UVa has toxic culture and been tanking itself for awhile.
You obviously got various selection of faculty at UMD, and I have heard many great things about that department.
UW-Madison AAE vs U-Virginia vs U-Maryland
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Thank you for all of the replies, it's good to hear everyone's opinions. It is a little confusing though when one post directly contradicts another, and without knowing the identities of the people posting, or the justifications for their assertions, then it's difficult to know which to believe.
For those saying I should definitely not choose Wisconsin, could you briefly explain why, given that I want to environmental economics? Their placements, especially the most recent ones, seem pretty good to me (yes I know they're not in the economics departments of Ivy League schools but I'm not particularly fussed about that). And having 2 years of funding without TA/RA requirements will also surely be a big advantage as well, right?
Also, please pardon my ignorance, but what does LRM mean?If you have to ask, then you are LRM.
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Visit both. I'd lean toward Maryland.
I think visiting both would probably solve the issue for me but I don't live in the US and flying doesn't seem like the wisest thing to do at the moment, so I've just got the virtual open days and google street view to go off...
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If you want to do Environmental, choose Wisconsin. If not, Maryland would be the clear winner.
Maryland is the clear winner for environmental, too. Cropper is the only enviro professor in econ at Maryland, but she's great. And there are a *ton* of good enviro faculty in AREC who would be happy to work with econ students. The enviro/resources field in Econ includes 2 courses taught by AREC faculty. Your primary advisor needs to have some appointment in econ, which would limit you to Cropper or Williams (who's in AREC, but has an affiliate appointment with econ). But the rest of your committee can come from either department. Cropper and Williams are each better than any of the enviro faculty at Wisconsin. Linn (also in AREC) probably is, too.
Some folks earlier in this thread suggested that if you're in econ, AREC faculty won't work with you. That's flat-out wrong. But don't just take my word for it. Email one or two AREC faculty you might want to work with, tell them you've been admitted to the econ department, and ask how they'd feel about working with you. I bet you'll get a positive response.
College Park is the biggest downside of being at Maryland. But it's easy to take the subway into DC (going 3 subway stops gets you inside the DC border, going 2 or 3 more gets you to fun DC neighborhoods).
-Maryland insider
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Unless you want to do Environmental, in which case Maryland would be a bad choice.
You are receiving bad advice on this thread. You've got to be crazy to choose UWM AAE over Maryland Econ.
I can't emphasize this enough. Wisconsin AAE is not even remotely competitive with Maryland Econ. Even UVA Econ is a much much better program.
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UVA isn't a great fit for env. Maryland econ is obviously a better department, but it'd only be better for environment if you're able to work closely with AREC faculty, which I'm sure you can.
Wisconsin AAE has a strong environment group, but placement prospects aren't quite as good. If you're goal is academic placement, it's certainly possible if you're a strong candidate, but won't be a guarantee. That said they got a bunch of good faculty, and if you care about quality of life, they have a good culture and Madison is great.
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Ok, so from this I can take that Wisconsin is the best option for environmental, while also being the worst; that Virginia is toxic, but that it's a better choice than Wisconsin even though they only have 1 environment faculty member; that Maryland would be the best option if I can work with AREC faculty, and that Maryland AREC is a dysfunctional cesspool. About as coherent as any other thread on here I suppose!
Having said that, a genuine thank you to those who posted offering sensible informed advice.
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If you want to do Environmental, choose Wisconsin. If not, Maryland would be the clear winner.
Maryland is the clear winner for environmental, too. Cropper is the only enviro professor in econ at Maryland, but she's great. And there are a *ton* of good enviro faculty in AREC who would be happy to work with econ students. The enviro/resources field in Econ includes 2 courses taught by AREC faculty. Your primary advisor needs to have some appointment in econ, which would limit you to Cropper or Williams (who's in AREC, but has an affiliate appointment with econ). But the rest of your committee can come from either department. Cropper and Williams are each better than any of the enviro faculty at Wisconsin. Linn (also in AREC) probably is, too.
Some folks earlier in this thread suggested that if you're in econ, AREC faculty won't work with you. That's flat-out wrong. But don't just take my word for it. Email one or two AREC faculty you might want to work with, tell them you've been admitted to the econ department, and ask how they'd feel about working with you. I bet you'll get a positive response.
College Park is the biggest downside of being at Maryland. But it's easy to take the subway into DC (going 3 subway stops gets you inside the DC border, going 2 or 3 more gets you to fun DC neighborhoods).
-Maryland insider^Second this. OP, you should definitely email some AREC faculties, probably Cropper a well, to check this out yourself.
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If you want to do environmental, Maryland is the obvious choice. Wisconsin AAE has a solid group of enviro faculty, but Maryland's group is far better.
Take a look at the ranking at https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.env.html#authors of the top 10% of environmental economists in the world. It's not a perfect ranking by any means, but it's not crazy. Count how many people from Wisconsin make the list (and keep in mind that Brock is retired). Now count how many people from Maryland make the list. Yes, most of them are in AREC, but as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, econ students can easily work with AREC faculty.
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Maryland AREC is a cesspool. It’s a dysfunctional hellhole, which is why they can’t retain or recruit.
There's some truth to this. Some of the old guys in AREC are certainly dysfunctional. BC is notoriously difficult. EL is less well-known, but is even worse, just a horrible, nasty person.
But somehow, despite that, the department has done a great job with recruiting (and a good enough job with retention). The young and middle-aged people there are impressively good researchers. And they're friendly, kind people, too. Avoid the old dysfunctional guys, and work with the young and middle-aged guys.
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Wait, did you just cite REPEC?! It's backward-looking and flawed. I didn't know that website was still active--is this 2004?
Anyway, Rob Williams is good, but unless you're into CGE or theory, you'd be better off with someone else.
Steve Salant is retired, and Cropper is close.I'd put Wisconsin above Maryland. The AAE department is a nice place, unlike AREC, and Madison is a much better place to live.
If you want to do environmental, Maryland is the obvious choice. Wisconsin AAE has a solid group of enviro faculty, but Maryland's group is far better.
Take a look at the ranking at https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.env.html#authors of the top 10% of environmental economists in the world. It's not a perfect ranking by any means, but it's not crazy. Count how many people from Wisconsin make the list (and keep in mind that Brock is retired). Now count how many people from Maryland make the list. Yes, most of them are in AREC, but as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, econ students can easily work with AREC faculty.