Hi folks,
I was recently admitted to the economics program at UMN for the fall semester as a transfer student. Anyone had any experience with Econ at UMN? How does it compare to Econ programs at schools such as UIUC and UMW and what sort of opportunities are provided for UMN Econ grads? Thanks in advance.
Used to be tops for macro (fresh water). Slipping now.
@barrons - slipping? How so? Macro is still ranked pretty high on USNews (albeit for the grad program). What does “freshwater” mean?
Most of their big names left, died or retired. Freshwater means schools around the Great Lakes vs the coasts (salt water). Different views of macro econ basics.
You must be thinking of the Nobel laureate who passed away (in his 90’s) and the other one who is now at ASU. But keep in mind all the Nobel Laureates who are UMN trained macro economists and won that award while at Yale, UChicago, MIT, etc. And I believe the level of quality is still quite high, FWIW. Fresh vs. salt might be an outdated term nowadays as many freshwater economists have been located at prestigious saltwater institutions for awhile now. I’m under the impression that Rational Expectations beat back the Keynesians a few decades ago but perhaps the latter has had a bit of a revival the last few years.
Some of this esoterica doesn’t apply directly to the undergrad program, of course. The biggest issue there would be class sizes, how much of your major will be taught by a prof. vs. a TA, rigor and difficulty of the program etc. On that front, from everything I’ve heard, the undergrad program is pretty good, esp. for a state school.