Judging Graduate Schools

For an aspiring economist, the most important decisions you will make are (a) where you will go to graduate school and (b) who your thesis advisor will be.  In my capacity as a faculty member at NYU and now GMU, and as a faculty in the summer programs run by Foundation for Economic Education, the Institute for Humane Studies, and The Fund for American Studies, I have been fielding questions about graduate school choice for close to 20 years.  In fact, for my entire time at GMU I have been responsible for student recruiting for the Mercatus Center and also for the department of economics in general.

I tell students to go to the best graduate school that they can get into that will pay their full way. And I usually give the students I am recruiting positive information on alternative programs that we tend to compete with for students --- UVA, Maryland, NYU, Clemson, Georgia, Florida State, West Virginia, Claremont, etc.  But I stress to students that they must study carefully the programs they are looking at, and to not listen to critical comments about other programs from professors in the programs competing for them.  In other words, don't listen to the criticisms of GMU from FSU faculty, or of WVU from GMU faculty.  Instead, I tell them to do their homework and study the CVs of faculty they want to study with, the placement record of graduates, and the publications of graduates from the program.  In fact, I think the historical record of graduates from the program in terms of placement and publication is perhaps the most important evidence they can find.

GMU graduates disproportionally publish books as compared to other programs.  In my cohort (1984-1988), PhD theses were regularly turned into books --- e.g., Roy Cordato, Brian Goff, Trey Fleisher, David Prychitko, Steve Horwitz, and myself all publishded our dissertations as books within a year or two of graduation.  I have periodically mentioned these and other books by GMU graduates on this blog.  And I am going to again today.  J. C. Bradbury, who graduated from GMU in 2000, has a new book out that I have read with great pleasure and great benefit --- The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed.  JC's dissertation work was not on baseball, but instead in the field of public choice.  But he has developed a market niche for himself in the economic analysis of baseball.  I have talked about JC's work on pitchers and designated hitters before on this blog, and the book summarizes the numerous insights that he has explored in various journal articles over the years.  But what I want to stress is that even if you are not interested in baseball per se, this work reflects JC's thorough understanding of the economic way of thinking and his ability to apply economics to make sense of everyday behaviors.  In short, it demonstrates that JC Bradbury is an excellent economist.  In the process, I would hope that prospective students considering GMU for graduate school would look at JC's work and say to themselves --- "geez, that is really great stuff, I'd like to learn how to do that too."

JC's work shows all the strenghts of a GMU education ---- complete dedication to the applicability of the economic way of thinking to all human endeavors, a subtle understanding of statistical analysis, an appreciation of the entrepreneurial aspects in competitive environments, and a thorough intellectual commitment to studying how the rules of the game impact the strategies that the players in the game choose (whether that game be politics, commerce, or baseball).

Congratulations to JC for his work on sabbernomics and for The Baseball Economist.  Great stuff.  I am so thrilled that one of our graduates could write so well and so insightful about a topic that millions of fans care so passionately about, and I think it is among the best advertisements GMU's PhD program could have for prospective graduate students.

Comments

[Carl Marks]

Of course the hard part is convincing schools that you deserve a free ride, especially when most of your studies have been outside the classroom

[Peter Boettke]

Unfortunately, the basis of decisions is on standardized measures ... GRE scores, GPA in undergraduate. At GMU to be considered a strong candidate for funds you need a 3.6 GPA or higher, and 760 GRE Quantitative and 630 GRE Verbal.

There are programs that encourage non-traditional learners at universities, you just have to find the appropriate fit.

[liberty]

I like programs that encourage book length dissertations as opposed to the 3-papers model. Any thoughts on that? Also, could you link those dissertations that were later published for us? (I could probably find them, but if you link them you could also comment on them, etc)

[Jule Herbert]

... and I...published. Not "myself...published"

Please!