first-year student who was accepted with no support, but was lucky enough to find a position as a GRA... it isn't a full tuition waiver, and it ties me to a particular faculty member, but it's far better than nothing. There is funding out there if you're willing to look for it, I believe.

But to a large extent, I wonder if the funding issue isn't so much about disappointed expectations as it is about actual financial need. I personally don't mind going into debt some, but I can definitely understand how not being offered funding could be seen as something of an insult. But I think that choosing the school which is best able to foster your intellectual growth should be heavily prioritized over choosing the school which can make the most lucrative financial offer, and that's why I don't regret choosing GMU.

Best of luck.

[Peter Boettke]

Mario --- that is awesome news on NYU's ranking. I like the 7th place finish better than 12th --- easier on my ego to say I am no longer at the 7th ranked program! But I can live with 12th as well. :). BTW, thanks again for showing up at the Colubmia talk.

Zac and Peter --- my general advice to students about go to the best school that you can get into that will pay your full way is based on (a) the normal practice in academia of basically fully funding PhD students, and (b) out of basic concern that people don't go deeply into debt to pursue an academic career (as opposed to a business career, or law, or medical). If the acquisition of human capital is essential for your career, and the rate of return on that human capital with respect to your career will justify the debt, then by all means go into debt. Also, if the school you applied to is unusual like GMU and doesn't fund a large % of incoming students, even in good times, then perhaps you should weigh your options differently. I would go there, impress the faculty, and get a fellowship. People will try to find you money if you excel in and out of the classroom. Many students come to GMU either with zero, or little support, but then do well, and get picked up on funds and do well. The key issue is finding the right environment for you to grow as an intellectual/scholar/scientist.

My advise to Zac actually is to come to GMU in August and work closely with faculty in the public choice center such as Bryan and Robin, and do such an outstanding job in the classroom, in seminars, and in your own research that funds will be found (even in tough times) to make sure you stay on. It is a gamble, but one that I think in your case would be worth it. Especially given that you have a strong advocate already in Caplan. But it is the faculty that will have to find funds, NOT THE UNIVERSITY.

Despite our accomplishments, you have to remember that GMU remains a poor public university in a university systems (state of VA) that is in crisis. The ability to withstand the crisis will be a function of the ability of the faculty to act entrepreneurially in raising funds to advance their work. Graduate students hook their cart to a horse intellectually, financially, and ultimately career placement. This is not a "sugar daddy" idea, it is a mentor idea. In the best cass, the student actually surpasses the teacher and pulls the cart in an entirely new direction (one which the professor had no idea of before the student). But up to that point, life is a bit different.

Zac -- you know who you want to study with, you know what sort of work you want to do, GMU is the ONLY place doing that sort of work. Come here, get busy with your work, and I bet if you do a good job $$$ will come. That could prove to be wrong, but in your case I would suggest you be willing to take that bet.

But then again, a lot depends on your own risk/reward assessment.

Pete

[Arare Litus]

RE: Tuition

I took a quick glance at the fees, and it looks like almost $6,000/course (for international students). A tuition waiver would be a huge help for students!

Question - I did not dig around for GMU, but in Canada our tuition fee schedule has a factor of 2 difference between citizens and people who live on the opposite side of of artificial line (and perhaps live in a different coloured country on the map - and even stranger spell things like colour without extraneous u's! Or speak different languages!!!). This is essentially politically "enforced", although I do not think there are specific funding strings attached from the federal government [i.e. Universities claim it is a required public image issue - since public schools are tax funded it is a hard sell to "the public" to collect their money and give it to "foreigners"]. Does GMU (& US schools in general) have a similar situation - I do know you have instate/out state tuition [I think in Canada the only province that does in-province/out is Quebec - but I believe that is how they do "citizens"/"outsiders", Quebec is an interesting on going case study].

Just wondering. My current argument pro single fee is that teaching foreign students is outreach ("foreign aid that works") and recruitment [and not just in the "come live with us if you want", but to the body of ideas of a *liberal* democracy, to stronger relationships and exchange with us, etc].

[Arare Litus]

Zac,

You are getting a strong sell!

I'll tell you a brief version of my story - I was accepted in several schools, and ended up choosing the lowest funded option, as I believed it was the most interesting option. It included a scholarship, but one that covered tuition and just a little bit more, and the funding was not guaranteed beyond the first year. At the time I was seriously constrained by dyslexia, so my productivity was lower than average [i.e. it was a struggle to read & write - and I was/am not willing to "come out of the closet" in order to get different standards applied to me] so I did not feel I could work an RAship or TAship or even a partial marking job and make it through my studies. So I was living well below the poverty line, and working long (but fun and challenging!) hours.

The struggle turned out to be worth it - the sheer amount of work helped me overcome dyslexia [combined with taking a French class earlier:
http://arare-litus.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-gift-of-dyslexia.html ], I loved the work, and my marks improved to the point that I could get better funding & scholarships for my PhD.

It was a gamble - I could have easily washed out, not gotten my funding extended [in fact, shortly after getting to my new city & school the administrators tried to pull my scholarship due to a previous error they made, and part way through my degree the funding behind the scholarship dried up due to an amazingly bad accounting error so some students were "dumped"], etc. etc. It paid off, so I'm (like Peter) giving you a partially biased sample story "gamble, you have good chance!", but I will tell you this - I really *lived* during my masters, it was scary, exciting, challenging, fun, devastating, life changing, interesting, mind expanding. I also learned a lot from "negatives" - I got to see some poor examples close up, and really learn a lot of what *not* to do.

In my experience it is best to choose a school based on (1) the professor you want to work with and (2) the general environment (i.e. exciting classes and classmates). I strongly suggest you "marry up" to a prof, I personally did this before coming into my masters and my PhD. It is all about the mentorship.

Even if you can only get an *effective* tuition waiver and a small amount of cash (i.e. enough support to pay the school bill and eat bland food) I think it will be worth it - marrying up to a prof usually will do this; other scholarships are potential gravy on top. I say this, because in hindsight I think that even "washing out" - which it doesn't sound like you will have issues with - and having some debt would have been worth it for me: grad school is "life unplugged" (to use a cliche).

[martinf]

I have just started to look for funds to go abroad (from Spain) to GMU to study there one year or so after I finish my degree. Any advice?
Thanks!

[Peter Boettke]

Martinf,

In the past students from France, for example, have come to study -- talk to Alex Padilla at MetroState in Denver about his arrangement.

Also ask Frederic Sautet about his arrangement at NYU.

Pete

[TGGP]

I'm interested in the governance of non-market (or at least non profit maximizing) institutions. What do you mean when you refer to "privatizing" departments for efficiency?