First-Year Economics Ph.D. Students Arrive at Duke

29 July 2014 10:44AM

Fall semester classes do not begin until Aug. 25, but the first wave of incoming students has already arrived. Orientation and Mathematics for Economists – better known as “math camp” – for first-year economics Ph.D. students began Monday. The three-week course marks the beginning of their careers here at Duke.

“I feel very excited and happy to start the program,” said Chuhang Yin ’14, who recently earned her master’s in economics at Duke. “After meeting my classmates and getting to know them, I’m sure the next five years will be great.”

The newest batch of doctoral candidates comprises 15 students – five women and 10 men – from Canada, China, Estonia, Russia, and the United States. In total, the department received 744 applications for 2014 admission, up 5 percent from the previous year.

“As we continue to improve as a department with faculty, teaching, and research, we attract better and better candidates,” said Professor Curtis Taylor, director of graduate studies. “This group shows great promise.”

Professor and Co-Director of Ph.D. Admissions Craig Burnside also predicted that this group will perform well. “Based on their credentials, they should all sail through (the first year),” he said.

But not without a little help from a few soon-to-be new friends and sage advice from departmental faculty and staff.

“The most important thing (for the new students) is to find study groups that they work well with and are comfortable with, because those relationships will help them through their first year and the rest of their academic lives,” Taylor advised. “Members from my first year in grad school are still my friends in the profession.”

The first year of the Ph.D. economics program is notoriously grueling. “Stress is an inevitable, and even useful, component of graduate study, but there is a difference between the useful kind of stress that can motivate you, and the damaging kind of stress that will hinder you,” said Julianne Bartlett, the Ph.D. program assistant. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if stress is getting the better of you; you are definitely not in the minority.”

In her position, Bartlett has bore witness to students’ concerns, fears, and even personal victories.

“Go into (this) knowing that it will be rigorous and time-consuming, but after spring semester, things click and get easier,” she said. “Students like to say that they ‘get their lives back’ after the first year, so hang in there!"

Most importantly, Professor Shakeeb Khan, co-director of admissions, reminded students to “get enough sleep.” 

Learn more about our Ph.D. program.

Meet our Ph.D. students.