Please Help finanlize my list....make suggestions(comments) as well!

[tct]

Your profile looks good but the GRE really spoils it. Given your GPA and the coursework, I think it's worth it to retake GPA and then apply. I think it's better to lose a year and end up in a decent economics department. It hard to give you advice as is, because I would assume that all of the top-70 economics departments will feel uneasy about admitting someone with quant GRE below 700. Of course, you can call and ask some of them.
As for the economics departments outside of the top-70, I simply have no clue about what their standards are.

In fact, I don't even think it's too late for it this year. Take GRE in mid-November or perhaps mid-December at the latest, and there still will be lots of economics departments with deadlines that allow that.

[EconChump]

every single person on this thread has recommended that you retake the gre. stop and think about that for a while.

[DismalScientist]

EconChump, I have looked at the situation from that perspective. However, I honestly have neither the time nor the resources to retake the GRE any time soon. Besides, I have always done pretty well in school, but I have usually not done well on standardized tests. So I don't think it makes sense to retake the test unless I am 100% sure that I will get a different score, which I don't think I am.

[OneMoreEcon]

Originally Posted by DismalScientist

However, I honestly have neither the time nor the resources to retake the GRE any time soon.

That's bullsh*t. You're prepared to drop probably $50+ to apply to each school and five years of your life to get a PhD... the extra $115 to take the GRE again is affordable both in terms of money and opportunity cost (because if 5 years of your life is worth less that $115 to you, then you've got some seriously f*cked up priorities).

Listen to what everyone is telling you... you have a good profile that will be overlooked due to a sh*tty GRE score. Don't let that stand in your way. If you do, you'll end up like teardrop (go look up his/her profile and the advice that was ignored). Just put in some time to study some geometry you haven't seen for a decade, get above a 700Q, and be done with it.

Whether you like it or not, it matters.

[Nalfien]

OneMoreEcon might of sounded mean but I know it is tough love he is trying to get accross. Seriously, he has your best interest in mind and makes some good points :-)

Good luck

[ramlau]

Originally Posted by Nalfien

OneMoreEcon might of sounded mean but I know it is tough love he is trying to get accross. Seriously, he has your best interest in mind and makes some good points :-)

Good luck

We are talking about rational choice here, aren't we? I have been unabashedly blunt on the costs and benefits of devoting five years (or more) of one's life and lost income to obtain a doctoral degree. There's the false hope that you can get tenured at Harvard or work at the World Bank coming from Podunk University, but empirical observations are cruelly against those odds. Then some may be okay with teaching at a community college as an adjunct instructor after all that time and effort, even that kind of utility function still boggles my mind.

The admissions committees want to see a high quant score for very good reasons. First, of course, they want to know that you are not a moron. But bottom line is that they want to see that you are serious about going to graduate school, and that you are willing to spend a week or two to study for it and score high.

In short, a doctoral program may not be a good idea if you can't ace 8th grade math.

Ram

[DismalScientist]

Ramlau, I don't mean to be argumentative and I understand your point. And I am not denying the importance of a solid GRE score and I have accepted that. I just want to point out the following, however. First, don't get the impression that Ph.D.s from low-ranked universities end up teaching at community colleges. Teaching at a community college doesn't require a Ph.D. And even if some end up teaching at a community college, I wouldn't be "boggled"! Utility has always been more about perception than logic. Secondly, I don't think getting tenure at Harvard has ever been in my list of "things to accomplish". Personally, I find working at the World Bank more fulfiling than a professorship at an Ivy league university. And I am more interested in applied economics than pure theory. And working at the World Bank doesn't really require a Ph.D. in economics from a fancy school.
As far as the GRE, you're right, it did make me ask myself whether or not a doctoral program is for me after looking at my score. In fact, I only did 17 questions before I had one minute and something left, which was scary. For the sake of discussion, however, I think a high gpa has more predictive power than how fast you can do "8th grade math".

Best
~DismalScientist

P.S. Ramlau, good luck with that tenure at Harvard. I'm sure JHU will prepare you very well.

[RonnieT1283]

If you're looking for good applied programs look at UDel. Their program is severely underranked and you have a good chance for funding there as is.

[ramlau]

Originally Posted by DismalScientist

Personally, I find working at the World Bank more fulfiling than a professorship at an Ivy league university. And I am more interested in applied economics than pure theory. And working at the World Bank doesn't really require a Ph.D. in economics from a fancy school.

As far as the GRE, you're right, it did make me ask myself whether or not a doctoral program is for me after looking at my score. In fact, I only did 17 questions before I had one minute and something left, which was scary. For the sake of discussion, however, I think a high gpa has more predictive power than how fast you can do "8th grade math".

Best
~DismalScientist

P.S. Ramlau, good luck with that tenure at Harvard. I'm sure JHU will prepare you very well.

First, I really am not trying to start a fight, and I mean to help. I'm getting real on this whole PhD thing though.

Does the World Bank require a Ph.D. in economics from a fancy school? That depends on how you define the word "fancy." You may want to check with the World Bank on that. From the recent placements I've seen, you are a lot more likely to get a position at the World Bank coming out of a top 30 school than a top 50 school, and in turn a top 100 school. While unlikely to be a perfect proportionality, the higher the rankings of the school you go suggest the better chances you have for a place like the World Bank. I hope you know that already.

Don't get us wrong. We may sound like we are getting negative, but with all good intentions we are saying that you can score higher than 650 and you should do it for the very sake of getting into a decent program and then achieving your goal of working at the World Bank. The rankings matter much. It's that simple.

Again, the GRE is not a test on your intellectual capacity. It's just a check on whether you are serious about getting accepted.

Ram
P.S. So this is my Sherman statement: I never wanted to become a professor at Harvard, not to mention tenure.

[Antichron]

Originally Posted by DismalScientist

EconChump, I have looked at the situation from that perspective. However, I honestly have neither the time nor the resources to retake the GRE any time soon. Besides, I have always done pretty well in school, but I have usually not done well on standardized tests. So I don't think it makes sense to retake the test unless I am 100% sure that I will get a different score, which I don't think I am.

I guess I'll shout into the crowd and confirm that a higher GRE score would be worth your time to acquire. (It is far more important for your admissions chances than doing well in any of the classes you are currently taking.)

Regarding the distinction between applied/theoretical economics, I think that the applied economists who have been trained at more theory-intensive schools (i.e. top 20-ish pure economics programs that you stand a chance of being admitted to with a better GRE score) tend to do better applied work.

Even at MIT, which tends to be very into applied work, it is often suggested to those who want to go into labor economics or industrial organization, which are fairly applied, that they major in economic theory so as to solidify their understanding of the classes of models that they plan on applying.

*EDIT: I thought I also might add that preparing for the GRE is very helpful. The first six or seven practice GRE quantitative tests I took, I received less than 760 (though I am not certain that the tests in the test-prep books are graded the same way as the actual exam), mostly due to time constraints. After much practice (I'm talking thirty or forty practice exams), I was able to finish the questions with plenty of time to spare, and I generally got every question right. It's not an easy test, and it's a shame that it counts, but given that it does, it is worth preparing substantially for. (You're good on the verbal section, so I wouldn't worry about that.)