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[Prometheus_Econ]

OK, I said earlier that the QGRE was very easy. But it's also very easy to make a couple of mistakes here and there ...

[Dannyb19]

I was just teasing, Prometheus, my feelings were not hurt in any way. I did my undergraduate economics training at a liberal arts college, then went back to a public university (not well ranked) to beef up my math. I am fully aware that had I taken these courses at MIT or CalTech or Princeton that my scores would have no doubt been decreased. I think that Real Analysis (the graduate level kind) is probably hard almost everywhere, but getting an A at Harvard is different than getting an A at Portland State. I just thought it was funny you gave 750 as an example and I got 10 pts higher! I think your point is valid, and I assure you my comments were only in jest.

PS: congrats on Caltech! Does it bother you that you that CalTech gives a PhD in "Social Science?" I think they are the only program in the country that calls it that, even though it is really an econ program (and a very selective one at that).

[Prometheus_Econ]

Nope, doesn't bother me too much that Caltech calls their program Social Sciences. It's funny though because when I told my dad I got accepted, he immediately asked if I would get a job with a PhD in social sciences, probably associating the term with something alike sociology. But then again, if you tell most people you're studying economics, they immediately say something like "Oh, you wanna become a business man." So, I'm less concerned about the title of the program, since the people who would hire me afterwards are probably well aware of what it stands for.

[quantwanabe]

2008Econhope,

Dont worry make sure you get great recommendation letters. One of the professor who wrote me a recommendation letter told me that admissions committee give a lot of weight to recommendation letters, he said that a student with a B average but excellent recommendation letters can get into any top 10 school, especially if the recommender is Associate/Full professor and active in his research area. He said one of the key thing is to make sure you survive the first round cut ie get in the 90 precentile or so in quant GRE. Then letter of recommendations can really help. so get good letters and they will make up for your low GPA.

[hereshoping]

Originally Posted by Prometheus_Econ

OK, I said earlier that the QGRE was very easy. But it's also very easy to make a couple of mistakes here and there ...

The GRE quant doesn't make any sense to me. The year I took it, an 800 was only 94th percentile (whereas a 740 on the verbal section was 99th percentile). So, if you're having an off day and make a couple mistakes on the quant section (especially in the beginning), you're relegated to below 94th percentile. And, if you're dead on and get everything right, there's still no way to differentiate yourself from the top 5% of test-takers. You'd think ETS would modify it to make the upper end of the distribution a little more reasonable.

[kartelite]

Originally Posted by hereshoping

You'd think ETS would modify it to make the upper end of the distribution a little more reasonable.

I heard they are doing just that.

[butler blue]

Yes, they are. Very soon.