Econ Phd Profile Evaluation (Crazy Path)

[Double Jump]

Hi you guys so just to give you context I completed a bachelors and then a Masters in Accounting. After that masters I completed a post-bac in math and I'm currently completing my MS in math and an additional MS in Econ simultaneously. As you can see listing my coursework that spans multiple degrees at different institutions is quite a challenge with the typical profile format. So I'll be listing my profile chronologically from earliest to most recent (top to bottom). I'll be eclectic with listing courses for sake of simplicity.

 

 

PROFILE

Type of Undergrad (1st BA): Econ & Accounting, Top 50 public flagship

GPA: 3.24 (cum); ~3.5 (Econ)

 

Econ Courses (undergrad): Interm micro (A-), Interm macro (B-), Economics and Law ©, Labor Econ (A), Monetary Policy (A-), International Finance (B+), Intro Metrics I and II (A\B), Public Econ (B)

 

Type of Grad (Master of Accounting): Same as 1st BA

GPA: 3.79 (cum)

 

Econ Courses (grad): Theory of IO (A)

 

Type of Undergrad (Post bac): Mathematics, Urban Commuter School (R2 Institution; quarter system)

GPA: 3.93 (cum)

Math Courses (undergrad): Calculus1-4 (B+\B\A\A), Discrete (A), Intro to differential (A), Group Theory (A), Number Theory (A), Game Theory 1-2 (A/A), Intro Linear Algebra (A), Advanced Calculus 1-2 (A/A), Real Analysis 1-3 (A/A/A), Set Theory and Topology 1-3 (A/A/A), Advanced Linear Algebra 1-2 (A/A), Abstract Algebra 1-3 (A/A/A)

 

Type of Grad (double masters): MS Math and MS Econ, same school as Post bac

GPA: 4.0 (Math), 4.0 (Econ)

 

Math Course (Grad): Functional Analysis 1 (A), PDE 1-2 (A/A), Stochastic Processes and Probability Theory 1-3 (A/A/A), Convex Optimization (A), will take Advanced Differential Equations 1-3, will take Modern Analysis 1-3 (convex analysis)

 

Econ Course (Grad): Micro 1-2 (A/A), Econometrics 1-2 (A/A), Macro 1 (A), will take Econometrics 3, will take Macro 2

 

Research experience: I was an RA for two Econ professors for about a year for both and currently am, at the post-bac institution. I created the first experimental economics lab at my institution, meaning I got the lab ready, took care of installing ztree/zleaf, got ORSEE running so that we have a website, and I singlehandedly advertised about the lab to get a total of 100+ participants in the system. I submitted my own IRB proposal and has been accepted. Might be a potential coauthor on some upcoming papers.

Teaching experience: None

 

Work Experience: Current Econ intern at renown institution specializing in energy/environmental work. Possibly be doing contracting work with a regionally known econ consulting firm during the school year.

 

Interests: I'm highly interested in economic work that applies experimental methods, I'm also interested in Econometric Theory, Industrial Organization (Structural/Empirical), and Game Theory

 

My question is I'm applying for Econ phd programs soon I created a list of schools that I identified as a research fit plus having an experimental lab.

 

I need help getting a sense where my target should be, I have no idea what my range of schools are safeties or reaches.

 

Thanks Again!

[tm_member]

Tell us more about your LORs. If they are solid, your recent record and research experience mean you have a good shot at schools who might claim they are in the "Top 20"... think schools like Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon (both Econ and CBDR) and Texas A&M. All of these are excellent schools. Below that, you'd be a shoe-in for places like Pitt, George Mason, Florida State.

 

If your letters are outstanding and you have your letter writers clear and unequivocal support (ask them), you can apply with some hope to NYU, Caltech, and UCSD.

[chateauheart]

Some of the best experimental programs (like GMU) are not high-ranked, so you can almost certainly get into them. You also seem pretty strong for top 20 programs as tm_member said. At some point you might have to make up your mind on whether you want to go to a #5-#20 standard program or a lower-ranked program that specializes heavily in experimental econ. Depends on how likely you think your tastes are going to change. In any case, you can probably apply to both types.

[Double Jump]

One of my LOR's is from TAMU, another one is from Pitt, and my third is from Arizona. Oh I totally forgot my GRE: 167Q/156V/4AWA. I took it lilke two years ago and probably set.

[tm_member]

If those writers say good things, you have a great shot at TAMU and Pitt.

[Double Jump]

That's great to hear. Thanks for your perspective its helped narrowing my targets down.

[YaSvoboden]

I am an accounting PhD student and am a little surprised that you haven't mentioned accounting PhDs. If you are interested in research within the accounting realm you would likely have an easier time getting into one of the top schools for experimental. These would have an easier time placing into an academic position.

 

Experimental econ and game theory are used in accounting. I am actually at a school that would be a good target for you on the econ side and we just graduated an accounting student doing experimental stuff that had an econ prof on their committee and got a job that would have been a great placement for our econ department.

 

I don't want to try and push you in a direction that isn't interesting to you, but wanted to give you something to think about. There is a business PhD section that you can post questions in on this site as well.

[Double Jump]

Yeah that's a great point, I didn't mention anything about Phd Accounting or Phd Business programs just for simplicity. I may be biased, my exposure to accounting was mostly was in the realm of taxation. I've never thought there'd be experimental accounting floating around. I was considering Phd Business programs but I couldn't discern the quality of researchers and the heterogeneity of concentration titles really confused me (i.e. management or decision science or business economics etc). It's kind of funny because our research agenda pivoted toward CSR (corporate social responsibility) and IO lately. I'll be applying for 25 schools this upcoming fall, I'm just trying to minimize my type 2 error.

[chateauheart]

PhD Finance, PhD Accounting, etc. are empirical-econ programs applied to those specific fields. The top ones tend to require a grad econ core. Apart from research topic, there isn't a significant divide between these fields and their siblings in I.O./applied micro/macro.

 

PhD Bus Econ programs are basically PhD Econ programs.

 

PhD management or decision science are a clusterf*ck, though there are usually some economists on the faculty.

 

I agree with YaSvoboden's advice that you consider PhD Accounting if you have any potential interest in the topic. There's a lot of arbitrage because most accounting students aren't qualified to do PhD Accounting, while most math/econ students would never consider doing a PhD in accounting because they don't like the topic.

[YaSvoboden]

Given the little information I have here you should look at the PhD programs at UIUC, UT Austin, USC, Emory, and Cornell. The all have decent behavioral people and good people using archival data.

[YaSvoboden]

PhD Prep Track

 

You can read through this if you want a better idea on accounting PhDs

[Double Jump]

Thanks for the summary that clears some things up with the categories.

[Double Jump]

For UIUC, UT Austin, USC, Emory and Cornell, are you recommending the econ programs or business programs or accounting programs?

[YaSvoboden]

For UIUC, UT Austin, USC, Emory and Cornell, are you recommending the econ programs or business programs or accounting programs?

Accounting

[Double Jump]

Thanks I'll check it out.