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econandon · 11-15-2007, 02:49 AM

at my school the 2nd year students say if you are getting too many As you should have gone to a better school or you should have enough free time... ymmv

Olm · 11-15-2007, 05:09 AM

Getting good grades could help you pass those comprehensives. If you work hard in your classes, you will get good grades and there won't be much left to do to study for your comps.

And as others have noted, if you want external sources of funding, grades really help.

Karina 07 · 11-15-2007, 05:28 AM

No comps at Berkeley.

A lot of people are torn at the moment about applying for external funding or not, because if you get external funding you have to give up your internal funding, which tends to be quite good, so.

I haven't really heard that it matters much for jobs afterwards. It would be good to hear more about this, though, because I am definitely not an expert; it's just not what I've heard.

Rather, of course what I've heard is more like "if you're putting too much effort into getting good grades, that's time that could be better used thinking of research."

Olm · 11-15-2007, 05:38 AM

No comps at Berkeley? Hum, hopefully they will accept me. It's my reach school, lol

At least here in Canada (which is where I will probably end up going), you can almost if not fully combine scholarships/fellowships. Some students are making 50+k a year. Not a bad way to go through school if you ask me.

I have also heard your point of view expressed by some pretty important economists (who shall remain nameless). It's one of those things that bothers adcoms the most: okay so you admit someone who graduated summa cum laude and managed to study the gre and get a 1500+, but will they be able to put out any decent research? There are a ton of tier 2 and even some tier 3 schools that will not hire people who finished in the bottom half of their classes at harvard/yale/etc., because those are the people who were good students but lousy researchers. So yes, research takes priority.

Bayern · 11-16-2007, 02:43 AM

I go to a LAC, and happen to work in our econ dept. Last year our college had to go for recruiting a tenure track prof. So this year (as I am the useless student worker), I was asked to shred all the applicants' letters, applications, LORs, and ofcourse transcript. I managed to peep into some transcripts, and the ones with a C were red marked... that definitely is not good. Again, this is a LAC so teaching is more important then research, so people who want to go to LACs, maybe they should be careful.

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11-15-2007, 02:49 AM	#11 (permalink)
econandon Eager! Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 63	at my school the 2nd year students say if you are getting too many As you should have gone to a better school or you should have enough free time... ymmv

11-15-2007, 05:09 AM	#12 (permalink)
Olm Requiem for a Dream Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 841	Getting good grades could help you pass those comprehensives. If you work hard in your classes, you will get good grades and there won't be much left to do to study for your comps. And as others have noted, if you want external sources of funding, grades really help.

11-15-2007, 05:28 AM	#13 (permalink)
Karina 07 TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 724	No comps at Berkeley. A lot of people are torn at the moment about applying for external funding or not, because if you get external funding you have to give up your internal funding, which tends to be quite good, so. I haven't really heard that it matters much for jobs afterwards. It would be good to hear more about this, though, because I am definitely not an expert; it's just not what I've heard. Rather, of course what I've heard is more like "if you're putting too much effort into getting good grades, that's time that could be better used thinking of research."

11-15-2007, 05:38 AM	#14 (permalink)
Olm Requiem for a Dream Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 841	No comps at Berkeley? Hum, hopefully they will accept me. It's my reach school, lol At least here in Canada (which is where I will probably end up going), you can almost if not fully combine scholarships/fellowships. Some students are making 50+k a year. Not a bad way to go through school if you ask me. I have also heard your point of view expressed by some pretty important economists (who shall remain nameless). It's one of those things that bothers adcoms the most: okay so you admit someone who graduated summa cum laude and managed to study the gre and get a 1500+, but will they be able to put out any decent research? There are a ton of tier 2 and even some tier 3 schools that will not hire people who finished in the bottom half of their classes at harvard/yale/etc., because those are the people who were good students but lousy researchers. So yes, research takes priority.

11-16-2007, 02:43 AM	#15 (permalink)
Bayern On the road... Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 432	I go to a LAC, and happen to work in our econ dept. Last year our college had to go for recruiting a tenure track prof. So this year (as I am the useless student worker), I was asked to shred all the applicants' letters, applications, LORs, and ofcourse transcript. I managed to peep into some transcripts, and the ones with a C were red marked... that definitely is not good. Again, this is a LAC so teaching is more important then research, so people who want to go to LACs, maybe they should be careful.

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