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2016 Profile evaluation - for the kid who dropped out of college


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I know I'm a little early to the boards, but I'm going to need advice. I changed my major 3 times and flunked out of undergrad the first time around. So, I decided to stop drinking, rebounded, and worked my *** off. Recently, I've been told I should get my PhD (see LoR). Looking to apply for the 2016 round. I know I'll need some more math even with a 170 on the GRE. Suggestions for courses? Thanks for the advice.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 public (dropped out) , Small Private (graduated) w/ BS in Financial Economics

Undergrad GPA: 3.1 (graduated), 2.5 (combined w/ 1st attempt), 3.6 in econ classes

Type of Grad: MA Applied Econ at a Top 20 Research University (part-time)

Grad GPA: 3.7

GRE: 170 (quant) 165 (verb)

Math Courses: Undergrad Calculus I (A), Undergrad Calculus II (A), Undergrad Statistics (B). Grad Statistics (A)

Econ Courses (grad-level): Micro Theory (B), Macro Theory (B), Political Economics (B), Econometrics (A), Macro Econometrics (B), Regional Economics (A), Financial Economics (A), Macro Economic Forecasting (A), Financial Econometrics (A)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro, Intro Macro, Money & Banking, International Trade, Int Macro, Int Micro, Regression Analysis, Investment Analysis

Other Courses: A lot of Finance & Accounting

Letters of Recommendation: Solid from semi-well known employer with Harvard PhD- he is the one who told me to go get my PhD, Grad school professor, and undergrad professor.

Research Experience: My job afforded me to have my name in the thanks comments of a published papers in an AEA journal and two other papers in a lower Journals. Master's Thesis on Dodd-Frank.

Teaching Experience: Tutor - MBA economics

Research Interests: Public Policy, Financial Economics, Econometrics

SOP: Basically I have to explain my bad undergrad grades, working my tail off to get where I am now, and what I want to use my PhD for.

Concerns: Low undergrad grades, so-so grad grades.

Other: I have my CFA Level III and can program in pretty much any statistical software package out there, but I'm not sure how my work experience will be viewed.

Applying to: Suggestions?

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I am more than confident that you will be able to get into a top-40 institution. Your profile is incredibly similar (minus research interests) to thuswindburn, and got into both Arizona and UNC - Chapel Hill.

 

As for courses, you should try to take a course in linear algebra and real analysis.

Edited by Food4Thought
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I guess I will be the one delivering tough love here. Maybe a top-40 is realistic, but you might want to consider adding a few safeties. Apart from the weak math background, those Bs in grad classes would hurt you a lot. Moreover, there is quite a few of them so the adcoms will not see it as a fluke, but rather as a somewhat good signal. I for example had a bad semester during my masters which lead me to a couple of bad grades (B in macro and micro), which I believe is what kept me from top40 for the most part.

 

 

Looking at thuswindburn's profile he only got 1 A- and 1 B+, quite better than your grad record.

 

 

I am not trying to say that you will not get anywhere good or that you do not have a shot, but rather suggesting you might want to put in more than a few safeties.

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I agree with Insti that this does not look like a top-40 profile. While there have been examples of people on here who did poorly in undergrad, then aced a masters' program and went on to top-40ish programs--that isn't the case here. Your profile reminds me a little bit of MoneyandCredit's: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/151427-profiles-results-2014-a-5.html#post976924 . While you attended higher-ranked schools, he had a lot more math than you do.

 

To me, the biggest concerns here are:

 

1. The grad grades. Getting Bs in many of your masters' level classes is a pretty big concern, PhD level courses are considerably harder than masters' level ones, so admissions committee members would likely be concerned that you won't be able to handle the difficulty of harder courses.

 

2.The math. You need a lot more math. To get into any ranked program, you likely need calc III and linear algebra. If you want to aim slightly higher and manage to do even reasonably well, you really need some proof-based coursework, at least at the "intro-to-proofs" level, and preferably real analysis.

 

Anyway, I hate having to give bad news, but I would be surprised if you would get in anywhere in the top-50 with this profile, and you may have a hard time getting in at lower-ranked programs too. I think that people here often seriously underestimate the difficulty of getting into top-50 programs.

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Thanks for the well thought out responses. I agree with Catrina and Insti, I think admission committees will want to see more math on my application to consider me a serious candidate. So, I'm looking at Linear Algebra and Real Analysis courses, but is there anything else I should take?

 

Also, I have the opportunity to live in London. Any thoughts on schools over there?

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Thanks for the well thought out responses. I agree with Catrina and Insti, I think admission committees will want to see more math on my application to consider me a serious candidate. So, I'm looking at Linear Algebra and Real Analysis courses, but is there anything else I should take?

 

Also, I have the opportunity to live in London. Any thoughts on schools over there?

 

UCL and LSE are great economics departments. Imperial College is a world class engineering school if you are just looking at math classes. If you're living on the periphery, Oxford is a top notch economics department and Cambridge is one of the best math departments in the world.

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So, ditto on what other people have said about applying widely. My profile is not too different from yours - I did about the same in undergrad, but I did better at a lower ranked MA. I got into a couple of places ranked around 50. I probably could have gotten in to a slightly higher ranked place than Oregon if I had applied more widely. That was 2011, and I'm under the impression that things are if anything more competitive now. Your letters might help (I didn't have any big names), but those grad school grades are going to hurt you. Shoring up your math helps, but at the end of the day, all of us in this boat are high variance candidates, and we get admits when people take a chance on us. Casting a wide net increases the chances that there will be someone to take a chance on you, but at the end of the day, a shut out is always possible.
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