My Admissions Dilemma

[ImProcrastinating]

Originally Posted by ilikefreefood

On a related note, how much do y'all think it matters if I take a Ph.D level micro course at Georgetown vs. Maryland?

Tough call. I won't take sides, but here's a few points:

1) Maryland is more highly ranked, but the difference isn't huge. Georgetown is still top 30 or 40.

2) Especially given your B in an Analysis, a high grade is important. The competition might be slightly less fierce at Georgetown.

3) The stress you'd incur by going to Maryland might make you less likely to get an A.

4) If you can, check out which professors will be teaching the classes. If one's much more well-known than the other, that could be a factor if you need an letter of reference.

[tmdruie]

Originally Posted by ilikefreefood

I went on the advice of multiple people in selecting my schools, but I think that sometimes consultants and liberal arts college professors can be a little out of the loop with regard to short-run admissions trends. Their sample sizes are just too small and they don't deal with graduate education on a day-to-day basis. My school has a very good reputation with grad schools, but I think that in a year like this there's just no way that a person with my profile would have gotten into most of these places.

I felt my professors (admittedly we seem to have surprisingly little overlap in that regard) were way more realistic then anyone else (the economists I worked for) I talked to about where I might be able to get in. But, I have really different profile then you do.