Reapplying for Econ PhD - Evaluate my situation

[RonnieT1283]

This year I applied too high and only received a funded offer from my safety school (U of Delaware) which I will be attending starting this fall. I am convinced that I was rejected from the other schools because of a lack of evidence of my quantitative ability. At the time of application my profile was as follows:

Econ Major / Math and Honors Minor from top private uni (Villanova)
Overall GPA: 3.73
Econ GPA: 3.93ish (one A- in Intro to Econ stats)
Math GPA: 3.33 (Calc III (A), Diff Eq and Intro Linear Algebra (B), Intro to Proofs (B))
Year Abroad at LSE that didnt count towards my GPA:
Macro Principles (B- or 2.2)
Intro to Econometrics (B- or 2.2)
Social Policy: Econ Topics (B+ or 2.1)
Econ History: Integration of Europe's Economy (B+ or 2.2)
GRE's
Q: 720
V: 540
A: 5.5
Research Experience: Was awarded an undergrad research grant that paid for me to do independent research during the summer of 2005. Sent the paper I produced as a writing sample
LOR's and SOP: Both good, but had LOR's from all econ profs and no math profs

I am getting a PhD because I want to teach economics (hence accepting the offer at my safety school). However, I am aware the competitiveness of the job market for professors will make this difficult and as a result am reapplying after what I consider an exceptional final semester. My final semseter I took the following:

Econ Seminar (class where you write one big research paper) (A)
Game Theory (A)
Linear Algebra (A)
Numerical Analysis (A)
Independent Study: Real Analysis (A)

New Econ GPA: 3.96ish
New Math GPA: 3.71

Because my school did not offer real analysis and I wanted to take it for grad school I had to set up an independent study. Further, the paper I produced in my econ seminar won the departamental essay contest and has been entered in a number of undergrad essay contests for publication.

Given the grades from the past semester, retaking the GREs, and changing two of my recommenders, one of which will be my prof for Real Analysis, what are my chances at the following:

Boston University
University of Maryland (Rejected from this year)
Johns Hopkins (Rejected from this year)
Rutgers
Boston College (Rejected from this year)
University of Washington

I am a macro man. Particularly I am interested in monetary policy, monetary policy regimes, and development from an econ history perspective. Are there any other schools I should be considering? I am not concerned with credits transfering so much as making sure I am in a school that will allow me to be competitive in the academic market.

[notacolour]

Hey, you might actually be someone for whom reapplying is a good idea. The boost to your GPA, especially the math grades, can't hurt, and getting that GRE quant. up to at least 780 would help a bit, too. I'd encourage you to apply to a few more schools, though. Not too many more, but maybe 8 would be a good idea?

Okay, a couple of questions and a suggestion. Where else did you apply to last year? Why Rutgers? And also, I would suggest Iowa. You should have a very good chance of acceptance there. They have some very good macro people, and they do a very good job of placing people in decent academic positions.

[reactor]

I agree with cotacolour and I will post more later.

[RonnieT1283]

The schools I applied to this year were out of my league partly because of me not properly researching and partly because of my econ advisors overestimating my chances:

Northwestern (rejected)
UPenn (rejected)
Umaryland (rejected)
Johns Hopkins (rejected)
Boston College (rejected)
Georgetown (rejected)
LSE (Msc Research in Econ History - PhD track) (accepted w/o funding)
Udelaware (accepted w/15k)

The reason I am considering Rutgers is because I was told macro is their strength and as far as rankings go that appears to be so. Further, I like the geographic location of the school and their academic placements.

[JKRIS]

Originally Posted by RonnieT1283

The schools I applied to this year were out of my league partly because of me not properly researching and partly because of my econ advisors overestimating my chances:

Northwestern (rejected)
UPenn (rejected)
Umaryland (rejected)
Johns Hopkins (rejected)
Boston College (rejected)
Georgetown (rejected)
LSE (Msc Research in Econ History - PhD track) (accepted w/o funding)
Udelaware (accepted w/15k)

The reason I am considering Rutgers is because I was told macro is their strength and as far as rankings go that appears to be so. Further, I like the geographic location of the school and their academic placements.

The problem with macro is there are very few schools outside the top 30 that really get into it. I would recommend applying to Iowa and Indiana in addition to Washington. At least one person who posts here is going to Iowa (Panda?). Rutgers sounds good too...I believe that some people rate Virginia highly for monetary economics - you should check their website.

GRE quant cut-off is probably one of the reasons you did not have more success. Retake GRE - spend some time on it because it will be worth it. You should have a shot at some of the top 30 places too next year -you never know. If I were I would pick at least 3 of the ones I mentioned above and then pick another 3 like Boston College and Penn State.

All said and done, with your goals you will be okay at Delaware. They have a lot of Macro people and they will train you well.

[klop]

JKRIS, what are the non-top-30 schools that do "really get into" macroeconomics? I wonder specially about the following: UCSB, ASU, WUSTL, Boston College, Pitt (though I suspect the last one is quite competitive to get into). Does Iowa have a good macro group? BTW, I just noticed that Steve Williamson is moving from Iowa to WUSTL.

[Panda77]

Yes, I too agree that you will probably be a better candidate next year especially for the math you took this semester. Easy to say retake the GRE and try to do better although from my own experience that might be hard. However, if you succeed in getting a 780 or higher quant score that would probably help (and I would give a shot at even one or two top 10-20 schools in that case).

Anyhow, as it is, I think you have very good chances in the top 30-50 range. I would think carefully about reapplying to the same schools that rejected you this year, I kind of think is hard to change people’s minds so unless you are really fond of one or two of those schools try at different ones. BostonU. and Rutgers are very good schools and have a lot of macro people. I was told Boston has an environment a bit too competitive, something I don’t really like but that perhaps you don’t mind. They are not easy to get in though, I applied and was rejected at both places (but your profile seems somewhat better than mine). I would also name Indiana U., Ohio State U., U. of Virginia and of course U. of Iowa as good macro places but not really safeties.

As for Iowa; yes Klop is right, Williamson (who does a lot of monetary stuff) is leaving this summer, but there are still a good number of profs who work on macro issues. Also, I was told by a current student that the first year focus heavily on macro giving you a great background for further research in the area. One of the best things about Iowa is that they are really committed and dedicated to their grad students; the size of the entering class is very small (15 or so) so you get a lot of attention (I heard that publishing while still in residence is more than a far away possibility), the funding opportunities are great (actually they fund all their students for 5 years), and they do a wonderful job in placing their graduates in both academic and non-academic places.

Having said that, though, I wonder ... you said you have accepted the offer of the U. of Delaware so are you planning on going there for a year and then transfer? Many on this board commented on the feasibility of doing something like that and I would suggest you to think about it very carefully. I perfectly understand how hard it is to give up a sure funded offer today for the possibility of being admitted somewhere better, but you have to understand that any university that invests in you will not be happy to see you doing that.

[Panda77]

Sorry, double post. Please erase.

[RonnieT1283]

Yea I have read the other posts and am aware that transfering is sometimes fround upon, and even if I am successful in getting accepted somewhere else it will undoubtedly prolong the time it would take for me to earn my PhD. Therefore, I only plan on applying to a schools that would significantly improve my chances in the academic job market.

As far as UDel not being happy about me transfering, I dont plan on using any of my new profs as recommenders so it is not something they would even know about unless I got accepted. I do feel badly about possibly screwing them over like that, but I don't want to wonder what if I had reapplied to other schools five years down the road when I am looking for a teaching position.

I am glad someone commented on reapplying to schools that rejected me already because that was something I was wondering about. At first, I thought it would be a bad idea. However, I recently sent emails to the admissions committees of the schools I plan on reapplying to, asking them for feedback on my application. I received emails from the grad secretaries promising that I should get a response from someone within a week or two, so I guess the comments I receive from them will determine whether I should bother reapplying.

I really appreciate everyones input so far.

[PCG]

Ronnie...

Good luck on actually getting that feedback, but I wouldn't count on it.
Everyone gave you good advice, so I won't repeat what they all said, but have you considered just getting a job this next year? If you are into macro, then the Fed would seem like a good place for you. A lot of people go into programs from these jobs, so it wouldn't hurt you, and it might even help you.

Personally, if you can increase your GRE, then I think you should reapply to some of the schools you applied to before. I think what panda said is correct, however, you have made significant improvements in your app, and those are legitimate grounds for a reapplication (plus, you never know what next years applicant pool will look like).