MA Economics at CUNY (City college-ccny and baruch)

[gojoe]

Hello,

I am software professional (masters degree in Comp Sci from a top 20 US university) who is testing the waters for a career change into economics.

 

I know that I am kind of odd man out considering I have a masters in CS and already have about 5-7 yrs of work experience in software field. So I do not fit the profile of a typical MA econ applicant. However, I think I do need to take this step of career change, having recently realized that I may not be able to do fickle software work for the rest of my life.

 

Now, due to my CS and engineering background, I have good math coursework in my undergrad. Average GPA in grad and undergrad, but great references (both work and academic). I figured that'd be enough along with my masters degree in CS and years of work ex for NYU Econ MA program to give me admission. I could not be more wrong. I recently got a reject from them for Fall 2009. The only way I could understand this rejection is - weakness in my SOP and references. My SOP was not good considering I have taken only 1 course in economics ever - that too more in my second year undergrad about 12 yrs ago. My references I know got to the dept very late - first reference got there last week of Mar; rest two got there first week of April. The deadline for application was Mar 1. So, even though my application was submitted in time, I think my SOP and late references screwed it up.

 

Since I am desperate to get admitted to an econ program in NY area (I live there), I figured I should apply to Baruch and City college.

 

My questions are:

 

- What do you guys think of my chances of getting into a respectable graduate econ program in NY area. I mean, I got reject at NYU, so may be my chances are not good.

 

- Now I know Baruch college and City College of NY, both offer MA in economics. My question is, are these programs reputable? The deadline for their application is Apr 30, but considering the bad experience I had with my application with NYU, I am not sure if applying so late is already doomed to fail. Also, their econ dept websites dont really seem to inspire confidence that they have good grad programs in econ. Where are their grad econ programs ranked?

 

I live in NY area and so am looking only for schools around this area. I would really appreciate any information that I could receive from you guys.

 

Thanks.

[jfowler2]

can you give more details as to your profile? what kind of gpa did you have? what math course specefically did you take and your grades in them? what about the gre?

 

 

if all those are fairly good i would recomend you take some more undergrad econ courses especially metrics and intermediate micro and macro and then apply to some phd programs. ma programs are highly unlikely to fund you while phd programs even at lower ranked schools generally offer decent funding

[gojoe]

GPA (both undergrad and masters) is ~3.5.

 

GRE is 800q, 680v, 4.0(awa).

 

Math courses: complex analysis and PDEs (ug, senior level); numerical methods (ug, senior level); Research course in algorithms (PhD level at grad school);

 

Other basic Physics courses in ug, senior level.

 

I do not think at this point in my life I can go take undergrad econ courses only in the hope of applying for PhD econ later. So I am really shooting for getting into a MA program in econ this year. Once in, I plan to beef up on all the things that are deficient in my profile, and may even attempt a transfer to better program next year.

 

Baruch and CCNY are the only programs in econ within deadline where for application for Fall 09 in NY area. Or are there other reputable schools around NY? Please advise.

 

[zshfryoh1]

First of all, Baruch does not offer an MA in economics. While they have a pretty good department and contribute the largest number of econ faculty to the CUNY PhD program of all the schools in the CUNY system, their masters in economics is actually a concentration in the MBA and so the program requires more credits (about 55 as opposed to 30) and the GMAT, not the GRE. Hunter has a better MA program than CCNY within the CUNY system (in the past they have typically sent a couple of students a year to PhD programs, albeit usually lower ranked ones), but their deadline may have passed already, so you should check. Both Hunter and CCNY do have decent faculty and contribute a fair number of faculty to the CUNY PhD program, probably third and fourth most respectively after Baruch and QC. Fordham and Rutgers also have econ masters programs, so see if their deadlines have passed. Specific rankings for econ programs are for PhD programs so that will not really help you here.

 

In reality, you have a pretty good math background for even an econ PhD candidate. If you had intermediate macro and micro plus a semester of calculus based probability and statistics, you would definitely get some admits at econ PhD programs. If you want the MA for purely professional reasons and have no desire to go on for a PhD, then even the Baruch MBA Econ would be good, though a straight MA would be quicker and more efficient. Starting a 30-36 credit masters intended to be completed in 2-3 semsters for full time students, doing it for a year and then transferring to NYU MA and spending another 2-3 semsters there would probably not get you far and would probably be a waste of time and money. If you are really set on getting an NYU MA, then just take a couple of intermediate UG econ classes as a non matric at one of the schools, possibly even during the summer and reapply this fall for fall 2010 admission. However, if your long term goal is a PhD, your best option would be to take some intermdiate level UG econ or some intro level MA econ classes as a non-matric (where the deadlines to apply are usually a few days before the start of the semester) at one of the schools and apply to PhD programs either this fall or the following fall, depending on how you feel about your readiness for a PhD. Econ PhD adcoms care more about the math background than the econ background, though doing a one year MA to show adcoms that you are seriously interested in economics after spending years doing programming might help from a signaling point of view and will help you get LOR's.

[gojoe]

I enquired with Hunter econ dept.

 

Hunter fall deadline has already passed, but they suggested that may be I can do some undergrad summer courses to take care of prereqs for grad study, can register for non-degree student courses during fall, and eventually starting the ma program in spring 2010. However, this seems like a very circutous route. One of my goals to enroll in ma econ degree was also find people at school who share some of the enthusiasm for the subject and develop strong relationships with experts in the field so I could get somewhere with a career path in economics. I am not sure if Hunter is respectable enough for such an ambition. To clarify, I do understand that probably Hunter is good enough if one's goal is simply to get a job with a regular paycheck. I was looking for a more reputable program may be an ivy league type so one could find similar people who are in the field not out of necessity but out of interest.

 

How is Hunter's reputation compared to schools like columbia? I applied to NYU (got a reject) but I do rate columbia econ department much higher than NYU.

[zshfryoh1]

I enquired with Hunter econ dept.

 

Hunter fall deadline has already passed, but they suggested that may be I can do some undergrad summer courses to take care of prereqs for grad study, can register for non-degree student courses during fall, and eventually starting the ma program in spring 2010. However, this seems like a very circutous route. One of my goals to enroll in ma econ degree was also find people at school who share some of the enthusiasm for the subject and develop strong relationships with experts in the field so I could get somewhere with a career path in economics. I am not sure if Hunter is respectable enough for such an ambition. To clarify, I do understand that probably Hunter is good enough if one's goal is simply to get a job with a regular paycheck. I was looking for a more reputable program may be an ivy league type so one could find similar people who are in the field not out of necessity but out of interest.

 

How is Hunter's reputation compared to schools like columbia? I applied to NYU (got a reject) but I do rate columbia econ department much higher than NYU.

 

First of all, I would say that there is little difference in overall quality between Columbia's econ department and NYU's and that if anything, NYU's is slightly better at the current time. If you went to the Econ PhD forum and took a poll, I would make a bet that cet. par., most would take an NYU admit over a Columbia admit at the current time. Columbia doesn't offer an econ masters anyway. Hunter is a decent large public college (they always make Princeton Review's top 367 UG college list), but is definitely not in NYU's league, especially not in econ where NYU is top 10. CUNY's PhD program is in the 45-60ish range, but they draw on the best faculty from across the CUNY system and Hunter's econ department is probably third best in the system after Baruch and QC (neither of which has a straight econ MA). The CUNY system does let students matriculated at one CUNY school take a limited number courses at other CUNY schools, but I am not sure what the regulations and limits are.

 

Second, I know a number of current or recently graduated students from Hunter's MA, and most are students who are strongly interested in and do truly like economics. In fact, NYU's MA is probably more professionally oriented than Hunter's and has more students who are just doing it for a larger paycheck, and I have pretty much been told as much by people involved with NYU's MA program. They do have a much better faculty at NYU which can help for LOR's if you do end up going for an econ PhD, but only a handful of faculty teach in the MA program and most of the faculty, especially the more well known faculty members, stick to the PhD program and students. I think NYU lets you take electives in Courant and NYU-Stern Business, so that does expand their course offerings and faculty access quite a bit.

 

You really need to be more clear about whether your long term goals are an econ PhD or not, and if yes, what fields are you interested in and what level PhD program are you aiming for. These make a lot of difference with regard to where you should end up going and what you should be doing.

[gojoe]

Thanks zshfryoh1. I am seriously considering the Hunter option now, which will include starting out by taking undergrad summer classes, taking non-degree student courses for fall, and then finally registering for MA degree during Spring 2010.

Does anyone know if the undergrad summer courses credits from Hunter could be transferred should I secure admission to a better program elsewhere? I just do not want my summer coursework to go to waste if I end up registering for a degree program at some other school during Spring 2010 and having to do the prereqs again.

[gojoe]

apologies for my late response on this thread as I thought about my options.

Bump..