Intro to econometrics?

[Blanket]

So you all may remember me as the poster who peppered the board with questions about the importance of attending a high caliber undergraduate institution. I was at a very unknown school, and thanks to the advice of the board and my own research I decided to transfer. Next year I will be attending an Ivy League school, one that offers "Intro to Econometrics". Will ad coms frown on me taking this course? My prior institution had no Intro to Econometrics, but I assume that my Ivy League's intro course must be rigorous in some way...

 

For what it is worth, econometrics I is an option for me, though I am in no rush....

[Food4Thought]

If you are in no rush, why not take both?

[Insti]

People in the ad com will not think it is a bad signal if you start the sequence where you are supposed to start - intro to metrics. Talk to your professors who will teach the courses they will know best which class is at your level. Also I highly doubt that any class at the level of intro to metrics is rigorous in any sense of the word

[Mathew952]

How much stat do you know? At intro to metrics in my school, you barely even cover heteroskedasticity- most of the course is "oooh, look, regressions!" If you're even a moderately okay self-learner, there's a very good book by Kacapyr (Ignore anyone who says to start with wooldridge, I found it way too dense for self-teaching, and it's the text for Econometrics I and II at my school): Introductory Econometrics for Undergraduates: A Student's Guide to the Basics: 9780765627926: Economics Books @ Amazon.com

 

If you can read that and figure it out, you're probably ready for the real deal.

[indium]

I am a new to this forum

 

I would like to share more details about MODERATOR REDACTED

Edited August 9, 2014 by tm_member
redacted spam

[Team3]

...Ignore anyone who says to start with Wooldridge...

 

Wooldridge has an intro text and a graduate text...did you think the intro text was too much? I'm teaching the intro course in the spring and would be interested in your thoughts.

[yankeefan]

What do you mean by Woolridge is too dense? It certainly is a chatty book, but it does very well at providing intuition and underling motivation for OLS, and linear econometrics in general. His chapters on Time Series and LDVs are poorly motivated and assumes a lot of the reader (much more than the prior chapters on OLS, which is targeted at absolute beginners). For example he does little to explain why we need a link function or what purpose it serves before diving into Probit/Logit. I'd unequivocally recommend it for a first course in econometrics, especially for students with weak math/stats background (someone who hasn't taken calc-based probability theory). The other popular option is Stock and Watson (which I used in my ugrad econometrics); I tossed it out and switched to Woolridge after the first month, because it was filled with a lot of algebraic derivations and formalism but not enough explanation or motivation.

[startz]

Wooldridge is a very fine text. If you are looking for something shorter (also much cheaper), check out Introduction to Econometrics by Christopher Dougherty.

[Resident Mario]

I'm interested in this question of school rank. I'm very comfortable where I am now, with a scholarship that will leave me completely debt-free come graduation, but I recognize that the school I'm attending is no Columbia. Is school rank important enough that I should consider ruining my financial security to improve it? My immediate impression is "hell no", followed by "well, at least not yet", but this poster's experience seems to imply otherwise. What do you guys think?

[econphd14]

I'm interested in this question of school rank. I'm very comfortable where I am now, with a scholarship that will leave me completely debt-free come graduation, but I recognize that the school I'm attending is no Columbia. Is school rank important enough that I should consider ruining my financial security to improve it? My immediate impression is "hell no", followed by "well, at least not yet", but this poster's experience seems to imply otherwise. What do you guys think?

 

I guess this question boils down to simple finance. Are the gains from getting a more prestigious degree, adjusted for the time-value of money, greater than the costs? If your goal is a top phd, the answer to this question is probably yes, especially if your undergrad isn't known for sending students to institutions in your target range.

[Resident Mario]

Are the gains from getting a more prestigious degree, adjusted for the time-value of money, greater than the costs?

 

Wow, with thinking like that you must be an economist!

 

It's too early for me to say with certainty that I want to become a super academic. It'd be nice, but I haven't really been challenged yet (ascending to sophomore year) so I don't yet know if I have what it takes, so I want to have an exit strategy. I know almost for certain that I want a dual major in economics and mathematics, but my concern is that PhD is considered "starting level" when it comes to econ, so what I can do with my BBA Econ + BA Math if I want to get a job (preferably one involving computer science) immediately after graduation?

 

I was weighing the value of leaving versus staying before, and I'll now add this to the list of things to consider.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Resident Mario

[Castial]

Wow, with thinking like that you must be an economist!.

 

It's more finance then econ.

 

Anyway OP just my two cents but if you have the chance to finish debt free at your university then just stick with it. Alot of things in life are uncertain, there's no guarantee you would do much better at a prestigious university but what is certain is the eventual debt that will land on you. Just like the above poster mentioned if you factor in uncertainty and risk into the present value of the gains and costs, you might not like what you see.

[Blanket]

I'm interested in this question of school rank. I'm very comfortable where I am now, with a scholarship that will leave me completely debt-free come graduation, but I recognize that the school I'm attending is no Columbia. Is school rank important enough that I should consider ruining my financial security to improve it? My immediate impression is "hell no", followed by "well, at least not yet", but this poster's experience seems to imply otherwise. What do you guys think?

 

Here are a few questions for you to help you with your decision. They helped me with mine.

 

1) Are you happy at where you are now? I was socially, but felt I was not being challenged academically.

 

2) What do you want to do as a career? I'm fairly sure I'd like to be an Economics professor, and I received feedback from the forum that even if I had a 4.0 at my last University, there was no guarantee I'd crack the Top 50. I loved my Professors at my last school, but they publish poorly. I'm not chomping at the bit to get into Harvard/MIT/Yale, but I would like to see my potential realized and I think by transferring I will be more appropriately placed.

 

3) Will debt be an issue in the future? The average CS major from MIT is most likely making loads more money than the average CS major from U Mass-Boston. In the long run, it makes financial sense for a skilled computer scientist to graduate from MIT.

 

This is my advice. Really think about the first question. I'm sort of a math in my spare time, reading when I'm not doing math type of person, which means that I'm not content if I'm not being intellectually challenged. If you're the same, I think you owe it to yourself to go to the best school possible. If you're future-oriented, look up your school's Economic faculty Ph.D. Where did they graduate from University? Do any professors publish in high impact journals? If you've got some kick-*** Professors, maybe not Nobel candidates but active researchers from top notch programs, then I think you're fine. It's really a matter of figuring out how academia works and playing the game. I LOVED the Professors at my last University, but they don't meet the criteria of 'good letter writers'.

 

Good luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions related to Economics or the transferring process.

[Castial]

Here are a few questions for you to help you with your decision. They helped me with mine.

 

1) Are you happy at where you are now? I was socially, but felt I was not being challenged academically.

 

2) What do you want to do as a career? I'm fairly sure I'd like to be an Economics professor, and I received feedback from the forum that even if I had a 4.0 at my last University, there was no guarantee I'd crack the Top 50. I loved my Professors at my last school, but they publish poorly. I'm not chomping at the bit to get into Harvard/MIT/Yale, but I would like to see my potential realized and I think by transferring I will be more appropriately placed.

 

3) Will debt be an issue in the future? The average CS major from MIT is most likely making loads more money than the average CS major from U Mass-Boston. In the long run, it makes financial sense for a skilled computer scientist to graduate from MIT.

 

This is my advice. Really think about the first question. I'm sort of a math in my spare time, reading when I'm not doing math type of person, which means that I'm not content if I'm not being intellectually challenged. If you're the same, I think you owe it to yourself to go to the best school possible. If you're future-oriented, look up your school's Economic faculty Ph.D. Where did they graduate from University? Do any professors publish in high impact journals? If you've got some kick-*** Professors, maybe not Nobel candidates but active researchers from top notch programs, then I think you're fine. It's really a matter of figuring out how academia works and playing the game. I LOVED the Professors at my last University, but they don't meet the criteria of 'good letter writers'.

 

Good luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions related to Economics or the transferring process.

 

In the long run, a skilled computer scientist would not really be judged on where he graduated from. Most if not all, comp sci graduates depend on their work and code to sell themselves later on. It's in fact even more impressive to most people if you graduate at a lower school and still have great code skills, experience etc.

 

Your point is well noted though if you're talking about something like investment banking where there's alot of value throughout your life by getting to say that you went to harvard. Doesn't matter even if you went there for women's studies.

[Blanket]

In the long run, a skilled computer scientist would not really be judged on where he graduated from. Most if not all, comp sci graduates depend on their work and code to sell themselves later on. Your point is well noted though if you're talking about something like investment banking where there's alot of value throughout your life by getting to say that you went to harvard. Doesn't matter even if you went there for women's studies.

 

Sure :) , Investment Banking. Computer science was more of a 'fill in the blank' type thing.

[Resident Mario]

Thank you Blanket, I may yet take you up on that offer.

 

Right now I think my next step is to get in contact with some of my upperclassmen and survey their impressions of the school's econ/math/stats departments, and to meet with my honors adviser and query her about job placement and an LSE semester abroad opportunity that she's name dropped before.

[econphd14]

I'm an alum of the LSE study abroad program. It's a year long commitment, and you take regular classes with the rest of the students. The British exam system will be a bit of a shock, if you're not familiar with it. LSE students' grades are based entirely on a single exam at the end of the the school year for most courses. My exam grades were not perfect, but my home institution combined the exam grades with the participation grades provided by LSE to get a better picture. LSE also offers a fast-paced summer school, but I'm not familiar with that.

 

Thank you Blanket, I may yet take you up on that offer.

 

Right now I think my next step is to get in contact with some of my upperclassmen and survey their impressions of the school's econ/math/stats departments, and to meet with my honors adviser and query her about job placement and an LSE semester abroad opportunity that she's name dropped before.