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Evaluate my profile for 2019-2020 PhD in Economics


5lickmoss

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Hi guys,

 

I'm aiming towards applying to Ph.D. program in economics in the U.S. (think top 20).

 

Type of Undergrad: BS in Economics (Best Economics department in Bangladesh)

 

Undergrad GPA: 3.85+ / 4.0

 

Math Courses:

 

Mathematical Statistics (A)

Mathematical Programming (A)

Mathematical Economics (A)

Engineering Mathematics (A)

Engineering Statistics (A)

Applied Mathematics for Economists I (A)

Applied Mathematics for Economists II (A)

Linear Algebra (A-)

Calculus III (A)

Calculus II (B+)

Calculus I (A)

Econ courses:

 

Microeconomics I (B+), Microeconomics II (A), Macroeconomics I (A-), Macroeconomics II (A), Econometrics (A-), Labor Economics (B+), Urban Economics (A-), Industrial Organization (A), Environmental Economics (A), Game Theory (A)

GRE: V 165+ / Q 170 / W 5

IELTS: 8.5 (minimum band score)

Research Experience: Final year research in electricity market, published in top 20 IDEAS RePEc

 

Teaching Experience: A levels Mathematics

 

SOP: Confident

 

Letters of Recommendation: Confident; my final year thesis supervisor, one pretty recognized professor I did most my higher level courses with, a math professor pretty well known to the engineering community

 

Research Interests: Microeconomic Theory, Mathematical Economics, Econometrics

 

I especially want the following programs/schools:

UChicago, Duke, Yale, UPenn, NYU, Austin, Cornell, Brown

Duke's MS in Economics and Computation (2018-19)

NYU's MS in Computational Science (2018-19)

Austin's MA in Economics (2018-19)

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  • 2 weeks later...

As with every international profile from a relatively unknown school, the best way to gauge your relative competitiveness is to compare yourself against past students from your school that have gone on to do a PhD in the US. Simply put, if the highest your institution has ever placed is some person 5 years ago, in a top 30 institute, aiming for a top 20 admit isn't much of a stretch, assuming you share similar profiles. However, if the highest placement from your institution was somewhere in top 60, it's infeasible to expect a top 20 admit.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that admissions get more and more competitive with each passing year. Just take a gander at the old Profiles and Results threads; you'll see what I mean.

 

That being said, if you managed to solo author a paper in a top 20 journal, your chances look good.

 

The masters programmes you've listed are subpar when it comes to academic placements. You should consider LSE's EME, since you most likely have sufficient grades to gain entry.

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So a rec letter from a math Prof is probably not the most ideal. What they want to find in ur letter is how good of a research you can do. Your maths grade will show that you are capable of doing maths. If ur reference is well known in the US then it’s probably fine. If not I would suggest to lower your expectation since there is a slim chance for you to get into top 10 programs.

And they do care about advanced econ theory course.

For Rec letter, one from a prof who you have taken class from, the other two from someone who knows ur research that would be the best combo.

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So a rec letter from a math Prof is probably not the most ideal. What they want to find in ur letter is how good of a research you can do. Your maths grade will show that you are capable of doing maths. If ur reference is well known in the US then it’s probably fine. If not I would suggest to lower your expectation since there is a slim chance for you to get into top 10 programs.

And they do care about advanced econ theory course.

For Rec letter, one from a prof who you have taken class from, the other two from someone who knows ur research that would be the best combo.

 

As with every international profile from a relatively unknown school, the best way to gauge your relative competitiveness is to compare yourself against past students from your school that have gone on to do a PhD in the US. Simply put, if the highest your institution has ever placed is some person 5 years ago, in a top 30 institute, aiming for a top 20 admit isn't much of a stretch, assuming you share similar profiles. However, if the highest placement from your institution was somewhere in top 60, it's infeasible to expect a top 20 admit.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that admissions get more and more competitive with each passing year. Just take a gander at the old Profiles and Results threads; you'll see what I mean.

 

That being said, if you managed to solo author a paper in a top 20 journal, your chances look good.

 

The masters programmes you've listed are subpar when it comes to academic placements. You should consider LSE's EME, since you most likely have sufficient grades to gain entry.

 

Would it help if I had more publications similar to the one I mentioned here?

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One truth about publication is that: 1. you publish in a well know Econ journal worldwide, let's say if it's one of the top journals in the US, guaranteed admission to the top schools; 2. publish in a journal only known to your home country, probably the admission committee is just going to ignore that.

Then the question is essentially: do you think your publication is even publishable even in a top US journal? If yes, then it is a really really strong signal.

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  • 3 months later...
Hi guys,

 

I'm aiming towards applying to Ph.D. program in economics in the U.S. (think top 20).

 

Type of Undergrad: BS in Economics (Best Economics department in Bangladesh)

 

Undergrad GPA: 3.85+ / 4.0

 

Math Courses:

 

Mathematical Statistics (A)

Mathematical Programming (A)

Mathematical Economics (A)

Engineering Mathematics (A)

Engineering Statistics (A)

Applied Mathematics for Economists I (A)

Applied Mathematics for Economists II (A)

Linear Algebra (A-)

Calculus III (A)

Calculus II (B+)

Calculus I (A)

Econ courses:

 

Microeconomics I (B+), Microeconomics II (A), Macroeconomics I (A-), Macroeconomics II (A), Econometrics (A-), Labor Economics (B+), Urban Economics (A-), Industrial Organization (A), Environmental Economics (A), Game Theory (A)

GRE: V 165+ / Q 170 / W 5

IELTS: 8.5 (minimum band score)

Research Experience: Final year research in electricity market, published in top 20 IDEAS RePEc

 

Teaching Experience: A levels Mathematics

 

SOP: Confident

 

Letters of Recommendation: Confident; my final year thesis supervisor, one pretty recognized professor I did most my higher level courses with, a math professor pretty well known to the engineering community

 

Research Interests: Microeconomic Theory, Mathematical Economics, Econometrics

 

I especially want the following programs/schools:

UChicago, Duke, Yale, UPenn, NYU, Austin, Cornell, Brown

Duke's MS in Economics and Computation (2018-19)

NYU's MS in Computational Science (2018-19)

Austin's MA in Economics (2018-19)

 

My native country is Bangladesh and while your profile looks strong what I worry about is the lack of more stronger math classes in my opinion( Mathematical economics/ Applied math for economics don't count to be honest)..You would need core classes like Real analysis, topology, differential equations etc)..when you talk about best Econ department in Bangladesh..are you talking about BRAC/NSU (Private) or DU/IBA ?. I would also suggest try to get as much good research done as possible... the GRE and IELTS scores that you mentioned above have already been attained or confident of attaining ? If you did already got the score, that's a great job and you are in good shape..Also try to get letters from proffs who have Phd's from good places in the US/UK/Canada and are well known. And also cast a wider net just to be on the safe side.

 

All the best!

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