TestMagic Forums - View Single Post

bheld · 05-21-2008, 04:46 PM

Hi everyone, I've been lurking here for a while and decided to post my profile to see what I can realistically expect as I attempt to get into a PhD program. There isn't exactly one area I'm interested in specializing in that I've found. I have interests in political economy and nontraditional/crossover applications in areas like education and public health, and what really draws me in is the extreme flexibility economists enjoy. It seems like an economist is taken seriously no matter what issue or field he or she weighs in on.

Right now I'm a junior high math teacher. I've been out of school for about a year now and got my degree in education with a business minor. I ended up with about a 3.37 gpa due to the typical goofing off freshman and sophomore years. I've had calc I and II (C+ and B+), linear algebra (A-), and a probability and statistics course (can't remember if I got a B+ or A-). I also took micro and macro but grades on those don't impress much since (like calc I) I took them during my freshman and sophomore years.

Yeah, I know, a math teacher that didn't even major in math. I went to a fairly decent state university but I have zero contacts right now in academia and, as you would expect, absolutely nothing in the way of research experience. With all this going against me you can be sure of the fact that I wouldn't be posting here unless I was really, really sure that I wanted to go into economics.

I'm taking the GRE next month which I'm expecting to do well on. I'm good with standardized tests and assuming I get a very good score, what are my options going to be as far as getting into a decent program?

My career goals lie in academia or the public sector. I'm not really interested in working in the corporate world, so if that's my only option I might have to look into what else I can do for the rest of my life.

I've already started contacting some offices to see if I can help out with some research but haven't heard anything on that front yet. Does anybody have any advice in that area? I'm assuming research experience would be a big boost to an otherwise weak application file. I'm also wondering if I could take something like the Math GRE to show that I can handle the upper-level math, since many admissions boards might be wary of a transcript that stops at linear algebra with otherwise basic courses like stats and finite math.

So to review, here's my status.

Out of school, basically no contacts
no research experience
pedestrian GPA, decent math grades
working independently on math skills
GRE being taken in 3 weeks

I know it doesn't look good on the surface, but I know I can do well in econ. Basically I need some advice on what to do to beef up this profile so that a decent program will give me a shot.

05-21-2008, 04:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
bheld Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26	reality check needed re: grad school Hi everyone, I've been lurking here for a while and decided to post my profile to see what I can realistically expect as I attempt to get into a PhD program. There isn't exactly one area I'm interested in specializing in that I've found. I have interests in political economy and nontraditional/crossover applications in areas like education and public health, and what really draws me in is the extreme flexibility economists enjoy. It seems like an economist is taken seriously no matter what issue or field he or she weighs in on. Right now I'm a junior high math teacher. I've been out of school for about a year now and got my degree in education with a business minor. I ended up with about a 3.37 gpa due to the typical goofing off freshman and sophomore years. I've had calc I and II (C+ and B+), linear algebra (A-), and a probability and statistics course (can't remember if I got a B+ or A-). I also took micro and macro but grades on those don't impress much since (like calc I) I took them during my freshman and sophomore years. Yeah, I know, a math teacher that didn't even major in math. I went to a fairly decent state university but I have zero contacts right now in academia and, as you would expect, absolutely nothing in the way of research experience. With all this going against me you can be sure of the fact that I wouldn't be posting here unless I was really, really sure that I wanted to go into economics. I'm taking the GRE next month which I'm expecting to do well on. I'm good with standardized tests and assuming I get a very good score, what are my options going to be as far as getting into a decent program? My career goals lie in academia or the public sector. I'm not really interested in working in the corporate world, so if that's my only option I might have to look into what else I can do for the rest of my life. I've already started contacting some offices to see if I can help out with some research but haven't heard anything on that front yet. Does anybody have any advice in that area? I'm assuming research experience would be a big boost to an otherwise weak application file. I'm also wondering if I could take something like the Math GRE to show that I can handle the upper-level math, since many admissions boards might be wary of a transcript that stops at linear algebra with otherwise basic courses like stats and finite math. So to review, here's my status. Out of school, basically no contacts no research experience pedestrian GPA, decent math grades working independently on math skills GRE being taken in 3 weeks I know it doesn't look good on the surface, but I know I can do well in econ. Basically I need some advice on what to do to beef up this profile so that a decent program will give me a shot.