tk az Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) Hi, I'm thinking of applying this cycle, and was curious as to find out where to apply to. Here's a look at my current profile: Type of Undergrad: Large Public University Undergrad GPA: 3.7 GRE: Taking in July Math Courses: Calc I-III(A,B,A), LA(A), Formal Math Reasoning and Logic aka Proofs (B), Probability Theory (B), Mathematical Statistics (B), ODE (B), Intro to Math of Investing (A) , Applied LA (A), Real Analysis I (Fall 2011), Numerical Analysis I (Fall 2011) or Advanced ODE (Fall 2011) Econ Courses: Basic Principles (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Econometrics (A), Labor (A), Economic Statistics (A), Grad Micro I (Fall 2011 if they let me in), Industrial Organization (Fall 2011), Intermediate Macro (Fall 2011) Other Courses: Java (A) Letters of Recommendation: 3 from outstanding professors (one famous economic historian, one well published for game theory, one primarily teaching professor who has written a few books) Research Experience: Worked for economic historian and am writing thesis under him Teaching Experience: Preceptor/Undergrad TA for Intermediate Micro (taught by well published prof in game theory) and Basic Principles (taught by teach prof) Research Interests: Not sure, but currently more micro based SOP: I hope it will be sold Other: I feel like my math grades are rather inflated and spotty. I took some dual enrollment credit in high school and got a C and B in Calc I and Calc II, respectively, then retook Calc I freshman year. After that I took LA and Calc III and got C's in my freshman year, but retook them for A's. After that I got what I got with an exception of withdrawing from proofs. Overall it seems I have a sketchy math background. I know its rather late in the game, but any ways to remedy the situation. Thanks for any advice. Cheers. Edited May 27, 2011 by tk az Got my grade for Applied LA in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleador Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 You may have a decent shot at top 20-30, provided that the letters are good enough, math grades this fall are A, and GRE quant is >=780. If I were you, I would apply to couple of top-10 places, to 4-5 top-20's, 4-5 top-30's, and 2-3 top-50's. Also, if you are not yet sure about your interests, apply to large departments that offer a wide variety of specializations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seacucumber Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 I pretty much agree with oleador's assessment. If you manage to get A in all the remaining math classes and have good letters, you should have a decent chance in top 30. Assuming that you don't and get a mixture of B's and A's, aim mainly for departments ranked around #35-50 (for the 25th and 75th percentile). Look at the Sticky thread on top for past profiles. They will give you a pretty good idea of what it takes to succeed. Also talk to your LOR writers and ask them where you ought to apply. That will give you a good idea of how strong their letters are (among other valuable information). The most cost-efficient thing you can do now is to concentrate on getting good math grades, particularly in real analysis. One thing you might want to do is to look over the basics of it over summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbieboy74 Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) why is he not better? his math grades? Edited May 23, 2011 by robbieboy74 wrong thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk az Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 Thanks for the tips and advice. Out of curiosity, I was wondering whether it would be advisable to apply to some masters programs as well. If you guys could recommend some notable masters program, it would be greatly appreciated. The only ones I know at the moment are abroad (LSE, Cambridge, Warwick, Toulouse, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkingHard Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 There's a lot more -- NYU, Delaware, Illinois champagne urbana, UNC, Duke, UCD. Personally I'm a fan of Illinois, UNC, and UCD since I know you can find a way to not have to pay via research assistantships etc, but if you have the money NYU or Duke could be the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatdoido Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Top Canadian Master's are Queen's, UBC, UToronto and UWO (although I think they discontinued the UWO master's program). Some good European programs are LSE and Oxford (LSE is probably the best). I think the best placement into PhD I've ever seen is from Di Tella, but I think it's taught in Spanish only. American master's programs don't have the same level of placement as foreign programs, although I don't know much else about American master's programs. What I've gotten from this forum is that NYU is generally NOT a good stepping stone to a PhD program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aecon641 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Sounds like you're gonna have no life this fall lol. If I was you I'd probably take 4 out of 5 of those classes you listed (unless one or two of them is really easy)... but then again I'm a very lazy man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk az Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 @whatdoido: Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on the NYU not being a good stepping stone for a PhD program, because they even say that on there website. You seem to know a lot about Masters programs. Are there any other programs abroad that have pretty good placements? @aecon641: Hahaha, you're right about the situation for the fall. As of now, I'm enrolled in Real Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Intermediate Macro, and IO, which doesn't sound too awful... I hope haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seacucumber Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Real analysis is probably going to be difficult since you haven't taken any pure math courses before. It is going to be a tough schedule for you if you get into grad micro, and you need good grades. My advice would be to drop numerical analysis or not take grad micro if that situation arises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatdoido Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 @whatdoido: Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on the NYU not being a good stepping stone for a PhD program, because they even say that on there website. You seem to know a lot about Masters programs. Are there any other programs abroad that have pretty good placements? @aecon641: Hahaha, you're right about the situation for the fall. As of now, I'm enrolled in Real Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Intermediate Macro, and IO, which doesn't sound too awful... I hope haha. Everything I know about master's programs is from this forum, which you could just as easily find with the search function. What I've read is that UToronto Doctoral Stream is quite difficult and the placement is generally not quite as good as that of Queen's. I've read UBC (University of British Columbia) is a cold environment (attitude-wise I mean, they're all cold weather-wise). Only from what I've seen and read here do I believe that Queen's has the best environment and the best placement of the Canadian programs (see Econchef's profile this year, he's from Queen's and got to choose between Berkeley and Standford, and if you search Queen's placement on this forum you'll see its not that uncommon). Also, it seems to be consensus here that LSE EME is the best master's program.(I can't recall anything about LSE placement). However, South American students often pipe up at this point to say that South American Master's programs have better placement than pretty much any other (I remember someone posted something from Di Tella that, in one year, had like 10/15 (ballpark) students at top 10 schools). I'm not 100% sure, but I think Di Tella is only taught in Spanish, so its kind of a moot point unless you can speak fluently enough to understand a graduate class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleador Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 UWO (although I think they discontinued the UWO master's program). It looks like it's still there: Department of Economics at Western Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggoofer Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Make sure you don't give the impression that economic history is your main interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatdoido Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 It looks like it's still there: Department of Economics at Western I must have misread it somewhere then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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