Econ PhD Profile Evaluation-looking for advice

[flightzeros]

Hi guys! Thanks so much for your help, I really appreciate any advice I could get :)

 

PROFILE

Type of Undergrad: Econ & Math, Top 30 public school

GPA: 3.95/4.0

GRE: going to take soon.

Math Courses: Calculus1-3 (AAA) Discrete (A) Intro to differential (A), Linear Algebra (A), Probability (A), Real Analysis (A), Number Theory (A), Complex (A).

Plan to take numerical analysis, differential, and a grad level real analysis next semester, don't know if courses in next semester are gonna help??

Econ Courses (undergrad): up to advanced micro and macro, money and banking, labor economics, advanced international economics, game theory, econometrics, labor economics (All A except labor got A-)

Research experience: Honor thesis (already finished), and a summer research fellowship this semester. My advisor (coauthor) feel like the paper has a good chance to get published on a decent journal, but I'm not sure if we could get it published before Dec. I wonder if the committee would take time to read my paper.

Teaching experience: None

 

I specifically have 2 concerns. First, I'm a transfer student from an HK university, where I used to learn finance. Because I spent a lot of time on extra curriculum activities, I got a B and B+ on math courses in sophomore year. I retook them in my current school, but I don't know if that's gonna hurt my chance of getting into top schools. Second, My GPA in HK was 3.75. I was actually rank 1 in the entire finance department (a professor checked for me), but my school does not provide such kind of official rank on the transcript. I'm worried that 3.75 does not really look good enough.

 

I have one more question about recommendation letter. Do you think I should get a letter from a professor in math department? Even if I only took his class and got good grades? I did pretty well on real analysis class. Usually, the average was like 50/100 (questions were hard), and I got 98-100 on tests. I don't know if he remembers me since I was very quite.

 

I feel like I got a shot for top 10 schools, but still very unsure. I guess my application looks strong but not like the strongest.

 

Thanks so much in advance :)

[flightzeros]

thanks guys :loveheart: anything would be helpful

[startz]

You are at a top 30 school. Go ask the people who are going to write letters for you. You almost certainly should get letters from economists rather than a math professor, unless either the math professor can say you were one of the best students in many years or unless you just don't have a third economist who can write a letter.

 

There is no chance whatsoever of the paper being published before December. It would be a near miracle for it to be accepted by then. Nor does that matter much. The fact that you are a coauthor of an article sent to a decent journal will already be very helpful.

 

From what you have said, you are a good candidate for a top 10. But it depends critically on what your recommendations say.

[flightzeros]

Thanks that's really good advice, and yes you are right about the publication

[chateauheart]

You should plan to take grad econ, not grad analysis, next semester. In fact, any more math course will have low marginal value. I suggest you take two grad econ courses next semester, micro + macro/metrics.

 

You'll be able to send those grades before adcoms review your applications. Assuming they're A- or better, I'd say you have a good chance at the top 20, with a small chance at the top 5.

 

It's very unlikely that you'll be able to publish the paper before Dec, but if you manage to get an R&R, that will still help tremendously.

[flightzeros]

Thanks for your suggestion, I think I will be able to fit a grad micro to my schedule. This might be a stupid question, what is R&R you mentioned? recommendation and research?

 

Is there anything else I could do to increase my chance into top 10?

 

Again, thanks so much :) I really appreciate your help

[DDQuanta]

R&R stands for "Revise & Resubmit". It is a stage where the journal editor have looked through your paper and think it is worth publishing but there are some points still need to be fixed. This is a clear signal that your work is valuable for publication.

[DDQuanta]

If you are serious that you must get into top 10 programs then, upon graduation, you should be looking for full-time RA position for some famous professor for a couple years before applying to PhD programs. They will be the one evaluating you and write you a strong LOR if you performed well.

[flightzeros]

yeah I agree. I guess unless my recommendation is really impressive, my chance of getting in top 10 is slim. Anyway I'll definitely consider RA for a year or two.

[startz]

yeah I agree. I guess unless my recommendation is really impressive, my chance of getting in top 10 is slim. Anyway I'll definitely consider RA for a year or two.

Nearly everyone's chance of getting into a top 10 is slim. But your record (assuming you do well on the GRE) looks quite good. The unknown is the strength of the recommendations. If you have strong recommendations, spending a couple of years as an RA is unnecessary, although likely beneficial. Something like half (maybe a touch more) of students at top ten programs have been RAs between college and grad school.

[flightzeros]

thanks so much :) I honestly really don't want to wait 2 more years as RA.

 

Right now I have a pretty strong letter from my current research advisor. He has lots of connections and he's also an editor of a decent journal. He's helped a few students getting into top 10 schools like Chicago, and he thinks I'm one of his best. I have 2 choices for my second letter. One is a professor with more connections. I've taken her class before and got A, but I guess that's not impressive enough to get a good letter, so I plan to send her my resume and my research paper to see if she'd like to help. Her research field is sort of related to my current project. My second choice is my econometrics professor. I know he's going to write a good recommendation, but he has less connection as far as I know.

 

My professor strongly suggests me to get at least one letter from my math professor, so I want to ask my real analysis professor. I did really good in his class as I mentioned in my first post. I know he used to teach in MIT. He's really nice and I think he's going to write a good letter. 'm also going to take a grad math class, so if I do great then I'll try to get another one from that professor.

 

I guess my recommendation letters are going to be good but maybe not like extremely impressive, except for the first one.

[flightzeros]

Thanks :) I honestly don't want to wait 2 more years as an RA

 

I have one very strong recommendation from my current research advisor. He's an editor of a decent journal and has lots of connections. He helped some students getting into top schools including Chicago and MIT, and he thinks I'm one of his best. For my second letter, I want to ask a professor who taught me before. I know she has lots of connection. I got A in her class but I guess I need to do more to impress her. So I'll send my paper once it's finished and see if she'd like to help. Her research field is kind of related to my paper.

 

My advisor strongly suggests me to get at least one letter from a math professor. I want to ask my professor who teaches real analysis. As I said in my first post I did pretty good in his class, and I know he used to teach in MIT. I'm going to take a grad math next semester, so if I do great, I'll try to get another letter from that professor.

 

I guess my recommendation letters are going to be good, but maybe not extremely impressive except for the first one.

[mathenomics]

Something like half (maybe a touch more) of students at top ten programs have been RAs between college and grad school.

 

I recently graduated from a top 10 school, and in my cohort 5 graduates (out of 7) went on to work as RAs, and 2 went straight into grad school. One data point if that helps!

[flightzeros]

Thanks :)

[chateauheart]

Everyone thinks their recommendation letters are great. Don't assume yours are going to be a particularly decisive factor. Yours seem to be average or slightly above average for a typical top 10 applicant. Advisors often are over-enthusiastic about your chances, whether to be polite or because they're misled by past experiences.

[flightzeros]

Yes I totally agree to what you said. I know I'm not the strongest applicants. Because I transferred to my current school and change my major to Econ and math only 2 years ago, unfortunately I really don't have enough time for more research opportunities, and I have to rush through all the courses :( I'll just do what I can do and hope for the best.