Roll Call Fall 2010

[gatorgirl]

Type of Undergrad: Large public University
Undergrad GPA: 3.92/4. 4.0 in all math and econ classes
Grad: none
GRE: 760Q/640V. Don't know AWA
Math Courses: Calc I-III, Stats I-II, Linear Algebra, Diff Eq
Econ Courses: Basics, International Trade, Public Economics, Economic Development of Latin America
Other courses: Minors in Spanish & Latin American Studies, emphasis on development courses
LORs: 2 Econ profs (nothing special), 1 from my current manager
Work experience: Economist at the Dept of Labor, studies on books and real estate industries
Research interest: Public economics, Development & resource economics
Concerns: Low GRE score - I don't know why, but on the actual exam I don't do as well as I should. Not enough math classes. LORs should be positive, but not outstanding, as I'm a few years out of college.

Applying to:
Masters:
UBC, Madrid, Barcelona, maybe another foreign

PhD:
Maryland AREC, Maryland Econ, Berkeley ARE (all reaches, I'm sure), Davis, American, Georgetown, George Washington, UVA, UIUC

[lpstrker10]

Type of Undergrad: Large Public University. Top 10 Undergraduate BSchool. Already graduated.
Undergrad GPA: 3.76/4.00 Finance: 3.6, International Business: 3.8 - honors and distinction
Grad: none
GRE: Haven't taken it yet
Math Courses: Calc 1 (A+), Intro to Stats (B+), Finite Mathematics (B+)
Econ Courses: Intro to Micro (A-), Intro to Macro (A), BusEcon (A-), Money and Banking (A)
Currently enrolled as non-degree seeking at local 4th tier university: Intro to Econometrics, Calc 2, Linear Algebra, Intermediate Micro
Other courses: Finance courses (All As and A-s except one B+), LSE Course in Financial Derivatives (C - underqualified for the class and it was my first finance class ever and I was only a sophomore.. pretty stupid)
LORs: 1 BusEcon, 2 Finance maybe. Probably nothing special
Work experience: IMF, World Bank, IBank, Consulting,
Research interest: Financial Economics, Macroeconomics, Behaviorial Econ,
Concerns: Lack of Econ and Mathematics courses. Hope to apply to a MA/MSc program to make up for it. Worried about my LSE grade for the summer class (most of the people that were in the class were seniors, grad students, or already employed and were sent by their jobs to take the class - i.e. friend I made was working at the Bank of England and was a Cambridge graduate)

Applying: UPF, TSE, LSE, Warwick, Essex, U of Toronto, UBC, Queens, Bocconi (?), Tilburg, Tinbergen, U of Rotterdam (Erasmus), UvAmsterdam (?), UC-Denver, Duke, BU, Tufts... Any other suggestions?

[purplishmoon]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. Econ & Math from top 10 university in China
Undergrad GPA: 3.7+/4
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 550V, 4.0AWA
Math Courses: Math Analysis I, II and III, Lenear Algebra, Statistics, Probability, Stochastic Process, Real Analysis, Functional Analysis, Ordinary Diffriential Equation, Dynamic System, Linear Programming, Dynamic Programming, Basic Topology, Time Series Analysis.
Econ Courses: Micro/Macro-Economics ( Junior, Mideam, Advanced), Econmetics, Political Economics, Finance Theory, International Trade, International Finance, Economic Growth Theory, Options Futures and Derivatives.
Other Courses: Irrelevant.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 econ professor (Havard PHD), 2 math professors
Research Experience: Except for term papers and thesis, none.
Teaching Experience: none.
Research Interests: Experimental Economics, or IO.
statement of purpose: Top 50 Univs.
Concerns: My poor research experience.
Other:
Applying to: not decided

[Ibid]

Type of Undergrad: Four-year B.A. in Economics from the top university in Ireland.

Undergrad GPA: No GPA (thankfully, given my tendency to "enjoy myself" in the early years) but I scraped a First.

Type of Grad: M.A. Economics from the second-best university in Ireland, but the best economics school.

Grad GPA: 4.0/4.2; A+ grade in thesis.

GRE: Not taken yet. Dedicating the next two/three months of my life to that particular SOB.

Math Courses: I am sitting in on undergraduate Real Analysis and Graph Theory this semester. Will take Topology next semester. Will not get official credit for these but lecturer has agreed to grade work, so hopefully I can shove good grades in Real Analysis/Graph Theory onto applications.

Econ Courses: M.A. Micro (A+), M.A. Macro (B), M.A. Econometrics (A), Public Economics (A-), PhD Micro (A-), PhD Macro (A+).

Other Courses: Lots in undergrad: Securities, Transport, Competition Policy, IO, etc. Will be unofficially taking PhD time-series econometrics and PhD panel classes in second semester.

Letters of Recommendation: Will have one good one from reasonably famous MIT-graduate professor; one great one from not-very-well published thesis supervisor; one from RA boss that better argue that the sun shines from my rear.

Research Experience: Am RA'ing for recently placed (but reasonably up-and-coming) lecturer this year. This is why I can sit in on the maths modules.

Publications: Completely independently-researched undergraduate thesis published in undergraduate journal. Thinking about submitting M.A. thesis for proper publication. (You might say why not: the opportunity cost is that I could make it a very nice PhD paper if I introduced an intertemporality aspect to it.)

Teaching Experience: Intermediate micro; Final-year econometrics (Stata); M.A. econometrics.

Research Interests: Public economics, micro theory. Bit of a general econ nerd so I like an awful lot.

statement of purpose: Not written yet.

Concerns: Early undergraduate grades; only one top professor writing letters of reference.

Applying to: I think I will apply to pretty much all of the top 25 in the US; Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Warwick, Toulouse. Comments welcome

[APJ]

PROFILE:
Type of masters: Msc Financial engineering, London, MA eco (Delhi school of economics, India), CFA all levels cleared
MSc : Distinction (above 70%)
GRE: 780Q, 530V, 5.0AWA (repeating)
Math Courses: Math for eco (Real analysis, topology, optimization, dynamics), Linear Algebra, Measure Theory (not complete course), stochastic processes, Stochastic calculus
Econ Courses (Masters-level): game theory, information economics: corporate finance, mechanism designs, dynamic optimizations, econometrics (Time series and theory), monetary policy, risk theory
Other Courses: whole lot of finance courses (CFA), asset pricing (martingale pricing)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 prof at University of london and one at cambridge, (economics), one from India (phd yale)
Research Experience: Except for term papers and thesis, none.
Teaching Experience: portfolio management for MBA program
Research Interests: Dynamic macro, risk and time, experimental eco, asset pricing
Concerns: MA eco performance is not great (though Msc Fin. eng is good)
Applying to: Yale, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, Maryland, WUSTL, Bsoton, Minessota, duke, rochester, Caltec, CMU, tolouse, swiss finance

[simulacra]

Type of Undergrad: Engineering from a good university (international)

Undergrad GPA: 76% (ranked 3rd at the university)

Type of Grad: Math (minor in Econ) from a big public university in US

Grad GPA: in progress.

GRE: 770Q, 540V, 5.0 AWA

Math Courses: Lin Alg, Calculus, multivariate, stochastic, statistics, set theory, topology, combinatorics, Mathematical analysis and many more
Econ Courses: Microecon, Optimization, Resource Economics, Macro econ (undergrad)

Letters of Recommendation: From an Econ professor (dont know if she is well known), Another from a prof in the Math dept (my advisor). My summer RA professor who is from the Business school, and my current RA Professor, who can evaluate me on my research skills and mathematical analysis skills.

Research Experience: Currently RA for a very well known professor, but not in economics. I have to do the Data analysis and code in MATLAB
Summer RA for a Business school professor

Publications: Co-authored a paper with a very famous professor in deveopmental econometrics

Research Interests: Econometrics, Trade and development

statement of purpose: Not written yet.

Concerns: Low GRE score, not a solid econ background, diverse recommenders, unconventional background

Applying to: Caltech, UC Davis, Michigan, UMD, CMU, Minnesota, and others

[JHkim]

Type of Undergrad: economics in international school (asia)

Undergrad GPA: 3.7/4.0

Type of Grad: economics in u.s. top 50

Grad GPA: now progressing

GRE: 640/800/4.0

Math Courses: Linear Algebra, Calculus, Statistics, Diff. Eqns, Analysis

Econ Courses: many, plus first year courseworks in grad school

Letters of Recommendation: one from my undergrad advisory professor, two from recent school

Research Experience: bank of korea, nor strong neither important position as part time

Teaching Experience: TAs for 3 semesters, for principles

Publications: none

Research Interests: monetary policy

statement of purpose: standard version, with some details in my interests and some comments on the professors' papers I read for that schools I'm applying

Concerns: Low undergrad GPA, Lack of math courses, and lack of confidence

Applying to: JHU, CMU, BC, USC, UCI, PSU, UMN, UCLA, Columbia, UCB, WASTL, and more

[JBDonges]

Type of Undergrad: German Diplom in Economics from a University that is a Top5 in Germany but 200-300 worldwide.
Undergrad GPA: exp. 1.8 on a scale from 1.0-5.0 where 1.0 is best
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 740Q, 400V, 4.0AWA (retake in late october)
Math Courses: Mathematics for Economists I and II (passed), Statistics I, II and III (2.0)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Advanced Macro I (pending), Adv. Macro II (1.3), Monetary Theory (1.3)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Economic Policy, International Economics, Environmental Economics, Energy Economics, Public Economics, Growth, Labour, and many more, all between 1.0-3.3 (average about 2.0)
Other Courses: pre-degree in business
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors (1 Northwestern PhD, 1 former Harvard fellow, 1 unknown)
Research Experience: 3 years RA for an unknown prof.
Teaching Experience: Introductory micro
Research Interests: Macro
statement of purpose: Standard - template taken from Italos.
Concerns: GRE was really bad, hope to get better scores on 2nd attempt.
Other: MA application only
Applying to: NYU MA, Yale IDE, UBC MA, UofT MA, UCSB MA, UMich MAE, McGill MA, USanFran MA, U Illinois Chicago MA

Keep your fingers crossed

Cheers,
JBD

[nobigdeal]

Type of Undergrad: B.F.A (!) dbl major in acting and economics (from one of the top acting programs, and a top (15) econ department.
Undergrad GPA: 3.85/4 over all, 3.9 econ; received the senior year econ dept. award.
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 650V (still waiting on the writing)
Math Courses: Calc I-II (AP). Only linear algebra (A) in undergrad. Since then, calc III (A), real analysis (A+), math stats (A+), probability (A)
Econ Courses (undergraduate): two intro classes plus micro, macro, international trade, labor, public, development, statistics, econometrics, thesis. All A's, except an A- in my first intro course.
Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (worked for one over a summer, co authored a paper with the other -- top marks in their classes), one economist at a fed (he does more academic research than policy work).
Research Experience: A senior thesis, which grew into a paper that was recently accepted into a top field journal. Over 2 year at a fed working pretty closely with an economist with who I coauthored a paper we submitted to an interdisciplinary policy journal.
Teaching Experience: Very little. Worked in a statistics lab in college where I gave a lesson on STATA.
Research Interests: Labor, behavioral
Statement of Purpose: (not sure what to put here)
Concerns: I have a B.F.A, and I didn't take much math in college.
Applying to: Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, Penn, Duke, Cornel, and others

[GoIllini]

Type of Undergrad: Computer Science (Engineering) from a top five school.
Undergrad GPA: 3.52 GPA overall; program known for low grade inflation
Undergrad Honors: Graduated with Honors, Engineering scholar, part of highly selective campus-wide honors program.
Type of Grad: NA
Grad GPA: NA
GRE: 800Q, 730V, 4.5 AWA (SAT: 1600)
Math Courses: Calc I-II (AP). Calc III/Multivariable (A+) 400-level Probability: A-. B's in linear algebra and Diffy'q during a difficult 21 credit-hour semester.
Business Courses (undergraduate): AP Econ Micro and Macro. Derivatives Pricing (A+) Intro to Finance/Financial Markets (A-) Accounting- Financial Statements (Two semesters; A, A-), Tax Accounting (A+)
Work Experience: Two years in a product-specific analytics group at a bulge bracket investment bank. Our group has ranked #1 in II surveys for five consecutive years. Currently manage a global real-time 24/5 pricing system that serves several dozen traders, but have also done work on the research side. Work experience runs the gamut from explaining to clients how vol impacts OAS to fixing pricing models to taking 3 AM pages when something breaks and the firm is about to be flying blind on 15% of its balance sheet.
Letters of Recommendation: 1 well-known quant, 1 Finance Professor, one professional reference from a VP I work for.
Research Experience: Developed the second unique algorithm to solve subset-sum in O(2^.5n) time since the problem was discovered 35 years ago. Unpublished, but nobody has beaten me to the punch.
Teaching Experience: Course staff for graduate section of CS 473, one of the most difficult CS and algorithms courses in the country.
Research Interests: Algorithmic economics, asset pricing.
Concerns: For me, College was all about getting into industry. I took the fastest route I could that would get me to a good job and did not focus on research or "unnecessary" academic experences. I'm a little weak on research and I'm not as strong as I'd like to be on academics.
Applying to: Yale, Minnesota, Chicago, Stanford. Also applying for an MS in financial engineering at several other schools.