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Fig01123 · 2009 April 17th, 10:24 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Big state school; not sure how it's ranked in econ--probably mid-tier;
Undergrad GPA: 3.9
Type of Grad: Top 10 private. It's top 5 in econ, but I did my M.A. in East Asian History.
Grad GPA: 3.94
GRE: 800Q/660V 5.0
Math Courses: Calc I-III (multivariable), Linear algebra, stats and Fortran (not a math class, I know, but several apps asked for programming classes) in undergrad (all As). Since this was more than 13 years ago, I've also been taking "brush up" math this past year-- Linear Algebra I, II, multivariable calc, diff eqs, and currently auditing real analysis
Econ Courses: intro to micro, intro to macro, intermediate micro, international trade, public economics, economics of Japan, labor economics seminar, advanced micro seminar (which I took at a second-rate state school, so was a joke) grad level micro class. All A/A+, except the grad level class, which I took pass/fail, and econ of Japan (B+)
Other Courses: I only minored in econ in undergrad, but I started out in engineering, so I have 1.5 years worth of math/science classes--mostly As except 1 class.
Letters of Recommendation: I would've gotten excellent recs from my ugrad profesors, but I lost touch w/ all of them, so I asked my grad thesis advisor (non-econ), my current boss (econ, but no PhD), and a math professor for a class I was taking in the fall to brush up on math.
Research Experience: I do some economic research at work, but it's more like compiling data, so essentially no.
Teaching Experience: tutored math subjects and have taught English abroad.
Research Interests: originally environment, but now that it looks like I'm headed to LSE, I think I will try to do this from a development standpoint.
statement of purpose: standard.
Other:

RESULTS:
Acceptances: GMU (no $), and LSE Ms Econ 1 year (no $)
Waitlists:
Rejections: pretty much everywhere I applied! I won't list them all, but think of the schools in the top 20 or so--Berkeley, Yale, Michigan, NW, NYU, Columbia, etc.
Pending: BU. I still haven't heard from them!!
What would you have done differently? First, I did not discover this board until after I applied, which was my first mistake. Clearly, being out of school for over 10 years (well, undergrad), I've been out of the loop.
Second, I waited too long. I had top grades in econ and math (often the highest in the class and had 100 avg in several of the classes), so had I applied straight out of undergrad, I think I would've gotten much stronger recs. But this renewed interest in econ is mostly due to my past few jobs, so I didn't anticipate that I'd be applying to grad school. Again. I think they really penalize you for age--and it makes sense, b/c I've forgotten a lot of my math, etc. It doesn't matter if you got top grades 10-12 years ago, if you can't remember how to run regressions now.
Third, I also didn't take my undergrad classes w/ the assumption that I'd do an econ grad degree, so my classes were very micro-heavy. If I had any inkling that I'd apply to econ grad programs, I would've taken a lot more math. In fact, I probably would've majored in math.
Fourth, related to #3-- I think my LoRs hurt me. I didn't have any strong ones from econ professors. I'm sure my work and my advisor LoRs were strong enough, but one is not econ, and the other is econ, but not well known. I probably should've asked some of my undergrad profs, but I lost touch w/ all of them, so I felt uncomfortable asking.
Fifth, I wish I had planned and coordinated this much better. Between taking classes and studying for GREs, I underestimated how much time that would take up--especially the classes. I spent a lot of time focusing on classes, b/c I knew I had to get As. As a result, the first "free" time I had to even think of apps was early Nov-- by which time it was too late to apply for NSF. Really stupid planning on my part.
Finally, I already said this, but I wish I had discovered this board sooner. I selected the schools I applied to based on what several econ profs I interact w/ at work suggested. One is even on ADCOM for our school, so I thought his assessments would be accurate. He told me to apply to top 15 schools, so I did. I think he overestimated my abilities, b/c as I noted above, I got rejected everywhere. And after looking through people's profiles, I realized that contrary to what these profs said, I really had no chance in the top 10 schools. I should've applied to various levels of schools. Anyway, it's too late for me to learn from my own stupid mistakes, but I hope someone else will.

Dr. Who · 2009 April 18th, 12:32 AM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Big state school
Undergrad GPA: 3.2 BES
Type of Grad: MBA (2008) and MA Economics (anticipated 2009)
Grad GPA: 3.98 MBA, 3.97 MA
GRE: 770Q, 680V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Recent math GPA (3.78) all taken in my spare time while in MBA and summer. Calc I, II, III, Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Grad Math Stats, Grad Real Analysis
Econ Courses (MA level): Micro, Math Econ, IO, Econometrics I & II, Macro, Environmental, some other electives, and finance courses
Econ Courses (undergrad): Macro and mirco only (took as prereq’s for the MA)
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ from masters and 1 math
Research Interests: Labor and HR, IO, Business economics
statement of purpose: probably adequate
Research Experience: GA for economic forecasting shop
Concerns: MBA to Econ, older than your average student, less math than some

Attending: WUSTL
Accepted: Missouri ($), CU-Boulder ($WL), Indiana (no $), WUSTL ($)
Waitlisted: WUSTL (with $ if accepted), Vanderbilt
Rejections: Northwestern, UMich, MSU
Never heard so assumed rejection: OSU and UIUC

What I would have done differently: I should have spent more time on my statement of purpose. I think for someone like me, who is older, it could have made all the difference in the world, especially on funding decisions. It was a lot harder than I anticipated talking about myself and articulating my goals. Also, I don’t think I did a very good job matching myself up to programs strengths.

If you are in school, take a lighter load in the spring semester. Dealing with school decisions has been a HUGE time waster and I haven’t been able to concentrate for months.

I didn’t appropriately account for the economic downturn…My reaches were unattainable and seeing the decline, I should have added in a couple more safeties. Also, I should have taken more care with the safety choices. Out of the top 50 it gets a lot harder to get good info on the programs. For my interests I think KY and WY would have been solid.

Advice: For older candidates…don’t let people intimidate you into thinking there is a “ceiling” on how old you can be when you go back to get your PhD. You might not get into the top 5, but top 50 is achievable.

Find advisors that are familiar with the PhD process and what it takes to get in to a good school TODAY. My school does not grant PhD’s in business/econ and I found my advisors to be out of touch with the process. Hunt down the newer faculty and hit them up for advice.

I think the recent math background was crucial in my outcomes. Take the math. It’s never wasted.

When I returned to school, I had no idea I would end up following this path. If you are planning on a terminal masters, choose your graduate institution carefully. It will make things easier just in case you decide to continue your education.

freecon · 2009 April 18th, 02:41 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Econ
Undergrad GPA: 3.90/4.0 (gpa in math&econ 3.96) Top ranked out of 150
Type of Grad: No grad degree
GRE: 780Q
Math Courses: Calculus I-II, Linear Algebra, Math for economists, Math Analysis, Graph Theory and Networks, Probability and Statistics I-II
Econ Courses: Many...Macro and micro theories, Game Theory I-II, Growth and Development, International Trade I-II, Public Finance, Monetary, Econometrics I-II, Time Series
Other Courses: Java, Matlab, Management courses...
Letters of Recommendation: I used five different recommenders. One was a famous prof, one was department chair, others were associate profs knowing me well.
Research Experience: non
Teaching Experience: Tutoring in Econ 101&102 for two years, assisting in CS 123 for a semester
Research Interests: Game theory, Macroeconomic theory, macroeconomic policy games
statement of purpose: I have sent a standard statement of purpose to each school by just changing the name of institution. It is neither bad nor well-prepared, although I spent great time on it.
Other:

RESULTS:
Attending: BU ($$$)
Acceptances, declined: UMD ($$$), JHU ($$), Brown, LSE-MSc, UPF-MSc ($$$)
Waitlists: Brown funding list
Rejections: MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, UCLA, UPenn, Northwestern, NYU, UCSD
Pending: UWM

What would you have done differently? Firstly, I didn't study for GRE assuming that the quantitative part was easy. Yes, it was easy. But I should have studied to gain speed. Further, the verbal part was horrible for me as an international student. If I had studied, I may do well. Secondly, I didn't apply to Cornell, Columbia, Michigan, Chigago and Minnesota. I should have made a better combination of schools instead of applying Princeton,MIT,Berkeley,Yale and so on. Thirdly, it is the important one: I should have written more specific SOPs. But, it was impossible for me since I still haven't know exactly my research interests.

rvalchev · 2009 April 18th, 06:08 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Small private school. First tier according to US News but dead last in that tier

Undergrad GPA: 4.0 - I have another 2 weeks till graduation but hopefully it'll stay this way
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0 AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Optimization, Real Analysis, Topology, Probability Theory, Computational Statistics, Differential Equations
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, Econometrics and Forecasting, Game Theory, Money and Banking, Public Economics
Other Courses: Assortment of Business core classes.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 Letters from Econ Profs and 1 from a math prof. I think letters will be good to great, math professor has taught me for 2 years and I've conducted research for an year together with one of my econ profs.
Research Experience: Honors Thesis, RA for two summers but I wasted those summers so nothing really came out of it.
Research Interests: Metrics, applied metrics ... i am open to anything
statement of purpose: It was weak, unfocused and not customized for schools

RESULTS:
Attending: Duke ($$$)
Acceptances, declined: Wisconsin ($$$), Cornell ($$$), Ohio State( $$$), UNC -Chapel Hill ($$$), Michigan State ($$$), Pitt ($$$), Tinbergen Institute ($$$), LSE EME (Research), Oxford MPhil, Michigan (no $), Texas(no $), USC ($$$),
Waitlists: Duke funding waitlist, BU funding waitlist, Princeton Waitlist, Texas Waitlist, Michigan waitlist
Rejections: MIT, Princeton (rejected from waitlist), Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, UPenn, Chicago, UCSD, Penn State, Boston College, Cambridge
What would you have done differently? First, read jeeve's thread about suggestions for people from less known undergrads (it was impossible since it was not written until a couple of days ago, but that's what future people should do). Second, apply to NYU, Columbia and Northwestern (but most probably I would have only taken Northwestern over Duke. But still, my portfolio of schools was a little unbalanced). Third, write a much, much better SOPs that would be much better tailored to different schools. You'll be surprised how much SOPs matter (heard it directly from admissions directors at TOP10 and TOP20 schools).Fourth, don't get RA positions that are in the network of your schools and professors because you are already part of this network, so it doesn't add much to your profile. Go out and work for somebody different.

Mankins · 2009 April 20th, 10:13 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Very large US public university
Undergrad GPA: 4.0
GRE: 800Q, 600V, 4.5AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Mathematical Structures, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability, Advanced Calculus I, and Intermediate Real Analysis I (all A or A+). Topology and Mathematical Statistics (Spring 2009).
Econ Courses: The usual, plus Econometrics , Advanced Honors Micro (uncertainty), Advanced Honors Macro (taught by Nobel Laureate). All A or A+, except Econometrics where I got an A-. Game Theory (Spring 2009).
Letters of Recommendation: One from a Nobel Laureate (not sure how solid it was). One from a well-known economist in micro theory and information (probably knows me better than any of my other professors). One from my Advanced Calc professor.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Experience: Some preliminary work on an undergraduate thesis (never finished), Econometrics paper co-authored with two other students
Research Interests: micro theory, advertising, economics of information, behavioral/neuro/experimental, IO, development
statement of purpose: Standard
Concerns: Very little research experience, no graduate courses
Applying to: Yale, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Illinois Urbana, Berkeley, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke Decision Sciences

RESULTS:
Attending: Minnesota ($$)
Acceptances, declined: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), U Texas at Austin ($), U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ($$), Arizona State ($$)
Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, U Penn, U Chicago, Northwestern (on the waiting list, briefly), Duke Economics, Duke Decision Sciences
What would you have done differently? There's not much more I could have realistically done. Maybe I could have gone to more office hours and talked to professors more outside of class. I think I may have had better results if I had taken PhD Micro, but I don't know where I would have fit that into my schedule. I transferred schools and switched majors halfway through my junior year, and it took 5 years to finish my Bachelor's degree because of it. I hadn't finished Calc I until the summer of 2007, so I had to catch up quickly on the math required for graduate economics. Considering what a tough year it was, things could have turned out much worse.

Visible Hand · 2009 April 22nd, 07:15 PM

PROFILE:

Type of Applicant: International, big continental european country.

Type of Undergrad: Good public university but with a very bad school of Economics. Student of the university honor college (more selective than Ivy) which offers courses on its own, including in heterodox Economics.
Undergrad GPA: Overall: ~3.9/4.0; Economics: 4.0(+)/4.0; Math/Stat: 4.0(++)/4.0.
(+), (++) and ~ are due to different conversion methods that can be applied.

Type of Grad: Two-years Master in Economics (attending 2nd year), best public university of the country, 2nd department of Economics in the country, best in my fields. Enrolled in the first year of run of the program: it was brand new! Also student of the university honor college (less selective and prestigious than undergraduate's).
Grad GPA: 4.0-ε/4.0 or 4.0(+)/4.0 according to different conversion methods.

GRE: 790Q 530V 5.0AWA - TOEFL: 110

Math Courses: Several courses in Math and Stat covering all the basic Calculus/Analysis/Linear Algebra/ODE/Optimization/Measure stuff up to Simon-Blume (Vol. 2) and De La Fuente level, as well as Probability/Inference/Multivariate Stats up to Casella-Berger.
All full grades with mention.

Econ Courses: All the basic undergraduate Micro/Macro/Metrics stuff plus some applied/heterodox/history/quantitative courses. At Master Level, Micro I/Macro I/Metrics I (taking II for each in the fall) plus: Topics in Economic Theory, Economics of Innovation, Competition Policy.
All full grades, often with mention, apart from graduate Macro I (~A–).

Other Courses: Undergraduate courses in Accounting, Management and Law; graduate Corporate Finance. I have lower grades on these on average.

Letters of Recommendation: 1 MIT, 1 Toulouse, 1 Louvain (from the Master program), 1 Sussex (from my undergraduate honor college). I know ex-post, they were good but not too informative (apart from the Toulouse one maybe); the Sussex one was maybe not very good in the "fill the form" part. They were not always all of them four on every place I applied to.

Research Experience: Started to work on Master Thesis in theoretical I.O.; some short dissertations and empirical projects in the past (none of them valuable).

Teaching Experience: In line of principle, not possible in my country before Master graduation. Starting this march, however, I have assisted my MIT Ph.D. recommender in the graduate course in Econometrics taught by him.

Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Behavioral Economics, Microeconometrics.

Statement of Purpose: A synthetic overview of my academic life and interests.

Other: I obtained full scholarships from both honor colleges I have been student of. Moreover, I have been awarded 2-years full funding (tuition+stipend) to attend a top PhD in Economics, by a board of economists from a prestigious private foundation in my country; most schools I applied to knew this. So basically I would have had ($$$$) in every school had admitted me, at least for the start.

RESULTS:

Attending: Berkeley

Acceptances, declined: Northwestern, Chicago, Stern, UWM, LSE, TSE

Waitlists, eventually rejected: MIT

Rejections: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, UCSD, NYU, CMU, HBS, Wharton (Mgmt), Caltech, EUI

General Comments: If you are an international applicant and the institutions you come from are not so well known, luck and connections really matter alot, even if you have good LoRs from famous economists and a brilliant CV. I know that MIT, for instance, preferred two other students with external funding from my country over me, and they both just came from the two institutions with more reputation in sending students to top Ph.D. programs (but one of them I know, she is really a genius, 780Q). External funding might help, but it depends on the school: for some it really does (MIT, Chicago) but for others it does not (Stanford, Yale). It's not easy to decline Northwestern offer! But, in the end, I am happy with Berkeley.

What would you have done differently? Definitely, attended another undergraduate institution, the best in my country, which is very well established in sending students to top Ph.D. programs. I would have not been funded as I was, at least for the first years, but ex-post I would have had definitely very good shots for Cambridge, MA. My parents had the money, I had been admitted, so I really regret it. I should have also tried to do more research with my recommenders in the first Master year: it hurted me, they did not know me enough well (they also more or less directly told it to me). Perhaps I should have worked more in the final undergraduate years to produce a good analytical working paper to be sent as a writing sample: it may help in some schools, I think; but there was not much I could do as my undergraduate institution was a mostly empirical/heterodox place (not fitting too bad with Berkeley!).

decide_aposteriori · 2009 April 22nd, 07:52 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Large State School in the US
Undergrad GPA: 3.69 (overall including math and econ majors)
Type of Grad: MA Economics (Canadian Uni)
GRE: 760 Q, 670 V, 5.0 W
Math Courses: Calc III, Intro to Proofs, Abstract Algebra, Numerical Analysis I&II, Differential Equations, Analysis, Probability, Linear Algebra
Econ Courses: Micro (grad), Macro (grad), Econometrics (grad), IO, Topics in Micro, Econ history
Other Courses: Java
Letters of Recommendation: Math PhD Duke, Econ PhD LSE
Research Experience: None
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Experimental, Labor, Neuro, applied econometrics
statement of purpose: Standard

RESULTS:
Acceptances: Uni Arizona, Uni Hawaii
Waitlists:
Rejections: MSU, Purdue, OSU, Pittsburgh, UCSC
What would you have done differently? I would have started the process earlier. Since I couldn't make any December deadlines I was constrained on the places I could apply to. I'm really happy with Arizona, it fits my interests really well.

rizalecon · 2009 April 23rd, 06:12 PM

deleted

EconJames · 2009 April 24th, 03:23 AM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: International students. Good university in my home country but not well known.
Undergrad GPA: Major in Econ, minor in Math, GPA 3.8
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 800Q 570V 4.0A
Math Courses: Mathematical analysis, Advanced algebra, Numerical analysis, Analytical Geometry, ODE, Real analysis, Complex analysis, Functional analysis, Probability theroy, Mathematical statistic, Dynamic optimization, Stochastic process
Econ Courses: many, all basic courses including intermediate marco,micro,metrics.
Grad Econ Courses: Advanced macro, Game theory, Advanced finance
Letters of Recommendation: Not famous professors, but know me well
Research Experience: Two papers published in domestic journals
Teaching Experience: No
Research Interests: Macro

RESULTS:
Acceptances: UMN, JHU, OSU, UBC, IOWA, IUB, ASU
Waitlists: Princeton UPenn (rejected on April 15)
Rejections: UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Cornell, WUSTL, Rochester, Duke, CMU

What would you have done differently? Perhaps attend a MA first. Or maybe should prepare a paper with a DSGE model.

Comments: The undergraduate school's reputation matters a lot. If you cannot change this, try to get strong letter of reference then.

miaataro · 2009 April 25th, 08:11 PM

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad/Grad: BSc in Economics (minors in Mathematics, Statistics and Business Studies) and MSc in Economics (+ a still unfinished MSc in Statistics) from an unknown university in Finland.
Undergrad/Grad GPA: Overall 4.90, Econ 4.94, Math 4.83, Stat 4.94 (on a scale of 1-5)
GRE: 800Q, 390V, 4AWA
TOEFL: 111 (29R, 30L, 23S, 29W)
Math Courses: Unfortunately, they don't have illustrative names. I tooks a course sequence for a minor in math that dealt with the basic areas (linear algebra, differential calculus, integral calculus, real analysis, etc.) in more of an applied fashion.
Stat Courses: A lot. Mathematical Statistics 1 & 2 and Probability Calculus A & B + courses in time series analysis, survival models, mixed models, regression models, multivariate statistics, stochastic simulation, computational statistics, bayesian statistics, robust and nonparametric methods etc.
Econ Courses: A lot. Intermediate and advanced level courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics and econometrics + courses in labour economics, regional economics, microeconometrics, applied econometrics, game theory etc. I also took the econometrics core course in the Finnish Doctoral Program in Economics during the ongoing academic year.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 economics professors and a statistics professor from my university and a research director from an economics research institute. I guess they all know me quite well and believe in me, so their letters should have been good in that sense. None of them were well-known, however (but apparently they had some important connections after all).
Research Experience: BSc and MSc theses in economics, RA for one of my economics professors for 7 months, two last summers as a research trainee in an economics research institute, two last falls as an assistant researcher in an economics research institute, a researcher in an economics research institute from January onwards.
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Econometrics and empirical/applied microeconomics
statement of purpose: Nothing spectacular. Tried to emphasize my research experience and convince the reader that my educational background in economics, mathematic and statistics is strong enough, I guess.

RESULTS:
Acceptances: MIT, Tinbergen, LSE MSc EME (Research), Tilburg MPhil (2nd year), Uppsala (it was never official, though, as I withdraw my application)
Waitlists: -
Rejections: Princeton, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, U Michigan, UCL MSc

What would you have done differently? Absolutely nothing. I'm still amazed by my outcomes and really happy that I listened to my recommenders advice to try my luck with some of the top US schools. It definitely paid off...

2009 April 18th, 02:41 PM	#63 (permalink)
freecon everything will be good!! Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 38	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA Econ Undergrad GPA: 3.90/4.0 (gpa in math&econ 3.96) Top ranked out of 150 Type of Grad: No grad degree GRE: 780Q Math Courses: Calculus I-II, Linear Algebra, Math for economists, Math Analysis, Graph Theory and Networks, Probability and Statistics I-II Econ Courses: Many...Macro and micro theories, Game Theory I-II, Growth and Development, International Trade I-II, Public Finance, Monetary, Econometrics I-II, Time Series Other Courses: Java, Matlab, Management courses... Letters of Recommendation: I used five different recommenders. One was a famous prof, one was department chair, others were associate profs knowing me well. Research Experience: non Teaching Experience: Tutoring in Econ 101&102 for two years, assisting in CS 123 for a semester Research Interests: Game theory, Macroeconomic theory, macroeconomic policy games statement of purpose: I have sent a standard statement of purpose to each school by just changing the name of institution. It is neither bad nor well-prepared, although I spent great time on it. Other: RESULTS: Attending: BU ($$$) Acceptances, declined: UMD ($$$), JHU ($$), Brown, LSE-MSc, UPF-MSc ($$$) Waitlists: Brown funding list Rejections: MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, UCLA, UPenn, Northwestern, NYU, UCSD Pending: UWM What would you have done differently? Firstly, I didn't study for GRE assuming that the quantitative part was easy. Yes, it was easy. But I should have studied to gain speed. Further, the verbal part was horrible for me as an international student. If I had studied, I may do well. Secondly, I didn't apply to Cornell, Columbia, Michigan, Chigago and Minnesota. I should have made a better combination of schools instead of applying Princeton,MIT,Berkeley,Yale and so on. Thirdly, it is the important one: I should have written more specific SOPs. But, it was impossible for me since I still haven't know exactly my research interests. _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ Attending: BU($$$) Declined:UPF($$),LSE,JHU($$),UMD($$),Brown Rejections:many...Waiting:UWM Last edited by freecon : 2009 April 21st at 04:36 PM.

2009 April 18th, 06:08 PM	#64 (permalink)
rvalchev Within my grasp! Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 344	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Small private school. First tier according to US News but dead last in that tier Undergrad GPA: 4.0 - I have another 2 weeks till graduation but hopefully it'll stay this way Type of Grad: n/a Grad GPA: n/a GRE: 800Q, 530V, 5.0 AWA Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Optimization, Real Analysis, Topology, Probability Theory, Computational Statistics, Differential Equations Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro and Macro, Econometrics and Forecasting, Game Theory, Money and Banking, Public Economics Other Courses: Assortment of Business core classes. Letters of Recommendation: 2 Letters from Econ Profs and 1 from a math prof. I think letters will be good to great, math professor has taught me for 2 years and I've conducted research for an year together with one of my econ profs. Research Experience: Honors Thesis, RA for two summers but I wasted those summers so nothing really came out of it. Research Interests: Metrics, applied metrics ... i am open to anything statement of purpose: It was weak, unfocused and not customized for schools RESULTS: Attending: Duke ($$$) Acceptances, declined: Wisconsin ($$$), Cornell ($$$), Ohio State( $$$), UNC -Chapel Hill ($$$), Michigan State ($$$), Pitt ($$$), Tinbergen Institute ($$$), LSE EME (Research), Oxford MPhil, Michigan (no $), Texas(no $), USC ($$$), Waitlists: Duke funding waitlist, BU funding waitlist, Princeton Waitlist, Texas Waitlist, Michigan waitlist Rejections: MIT, Princeton (rejected from waitlist), Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, UPenn, Chicago, UCSD, Penn State, Boston College, Cambridge What would you have done differently? First, read jeeve's thread about suggestions for people from less known undergrads (it was impossible since it was not written until a couple of days ago, but that's what future people should do). Second, apply to NYU, Columbia and Northwestern (but most probably I would have only taken Northwestern over Duke. But still, my portfolio of schools was a little unbalanced). Third, write a much, much better SOPs that would be much better tailored to different schools. You'll be surprised how much SOPs matter (heard it directly from admissions directors at TOP10 and TOP20 schools).Fourth, don't get RA positions that are in the network of your schools and professors because you are already part of this network, so it doesn't add much to your profile. Go out and work for somebody different. _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ No more admissions decisions ... was fun while it lasted, but now it's to make up my mind.

2009 April 20th, 10:13 PM	#65 (permalink)
Mankins Within my grasp! Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 129	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Very large US public university Undergrad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 800Q, 600V, 4.5AWA Math Courses: Calc I-III, Mathematical Structures, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability, Advanced Calculus I, and Intermediate Real Analysis I (all A or A+). Topology and Mathematical Statistics (Spring 2009). Econ Courses: The usual, plus Econometrics , Advanced Honors Micro (uncertainty), Advanced Honors Macro (taught by Nobel Laureate). All A or A+, except Econometrics where I got an A-. Game Theory (Spring 2009). Letters of Recommendation: One from a Nobel Laureate (not sure how solid it was). One from a well-known economist in micro theory and information (probably knows me better than any of my other professors). One from my Advanced Calc professor. Teaching Experience: N/A Research Experience: Some preliminary work on an undergraduate thesis (never finished), Econometrics paper co-authored with two other students Research Interests: micro theory, advertising, economics of information, behavioral/neuro/experimental, IO, development statement of purpose: Standard Concerns: Very little research experience, no graduate courses Applying to: Yale, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Illinois Urbana, Berkeley, Texas, Minnesota, Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke Decision Sciences RESULTS: Attending: Minnesota ($$) Acceptances, declined: Carnegie Mellon ($$$), U Texas at Austin ($), U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ($$), Arizona State ($$) Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Yale, Stanford, U Penn, U Chicago, Northwestern (on the waiting list, briefly), Duke Economics, Duke Decision Sciences What would you have done differently? There's not much more I could have realistically done. Maybe I could have gone to more office hours and talked to professors more outside of class. I think I may have had better results if I had taken PhD Micro, but I don't know where I would have fit that into my schedule. I transferred schools and switched majors halfway through my junior year, and it took 5 years to finish my Bachelor's degree because of it. I hadn't finished Calc I until the summer of 2007, so I had to catch up quickly on the math required for graduate economics. Considering what a tough year it was, things could have turned out much worse. Last edited by Mankins : 2009 April 21st at 07:34 AM.

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2009 April 17th, 10:24 PM	#61 (permalink)
Fig01123 I JUST got here. Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 17	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Big state school; not sure how it's ranked in econ--probably mid-tier; Undergrad GPA: 3.9 Type of Grad: Top 10 private. It's top 5 in econ, but I did my M.A. in East Asian History. Grad GPA: 3.94 GRE: 800Q/660V 5.0 Math Courses: Calc I-III (multivariable), Linear algebra, stats and Fortran (not a math class, I know, but several apps asked for programming classes) in undergrad (all As). Since this was more than 13 years ago, I've also been taking "brush up" math this past year-- Linear Algebra I, II, multivariable calc, diff eqs, and currently auditing real analysis Econ Courses: intro to micro, intro to macro, intermediate micro, international trade, public economics, economics of Japan, labor economics seminar, advanced micro seminar (which I took at a second-rate state school, so was a joke) grad level micro class. All A/A+, except the grad level class, which I took pass/fail, and econ of Japan (B+) Other Courses: I only minored in econ in undergrad, but I started out in engineering, so I have 1.5 years worth of math/science classes--mostly As except 1 class. Letters of Recommendation: I would've gotten excellent recs from my ugrad profesors, but I lost touch w/ all of them, so I asked my grad thesis advisor (non-econ), my current boss (econ, but no PhD), and a math professor for a class I was taking in the fall to brush up on math. Research Experience: I do some economic research at work, but it's more like compiling data, so essentially no. Teaching Experience: tutored math subjects and have taught English abroad. Research Interests: originally environment, but now that it looks like I'm headed to LSE, I think I will try to do this from a development standpoint. statement of purpose: standard. Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: GMU (no $), and LSE Ms Econ 1 year (no $) Waitlists: Rejections: pretty much everywhere I applied! I won't list them all, but think of the schools in the top 20 or so--Berkeley, Yale, Michigan, NW, NYU, Columbia, etc. Pending: BU. I still haven't heard from them!! What would you have done differently? First, I did not discover this board until after I applied, which was my first mistake. Clearly, being out of school for over 10 years (well, undergrad), I've been out of the loop. Second, I waited too long. I had top grades in econ and math (often the highest in the class and had 100 avg in several of the classes), so had I applied straight out of undergrad, I think I would've gotten much stronger recs. But this renewed interest in econ is mostly due to my past few jobs, so I didn't anticipate that I'd be applying to grad school. Again. I think they really penalize you for age--and it makes sense, b/c I've forgotten a lot of my math, etc. It doesn't matter if you got top grades 10-12 years ago, if you can't remember how to run regressions now. Third, I also didn't take my undergrad classes w/ the assumption that I'd do an econ grad degree, so my classes were very micro-heavy. If I had any inkling that I'd apply to econ grad programs, I would've taken a lot more math. In fact, I probably would've majored in math. Fourth, related to #3-- I think my LoRs hurt me. I didn't have any strong ones from econ professors. I'm sure my work and my advisor LoRs were strong enough, but one is not econ, and the other is econ, but not well known. I probably should've asked some of my undergrad profs, but I lost touch w/ all of them, so I felt uncomfortable asking. Fifth, I wish I had planned and coordinated this much better. Between taking classes and studying for GREs, I underestimated how much time that would take up--especially the classes. I spent a lot of time focusing on classes, b/c I knew I had to get As. As a result, the first "free" time I had to even think of apps was early Nov-- by which time it was too late to apply for NSF. Really stupid planning on my part. Finally, I already said this, but I wish I had discovered this board sooner. I selected the schools I applied to based on what several econ profs I interact w/ at work suggested. One is even on ADCOM for our school, so I thought his assessments would be accurate. He told me to apply to top 15 schools, so I did. I think he overestimated my abilities, b/c as I noted above, I got rejected everywhere. And after looking through people's profiles, I realized that contrary to what these profs said, I really had no chance in the top 10 schools. I should've applied to various levels of schools. Anyway, it's too late for me to learn from my own stupid mistakes, but I hope someone else will.

2009 April 18th, 12:32 AM	#62 (permalink)
Dr. Who Now the real work begins Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 619	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Big state school Undergrad GPA: 3.2 BES Type of Grad: MBA (2008) and MA Economics (anticipated 2009) Grad GPA: 3.98 MBA, 3.97 MA GRE: 770Q, 680V, 5.0AWA Math Courses: Recent math GPA (3.78) all taken in my spare time while in MBA and summer. Calc I, II, III, Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Grad Math Stats, Grad Real Analysis Econ Courses (MA level): Micro, Math Econ, IO, Econometrics I & II, Macro, Environmental, some other electives, and finance courses Econ Courses (undergrad): Macro and mirco only (took as prereq’s for the MA) Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ from masters and 1 math Research Interests: Labor and HR, IO, Business economics statement of purpose: probably adequate Research Experience: GA for economic forecasting shop Concerns: MBA to Econ, older than your average student, less math than some Attending: WUSTL Accepted: Missouri ($), CU-Boulder ($WL), Indiana (no $), WUSTL ($) Waitlisted: WUSTL (with $ if accepted), Vanderbilt Rejections: Northwestern, UMich, MSU Never heard so assumed rejection: OSU and UIUC What I would have done differently: I should have spent more time on my statement of purpose. I think for someone like me, who is older, it could have made all the difference in the world, especially on funding decisions. It was a lot harder than I anticipated talking about myself and articulating my goals. Also, I don’t think I did a very good job matching myself up to programs strengths. If you are in school, take a lighter load in the spring semester. Dealing with school decisions has been a HUGE time waster and I haven’t been able to concentrate for months. I didn’t appropriately account for the economic downturn…My reaches were unattainable and seeing the decline, I should have added in a couple more safeties. Also, I should have taken more care with the safety choices. Out of the top 50 it gets a lot harder to get good info on the programs. For my interests I think KY and WY would have been solid. Advice: For older candidates…don’t let people intimidate you into thinking there is a “ceiling” on how old you can be when you go back to get your PhD. You might not get into the top 5, but top 50 is achievable. Find advisors that are familiar with the PhD process and what it takes to get in to a good school TODAY. My school does not grant PhD’s in business/econ and I found my advisors to be out of touch with the process. Hunt down the newer faculty and hit them up for advice. I think the recent math background was crucial in my outcomes. Take the math. It’s never wasted. When I returned to school, I had no idea I would end up following this path. If you are planning on a terminal masters, choose your graduate institution carefully. It will make things easier just in case you decide to continue your education.

2009 April 22nd, 07:15 PM	#66 (permalink)
Visible Hand Malevolent Planner Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 90	PROFILE: Type of Applicant: International, big continental european country. Type of Undergrad: Good public university but with a very bad school of Economics. Student of the university honor college (more selective than Ivy) which offers courses on its own, including in heterodox Economics. Undergrad GPA: Overall: ~3.9/4.0; Economics: 4.0(+)/4.0; Math/Stat: 4.0(++)/4.0. (+), (++) and ~ are due to different conversion methods that can be applied. Type of Grad: Two-years Master in Economics (attending 2nd year), best public university of the country, 2nd department of Economics in the country, best in my fields. Enrolled in the first year of run of the program: it was brand new! Also student of the university honor college (less selective and prestigious than undergraduate's). Grad GPA: 4.0-ε/4.0 or 4.0(+)/4.0 according to different conversion methods. GRE: 790Q 530V 5.0AWA - TOEFL: 110 Math Courses: Several courses in Math and Stat covering all the basic Calculus/Analysis/Linear Algebra/ODE/Optimization/Measure stuff up to Simon-Blume (Vol. 2) and De La Fuente level, as well as Probability/Inference/Multivariate Stats up to Casella-Berger. All full grades with mention. Econ Courses: All the basic undergraduate Micro/Macro/Metrics stuff plus some applied/heterodox/history/quantitative courses. At Master Level, Micro I/Macro I/Metrics I (taking II for each in the fall) plus: Topics in Economic Theory, Economics of Innovation, Competition Policy. All full grades, often with mention, apart from graduate Macro I (~A–). Other Courses: Undergraduate courses in Accounting, Management and Law; graduate Corporate Finance. I have lower grades on these on average. Letters of Recommendation: 1 MIT, 1 Toulouse, 1 Louvain (from the Master program), 1 Sussex (from my undergraduate honor college). I know ex-post, they were good but not too informative (apart from the Toulouse one maybe); the Sussex one was maybe not very good in the "fill the form" part. They were not always all of them four on every place I applied to. Research Experience: Started to work on Master Thesis in theoretical I.O.; some short dissertations and empirical projects in the past (none of them valuable). Teaching Experience: In line of principle, not possible in my country before Master graduation. Starting this march, however, I have assisted my MIT Ph.D. recommender in the graduate course in Econometrics taught by him. Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Behavioral Economics, Microeconometrics. Statement of Purpose: A synthetic overview of my academic life and interests. Other: I obtained full scholarships from both honor colleges I have been student of. Moreover, I have been awarded 2-years full funding (tuition+stipend) to attend a top PhD in Economics, by a board of economists from a prestigious private foundation in my country; most schools I applied to knew this. So basically I would have had ($$$$) in every school had admitted me, at least for the start. RESULTS: Attending: Berkeley Acceptances, declined: Northwestern, Chicago, Stern, UWM, LSE, TSE Waitlists, eventually rejected: MIT Rejections: Princeton, Stanford, Yale, UCSD, NYU, CMU, HBS, Wharton (Mgmt), Caltech, EUI General Comments: If you are an international applicant and the institutions you come from are not so well known, luck and connections really matter alot, even if you have good LoRs from famous economists and a brilliant CV. I know that MIT, for instance, preferred two other students with external funding from my country over me, and they both just came from the two institutions with more reputation in sending students to top Ph.D. programs (but one of them I know, she is really a genius, 780Q). External funding might help, but it depends on the school: for some it really does (MIT, Chicago) but for others it does not (Stanford, Yale). It's not easy to decline Northwestern offer! But, in the end, I am happy with Berkeley. What would you have done differently? Definitely, attended another undergraduate institution, the best in my country, which is very well established in sending students to top Ph.D. programs. I would have not been funded as I was, at least for the first years, but ex-post I would have had definitely very good shots for Cambridge, MA. My parents had the money, I had been admitted, so I really regret it. I should have also tried to do more research with my recommenders in the first Master year: it hurted me, they did not know me enough well (they also more or less directly told it to me). Perhaps I should have worked more in the final undergraduate years to produce a good analytical working paper to be sent as a writing sample: it may help in some schools, I think; but there was not much I could do as my undergraduate institution was a mostly empirical/heterodox place (not fitting too bad with Berkeley!).

2009 April 22nd, 07:52 PM	#67 (permalink)
decide_aposteriori Now it's time to work Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 98	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Large State School in the US Undergrad GPA: 3.69 (overall including math and econ majors) Type of Grad: MA Economics (Canadian Uni) GRE: 760 Q, 670 V, 5.0 W Math Courses: Calc III, Intro to Proofs, Abstract Algebra, Numerical Analysis I&II, Differential Equations, Analysis, Probability, Linear Algebra Econ Courses: Micro (grad), Macro (grad), Econometrics (grad), IO, Topics in Micro, Econ history Other Courses: Java Letters of Recommendation: Math PhD Duke, Econ PhD LSE Research Experience: None Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: Experimental, Labor, Neuro, applied econometrics statement of purpose: Standard RESULTS: Acceptances: Uni Arizona, Uni Hawaii Waitlists: Rejections: MSU, Purdue, OSU, Pittsburgh, UCSC What would you have done differently? I would have started the process earlier. Since I couldn't make any December deadlines I was constrained on the places I could apply to. I'm really happy with Arizona, it fits my interests really well.

2009 April 23rd, 06:12 PM	#68 (permalink)
rizalecon I JUST got here. Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 21	deleted

2009 April 24th, 03:23 AM	#69 (permalink)
EconJames I JUST got here. Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: International students. Good university in my home country but not well known. Undergrad GPA: Major in Econ, minor in Math, GPA 3.8 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 800Q 570V 4.0A Math Courses: Mathematical analysis, Advanced algebra, Numerical analysis, Analytical Geometry, ODE, Real analysis, Complex analysis, Functional analysis, Probability theroy, Mathematical statistic, Dynamic optimization, Stochastic process Econ Courses: many, all basic courses including intermediate marco,micro,metrics. Grad Econ Courses: Advanced macro, Game theory, Advanced finance Letters of Recommendation: Not famous professors, but know me well Research Experience: Two papers published in domestic journals Teaching Experience: No Research Interests: Macro RESULTS: Acceptances: UMN, JHU, OSU, UBC, IOWA, IUB, ASU Waitlists: Princeton UPenn (rejected on April 15) Rejections: UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Cornell, WUSTL, Rochester, Duke, CMU What would you have done differently? Perhaps attend a MA first. Or maybe should prepare a paper with a DSGE model. Comments: The undergraduate school's reputation matters a lot. If you cannot change this, try to get strong letter of reference then.

2009 April 25th, 08:11 PM	#70 (permalink)
miaataro Within my grasp! Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 284	PROFILE: Type of Undergrad/Grad: BSc in Economics (minors in Mathematics, Statistics and Business Studies) and MSc in Economics (+ a still unfinished MSc in Statistics) from an unknown university in Finland. Undergrad/Grad GPA: Overall 4.90, Econ 4.94, Math 4.83, Stat 4.94 (on a scale of 1-5) GRE: 800Q, 390V, 4AWA TOEFL: 111 (29R, 30L, 23S, 29W) Math Courses: Unfortunately, they don't have illustrative names. I tooks a course sequence for a minor in math that dealt with the basic areas (linear algebra, differential calculus, integral calculus, real analysis, etc.) in more of an applied fashion. Stat Courses: A lot. Mathematical Statistics 1 & 2 and Probability Calculus A & B + courses in time series analysis, survival models, mixed models, regression models, multivariate statistics, stochastic simulation, computational statistics, bayesian statistics, robust and nonparametric methods etc. Econ Courses: A lot. Intermediate and advanced level courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics and econometrics + courses in labour economics, regional economics, microeconometrics, applied econometrics, game theory etc. I also took the econometrics core course in the Finnish Doctoral Program in Economics during the ongoing academic year. Letters of Recommendation: 2 economics professors and a statistics professor from my university and a research director from an economics research institute. I guess they all know me quite well and believe in me, so their letters should have been good in that sense. None of them were well-known, however (but apparently they had some important connections after all). Research Experience: BSc and MSc theses in economics, RA for one of my economics professors for 7 months, two last summers as a research trainee in an economics research institute, two last falls as an assistant researcher in an economics research institute, a researcher in an economics research institute from January onwards. Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: Econometrics and empirical/applied microeconomics statement of purpose: Nothing spectacular. Tried to emphasize my research experience and convince the reader that my educational background in economics, mathematic and statistics is strong enough, I guess. RESULTS: Acceptances: MIT, Tinbergen, LSE MSc EME (Research), Tilburg MPhil (2nd year), Uppsala (it was never official, though, as I withdraw my application) Waitlists: - Rejections: Princeton, UC Berkeley, Northwestern, U Michigan, UCL MSc What would you have done differently? Absolutely nothing. I'm still amazed by my outcomes and really happy that I listened to my recommenders advice to try my luck with some of the top US schools. It definitely paid off...

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