Agricultural/Resource Economics

[Speedy_D]

Hi all. I wanted to know if anyone here knows anything about agricultural economics or economics admissions in general (for phd) and if they could offer some pointers into schools I should apply to.

Vital Stats:
Bs/Ms in Agricultural Economics @ UC Davis
Undergrad GPA @ 3.77 overall and 3.85 major
Grad...just first quarter grads @ 3.7

While working towards the Ms, I will complete the entire freshman level calc sequence and work on real analysis and odinary differential equations as well as a few calc based stats classes.

GRE

Quant @ 770
Verbal @ 560
Analy Writing @ 4.5

Schools I am looking at: UC Davis, UC Berkely, Iowa State, Purdue, Texas A&M, North Carolina State, U of Wisconsin, U of Maryland, Cornell, U of Minnesota, Arizona, Oregon, and Washinton (with last 3 being safeties...hopefully).

What I want to study: agricultural trade, marketing, and econometrics.

Any and all feedback is most appreciated.

[Econ]

Hi speedy D:

Your stats are fine (GPA, GRE), and the maths in the graduate level is very nice. I am an econ phd applicant, so I am not so aware of agr. econ. departments. However, I have heard that the top department for agr. econ is Berkeley, followed by Maryland and Davis.

Your school selection seems reasonable for econ phd ( 1 top, 3-4 top 8-20 and 3 safeties, for the rest I cannot comment in depth). Agr. econ departments have a slight smaller requirement in math backround, so you will be OK :-)

[Speedy_D]

Hi speedy D:

the maths in the graduate level is very nice. I am an econ phd applicant, so I am not so aware of agr. econ. departments.

Hey wasnt expecting such a quick reply. Well the math sequence I am taking for real and ODE is at the undergraduate level.

How is your grad school search going? Have you applied or have you started your studies already?

Your school selection seems reasonable for econ phd ( 1 top, 3-4 top 8-20

Well it seems that way but my focus is on agricultural economics and usually there is departmental crossovers. Unfortunately, not much has been written in regards to agecon programs

[Speedy_D]

17 views and 1 reply come on now.

[Econ]

I have already finished my applications (in the first week of Dec) and now I am waiting for the results

I did a small research. However, I am talking for econ departments. Within the pool of econ departments, the schools that are strong in agr economics are:

Davis, Maryland, Iowa, Berkeley, Harvard, UW-Madison, NC State, Minnesota, Oregon, Ohio, Yale, UC-Urbana-Ch.

So, since you like resource economics, I would say that (contigent on applying at econ departments) you have allocated your resources (i.e. your money and your effort) reasonable well: You have selected a really top school, some very good (top20), and some safeties. The nice thing is that all these schools share a strong proclivity (i.e. research) for agr/resource econ. I guess that your SOP sould also reflect the desire to specialize on these fields.

Word of causion: If you plan to apply at econ departments, dear SPEEDY please HURRY. Berkeley had a 15 Dec deadline (at the econ dep) and Minnesota has a 31 Dec deadline for financial aid.

[Speedy_D]

I have already finished my applications (in the first week of Dec) and now I am waiting for the results

I think you will be just fine my man.

Word of causion: If you plan to apply at econ departments, dear SPEEDY please HURRY. Berkeley had a 15 Dec deadline (at the econ dep) and Minnesota has a 31 Dec deadline for financial aid.

Well right now I want to finish all the major requirements for the Ms and work my way up on the math sequence. So I am looking to apply for admission for Fall 2006. Got some time to buy right now but coming up with info in agecon is kinda hard. See I can find GRE and GPA cutoffs etc for regular econ programs but nothing in the way for agecon. I could go ahead and assume that the cut offs could be the same for regular econ programs but I just want to be sure and target the right schools.

[Econ]

Well right now I want to finish all the major requirements for the Ms and work my way up on the math sequence. So I am looking to apply for admission for Fall 2006. Got some time to buy right now but coming up with info in agecon is kinda hard. See I can find GRE and GPA cutoffs etc for regular econ programs but nothing in the way for agecon. I could go ahead and assume that the cut offs could be the same for regular econ programs but I just want to be sure and target the right schools.

Oh, in this case I would say that indeed you are quick .

Seriously now, preparing at present for fall 2006 is very important and thinking in econ terms (GRE, GPA etc) can only help you. I guess the cutoffs must be the same

(ECON: GRE Q not below 750 and GPA not below 3.0, but for a top program you need Q:780 and GPA:3.5+ so as your application to be considered, with Q:800 and GPA:4.0 not implying necessarily admission)

with the admission officers being more lenient on the Q part at least by 30 points and the math backround of an applicant. Some advices in order of importance:

(1) Take many maths (some of the following will do: real analysis, topology, linear algebra, DE, Static Optima, Concavity-Convexity, Micro, Game Theory, Dynamic Optimization, Dynamical Systems, Econometrics, OLS, ML, etc)
(2) Take many maths (...)
(3) Take many maths (...)
(4) You can work as a RA/TA for a prof so as (i) to get valuable experience (ii) to get a great letter of recommendation. In fact, you can go right now and ask some of your professors ''what should I do so as to get in a top phd program?''. Probably they will say '' get a great letter of recommendation'' so you can ask them ''can I work as a RA for you?''
(5) Try to keep up with the 3.7+ GPA or even increase it!
(6) 770 is by no means detrimental and it is at least very good, but if you have some free time, getting an 800 can enhance your application

Best Luck

[jlist]

Hi Speedy: I am partial to Maryland for obvious reasons. I have a few thoughts that you might wish to consider, however. First, I think it helps to have a strong economics department alongside the arec department that you choose. Berkeley comes to mind here as the strongest, though Maryland and some others on your list are quite strong too.

Second, you should consider what you want to do after graduating. If you want to stay in academe, then it seems like Berkeley has very good placement, and I think that Maryland does OK in this area too though not as good as Berkeley. Maryland has clear ties in DC if you want to that route.

Third, for econometrics Maryland is quite strong. I like Marc Nerlove (Maryland again!) alot, and Richard Just and Anna Alberini are good too. Of course many of your other schools have wonderful econometricians as well.

Fourth, yet I cannot think of any place in the world stronger than the group at Maryland for Ag (OK, call me a homer). Bruce Gardner, Bob Chambers, Just, Liechtenberg, Lynch, etc., and they added a very good young guy named Barrett Kirwan who is an excellent applied econometrician from MIT.

In any event, you should do your due diligence and decide who you can work with at these places and make sure that they find you of interest as well.

Best,
JL
personal statement Last UMD comment--check out their "n reasons to attend Maryland on their website."