So I can get on the shiny charts!
PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Physics and Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college
Undergrad GPA: 3.14/4.0
Type of Grad: One stats class
Grad GPA: 3.3
GRE: 790Q, 600V, 5.0AW
Math Courses: Calc I-III(I took them in high school, I really don’t remember and nor do my transcripts), Linear Algebra (B), Mathematical Probability and Statistics (B-, B), Real Analyst(A, at a different school then my undergrad), Stochastic Processes (B+, grad course, at a different school then my undergrad)
Econ Courses: AP Micro and Macro (A, in high school), European Economic History (B+), Law and Economics (B), Intermediate Price Theory (B), Intermediate Macro Theory (B), Econometrics (B), Contemporary British Economy (B), Industrial Revolution-Britain (A-), Econ of Multinational Corps (A-), Thesis (labor econ)
Other Courses: Physics, which I put in my math lists. Quantum Mechanics I, Partial Differential Equations (B+), etc. I only did the bare minimum for a liberal arts major
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (my thesis advisor and the person who led my study abroad), 1 physics professor (thesis advisor), 1 economist who is my supervisor
Research Experience: RA for 2.5 years at ‘a central bank’
Teaching Experience: Tutored, graded and lab assisted for two years for physics in college
Research Interests: All over the place. Labor, policy, experimental, applied micro, development, etc.
statement of purpose: Intro, I did physics I can do math!, I wrote a thesis in economic and liked doing research, I’m working as an RA and like doing research, I took extra math and can write proofs, I was part of an econ paper reading group and like reading papers, interests (changed a bit depending on what the school had, and more policy oriented for ag econ schools). Also a few sentences about things I did that I removed or added depending on the school. The 500 word schools were hard, the 1000 word schools were easy. I also had a Personal History Statement about being a female doing math for the schools that wanted it.
Other: Applied for the NSF. I tried not to say anything to risky, and not say much about interest in policy to non policy/ ag econ schools. I like Aikido.
RESULTS:
Acceptances: Boston University (waitlist for $), Michigan State(no $), University of Essex (ISER), Ohio State (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics) ($-Fellowship), Indiana University ($-TA), Iowa State University ($-TA)
Waitlists: University of Minnesota
Rejections: MIT, Harvard (Econ and Political Economy and Government), Yale, Berkeley (Agricultural & Resource Economics), Northwestern, NYU, U Penn (Econ and Wharton), University of Wisconsin – Madison (Econ and Agricultural and Applied Economics ), Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, University of British Columbia , Ohio State, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Econ and Public Policy and Economics), University of Maryland (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Boston College, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota (Applied Economics), University of California – Davis (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Duke, University of Essex, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon (Econ, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Public Policy and Economics)
Pending: Toronto MA, Queen’s MA
What would you have done differently?
Gotten better grades in undergrad. When I really started understanding what the things I need to do for a PhD I think I did the best I could, took real analysis, applied for the NSF (if only to write a
statement of purpose for them), read papers etc. I probably could have gotten more research experience at my job (co-author), and I defiantly could have gotten better grades and taken more math as an undergrad. But over all I’m happy.
Attending:
Boston University