PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A in Economics, B.A. in International Relations, minor in French from U of California Davis
Undergrad GPA: 3.33
Type of Grad: entering first year phd in economics
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 680 verbal, 720 quantitative, 5.5 writing
Math Courses: Calculus 1(B), 2(B+), 3(A), vector calculus(B), differential equations(C+), linear algebra (A), set theory(B+), real analysis 1(B+), 2(B), 3(C), applied linear algebra (C), mathematical statistics (C+), probability theory (A).
Econ Courses (undergrad): macro 1 (B+), macro 2 (B+), micro 1 (A-), micro 2 (A), world economic history 1 (A), world economic history 2 (A), game theory (C+), topics in macro economics (A-), econometrics (C), international macro (B+), international micro (A), east asian economics (A+), individual research (B+)
Other Courses: lots of political science regarding the international arena, french, and 19th/20th century history courses
Letters of Recommendation: 1) one of the top economic historians, who also was my research adviser and department chair. 2) ecn professor who pushed me to go to grad school and really liked me. 3) ecn professor who also acted as research adviser.
Research Experience: research in monetary history for a two quarter independent honors research course
Teaching Experience: nothing beyond french tutoring
Research Interests: macro, growth theory and development, economic history, and international economics
statement of purpose: standard, focused on research experience and dropping a french major to take math classes my senior year to be prepared for ecn.
Concerns: bad math grades and gre score
Other: Female, worked all throughout college,
RESULTS:
Acceptances: U of Washington, George Washington U, both without funding
Waitlists: (ultimately rejected from all) U of California Irvine, UMASS, Notre Dame U, Texas A&M
Rejections: MIT, Caltech, Stanford, U of California Davis, U of Michigan, Michigan State U
Pending:none
What would you have done differently?
1)I would have applied to less schools in the top 20 and more lower ranked schools, because i wasted money applying to schools i never had a chance at. also would have applied to more schools in my home state of california.
2) started my calculus series early and taken the right one first, so that i didn't have to take business calculus, and then real calculus. I also would have given up french altogether and just gotten a triple major in international relations, mathematics, and economics.or at the very least, begun my math earlier so i could have taken that 1 last class i needed for a math minor. taking all your math in the last 4 quarters was not good planning. oh, and probably would have taken more statistics classes.
3) probably would have actually studied for the gre, rather then just going in an expecting to do calculus, not geometry.
in reality, i have no idea how i got in. my gre scores where horirble in comparison to the rest of y'all, and my grades were not nearly as good. i think i only got in because i took so many math classes (even with the bad grades), and i had a couple of REALLY good recommendations and a nice
statement of purpose. so, never undersetimate the power of good relationships with professors and the resulting recommendations.
i'm going to University of Washington's ecn phd program without funding, and hope that the lack of money only lasts the first year. wish me luck
