TestMagic Forums - View Single Post - Only have Business Calculus & Stats-what to take?

OneMoreEcon · 09-23-2006, 05:59 AM

Use the 1000+ pg Stewart book. Formal coursework is the way to go, but do online if you must. No matter what, make sure you get grades for courses (i.e. self-study is great for preparation, but not useful at all for admissions purposes). I actually found Stewart to be pretty easy to study on your own (even though I was taking classes).

Only fall courses will count for admissions purposes, and it will hurt you a great deal. In your situation, it's best to either space the math out over two years or apply to masters programs this year (feel free to add some PhD apps, but don't expect much without multivariable calc). Quite frankly, top 20 won't happen with only Calc II unless you have some famous people writing amazing LORs for you.

Some MA programs will allow enough flexibility to take extra math courses. Check the program requirements, and ask on here. Several TMians have taken extra math while doing MA degrees.

As for how long the math takes, I'll post what I did below. I'm a first-year PhD at Johns Hopkins. After one undergrad degree (which had some upper-level econ electives), I decided to do grad econ. That meant I needed more math and went back for a math & econ double-major (the last few stats courses were electives for my econ degree even though they were in the stats dept... and I think this is all of it). I did two years of work and applied in the fall of my second year. Also, submitted fall grades with analysis, etc.

Fall
Calc I
Discrete Math (lots of logic/proofs)
Intro to Applied Stats
Intermediate Micro
Intermediate Macro

Spring
Calc II
Linear Algebra
C Programming (req for math major)
Game Theory
Econometrics

Summer
ODE
Probability
Calc III
Individual Study (Stats dept)

Fall
Adv Calc I (real analysis)
Abstract Algebra I
Math Econ
Monetary Theory (or something like that)

Spring
Adv Calc II
Abstract Algebra II
Topology I (grad)
Math Stats
Time Series

Summer
Applied Graph Theory (grad)
Individual study (econ dept)

09-23-2006, 05:59 AM	#14 (permalink)
OneMoreEcon TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 551	Use the 1000+ pg Stewart book. Formal coursework is the way to go, but do online if you must. No matter what, make sure you get grades for courses (i.e. self-study is great for preparation, but not useful at all for admissions purposes). I actually found Stewart to be pretty easy to study on your own (even though I was taking classes). Only fall courses will count for admissions purposes, and it will hurt you a great deal. In your situation, it's best to either space the math out over two years or apply to masters programs this year (feel free to add some PhD apps, but don't expect much without multivariable calc). Quite frankly, top 20 won't happen with only Calc II unless you have some famous people writing amazing LORs for you. Some MA programs will allow enough flexibility to take extra math courses. Check the program requirements, and ask on here. Several TMians have taken extra math while doing MA degrees. As for how long the math takes, I'll post what I did below. I'm a first-year PhD at Johns Hopkins. After one undergrad degree (which had some upper-level econ electives), I decided to do grad econ. That meant I needed more math and went back for a math & econ double-major (the last few stats courses were electives for my econ degree even though they were in the stats dept... and I think this is all of it). I did two years of work and applied in the fall of my second year. Also, submitted fall grades with analysis, etc. Fall Calc I Discrete Math (lots of logic/proofs) Intro to Applied Stats Intermediate Micro Intermediate Macro Spring Calc II Linear Algebra C Programming (req for math major) Game Theory Econometrics Summer ODE Probability Calc III Individual Study (Stats dept) Fall Adv Calc I (real analysis) Abstract Algebra I Math Econ Monetary Theory (or something like that) Spring Adv Calc II Abstract Algebra II Topology I (grad) Math Stats Time Series Summer Applied Graph Theory (grad) Individual study (econ dept)