profile evaluation (moved from Columbia thread)

[Exodus]

Hi guys,

I'm a new member in TM. I'm applying this year to Phd in Economics, and maybe you can help me. I'm very interested in programs, specialized in Monetary, Public finances, and political economy too. UColumbia seems to be the hottest in Monetary Theory. Do you know what else I can apply ??

Thanks a lot!!

[italos]

Originally Posted by Exodus

Hi guys,

I'm a new member in TM. I'm applying this year to Phd in Economics, and maybe you can help me. I'm very interested in programs, specialized in Monetary, Public finances, and political economy too. UColumbia seems to be the hottest in Monetary Theory. Do you know what else I can apply ??

Thanks a lot!!

Hello and welcome!

Make a new thread on this giving us also some information on your profile.Only in this way we can become useful to you!

[Exodus]

Ok, using the standard format, this is my profile...

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: BA Economics, Top in my country.
Undergrad GPA: 4.0 (Rank 1 in my generation)
Type of Grad: MSc, Economics.
Grad GPA: 3.6 - 3.7
GRE: none. I have to do it!
Math Courses: Calculus I, II, III (from limits to integrals, dif. equations, etc...), Logic Algebra, Matrix Algebra, Prob. and statistics (I, II), Econometrics (I, II, undergraduate). Topology (less than Real Analysis), Econometrics I (grad), Time Series (grad, very hard course), Microeconometrics (grad)
Econ Courses: tons Micro, Macro (under and grad), political economy, Monetary Theory, Public Finances, IO, International Finance, Trade, Labor, etc.
Other Courses: soccer???
Letters of Recommendation: 4 professors (academia), 1 Chicago, 2 Columbia, 1 UCLA (strongest), 4 non academic (2 MIT (strong) ,Yale and UCLA)
Research Experience: Master thesis, and 2 non published papers, and RA in 5 papers.
Teaching Experience: a lot, specialized in Macro and political economics courses. Near 20 TA in my undergrad and grad career-
Research Interests: Monetary Theory, Macro, International Finance, Development and Political Economy.
SOP: I don't know what to write!!
Other: 2 years experience in Central Bank, in policy making (error!!)

[israelecon]

non-academic LORs are usually not very helpful and they can also hurt you.

[Mr.Keen]

If those non-academic letters come from Central Bank economists then I would not be concerned. That being said, 8 letters of recommendation seem an awful lot.

[italos]

Originally Posted by Mr.Keen

If those non-academic letters come from Central Bank economists then I would not be concerned. That being said, 8 letters of recommendation seem an awful lot.

This year at Princeton I sent 5.Generally more LORs are accepted and welcome.UPen(I think but not not sure) states that they will not read more than 4.

[econphilomath]

I sent five to Berkeley and didn't get in. Not sure if that helps...

t looks like you have a decent profile to have a shot at top ten programs. Now the difference is in the LOR content and how known those LOR writers are. (supposing you get a decent gre.)

Good Luck!

[israelecon]

i actually think that unless you know exactly what your recommender is writing, sending too many might hurt you. who knows, maybe the fourth letter was the one that got you rejected.
the way i see it is that you 1 or 2 best letters add to your chances(if they are good), from the third one on they can only hurt (i.e. they have a non-positive marginal productivity).
the point is that you get accepted based on your best letter, but you can get rejected based on any of the letters. so why increase the risk when there is nothing to be gained?

[Exodus]

Thanks a lot for your inputs guys. The four non-academic LOR's are central bankers (2 members of board, other one from Chief Ecoomist of research, and last from a young Phd. Economist). I'll consider your advice for the future. Now, anybody knows about Econ phds programs specialized on monetary, Public Finance and Development ?

Thanks again, I'll post here more often !!, it's very useful-

Econphilomath... I hope get into a TOp 10.

[italos]

I do not think you will have problems getting into a top school provided you pass the GRE cut off(have a look in the thread of my signature).
Any of the top 10 would be great.You will find someone there to assist you with the exception of NWU which I believe is not the case here.

My rankings for Monetary Economics and more specific in my field,Central Banking (JEL classification E 4xx 5xx) in the US schools as I understand their standing now .Fell free to disagree

1)Columbia(Woodford and many others, Consider also their business school)

2)Princeton(Blinder(undoubted if Svensson ever returns))

3)NYU) (Getler)

4)Harvard (Alesina and many other Macro guys)

5)Chicago(Chicago is always Chicago!!!)

6)UCSC (a top school if you are interest in International Economics:What
could be best from working with Carl Walsh?(a good security also))

7) Carnegie Mellon(Goodfriend (a good security also))

8)Indiana(Leeper (a good security also))

9)Boston(King)

NB:Again all top schools have some one to work with more or less in your field.In the worse case scenario you could be a visiting student in a someone more related for a year or so