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

[oleador]

http://www.econ.umn.edu/graduate/so_...o_be_a_phd.pdf

Very useful stuff for those planning to apply to PhD in Economics, written by second-year students at U Minnesota.
(maybe this was posted on this forum before, but I didn't find it.

[Getz]

Nice!

[YoungEconomist]

I skimmed through real quick (will read the whole thing later). I hope they're not right about sleep. That's the one thing I don't want to compromise, because I'm really ineffective when I'm tired.

[pevdoki1]

I didn't sacrifice any sleep, but then again I probably failed the macro prelim.

[ZomgRogged]

Nice post. These things always get me jacked to work hard!

[EconJames]

I planed to have a relax during the summer time, but I think it will be a good idea to review my real analysis book after reading this post.

[treblekicker]

i completely understand that it will be impossible to maintain my current social life, however, i refuse to sacrifice my non-academic pursuits altogether.

[economics]

i think the sacrifices are proportional to your program. since programs and quality of student varies, however, even lower/medium-tier programs may turn out to be hard work for their students, so keep that in mind (estimate your own capabilities with the rigor of your program. if you're a genius in a top50 program, you'll have a good time, but i am not sure whether a top50 program is easier for top50 students than a top10 for top10 students?. any thoughts on that?

[Golden Rule]

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

I skimmed through real quick (will read the whole thing later). I hope they're not right about sleep. That's the one thing I don't want to compromise, because I'm really ineffective when I'm tired.

They're not. After reading this, that was the one thing that stood out to me as terrible advice to apply generally. I don't function well when I'm regularly operating on a couple hours of sleep. Yes, I do it on occasion to meet deadlines, but usually I'm totally dysfunctional for a few days afterwards. I get crabby, antisocial, and a bit depressed. I'm much more efficient and productive when I'm getting 7-8 hours of sleep regularly.

Also I think it's easier to get by on limited sleep during first year when your life is very structured and it's always clear what problem sets you need to do next. Research, esp. in the early going, requires much more creativity and I'm completely unproductive when I'm sleep deprived (an exception is when you're churning out a paper or presentation and most of the hard thinking is done already)

Maybe some people have some different metabolism than I do, but the authors' advice simply does not suit my body well.

[ramshackled]

Originally Posted by Golden Rule

They're not. After reading this, that was the one thing that stood out to me as terrible advice to apply generally. I don't function well when I'm regularly operating on a couple hours of sleep. Yes, I do it on occasion to meet deadlines, but usually I'm totally dysfunctional for a few days afterwards. I get crabby, antisocial, and a bit depressed. I'm much more efficient and productive when I'm getting 7-8 hours of sleep regularly.

Also I think it's easier to get by on limited sleep during first year when your life is very structured and it's always clear what problem sets you need to do next. Research, esp. in the early going, requires much more creativity and I'm completely unproductive when I'm sleep deprived (an exception is when you're churning out a paper or presentation and most of the hard thinking is done already)

Maybe some people have some different metabolism than I do, but the authors' advice simply does not suit my body well.

Also, EXCERCISE! Sacrificing one hour to be more productive over the remaining is a good trade-off in my opinion.