Conditional Econ PhD offer ?

[reactor]

I got my undergrad (econ) and grad (math) and now doing masters econ.

I will have no grad econ grades when applying for PhD and probably the grades won't make it by the time decisions are finalized.
(unless they specifically delay decision in order to get my grades)

I was wondering how often/probable is to get an offer for US Econ PhD conditional on receiving the masters with a certain grade or above.

I know that this is in general the custom in UK schools but how about US?
Has anyone ever heard of this kind of offer in US Econ PhD programs?

[notacolour]

I don't think this is done in top US programs. Certainly, the admit offer is made with the expectation that you'll get the grades that they expect, and some programs might conceivably withdraw an offer if an applicant, say, dropped out of an MA program he was in, or got Cs and Ds in his last undergrad semester [just as, with some regularity, top undergrad institutions rescind offers of admission to high schoolers who slack off just a bit too much in their final semester].

But since the MA isn't even required for the program to which you're applying, the general procedure is either to admit or not (or, I suppose, waitlist), on the basis of the information they have, and anything other than some extreme aberration won't change the decision at a later point. They probably wouldn't even want your MA transcripts after the decision, given that they're not required to matriculate in the PhD program. Of course, in that case, they would never know if you even completed the MA.

[scheng75]

hey chief!

I've heard of conditional admission for US Econ MA programs but not for Econ Ph.D. Of course that doesn't mean that they don't exist, I could just be limited in my knowledge. I personally think it's unlikely to be offered by the top programs (which I know you are aiming for) because competition is so fierce.

Hopefully, you can get great LORs from profs in your MA program, then it'll be worth it.

Good luck!!

[crslr]

Most departments don't make conditional offers for the PhD. In your case that is more of a disadvantage than a good thing because it means your master's coursework will not get full consideration without grades.

If in doubt, they might ask you around decision time whether you have grades to send them. But once you get admitted you probably don't even have to submit them for the record.

[reactor]

I will be applying for PhD without my first term grades from the MA, that is the adcom will have to reach a decision with no grades from the MA at all!
Just a transcript with the courses I'm taking (includes a PhD course )

I was wondering how will this affect my chances.
(compared to having good grades, having average grades and not being to the MA at all at the first place)

[notacolour]

I think that being in the MA program will help your chances in these ways:

1) It means that you've completed your prior year (presumably your masters in math?) and have grades for last year's courses to show them. Obviously, you could have accomplished this by just taking a year off; and
2) Having accomplished 1), you didn't just take a year off, but subjected yourself to more econ, which is not so much a positive as, well, not the negative that doing something less relevant would be;
3) You are, in fact, taking good courses, including a PhD course, and presumably doing well in them, though the only way this will be communicated is through
4) [Hopefully] Better recommendation letters from your current program than you could have gotten before.

That said, they won't hold up any decisions for your grades, and probably won't care at all about them beyond whatever signal they get from your recommendation letters.