So, you want to go to grad school in Economics?

[08Applicant]

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

What don't you understand? The fact that he's an aspiring economist and had an excessive social life?

No such thing. I have that on good authority from several very successful graduate students and their famous advisor that could all drink me under the table.

Now if you meant to say excessive substance abuse, I might understand. Talk to me next week after my roommate's wedding if I survive the alcohol poisoning.

[OneMoreEcon]

To accomplish enough to pass your classes and stay in the program... no, you don't need to lose sleep (unless, like me, you prefer to sleep until noon and thus have to set an alarm to wake up for class).

To do everything that's put in front of you and that you're told you should do... take up a raging coke habit while also finding a way to extend the day from 24 hours to 36 hours.

There's a realistic balance somewhere in the middle, but it's hard to find it until after the fact.

For example, do you need to read a single paper that's recommended in a first-year course? No, probably not. Should you read it if you want to pass? Well, again, probably not. Should you read it? Yes, probably... it helps you define, refine, and understand your interests. Why don't you like the paper? Is it the techniques used? The main question addressed by the paper? Your professor who just happens to be a jerk and you respond by disregarding the entire field?

Maybe you like applied game theory and macro, but don't see a connection when you do a ton of dynamic programming in first-year macro... that doesn't mean you hate macro, it just means you don't like the particular type of macro you saw in your lectures. But how do you find these things? You read papers.

As a response to some of the comments in the thread...

1) Classes may or may not matter. This really depends on your school. Anyone who says "grades don't matter" means one of two things. (i) Grades do not matter at his/her school. (ii) Grades don't matter on the PhD academic job market. But (ii) is conditional on making it to the market. Outside of the top handful of schools where attrition is not an issue, it may very well be the case that grades matter for funding, continuing in the program, or both. See, for example, some of the past discussions about Wisconsin. Yes, some places really will give you a failing grade. Yes, some places will take your funding because of your GPA. Yes, some places will not let you sit your comps if your GPA is too low. Conditional on making it through, no academic employer gives a sh*t on the job market, and your advisor won't write in a recommendation letter, "Gee, he has great research and will continue on that trajectory, but his first year metrics grade sucked a*s."

2) The skills required to make it through the first two years are not necessarily highly-correlated with success in research. It's more like a hurdle you have to jump, just like hazing required to get into a fraternity. I can think of one program where people with the best grades in courses don't do so great on the market (if they make it) while people who fail classes/comps/both end up being the department's stars on the market.

3) The "great student" mentality is an issue, but this is a transition to grad school. You need to pass classes/comps, but you're not in grad school to be a good student... you're in grad school to *become* a good (or great) researcher. But if you're not interested enough to be a good student, you might want to ask yourself if you're interested enough to be a good researcher.

4) Grad school is about finding YOUR interests. The first two years are, in some sense, designed to (i) provide a basic set of skills to everyone (particularly first year) and (ii) help you find your research interests (second year). If you can do one or both in grad school without caring much about classes... great. But my guess - much as I criticize everything - is that, for most people, the first two years are the most efficient way of accomplishing (i) and (ii) for most people... but not everyone.


You don't have to stop sleeping or read every paper to survive. But if your goal is just to get by, you really have to question your dedication. Find the balance that works for you.