TestMagic Forums - View Single Post - Fun with Econ: Would Steven Levitt get into MIT today?

olhado · 2006 May 27th, 10:55 PM

i think its definitely the case that the amt of math needed for a first year econ grad sequence is totally overrated. while applying i had the **** scared out of me by professors and graduate students that an econ phd was just “math math math” all the time, but I haven’t really used anything but multivariable calc, linear algebra (all in greene appendix), and some rudimentary real analysis.

whether “math math math” is the way to get IN, well, i now think this might be overrated too (its definitely department specific). on the one hand, I know for a fact that I was rejected from one department specifically because of (lack of) math background. On the other, as a 1st year student in a top-10 program (not MIT), I’m underwhelmed by the mathematical sophistication of my classmates - of course, the top few are trained to the hilt, but that leaves another 20 or so that are all over the map. i’d say in almost everyone’s case, a good relationship with a letter writer seems to have been one, if not the, decisive factor.

(note to applicants – a nice letter from a prof who taught you is not immensely helpful. a summer research project with a – preferably tenured – faculty member who will write you a glowing rec at the end, now that’s where the big money is. and if you're like steve and can win a prize for your undergraduate thesis... well, then you're probably not in the position of having to strategize to get in anyway).

2006 May 27th, 10:55 PM	#38 (permalink)
olhado I JUST got here. Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1	math math math? i think its definitely the case that the amt of math needed for a first year econ grad sequence is totally overrated. while applying i had the **** scared out of me by professors and graduate students that an econ phd was just “math math math” all the time, but I haven’t really used anything but multivariable calc, linear algebra (all in greene appendix), and some rudimentary real analysis. whether “math math math” is the way to get IN, well, i now think this might be overrated too (its definitely department specific). on the one hand, I know for a fact that I was rejected from one department specifically because of (lack of) math background. On the other, as a 1st year student in a top-10 program (not MIT), I’m underwhelmed by the mathematical sophistication of my classmates - of course, the top few are trained to the hilt, but that leaves another 20 or so that are all over the map. i’d say in almost everyone’s case, a good relationship with a letter writer seems to have been one, if not the, decisive factor. (note to applicants – a nice letter from a prof who taught you is not immensely helpful. a summer research project with a – preferably tenured – faculty member who will write you a glowing rec at the end, now that’s where the big money is. and if you're like steve and can win a prize for your undergraduate thesis... well, then you're probably not in the position of having to strategize to get in anyway).