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Math and stat camp at Rice Online


hkke

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Hi everyone,

I am the Director of Graduate Studies at Rice University. Some of you may recall that I posted last year about our new online math camp (see here: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/157763-math-camp-rice-online.html). Following the success of last fall's math camp, we are offering both math camp and stat camp online again this summer.

Students who sign up to take either the math or stat camp this summer will take the class alongside our newest cohort of Rice graduate students. At the end of math camp, you will be awarded a certificate indicating that you have successfully completed the math camp, and also have the opportunity to earn a certificate with distinction for excellent performance.

In addition, all non-Rice students who sign up for math camp will be given a waiver of the application fee if they choose to apply to the Rice economics PhD program.

The link to sign up for the math camp is here: Math Camp for Economics PhD Students | Rice Online Learning

The link to sign up for the stat camp is here: Stat Camp for Economics PhD Students | Rice Online Learning

Best,

Hulya Eraslan

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Hi everyone,

 

 

I just wanted to let everyone know that, in order to help learners in developing countries, we have decided a 50% discount on the tuition cost for math and/or stat camp students who reside in a developing country. For this purpose, we define a developing country as a country that is either on the IMF's list of "Emerging and Developing Countries" (see
World Economic Outlook Database April 2015 -- WEO Groups and Aggregates Information
) or that is not classified as an high-income economy by the World Bank (see
https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups
).

 

 

If you want to sign up for math or stat camp and feel that you may qualify, please email
.

 

Best,

Hulya Eraslan

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Hi, will either course be offer again in the summer? Thanks.

 

Hi Specious,

The math and stat camp mentioned above are the summer versions. The math camp already started but you can still enroll until the 24th.

 

Best,

Hulya Eraslan

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  • 3 months later...

A quick note for posterity:

 

I ended up taking the stats camp course this summer in preparation for starting graduate courses this fall. I did the math course last year, which you can read my review of in this thread, and most of the main points stand: (1) I learned a ton and thought it was excellent preparation. (2) It’s very hard and takes a lot of time. Given those main points, I’ll just to add a few comments specific to this course.

 

1) This course goes above and beyond some of the statistics camps I’ve seen elsewhere by adding a fair amount of measure theory to the standard Casella and Berger readings. While more abstract and sometimes difficult to appreciate, I felt this added a lot of value either in covering some useful topics not in CB like conditional expectations or providing some additional depth.

 

2) While most of the material from the Math Camp course is not a prerequisite, and I assume they are meant to be taught simultaneously, there are certainly parts of the curriculum that take a solid understanding of analysis for granted. While not a full requirement, having an analysis level understanding of topics like continuity, properties of the real line and sequences, and so on, is very helpful.

 

So again, like the Math Camp, I had a good, though challenging experience, and would definitely recommend it for someone want to prepare before starting a phd.

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Hi everyone,

 

I am writing to announce that we will be offering the math and stat camps in the Fall starting mid September. I will post the registration links soon. If you are interested in either camp and would like to find out more, I recommend reading the first message in this thread and the link in it first. Contact me if you have any questions.

 

Best,

Hulya Eraslan

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I took the stats course this year and I thought I’d leave a quick review for posterity. I took the corresponding math course last year and reviewed it in this thread (http://www.www.urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157763). The main points mostly carry over, so I won’t repeat all the details except to summarize that I thought it was excellent preparation and very, very demanding both in terms of time and the level of the content. The lectures were very useful and the professor and RA accessible and helpful during office hours.

 

Some minor notes specific to the stats course:

 

First, while the course is pretty much from first principles some preparation, especially in the form of real analysis is helpful. It is helpful because some of the concepts are directly related or analogous to concepts in analysis and because there is a fair amount of rigorous proof writing.

 

Second, in addition to the probabilistic and statistical content, this course offers a fair amount of measure theoretic foundations. As far as I can tell comparing with the syllabus of other university’s statistics camps this is beyond what many (most?) programs cover. At times it can feel a bit abstruse and overkill, but I also think it is an asset as this is material one eventually will need and so early exposure is an advantage.

 

Third, and more generally, when preparing for a PhD I had heard a lot about the math required, but often probability and statistics receives only a small mention. Having really only done one statistics and one econometrics course before, I thought that would be adequate, but now in retrospect, I’m very glad I took this class to fill in some of the higher level material I would not have had exposure to otherwise.

 

Overall, I thought the course was excellent, if difficult, and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in building up their probability and mathematical statistics background before starting graduate work.

Edited by win
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What level of math should be known for the math camp? I'm lacking in math courses and have done some self study. I was looking for something that would give me a good overview and show that even without the university courses I know the math required. I'm applying for a phd in accounting so I know it isn't as much math as Econ. Would this be good for me?
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I don't know much about what is required for an accounting PhD, but I know some have coursework in graduate microeconomics, in which case yes this would be very helpful.

 

Multivariate calculus and linear algebra is probably the bare minimum, but I would also suggest a bit of optimization and real analysis. If you don't have exposure to these two it would definitely be challenging, but you could supplement with some gentler introductions like Chiang's Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics and something like the harvey-mudd analysis lectures on youtube.

 

Most importantly, as I mentioned in my review of the math camp, you need a good amount of time. It's quite a lot of challenging material, but if you have to take grad micro it will be a big help to have at least seen it before.

Edited by win
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I took both the math and stats camps. I agree with win that they are challenging given the material difficulty and time limit, esp the stats part. I'd say the math camp is more intense, but not too hard to understand while the materials in the stats camp are definitely harder. They're even more challenging if you have only minimum math and stats before (LA, one-term calculus, and one or two undergrad stats courses). You'd have to read and practice problems a lot on your own. But they're designed for PhD students so I guess the demanding level is reasonable. If you want to do graduate coursework, you are supposed to work that hard I guess.

 

I can't tell about the signal to ad com these courses have but I believe that they are worth to try in order to prepare for graduate schools, even for PhD students in business schools. They'd give you a sense of the demanding level you should expect in graduate school. Also, as far as I know, most first-year graduate coursework in business schools is similar to that of economics so the math camp definitely helps.

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What level of math should be known for the math camp? I'm lacking in math courses and have done some self study. I was looking for something that would give me a good overview and show that even without the university courses I know the math required. I'm applying for a phd in accounting so I know it isn't as much math as Econ. Would this be good for me?

 

Hey tax gal. I'm a 5th year accounting PhD student. If you don't have linear algebra, calc 3, and one or two semesters of probability and stats, then you are better off spending time and money on those. Once you have those you won't need to demonstrate more quant ability unless you want to do theory at a good school.

 

I'm assuming math camp at rice is similar to my university. You could try it and it would give you exposure to stuff you will see in econ. But you will do math camp at your own school anyway. Overall, I don't think it is a great use of your time.

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Hey tax gal. I'm a 5th year accounting PhD student. If you don't have linear algebra, calc 3, and one or two semesters of probability and stats, then you are better off spending time and money on those. Once you have those you won't need to demonstrate more quant ability unless you want to do theory at a good school.

 

I'm assuming math camp at rice is similar to my university. You could try it and it would give you exposure to stuff you will see in econ. But you will do math camp at your own school anyway. Overall, I don't think it is a great use of your time.

 

Formally I've only had elementary calculus I think I've self studied halfway through calc 2. I don't really have the time or more importantly the money to take that many formal classes since I'd need to take calc 1&2 and linear algebra and each cost $1,000 or more. So anyway I can signal to ad comms that I will be prepared as best I can without formal classes is what I need. I've done coursera and some of the mit free calculus plus YouTube.

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Formally I've only had elementary calculus I think I've self studied halfway through calc 2. I don't really have the time or more importantly the money to take that many formal classes since I'd need to take calc 1&2 and linear algebra and each cost $1,000 or more. So anyway I can signal to ad comms that I will be prepared as best I can without formal classes is what I need. I've done coursera and some of the mit free calculus plus YouTube.

Yeah, math camp is too advanced. Finish up calc 2. Get good at partial derivatives. Get familiar with linear algebra, particularly the notation. That will help you out a lot. Saying you have done the MIT stuff will help in applications along with good quant score on GMAT.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to let you know that we are starting the fall run of math camp a little later this year, so it is not too late to enroll. The starting date for the math camp will be October 9th. For the first time, we are offering an online version of the stat camp, which will start on October 16th.

 

For more information about our math and stat camps, please feel free to ask me or see the rest of this thread or http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/157763-math-camp-rice-online.html.

 

 

We will once again be offering a developing country discount of 50% off of the price of tuition for those living in developing countries. For this purpose, we define a developing country as a country that is either on the IMF's list of "Emerging and Developing Countries" (see World Economic Outlook Database April 2015 -- WEO Groups and Aggregates Information) or that is not classified as an high-income economy by the World Bank (see https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/k...lending-groups).

 

 

In addition, all non-Rice students who take the math or stat camp will be eligible for a waiver of the application fee if they choose to apply to the Rice PhD program.

 

Best,

Hulya Eraslan

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  • 1 year later...

Hi everyone,

 

We will have another run of the math camp starting on September 23rd (the deadline to register is October 7th). As usual, the course runs for 8 weeks with another week allocated for the final exam, so you will be done by Thanksgiving. You can find the schedule, sample lecture, syllabus and all additional information on the Rice Online web page.

 

Best,

Kirill

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