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Profiles and Results 2015


Econhead

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I suggest that you should post in this thread only after you have received all or most of your offers since posts can't be edited after a few days. Also, feel free to mention how accurate or inaccurate the predictions were if you started a predictions thread.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad:

Undergrad GPA:

Type of Grad:

Grad GPA:

GRE:

Math Courses:

Econ Courses:

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation:

Research Experience:

Teaching Experience:

Research Interests:

SOP:

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances:

Waitlists:

Rejections:

Pending:

Attending:

Comments:

 

What would you have done differently?

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Small State school, not very good with econ but has a good math faculty

Undergrad GPA: 3.39

Type of Grad: MA in mathematics from the same university (I had to improve my profile since I did not have my head on straight initially)

Grad GPA:3.89

GRE: V 158, Q 162 AW 4.0

Math Courses: Real A-, Measure A-, Functional A, Matrix Theory A, Linear II A, Financial Math B, Math Modeling A-, Computational Lin Alg, A, Numerical Analysis A, many more with mostly As and Bs

Econ Courses: Intermediate Macro A, Intermediate Micro B, I took many more as well but it was a long time ago, Intermediate micro was one of only 2 Bs in my econ classes I ever got but I took it in a semester with 20 credits including Intermediate macro, Lin alg, Calc III and other upper level econ courses

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: 3 from my math professors. They are definitely unknown in the econ world but come from top 30 math programs. Could attest to my hard work, research and strength in writing (writing math that is)

Research Experience: Master's thesis, undergraduate thesis, and worked with a research group in the math department that presented at math conferences

Teaching Experience: Have taught college algebra, trig, business calc, and precalc

Research Interests: Initially micro but lately macro and econometrics

SOP: Standard I am sure

Other: I was concerned over a few grades as an undergraduate and my GRE but hoped my MA should get rid of any doubt

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: U of Iowa ($), U of MN applied econ, UNL($)

Waitlists: UC Boulder, Purdue

Rejections: U of Oregon, Uconn

Pending:

Attending: University of Iowa

Comments: I thought for sure I would get into Uconn and Boulder based upon my strengths and research interests. I thought I would get rejected from Iowa and Purdue due to my poor undergraduate record.

 

What would you have done differently? Apply to at least one dream school. I didn't apply to any because I figured it would be a waste of money, but 80-100 dollars to at least throw my name in the hat to one dream school would have been worth it. All in all I am extremely happy about getting accepted to Iowa.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Urban, Public University

Undergrad GPA: 4.0

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 170V, 165Q, 5.5W

Math Courses: Honors Calc I-III (A), Differential Equations (A) Linear Algebra (A), Probability Theory (A), Mathematical Statistics (A), Basic Concepts of Mathematics (A)

Econ Courses: Intro Micro & Macro (A), Intermediate Micro/Macro (A), International Trade (A), Health Econ (A), Money and Banking (A), Senior Writing Seminar (A), Econometrics I (A), Mathematical Economics (A)

Other Courses: A random smattering of relevant Poli Sci classes and stat classes.

Letters of Recommendation: Two econ professors, one public policy professor

Research Experience: Won a grant to do independent econ research over the summer, got very good feedback from my mentors/program leaders.

Teaching Experience: Math,Stats, and Econ tutor at the Tutoring Center for a year.

Research Interests: Labor, Applied Micro

SOP: I put a pretty good amount of time in, because I figure this is the one place I have to convey my reasons for wanting this. No idea if they were ever read,

Other: I had a lot of little things that I think gave me a boost. I was done my BA in 3 years by my own effort, I was in Phi Beta Kappa, the tutoring gig, etc. Also, I had *fantastic* relationships with my letter writers. These were people who genuinely wanted to see me succeed, and that helps a lot.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: University of Houston ($), Clemson ($$), Rutgers (No $), Univeristy of Pittsburgh (No $), Ohio State University ($$), Vanderbilt ($$$), UC Boulder ($$)

Waitlists:

Rejections: Johns Hopkins , University of Michigan

Pending: University of Washington (If they liked it then they should've put a ring on it. Too late now.)

Attending: Vanderbilt!

Comments: I got a really, really good return. When I got my first acceptance at Clemson in late fall, I thought that would be it. Never did I think I really had a chance at Vanderbilt or OSU. Most of those gleaming, glimmering As you see above I completed the year of my application- the only math I had grades for in the fall was Calc I-II and some stats.

What would you have done differently?

I would have started my math trek earlier- Not that I didn't do well, but taking 4 math courses at once is *miserable*.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Psych major (econ minor) Completely unknown state school. 3 econ professors, none of whom are well known. This was a help and a hindrance that I will discuss at the end.

Undergrad GPA: 3.75 (4.0 economics, 3.6 in major, 3.2 in math)

Type of Grad: n/a

Grad GPA: n/a

GRE: V: 168, Q: 160, AW: 6 (whoo: I was proud of this)

Math Courses: Calc I (A), Intro to Stats/Prob (C: I will explain this at the end and tell you the strategy I utilized for my Personal Statement), Discrete Math

Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro/Macro, International Trade, Labor Econ

Other Courses: Research Methods/Research Stats (psych-specific course): A, lots and lots of relevant psych: Industrial/Organizational, Social, Community, etc.

Letters of Recommendation: Incredibly stellar (one of the biggest benefits of a small school) 1 from econ prof saying I'm the best he's had in 20 years, the only he's thought of as ready for grad study,etc. 1 from the Quant psych prof attesting to my quantitative strength and explaining my C in stats (she sat on the committee where I protested the grade), and 1 from Social Psych prof who's co-authored with an econ guy saying my grasp of Behavioral Econ is better than hers (and she's published)

Research Experience: One first author publication regarding childhood SES and personality in an undergrad journal, Two years of RA experience with my psych profs (econ profs don't do quant research. :-/ One does history, the other does finance, and the other is just old).

Teaching Experience: Level III Master Tutor Certification through CLRA/American Tutor Association, Supplemental Instructor in Research Methods and Statistics (basically a student TA at my school.)

Research Interests: Behavioral Econ, Experimental Econ, Neuroeconomics

SOP:Quite strong, according to the school that accepted me. I explained why my GPA isn't a 3.8 (I had one semester where my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and my dad was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and I was at the hospital with them a lot. Grade-wise, I had A's in all my courses, but my school has a weird attendance policy that requires professors to penalize students for anything more than 6 absences with grade reductions.) I appealed this semester of C's (which included stats), but failed due to the fact that the school's attendance policy was listed on the syllabi. The policy has since been scrapped (due to my situation from what I'm told).

 

 

Other: I included my publication as a writing sample.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: University of Warwick (no funding) MSc in Behavioral and Economic Sciences (economics track)

Waitlists: none

Rejections: none

Pending: none

Attending: none

Comments: On the advice of my advisors, and due to my inability to pay, I've decided to strengthen my application by adding a math minor (by adding Calc II and III, Linear Algebra, Discrete Math II, Calc-based Stats, and Differential equations)

 

What would you have done differently?

 

I would have been taking math a lot earlier than now. I applied to Warwick because I was also applying to the Fulbright program. When I made it through the first round of eliminations, I didn't apply to any other schools (this was super stupid, I know), and when I found out that I didn't make the final cut, I was way outside the application deadline for most programs. I'll likely retake the GRE so that I can beef up my Quant score. I'm afraid I will reduce my AW score, though, because the writing section was in a field I happened to know a lot about, and was very passionate about.

 

And yeah, I would have applied to more than one school, though I know now I likely won't be accepted until I get more maths. Lessons learned. Will try again next cycle.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Economics major at private research university (T25 undergrad, T50 econ)

Undergrad GPA: 3.8 overall/4.0 econ and math

Type of Grad: none

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 170V/169Q/6.0AW

Math Courses: Calc II, Multivariable Calc, Linear Algebra, Introduction to Proofs, Ordinary Differential Equations (all As)

Econ Courses: Intro Micro/Macro, Intermediate Micro/Macro, International Finance, International Trade, Economic Statistics, Introduction to Econometrics, Topics in Applied Econometrics, Development Economics, Labor Economics, Program Evaluation, Senior Thesis Seminar (all As)

Other Courses: Lots of random language, international relations, and area studies courses

Letters of Recommendation: (1) Professor I TA’d for, knew me well for most of undergrad (2) Professor for Dev econ classes, active researcher in the field (3) Math professor/chair of undergrad department (4) current supervisor at econ consulting firm (T25 PhD)

Research Experience: Senior thesis (received honors), presented at an undergraduate conference. Analyst at economic consulting firm for three years.

Teaching Experience: TA for International Finance for three semesters

Research Interests: Development, Labor, Applied Micro and metrics

SOP: Pretty good I think. Covered undergrad background/thesis, research skills I’ve gain from current position, and described some potential topics I might want to research. Added a short paragraph to the end listing professors, research centers, etc. specific to the school.

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Boston University ($$), University of Pittsburgh ($$)

Waitlists:

Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, NYU, Brown

Pending:

Attending: BU

Comments: Overall, I’m satisfied with the outcome. The rejections hurt a lot, but at least I was spared any waitlist/unfunded offer drama. I’m accepting a funded offer, from a solid program, in a great city, so I can’t really complain!

 

What would you have done differently?

 

Short Term: Applied to more schools ranked 15-30 instead of targeting mostly 1-15. Although, I may still have ended up at the same place given my field and location preferences. Otherwise, I think I did the best I could in terms of GRE, SOP, and other things I could control.

 

Long Term: So many things. I didn’t realize I wanted to pursue this path until second semester junior year, which left me cramming 4 math classes into senior year just to have a shot. If I’d known I wanted to do this freshman or sophomore year, I would have chosen a much different set of courses (way more math instead of 18 credits of Arabic…). I also wish I’d taken more advantage of research opportunities at my undergrad school.

 

What I would not have done differently: worked for a few years. I’ve gained so much in terms of practical research skills, professional confidence, and personal clarity as to what I want out of grad school and a career.

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Guest Trifecta

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA Economics (top 50 econ, top 5 public), post-bacc coursework (top 50 econ)

Undergrad GPA: 2.3 (combined) - 2.09 for BA, 3.82 for post-bacc

Type of Grad: MA Applied Economics (top 100 econ)

Grad GPA: 3.85

GRE: 161V/166Q/4.0AW

Math Courses: [only listing what I’ve taken/retaken since undergrad] Calculus I-III (B, A-, A+), Economic and Business Statistics (A), Differential Equations (A-), Intro to Advanced Math (A), Honors Linear Algebra (A), Honors RA I (in progress)

Econ Courses: [undergrad] all of the usual intro and some field courses (poor grades obviously); [grad] Intermediate Econometrics (A), Math Econ (A), Micro I and II (A, B+), Macro (A-), Econometric Methods (A), Econometric Theory (B+), Applied Policy Methods (A), Data Methods (A), Health Economics (A), Public Economics (A), PhD Econometrics I and II (A, A)

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: health professor from MA (top 30 US PhD); former colleague at work, now AP at top 100 PhD program (top 20 US PhD), program director at work (top 30 US PhD); NSF reviewer comments indicated that my letters were very strong

Research Experience: 4 years of health policy analysis (4 co-authored papers in top public health journals, 5 more under review currently), 2 semesters as RA during MA

Teaching Experience: 1 semester as TA during MA (grading and office hours, no teaching)

Research Interests: health, econometrics

SOP: standard, didn't address my undergrad GPA, wanted to let my performance since then speak for itself, discussed my interests but slightly altered for each school

Other: Special Sworn Status with US Census Bureau (for access to restricted microdata)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UNC Health Policy and Management PhD ($), NC State PhD (waitlisted for $), UNCG PhD ($$, deferred admission from last year)

Waitlists: none

Rejections: Duke PhD, UNC PhD, Duke Public Policy PhD, NSF

Pending: none

Attending: UNC Health Policy and Management PhD

Comments: Really excited! This program is a great fit for my interests and should provide the best research and job opportunities of my acceptances (top 3 school of public health versus mid- to low-ranked econ programs). I know it's uncommon here for applicants to end up outside of econ departments, but in this case, the fit was too good to ignore. I'm also going back to my undergrad institution for my PhD, which given my performance, would have been a laughable thought several years ago.

 

What would you have done differently?

Pretty obvious, I think. I wouldn't have made a 2.1 GPA in undergrad. If that had been a 3.8-4.0, I probably could have gone to a top 20 econ program straight out of undergrad. However, I wouldn't have had the roundabout path that provided a really great MA experience and several years doing high-end health policy research before even starting a PhD. I feel so much more prepared now than even when I finished my MA. I've presented solo at top conferences in my current field of work and have a couple of first-authored papers in the pipeline. More than anything, I've lived the life of a social science researcher for a few years and seen how to get things done. Being able to formulate an idea, execute it, and write a paper is really difficult but I'm so glad to have had that experience prior to starting my own independent work for my dissertation. I was also geographically limited, which meant I could only apply to 6 programs, some of which weren't even very good fits. However, we live in a great city and house that we love, and being able to stay here through the PhD is huge for our quality of life. I know some people say that as long as the department and library are nice, that's all you need, but I think that's a rough way to spend 4-6 years of your life. Keep that in mind when you are considering where to go.

 

My advice to future applicants, particularly those who didn't have the greatest undergrad GPA, is to just find a way. Find a small, less prestigious MA with some good faculty in an area that you interested in and go there. I visited the dept where I did my MA three times before I even applied. They knew I was desperate but also very hungry for an opportunity. I came in, blew through the first year, and made the highest grade in my cohort on the micro comp. I got to take PhD level courses and do interesting RA work precisely because there were so few students who were interested in academic research and going on to a PhD. You have to want to do this! Coursework at the graduate level is really hard and rejections from schools and funding sources hurt badly, but the research itself and publishing are harder than all of that. That said, the reward of seeing your idea come to fruition and putting it out there in the literature for others to read and build off of is so powerful. If you don't feel that way, then you should really think about whether a research career is really what you want. If you do, then go for it until you find someone who says yes.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Bachelor of Arts in Economics in a Latin American University placed around 100th in QS Ranking.

Undergrad GPA: 3.89

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: Q:165/V:162/AWA:4.0

Math Courses: took 3 courses of 75 class hours each, all with highest grade (A). Covered main topics of calculus and linear algebra. I also took Statistics I -and prob.- (A-) and Statistics II (A)

Econ Courses: Intro to Economics (A), Intro to Micro (A), Intro to Macroeconomics (A-), Descriptive Economics (A), Advanced Macroeconomics (A-), Economic History (A), Game Theory (A), International Trade (A), Econometrics I, II, III and IV (all with A), Economic Development and Growth (A), Industrial Organization I and II (both with A), Public Sector Economics (A), Digital Economics (A), International Macroeconomics (A), Monetary Economics and Monetary Policy (both with A), History of Economic Thought (A-), Economic Policy (A), National Economy (A), Economics of the Firm (A), Thesis (A).

Other Courses: N/A

Letters of Recommendation: I used 5 different recommenders, selecting the more suitable ones according to the program:

1- Teacher, thesis advisor and actual boss at the Central Bank. Ph.D. from UCLA. Well known and really strong letter.

2- Professor who gave a DSGE course at work. Afterwards I worked with him in the development of a DSGE model for our country. Has a good reputation, many publications (some in American Economic Review). Holds a Ph.D. from Duke and works at a Central Bank and an University in Latin America.

3- Former workmate. He holds a Ph.D. from Iowa and is Teaching Assistant in the Department of Economics at University of Houston.

4- Teacher and former workmate. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Leicester (UK). Has published some papers in relevant Journals and in the last years he has held important positions in Government, mainly related with Industrial Policy.

5- Teacher and workmate. He holds a Ph.D. from Toulouse, Jean-Charles Rochet was his Advisor and also worked with Tirole. Has some publications in top Journals and has an important position at the Central Bank.

Research Experience: Worked at the Department of Economics and the Competitiveness Institute of my University for 4 years (started before finishing undergad). Since mid-2013 I have worked at the Research Department in the Central Bank. I have been involved in several projects. My undergraduate thesis was a relevant and innovative project. I received an Honorable Mention in a prestigious Latin American prize and then published it in a peer-reviewed Journal.

Teaching Experience: TA for Introduction to Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics and Monetary Policy. In 2013 I was appointed as Primary Teacher in Introduction to Macroeconomics.

Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics and International Trade.

SOP: Why I would like to pursue a Ph.D.? Relevant academic experience, relevant research experience, Teaching experience, why I could not apply earlier (tight financial constraint), future research interests (very broad), mentioned Faculty members which I would like to work with, finished showing commitment and enthusiasm (not that much).

Other: Won scholarship during undergrad and for short programs abroad. Received a Research Candidate Grant from the Research Agency in my country.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Arizona State University ($$$), Notre Dame ($$), U of Houston ($$), IU ($), Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (IDEA) (tuition waiver + partial scholarship in 1st year), CEMFI (tuition waiver), UC Santa Cruz (no $), BGSE Msc (no $), UCL Msc (no $) .

Waitlists: None.

Rejections: Columbia, Princeton, NW, MN, UCLA, Georgetown, NYU.

Pending: Washington University in St. Louis, Warwick, Carlos III.

Attending: Arizona State University!

Comments: Go Sun Devils! I am extremely happy with my results and the program I have chosen! However, it has been a really difficult choice, I have been torn between ASU and ND. I choose ASU because I feel it is a program with a great reputation, it is well established and has been growing consistently in the last years. The cohort is small -you get plenty of attention from professors- but not that small that you can't find someone to work with. Faculty is really great in macro -they have hired another too top seniors for 2015- and the environment in the department seems great and students are happy there. Also, in a second order thought, Phoenix/Tempe is nice and the weather is great for 9/12 months (if you I survive the heat in the summer).

 

What would you have done differently?

-Short run: I got admitted in all programs ranked 36 (ASU) and below, considering US News Ranking, and rejected in programs above that ranking (implicit from WUSTL which is ranked 27). Nevertheless, I did not applied to programs in the range 15-27 and just one in the region 27-36, so I guess I missed a HUGE region of the ranking where I might have been competitive!! Also, I think I could have improved my Q GRE a bit (I just took it once). That said, after the whole process, I don't think I had a shot in top-15 programs.

 

-Long run: I may have applied earlier (I am closer to 30 than to 25), but I got many letters and connections in the last years, which I think were crucial. Also, things happen and sometimes you need to find the right moment. I could have got a master in my country or abroad, that could help in higher regions of rankings.

 

Remark: If you are from Latin America, unless you get excellent letters from RA and TA, your best path to top-10 programs is to do a Master in Europe, or the best one in your country/region, and have a high GPA.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: top 20 private US, econ minor

Undergrad GPA: 3.4

Type of Grad: unranked US public, MA econ

Grad GPA: 3.84

GRE: 165/161/4.5

Math: Calc 1-3 (A, A, A), Proofs (A-), Matrix Alg (A+), Lin Alg [proof based] (A), Stats (A), Advanced Probability Theory (A), Real Analysis (A). All at MA school except Calc 1 and Stats.

UG Econ: Intro Mico (B-), Intro Macro (A-), Econ Stat (C+), Inter Micro (B+), Inter Macro (B+), Intro Metrics (B+), Inter Metrics (A-)

Grad Econ: Micro (A), Econ Stat (A), Metrics (A), Macro (B+), IO (B+), Micro-metrics (A), Policy and Program Eval (A)

Letters of Recommendation: 1) Thesis advisor/professor/MA program chair. Very well known and active researcher. Above avg to excellent letter. 2) Supervisor at work. Not an economist but should otherwise be an excellent letter. 3) Fairly well known Associate Prof from my MA program. I performed very well in this prof’s class but we did not have much other contact. Average letter. 4) Adjunct prof in MA program (Associate Prof elsewhere), limited publication record. Average to below average. Used for some but not all schools in an attempt to compensate for the non-economist letter (#2).

Research Experience: 3 years as a RA for a prominent Health Policy researcher (2 coauthored papers in health policy/epi lit at the time of application – slightly related to econ), MA thesis, some term papers/replication projects.

Teaching Experience: Two semesters as a TA for undergrad courses at my grad university.

Research Interests: Health, Labor.

SOP: Addressed my poor UG grades (late shift to econ) while emphasizing my research experience and the applicability of that experience to my (well-defined) research interests.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UC Davis, UNC, UC Irvine, Rutgers, Syracuse and Illinois-Chicago. All with funding except for Rutgers.

Waitlists: Vanderbilt and Boston College.

Rejections: Harvard JFK, Wisconsin, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Stony Brook and a few highly ranked health policy programs.

Attending: UC Davis.

Comments: Very happy with this. IMO Davis places very well given their rank (especially for students working in applied micro). The location is great and they have several faculty members that I would love to work with.

What would you have done differently? Ultimately, there is not a whole lot I could have done differently short of deciding on this career path as an undergrad. Moving to a more econ focused RA job after finishing my MA and a few years at my current job (concurrently) would have likely made a difference but wasn’t really an option for personal reasons.

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Excuse me, can i ask whether you have already reject Syracuse's offer?

 

 

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: top 20 private US, econ minor

Undergrad GPA: 3.4

Type of Grad: unranked US public, MA econ

Grad GPA: 3.84

GRE: 165/161/4.5

Math: Calc 1-3 (A, A, A), Proofs (A-), Matrix Alg (A+), Lin Alg [proof based] (A), Stats (A), Advanced Probability Theory (A), Real Analysis (A). All at MA school except Calc 1 and Stats.

UG Econ: Intro Mico (B-), Intro Macro (A-), Econ Stat (C+), Inter Micro (B+), Inter Macro (B+), Intro Metrics (B+), Inter Metrics (A-)

Grad Econ: Micro (A), Econ Stat (A), Metrics (A), Macro (B+), IO (B+), Micro-metrics (A), Policy and Program Eval (A)

Letters of Recommendation: 1) Thesis advisor/professor/MA program chair. Very well known and active researcher. Above avg to excellent letter. 2) Supervisor at work. Not an economist but should otherwise be an excellent letter. 3) Fairly well known Associate Prof from my MA program. I performed very well in this prof’s class but we did not have much other contact. Average letter. 4) Adjunct prof in MA program (Associate Prof elsewhere), limited publication record. Average to below average. Used for some but not all schools in an attempt to compensate for the non-economist letter (#2).

Research Experience: 3 years as a RA for a prominent Health Policy researcher (2 coauthored papers in health policy/epi lit at the time of application – slightly related to econ), MA thesis, some term papers/replication projects.

Teaching Experience: Two semesters as a TA for undergrad courses at my grad university.

Research Interests: Health, Labor.

SOP: Addressed my poor UG grades (late shift to econ) while emphasizing my research experience and the applicability of that experience to my (well-defined) research interests.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UC Davis, UNC, UC Irvine, Rutgers, Syracuse and Illinois-Chicago. All with funding except for Rutgers.

Waitlists: Vanderbilt and Boston College.

Rejections: Harvard JFK, Wisconsin, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Stony Brook and a few highly ranked health policy programs.

Attending: UC Davis.

Comments: Very happy with this. IMO Davis places very well given their rank (especially for students working in applied micro). The location is great and they have several faculty members that I would love to work with.

What would you have done differently? Ultimately, there is not a whole lot I could have done differently short of deciding on this career path as an undergrad. Moving to a more econ focused RA job after finishing my MA and a few years at my current job (concurrently) would have likely made a difference but wasn’t really an option for personal reasons.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Mathematics (German Top 20 University)

Undergrad GPA: 3.71 Overall (4.0 Math)

Type of Grad: Mathematics for Economics (German Top 20 University)

Grad GPA: 3.68 Overall (4.0 Major)

GRE: Q:167 V:156 AW:3

Math Courses: Analysis I,II Ordinary Differential Equations, Measure Theory, Complex Analysis,

Stochastic Analysis, Stochastic Partial Differential Equations, Linear Opti, Discrete Opti, Non-Linear Opti

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Introduction to Economics,Statistics II, Introduction to Econometrics

Econ Courses (grad-level): Methods of Eonometrics,Intermadiate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics,

Panel Data Analysis, Microeconometrics, Time Series Analysis

Other Courses: some Business Administrarion courses

Letters of Recommendation:

1) Math Professor(knows me well)

2) Econometrics Professor(knows me very well)

3) Statistics Professor Professor (knows me very well)

Research Experience: 1 year working in a Central Bank and 1 Internship Central Bank (honor thesis + 2 papers)

Teaching Experience: 5 semester math lecturer

SOP: Worked a lot on it

Concerns: LoRs (prob. not known in the US), GRE-Aw, too few econ courses, and two low grades

Interests: Econometrics, IO, Netwokrs

Other: I feel I did some bad program choices.I did have the restriction to get in a T30 in order to have funding assured.

Applying to:Harvard,MIT,Stanford,Yale,Cornell,Duke,Brown,Penn State,Michigan State,Indiana University

 

RESULTS:

 

Acceptances: -

Waitlists: -

Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Cornell, Duke, Brown, Penn State, Michigan State, Indiana University

Pending: -

Attending: -

Comments: I learned a lot this year that will help in the next cycle. I had literally no experience on applying and did not have the time to understand the process (my part of the process) making sure the LoR will be good, make a deeper research on the programs, making all details of the application pointing to the same direction and not just drop all the requirements... this is a great please to learn about it. I am very thankful to have found this forum.

What I will do differently? I will take more time to talk to my LoR writers and have a good notion of what they will be writing about me. Be more clear about my interests. And applying to a wider and less competitive range of programs.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Economics at Italian University

Undergrad GPA: 97%

Type of Grad: Economics at same institution

Grad GPA: 90%

GRE: 170Q 155V 3A

Math Courses: 100% at all math courses

Econ Courses: micro UG (A-) macro UG (A-) intermediate macro (A) game theory (A) IO (B+) Econometrics UG (A+) micro G1(B-) macro G1(B+) micro G2(A+) macro G2(B-)

 

Letters of Recommendation: PhD Columbia, PhD Cambridge and PhD Princeton, all very strong

Research Experience: UG thesis only

Teaching Experience: private tutor only

Research Interests: general

SOP: standard letter talking about personal history and future plans

other: was awarded scholarship, but turned it down

other: TOEFL 109 (23S 29L 29 R 28W)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Brown, Rochester, Oxford, UCL, Wisconsin-Madison (off waitlist)

Waitlists: Wisconsin-Madison, UPenn, BU, Minnesota

Rejections: Princeton, Yale, UCLA, NYU, Columbia, NW, Berkeley, Duke, Michigan, UCSD, LSE, Stanford

Attending: Brown

Comments: I had little hopes to make it (mainy due to poor research experience, poor Verbal and AWA) but I did it and I am so proud of it!

 

What would you have done differently?

Short run: write better SOPs, by personalizing to each univesity more than I did

long run: have more research esperience

Edited by Lacxa
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Type of Undergrad: BSc in Applied Math from Russian University unranked globally, but at least top-3 in Russia, top-1 in economics

Undergrad GPA: around 8.6 (10), where 8 is (A-)

Type of Grad: MSc in Financial Economics, same school. Very rigorous 2-year program, applied during 2nd year. Also, semester as an exchange student in RM Econ in Tilburg University (no transcripts or recommendations from there)

Grad GPA: 9.3 (10) where 9 is A

GRE: Q/V/AWA 170/NS/NS. Basically, I only did quant part; TOEFL 109.

Math Courses: all you can think of, math undergrad; mostly A-/A/A+. However, I got C+ in optimization theory, and B+ in Real Analysis.

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): intro to micro and macro, intermediate micro, game theory, cooperative game theory, social choice. All A-/A.

Econ Courses (grad-level): micro (including most of MWG, game theory, contracts, mechanism design), macro (growth models, RBC, neo-classical), econometrics (theory in first semester, then mostly time series, panel data). In Tilburg: Adv. Game Theory, Adv. Topics in Finance, Corp. Finance, Behavioral, Experimental (no grades).

Other Courses: got CFA I (wanted to go to IB for a while), also I have a lot of cool decision-making courses on my transcript; a lot of finance, too.

Letters of Recommendation: 1st from DoGS, 2nd from my supervisor, 3rd from my supervisor's supervisor; all have PhDs from good schools, and have papers in top journals. All known in Europe, maybe not as much in US. Apparently, the letters were very strong.

Research Experience: RA for my supervisor for 2 years, doing consumer search and IO; did a very good term paper during 1st year of masters, submitted it as writing sample (original research, although pretty simple)

Teaching Experience: a lot. Grader for 3 years in undergrad; TA (class teacher) of Game Theory, Development Economics (undergrad level semester courses), also Game Theory teacher to grad students who study political economy.

Research Interests: Micro Theory, depending on school strength also behavioral / IO / game theory

SOP: pretty standard

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Wisconsin-Madison ($$), UCSD ($$), Rochester ($$$), BU ($$), Penn State ($$), Boston College ($$), WUSTL ($$), UCL (?)

Waitlists: Michigan (pending GRE scores for verbal and AWA), Brown (for the unfunded 1st year MA)

Rejections: all top-10, Caltech, Cornell, CMU, Duke, UMD,

Pending: UNC Chapel Hill, Oxford (applied very late)

Attending: UCSD!

Comments: I'm very happy with my results! They turned out to be very consistent: reject in top-10, mixed in 10-20, all acceptances in top-30.

 

What would you have done differently? Nothing, really. I had maybe two bad math grades in my undergrad, but those very due to unrealistically tough grading on oral exams. Getting Masters was one of the best ideas I ever had: doing it right gave me good references, TA and RA experience, and something to write about in my SOP. Going to Tilburg for a semester in 2nd year was a mixed experience: I had to apply from abroad, so no personal access to my referees, and I had no transcripts (I still don't, LOL). Basically, I just had fun for 5 months while applying (it's Holland, if you know what I mean). I still don't know whether not taking other parts of the GRE hurt me, or not. My application was auto-rejected in Maryland because of that, Michigan placed me on WL pending the retake (I never bothered to retake). Other schools, at least those that accepted me, DO NOT care about verbal & AWA acores at all.

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Type of Undergrad: T 30 Liberal Arts

Undergrad GPA: 3.74 (Econ 3.8, Math 3.3)

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: V165/Q167/4.5

Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (AP test,B+,B+), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (B), Probability Theory (B), Mathematical Statistics (B+)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (A), Micro Theory (A-), Macro Theory (A), Econometrics (A-), Mathematical Economics (B+), Industrial Organization (A), Public Economics (A-), Thesis (A), Economic History (A-)

Other Courses: useless

Letters of Recommendation: 2 UG professors I know well from T40 programs, work supervisor (T50 program). I get the feeling they were strong letters.

Research Experience: Honors thesis, antitrust econ consulting work for 3 years under PhD economists

Teaching Experience: None

Research Interests: IO, Public (Health, Environmental, Urban)

SOP: See below

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UMD AREc ($$), CUNY (tuition waiver), Colorado (0), GWU (0)

Waitlists: Hopkins

Rejections: UVA, UMD, Georgetown, BU, Vanderbilt, Washington, UNC

Pending: Syracuse, Ohio State

Attending: Maryland AREc

Comments: Maryland AREc was one of my top choices from the start, so this is a great conclusion. It took longer than expected for things to fall my way, but I'm eager to start and I'm excited for this opportunity. I've always been more interested in the application of economics than the theory and the faculty research is a great fit for me.

 

What would you have done differently? The typical answers. I would have started math earlier - I didn't start math until junior year. I also would have taken more math - I'd add our two proof-based classes, including RA. Had I done this, I also would not have worked for 3 years in between undergrad and grad, but given my situation coming out of undergrad I'm really happy with my job - I got to do economics professionally, which is really cool.

 

If my goal were to maximize the rank of the program that funded me, I would also have changed my SOP substantially. One of the main struggles I had with the application concerned how honest I should be with my interests (applied vs theoretical, and academic vs other research). Of course I'm interested in theoretical econ and the life of a professor interests me, but I more easily envision myself in government/policy/industry roles similar to what I'm doing now. I was fairly honest with this in my SOP, and I think that may have turned off some programs. But everything worked out in the end, as I'm going to Maryland AREc and will primarily serve as a research assistant!

 

Or maybe I'm ascribing some poor results to the SOP when it's really just all math weakness :)

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Unranked school in the USA with no economics PhD program

Major: B.S. in economics and math

Undergrad GPA: 3.45/4.00

Type of Grad: n/a

Grad GPA:

Math Courses: College Algebra (B), Applied Calc (B), Elementary Statistics (B), Calc I-III (B, B, A), linear (B), intro to proofs (A-), probability and statistics (B), abstract algebra I (B), real analysis I (A-), differential equations (spring 15), Linear Optimization (Spring 15), Differential Equations (spring 15)

Econ Courses (Undergrad): intermediate Micro and Macro (A, A), behavioral (A), econometrics (A), international finance (B), FDI (B)

GRE: 168 Q, 160 V, 5,5 AW

Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors from unranked graduate programs and 1 math professor.

Research Experience: Currently working on undergrad honors thesis that is unrelated to my stated research interests.

Teaching Experience: none

Concerns: Mediocre GPA, mostly B's in math classes, coming from an unknown school.

Research Focus: international economics, development, trade

Accepted: UC Irvine ($$), UC Santa Cruz($$), Houston ($$), U Iowa ($$), UIC ($$), Oregon (waitlisted for $$), CU Boulder (0), GWU (0), American (0).

Withdrew: CUNY, UW Seattle (hadn't heard back as of April 15)

Rejected: Vanderbilt, UC Davis, BU, BC, Toronto MA, UBC MA,

Other: My GPA is mediocre, I'm from an unknown undergrad, my letters were complimentary but did not come from "well knowns", and I got B's in almost every math class. I still got funded offers to several schools in the 40-80 range, which is way better than I expected.

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Type of Undergrad: Math/Econ double major from a small, relatively unknown, top 100 liberal arts college

Undergrad GPA: 3.96

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 167 Q, 160 V, 4.5 AWA

Math/Stats Courses: Calculus I (AP), Calculus II (A+), Multivariate Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (A), Discrete Mathematics (A+), Probability (A), Mathematical Statistics (A-), Real Analysis (A+), Abstract Algebra (A), Statistics II (A)

Econ Courses: Principles of Macro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Managerial Economics (A+), Econometrics (A+), Health Economics (A), International Finance (A)

Other Courses: Intro. Computer Science (A+), Mathematical Methods for Business & Economics (A+)

Letters of Recommendation: Two Econ professors, one Stat professor. None are particularly well-known but I have fantastic, close relationships with all of them and believe that they were all very strong.

Research Experience: Summer research project with two professors; honors thesis in my area of interest

Teaching Experience: Tutor for both Econ and Math

Research Interests: Applied Micro - mostly labor, but also interested in public and health

SOP: Pretty good I think - talked about what drew me to economics, my research experience and areas of interest, and a bit about why I think attending a liberal arts college has prepared me well for graduate school and a career as an economist

Other: NCAA athlete; Phi Beta Kappa as a junior (not sure either of these actually mattered in admissions)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Michigan State ($$$), Cornell ($$), UVA ($$), Pittsburgh ($$), UNC ($$), Notre Dame ($$)

Waitlists: Michigan Economics & Public Policy

Rejections: Duke, CMU, Boston College

Pending:

Attending: Michigan State University (MSU)!

Comments: Very excited! I am getting a fantastic funding offer, will get to work with some great applied micro & metrics people, and really liked everyone I met when I visited. Go Spartans!

 

 

What would you have done differently?

Honestly, not much. Coming from a small school that hasn't sent anyone to a Ph.D. programs in years, I was very happy with the offers I recieved. Just goes to show that school name and prestige aren't everything... good grades, GRE scores, LORs, lots of math, and a passion for economics can get you a very long way!

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Type of Undergrad: International, prestigious in country, unknown worldwide.

Undergrad GPA: 7.92/10, WES evaluation: 3.52/4.00

Type of Grad: 30-ish regional, unknown Econ. ranking.

Grad GPA: 4.00/4.00

GRE: V 156 Q 167 W 4

Math Courses:

In home country: Advanced Analytics (B), Advanced Algebra ©, Theory of Probability and Statistics © , Theory of Economics Statistics (A).

In US: Multivariable Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Real Analysis (pending), Differential Equations (pending)

Econ Courses (grad-level):

All As: Econometrics, Applied Microeconomics Theory, Applied Macroeconomics Theory, Research Methods and Statistics (2 semesters), Time Series Forecasting, Health Economics, Capital Market.

Econ Courses (undergrad-level):

In home country (WES Grade): Inter Micro. (A), Inter Macro. (B), Adv. Micro. (A), Adv. Macro. (A), Environmental Econ. (B), Public Econ. (B), Development Econ. (B), Econometrics (A)

Other Courses: none

Letters of Recommendation:

3 to 4 LORs from Economics professors. Must be very strong since I had been working with them in many data assignments.

Research Experience:

1 BA Thesis (A), 2 term papers relating to health economics, 1 academic presentation award.

Forthcoming: a master's project in health economics, a chapter in an edited volume (co-author).

Worked as a GA for Economics Department for 5 semesters, working as RA for CIS department for 1 semester.

Teaching Experience: TA in an intermediate economics course..

Research Interests: health, behavioral, applied micro.

SOP: personal and memorable.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UNC Chapel Hill ($$ + fellowship), Notre Dame ($$), NC State ($$ + fellowship), Tennessee (n/a), CUNY (n/a).

 

Waitlists: Johns Hopkins (later rejected).

 

Rejections: Georgetown, Texas A&M.

 

Pending: Georgia.

 

Attending: UNC Chapel Hill.

 

Comments:

- I think I had a successful application cycle, judging on low performance and high yields.

- I was torn between UNC Chapel Hill and Notre Dame. The information from visitation day helped me make the final decision.

- All of the professors who wrote LORs for me knew me extremely well. We met almost on a daily basis for the last two years.

 

What would you have done differently?

Nothing. Johns Hopkins was my dream school, but I had done anything I could to show them my interest.

 

My personal advice:

I would not have had the courage to apply to places like UNC and JHU without constant encouragement from friends and the professors. Stick with your friends and your professors who encourage you.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 Liberal Arts College; Junior Year Abroad in Oxbridge (I will leave it vague between Oxford and Cambridge, but dark blue is better than sky blue);

Undergrad GPA: 3.92; 4.00 in Mathematics and Economics when applying;

Type of Grad: N/A;

Grad GPA: N/A;

GRE: 168Q/169V/4W;

 

Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Applied Math (Differential Equations), Applied Statistical Modelling, Real Analysis, Advanced Linear Algebra, Modern Algebra (Group Theory), Measure Theory, Topology (taking it this semester, mentioned in the applications, but probably didn't matter too much);

 

Econ Courses: Intro to Macro and Micro; Intermediate Macro and Micro; Probability and Statistics; Advanced Macroeconomics: Economic Growth (Barro and Sala-i-Martin); Advanced Microeconomics (Jehle and Reny); Command and Transition Economies; Origins of Global Economies; Topics in Econometrics; Independent Study in Econometrics (Ruud);

Other Courses: Nothing much;

 

Letters of Recommendation: One from senior thesis advisor that knew my work really well, and thought my thesis is publishable in a second tier field journal (working on it!); one from professor that I served as research assistant for, who knows my research ability well as I have been doing a lot of independent work for his research, although nothing super technical; one from my department chair, who also supervised my independent study during the fall semester of my senior year. All are extremely great people and knew me personally (a benefit of liberal arts college). None are superstars in the academia, but my thesis advisor and department chair are relatively well-known in their field and have connections with top departments;

 

Research Experience: Senior thesis (had a draft that was good enough to be a thesis by the time of application, nothing too impressive though); worked as research assistant for one of my letter writers, and have been doing more intuitive background study of the research he was starting to work on (a lot of researching and writing, but nothing professional or too technical);

Teaching Experience: TAed for Intro to Economics, Probability and Statistics, and am TAing Intermediate Micro now;

Research Interests: Game Theory, Public Economics, and Behavioral (There is a great chance that this would not be my interest a few years into the future, and I have been honest about it in my SOP);

SOP: Explained how my senior thesis and RA experience motivated me to have my current research interests, and customized a paragraph for each school by listing a few faculties, the research of which I was interested in;

Other: International student; applied straight from undergrad;

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Yale (off wait list, $$$); NYU ($$$); Michigan ($); UCSD ($); Brown (MA with no funding first year, $$ then after); Maryland ($$); Penn State ($$); U Washington (Informally, asked me if I actually wanted to go);

Waitlists: Yale (admitted, $$$); Minnesota; Boston Univ.;

Rejections: Harvard; MIT; Princeton; Chicago; Stanford; Berkeley; Northwestern (after I half-assedly replied to their "pending" email); U of Penn; UCLA;

Pending:

Attending: Yale ($$$);

Comments: Nothing special apart from the dramatic wait list process. My advice for anyone who (really) wish to get off a wait list is DO NOT GIVE UP. I responded to the program's email as fast as possible every time they updated us on the wait list, and my thesis advisor used his connection to give me a push (which must have been important). Moreover, I negotiated with my second option to give me extension for deciding on the offer, which turned out to be imperative for my acceptance off wait list, since the time Yale contacted me was in the late afternoon of April 15th. In that sense, I feel really grateful for my second option's generosity. Like Greg Popovich always tell the Spurs, every blow one hammers on a stone is important for the final crack. Keep your morale high;

 

What would you have done differently? The only thing I would have done differently is probably to enroll in a summer research program to gain more research experience, which is definitely the weakness of my profile. That might have helped me break the top 5 roof, but who knows. I am satisfied with my results.

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Type of Undergrad: Top University from Turkey

Major: B.A. in Economics

Undergrad GPA: 3.68/4

Type of Grad: M.A (at the same university)

Grad GPA: 3.84/4 (first in class)

Math Courses: Calc I-II, Linear Algebra A, Differential Eqn A, Mathematical Analysis B+, Real Analysis (Undergrad) C, Real Analysis (Grad) A,

Econ Courses (Undergrad): Micro, Macro, Monetary, Advanced Macroeconmics

Econ Courses (Grad): Micro I A-, II A-, Macro I A, II A, Econometrics I A II B+, Game Theory A, Mathematical Economics A

GRE: 170 Q, 162 V, 3,5 AW

Letters of Recommendation: 3 all from the Master Prog: One of them is very well known in the field

Research Experience: MA Thesis in Social Choice, working paper on financial networks presented in an international workshop

Teaching Experience: Application to Graph Theory TA, some tutoring

Concerns: Low GRE (AW), horrible toefl speaking score( 19 yet my overall score is 105 ), graduated from MA in 2013

Research Focus: Networks, Theory

Other: Currently working on Central Bank in international econ analysis division as a junior analyst.

Applying to: UPenn, Brown, Caltech SS, Michigan Ann Arbor, Northwestern, NYU, Carnegie, Duke, Rochester, Maryland, Princeton, Stanford GSB, MIT, Columbia

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: CMU ($$$), Rochester ($$), Maryland (?)

Waitlists: Duke ( As of Apr 16th, I am still in wl)

Rejections: UPenn, Brown, Caltech SS, Michigan Ann Arbor, Northwestern, NYU, Princeton, Stanford GSB, MIT, Columbia

Attending: CMU

Comments: This was a very though process and I am really happy that it ended. Especially waiting for Duke was really annoying since without an actual offer, it gets a little bit hard to compare schools. Given that I was really irresolute between Duke and CMU, at some point I gave up waiting for an offer from Duke and accepted CMU's offer. Duke haven't sent anything yet anyway..

 

What would you have done differently? Well to begin with, I would have taken more courses during my UG and try an European Masters program with better placement record. Other than that, given my existing profile I can see why I didn't crack top10, so maybe I should have applied more schools in top10-20. But given my research interests, CMU is a very good fit in this range, so no regrets...

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA Economics (Top 50 research university, unranked Econ)

Undergrad GPA: 3.8

Type of Grad: NA

Grad GPA: NA

GRE: 165Q, 161V, 5.0 AWA

Math Courses: Calc I-III (As), Linear Algebra (B+), Real Analysis (A), Differential Equations (A)

Econ Courses: Intro/Intermediate Micro (As), Intro/Intermediate Macro (A- s), Econ Stats (B+), Dev Econ (B+), Games (A), Economic History (A), Senior Seminar (A), Regulation (A), Writing with Data (A), Econometrics (A)

Other Courses: 3 education/teaching courses (not for economics).Several statistical programming mini-courses at current position.

Letters of Recommendation: (1) Professor I researched/co-authored with for 1 year, took 3 courses with (including senior seminar). (2) Economist at Fed who I worked for as an RA and co-author (in progress). (3) Boss at Fed who can speak to general research ability, specifically my individual research. All 3 from T15 schools. NSF commenter implied they were good letters.

Research Experience: Summer REU and one year in undergrad for same professor. Presented findings at a conference, co-authored paper in R&R at a journal. 3 years at Fed, included individual research and research with/for economists.

Teaching Experience: None for Econ. Some in K-12.

Research Interests: Applied Micro in general. Specifically, mentioned potential interest in: economics of education, consumer finance, health econ, behavioral.

SOP: Standard.Customized slightly for each school to mention why I liked their school in particular (general environment, specific professors, and/or field strengths). Broke it down into sections: Summary, academic history, research experience, research interests.

Other: Graduated in 3 years from undergrad, so most math courses were taken while at Fed to play catch up.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: U Minnesota($$), UCLA ($$), BU ($$), Wash U ($$), U Arizona ($$), UCSB ($$), USC ($$), NSF ($$$).

Waitlists: UMD, UT Austin (requested to be removed before final decision was made for both).

Rejections: MIT, Berkeley, Yale, U Wisconsin, U Michigan, UCSD, Brown, Duke, BC.

Attending: UCLA!

Comments: Super happy. I applied all over the board because I wasn't quite sure how I would do with my limited math and borderline GRE. I ended up at one of my "potentially attainable reaches" and my results were pretty understandable and expected. Except for the NSF, which was a very pleasant surprise.

 

What would you have done differently?

During the application process? Nothing. I spent a lot of time researching schools, interviewing economists at my work, reading this forum, and talking with other RAs. I had an amazing support system and letter writers and used them well. I would also like to credit Google docs, which kept all my application materials well-organized.

Before the application process? I would have been a Math/Econ double major and not graduated in 3 years. However, I did not know I wanted to go to graduate school until shortly before I graduated so can't really change that. That said, I think once I knew what I wanted, I did all the right steps (becoming an RA, getting more research experience, taking the needed math courses).

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Type of Undergrad: Large-sized unranked public state school (BA Economics/History-double)

Undergrad GPA: 3.56

Type of Grad: Medium-sized unranked public state school (MA Economics)

Grad GPA: 3.92

GRE: 159V/168Q/4.0AW

Math Courses: Calculus I-IV (A,A,A-,A), Differential Equations (A), Discrete Mathematics (A), Linear Algebra-non proof (A), Linear Algebra-proof (A), Introduction to Statistics (A), Math Notation and Proof (A), Linear Programming (A), Theory of Probability-calculus based (A), Advanced Calculus I (A)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Introduction to Microeconomics (B), Introduction to Macroeconomics (A), Price Theory (B), Economic Data and Statistics (B), Money and Banking (A), Industrial Organization (A), Urban Economics (B), Macroeconomic Theory (A), Public Economics ©, Economic Development (B), Managerial Economics (B), Econometrics I (C+, then retook for A), Mathematical Economics (A), Business Forecasting (A)

Econ Courses (graduate-level): International Economics (A), Econometric Analysis (A), Applied Microeconomic Analysis (A), Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy (A), Economic Development (A), International Macroeconomics and Currency Crisis (A)

Letters of Recommendation: 1. Economics department chair-has publicly stated that I am one of the best students in the history of the program and that I would make an excellent doctoral student, earned an A in all three classes that I took with him. 2. Math professor-has told me personally that I am one of only few of students, in over a 20 year career of teaching, that actually stands out in his memory. Has said that he admires my work ethic and has playfully remarked that I ought to be putting my mathematical prowess to better use by pursuing a PHD in Mathematics rather than Economics, earned an A in all three classes that I took with him. 3. Economics professor-took graduate micro with him, solved a Kuhn-Tucker optimization problem as an extra credit assignment which impressed him, earned an A in the class.

Research Experience: Masters thesis (incomplete at the time of application) I hope to have it completed it by Spring 2015. Six month internship at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation-primarily data mining and report writing.

Teaching Experience: Economics graduate assistant for a quarter-graded and proctored exams as well as coordinated study sessions. Private/freelance tutoring in math and economics to junior high, high school, and college level students.

Research Interests: Applied micro, labor, development, health.

SOP: good I think but who knows :/

Concerns: Coming from relatively low ranked schools, my mediocre undergrad performance by prospective PHD student standards, my incomplete master's thesis.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UC Irvine (with full funding), Arizona (with full funding), University of Pittsburgh (waitlisted for funding)

Waitlists: Michigan State (received letter via email), Boston University (received letter via email)

Rejections: Stanford, Berkeley, Northwestern, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison, NYU, Columbia, Brown, Boston College, Cornell, UCLA, Southern Cal, UCSD, UCSB, UC Davis, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Duke, Maryland-College Park, Johns Hopkins, UT-Austin, Rochester, University of Washington

Pending:

Attending: UC Irvine

Comments: All in all I am pretty happy with my results. I am attending a top 35-45 school (depending on the ranking system) with full funding. I am staying very close to Los Angeles (my hometown), which is what I was hoping for. I am at a program that focuses heavily on my field of interest (applied micro) and offers great support to its students (according to the faculty and past and present students).

 

What would I have done differently?

 

As it pertains to the application process, I would not have applied to as many schools. I would not have applied to any top 15 schools. These were clearly a long shot for me. Also, I would have narrowed my list of schools even further by excluding the ones that concentrate primarily on Macro or Theory.

 

As it pertains to my profile, I would have went to a community college out of high school and transferred to a more prestigious undergraduate institution (like UCLA or USC). I would have majored in math and minored in economics as an undergrad. I would have done more research as a student and forged better relationships with my professors.

 

But with all that said, I am very happy with where I am right now and I look forward to the next challenge that awaits!

Edited by azecon
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PROFILE: European student studying economics for 6 years now (3yrs BA, 1yr MA discontinued, 2yrs MA)

Type of Undergrad: BA in Economics

Undergrad GPA: 4.32/5

Type of Grad #1: MA in Economics (discontinued)

Grad GPA: 4.37/5

Type of Grad #2: MA in Economics

Grad GPA: 3.75/4

GRE: V 156 / Q 170 / A 3.5

Math Courses: Calculus, Algebra, Probability Theory, Optimization

Econ Courses: Microeconomics (8 terms), Macroeconomics (6 terms), Labor, Public, Empirical IO, Networks

Other Courses: Statistics (4 terms), Econometrics (7 terms)

Letters of Recommendation: 1 prof, probably a bit general but he's known in empirical fields; 2 assistant profs, not well known but their letters are--presumably--detailed and pushy

Research Experience: Central bank, 2 summers

Teaching Experience: Held own course 2x, TA 1x

Research Interests: Empirical IO, labor

SOP: Although drafted it a zillion times, quite standard

Comments: I discontinued my first MA as it was preparing students for industry, not academia. By the time of applying, I wasn't sure whether I want to go for a PhD. After my first year, my professors advised me to switch to a more academia-oriented MA.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UCLA, Wisconsin ($$), Boston College ($$$), Duke ($$$), Penn State ($$$); UCL (?), Tinbergen ($), Autonoma Barcelona ($)

Waitlists: Michigan, British Columbia

Rejections: Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Penn, Northwestern, Toronto, BU, Cornell

Pending: --

Attending: Duke

Comments: I am super happy with my result! I tried my luck with top 10 as I would've regretted if I didn't but I didn't have my hopes up. Go Blue Devils!

 

What would you have done differently?

I am happy to report that I wouldn't have done anything differently. I think I did my best in choosing the right ratio of T10 to lower ranked schools, asked the right professors to recommend me, prepared for my GRE well, and--most importantly--demonstrated my interest and ability to enter academia. We, economics and me, are taking our relationship to the next level from this fall!

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PROFILE: Top 50 US university(No Econ)

Type of Undergrad: BS in Mathematics and Economics

Undergrad GPA: 3.58/4 (3.81/4 in last 4 semesters)

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: V 158 / Q 170 / A 4.0

Math Courses: Calc 1-3 (AP,AP,A-) adv calc(A-), diffeq(B), linear algebra(B+), adv linear algebra(A-)(UG & G), foundations of math(B+), stat methods(A), modern algebra(A-), math stat 1&2(A,B)(UG & G), real analysis w eco apps 1&2(A,A), Monte Carlo Methods(A), Topology(A-)

Econ Courses: intro macro/micro(A-,A-),intermediate Macro/Micro(A,A), Dynamic Macro(A-) (Structured to be graduate level), Development Aid(A), econometrics(A-), Research Methods(A), Thesis(A), Game Theory(A-)

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: 2 from top 10 schools (1 knew me very well)

1 from top 40 (He has been pretty successful though)

Research Experience: Senior Thesis, Summer RA, Thesis

Teaching Experience: TA Macro-Theory aid course (1 semester), Taught AP Micro/Macro to a high school student, Taught economics 1 year in Haiti.

Research Interests: Development, Applied Micro, some others too

SOP: I think it was solid

Comments: year in Haiti after graduation, Proficient in Stata and R, capable in other languages as well.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Trinity MSc(no funding), LSE MSc(no funding), Barcelona GSE(no funding), Vanderbilt(4 years of funding), Maryland ARE(4 years of funding), UNC(4 years of funding), Maryland(5 years of funding), Michigan State(5 years of funding)

Rejections: UCLA, DUKE, Brown, UVA, UC Berkeley ARE, Michigan, Columbia, NYU

Pending:

Attending: Maryland full funding!!!

Comments: I got in off the waitlist and am very happy to be attending. They have a good development group. Access to the World Bank. Access to UMD ARE faculty. Very good situation for me.

 

What would you have done differently?

I may have applied to a few more reaches. My profile is strange because I have taken more math classes than most people but not always the best grades. I also improved substantially as my college career went on. I think if I had done a yearlong Research assistant job I could have improved my resume a lot but I got in where I wanted to go. I am very happy with UMD one of my top 3 choices going in.

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Economics Latin America (with minor in Philosophy) - One of the two best in the country

Undergrad GPA: Around 3.6/4.0 in US grades (5/60 in ranking in my cohort)

Type of Grad: Two in Economics: One M.A. from same U in Latin America with Honors; and one M.Sc. from Europe, cum laude (Top 5-10 European Economics Schools)

Grad GPA: 4.0/4.0; 3.8/4.0 respectively

GRE: 168 Q/ 161 V/ 4.5 A

Math Courses: Linear Algebra (A+), Dif. and Int. Calc (A+), ODE and optimization (A+), Dynamic Programming (B+), Math Methods and Math. for Econ - Equivalent to a Math Camp (A+), Statistics and Prob. (A)

Econ Courses: Lots and lots. Will only mention the Grad ones (I took all the main courses twice because of the two masters, although the level was way harder in Europe): LA: Adv. Micro I (A+), Adv. Macro I (A+), Adv. Metrics (A+), New Political Economy (A+), Development (A+), Adv. Micro II (A+), Neuroeconomics (A+), Macroeconometrics (A). Europe: Adv. Micro I (A), Adv. Macro I (B+), Adv. Metrics I (A), Adv. Micro II (A), Adv. Macro II (B), Adv. Metrics II (A), Game Theory (A+), Research Seminar in Micro (A+), HET (A).

Other Courses: Around 10 courses in Philosophy including 3 logics.

Letters of Recommendation: One from known researcher from T. 20, published in Econometrica several times; One from a European Game Theorist published in highly mathematical journals; One from European Prof. thesis adviser in Europe, young but active publishing in Development.

Research Experience: Not with a University but with the most known econ. think tank in country (did not emphasize it much in the application because did not think it would help me much, unless I was going for more applied/ public policy programs)

Teaching Experience: Undergrad: Macro seminar, Development and New Political Economy; Grad: New Political Economy

Research Interests: Political Economy, Game Theory, Development and Network Theory

SOP: I guess standard, trying to defend myself against my lack of hardcore math courses, emphasize honors thesis and profs. I want to work with at each institution.

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Brown (fully funded from 2nd year), Warwick ($$) and Duke (off waitlist - $$$)

Waitlists: Duke

Rejections: NYU, Princeton, UCLA, UCSD, LSE, Cornell, Harvard (PE program), Michigan, UPenn, NW and Columbia (Pol. Sci)

Pending: -

Attending: Duke!!! (although I liked Brown quite a bit, particularly in my field, but needed to get 50k into debt, so ... Duke!!)

Comments: I was very nervous about several parts of my profile, including the not hardcore math courses, many philosophy courses (read as signal of low math skills), low macro grades, not very well connected in the US recommenders, and high but not incredibly high undergrad GPA. I tried to cover the weaknesses I could. For example in math, I asked for recommenders strong in that area.

 

What would you have done differently? Honestly, I was very nervous during this process, but given my restrictions, I think it worked out pretty well. Maybe if I would have known that the other known U at my country had so many links with top US schools, I might have decided to do my master's there, instead of Europe. But, like I said, I ended up quite happy with the result. And I got to live in Europe... which was awesome! =D

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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.B.A. in Economics, International Business, and Management from U.S. Public (Top-50 Undergraduate/Top-15 Econ)

Undergrad GPA: 3.9

Type of Grad: Post-bacc courses at U.S. Private Research University (Top-10 Undergraduate/Top-5 Econ)

GRE: 170V/167Q/6.0AW (Did not achieve this Q score until late in the application process--see below)

Math Courses: Undergrad - Calc I (B), Calc II (A-), Business Statistics (B+); Post-Bacc: Linear Algebra & Intro to Real Analysis (B+), Real Analysis I (B), Real Analysis II ©, Mathematical Statistics (A), Differential Equations & Complex Analysis (A)

Econ Courses: Undergrad - Principles of Micro (A), Principles of Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Labor Economics (A), Industrial Organization (A), International Economics (A), Latin American Economic Development (A), Financial Markets & Institutions (A), Corporate Finance & Investment Theory (A-); Post-Bacc: Honors Econometrics (B+), Econometrics II (A-)

Other Courses: Three years of Mandarin Chinese, a bunch of business core coursework which was a monumental waste of time, a healthy dose of political science (all As)

Letters of Recommendation: 1) Econometrics professor from post-bacc (Stanford PhD) who advised on a top-quality term paper and declared I would excel in a top-5 or top-10 program; 2) Professor from post-bacc (UChicago PhD) with whom I researched and co-authored a paper and for whose private consulting firm I worked for two years. He was once very active and well-known, but has not published much in recent years; 3) Professor from undergrad (Stanford PhD) whom I did not know terribly well but who had a particular liking for me.

Research Experience: Hired last August as full-time RA at top-5 econ where I did my post-bacc working with well-known economists on a very exciting, large dataset. Also researched with another professor during my post-bacc which resulted in co-authoring a paper and contributions to others. Wrote a pair of term papers which were highly technical and well-received.

Teaching Experience: Was chosen to help re-design curriculum for an inter-disciplinary course on energy economics and energy policy during my post-bacc as a result of my previous position at an energy economics consulting firm. No TA or other direct teaching experience.

Research Interests: Applied microeconometrics, macro finance, and monetary policy.

SOP: Discussed how I came to my decision to pursue a PhD so late in my academic career, discussed my lack of formal multivariable calculus and explained that I had taught myself the material to a very high level of competency as evidenced by the fact that I did well in courses which rely heavily on it. Of course, I specialized the letter for each department. In retrospect, it was probably too long and literary--I am a former English major and a writer at heart.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Maryland ($$), UW-Madison M.S. ($0, and after applying to PhD and being admitted to M.S. instead--thanks, but no thanks)

Waitlists: UT-Austin

Rejections: Huge number of rejections, which come with a large caveat that I'll explain at the bottom: *Deep Breath* MIT, UChicago, Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, UPenn, UW-Madison, Michigan, UCSD, Rochester, Brown, Penn State, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, BU, UC-Davis, UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, JHU

Pending: Boston College, WUSTL (not sure what is going on with these schools and don't really care)

Attending: Maryland

Comments: In general I overshot (as well as suffering from the disclaimer I'll explain later), but ended up with one funded offer to a fantastic program which came through at the last minute. I feel like I made out extremely well despite handling the process relatively poorly for my first and, thankfully, last time through. My mathematics background might be seen as suspect at top schools, but my research experience and top-notch programming skills likely helped a bit. I'll explain more in the following section.

 

What would you have done differently? (Also, more generally, what I learned from my somewhat unconventional experience)

A lot of things. Firstly, had I decided that I wanted to pursue economics before the last semester of my senior year, I would have taken an econ/math double major and done better on my early math courses. I had no intention of pursuing anything remotely quantitative until I was nearly 23 and that obviously set me back quite a bit. I made a good move by taking post-bacc courses at such an elite university--though the grading in the math department there is brutally competitive. That said, most adcoms understand that a B at this institution is likely an A- or A at most other schools. The C in Real Analysis II likely hurt me quite a bit as well, but it was pretty much due to one bad test day. What can you do?

 

As far as letters of recommendation, I would have begun pursuing quality recommenders far earlier on in the process. I did not fully grasp the importance of strong recommendations until much later on when I discovered this forum. They all came from top econ PhD programs, but only one of them knew me extremely well and he has not been publishing frequently for a number of years now. The strongest letter likely came from a professor who is very actively publishing and considered at the top of his field, but who did not know me as well as I would have liked. Nonetheless, his extremely strong assertion of my capacity to succeed in a top program both mathematically and as a researcher likely saved me.

 

The big caveat with my results is that I did not achieve my 167Q GRE score until January 7th of this year. I waited until October to take the GRE because I was foolishly confident that I would get a great score the first time and be done with it. However, I suffered from a bout of anxiety like I've never experienced before (I'm usually a very calm test taker, but my mind seized up and I freaked the hell out) and didn't break 163 for three consecutive tries before finally cracking it. For that reason, most of the higher-ranked schools to which I applied (which tend to have the earlier deadlines) likely only saw a GRE score which would have immediately disqualified me. I tried to ensure that my 167Q score would get considered at these schools even though it was far past the deadline, but I doubt that it was. Even though I was capable of getting a 167+ score the first time, I didn't do it owing to some wild anxiety attacks. The advice that springs from this is, clearly, to take the GRE very, very early so that you have ample time to achieve the score which you are truly capable of getting.

 

I don't know how informative my results can be because of the GRE debacle that really hurt me at most of the institutions I applied to (Maryland, thankfully, got only my highest GRE score). In general, though, someone with my less-than-perfect mathematics background should apply to a wider range of schools (I didn't apply to anything outside T30ish--a mistake I realized after spending more time on this forum).

 

The fact that I got away with a T20-range funded offer this time around is a stroke of luck that is not lost on me. I pushed and pushed to make myself stand out once I received a notification that I was waitlisted at Maryland, including getting a top-of-his-field professor with whom I currently work to send a supplementary letter of recommendation that I think might have put me over the top (of course, I asked if this was OK first--don't do it without asking or you might come off as presumptuous).

 

I was prepared to reapply next year before the last-minute offer from Maryland came through, and I believe, on balance, that I would have done better. The weaker two letters of rec would have been replaced by the two professors with whom I'm currently researching full-time and who are both at the top of their fields. I am in the process of taking a PDEs course this spring and was going to take a graduate micro theory course at the top-5 institution where I've done my post-bacc and am currently an RA. It was probably a good plan, but there's no guarantee I would have improved over Maryland. It was a weird experience for me, I operated on incomplete information for far too long, and I flubbed the GRE process owing to my brash confidence. However, I'm headed to College Park in the fall and this humbling experience is behind me. Hopefully there's something useful to somebody in my unusual route!

Edited by thagzone
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PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BA Economics+Double major in Math, Top university in East Asian country; One quarter exchange program at Top 15 US Econ Department

Undergrad GPA: 3.70~3.75

Type of Grad: NA

Grad GPA: NA

GRE: 170 (Q), 159 (V), 3.5 (AW)

Math Courses: Calculus A+, Linear Algebra A, Probability Theory A, Statistics B+, Analysis A, Advanced Algebra A, Ordinary Differential Equations (Exchange) A+, Functions of Real Variables A, Abstract Algebra A, Complex Analysis A, Stochastic Processes B-, Dynamic Optimization A+

Undergraduate Econ Courses: Principles A+, Intermediate Micro B, Econometrics A+, IO A+, Public Finance A-, Growth (Exchange) A+, Economic History A, Public Choice A+

Graduate Econ Courses: Contract Theory (Exchange) A+, Game Theory (Exchange) A+, Dynamic Finance Theory A, Topics of Micro Theory (summer course) A+

Letters of Recommendation:

1. Well-known Associate Professor at exchange university, very strong and detailed

2. Well-known Associate Professor at a Top 10 US Econ Department, very strong

3. Assistant Professor at another top university in my country, known in subfield, very strong and very detailed

4. Professor at my university, great record of student placement, may be strong and detailed but not sure

Research Experience:

1. Undergraduate thesis on applied contract theory, presented at conference

2. Term paper for a graduate course

3. RA for Professor 3. Programming and small proofs.

Teaching Experience: None

Research Interests: Applied micro theory

SOP: One page about my two papers, one page about how I utilized all resources I could get for my research and study

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Yale, NWU, Columbia, Chicago

Waitlists: MIT (declined before they make a decision)

Rejections: Harvard, Princeton

Withdrawn: Berkeley, NYU, Chicago (clearly they didn't read my email for withdrawal), Upenn and the university where I did my exchange

Attending: Stanford GSB

Comments:

 

The most important factor for my good results is my letter writers' endorsement. For most schools, I used Professor 1, 2 and 3's letters, and it turned out really well. I think it's important to have well-known professors to write a strong letter which sets a benchmark for you, and also professors who know you extremely well to fill in the details that support the benchmark. Also, don't lose heart if you bomb some important courses like Intermediate Micro. For me, since I scored high in graduate micro courses, no one cared about Intermediate Micro.

Edited by Molan
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