Roll Call Fall 2009

[LAEconGirl]

Undergrad: US Top 100
GPA: 3.93/4.0
Major: History and Economics, Italian minor. Post-bacc work in math at UCLA
GRE: 780Q, 650V, 4.5 A, planning to retak test for 800Q and 5.0+ A; did not study the first time round.
Math: Calc I (A+), Calc II (A+), Calc III (B-), Linear Algebra (B+), Intro to Stats (A). I also plan to take Stats and Probabilty I and II this spring. I would consider taking Real Analysis as well and would appreciate people's feedback on this. I took my math courses after graduation at UCLA as a post-bacc student.
Econ: All required plus major courses in topics such as monetary and fiscal policy, econometrics, public welfare, development and urban economics. A's in all courses except on B+ in monetary and fiscal policy
Research: Undergrad econometrics paper, very basic
Teaching: Private tutor in high school math and economics
Schools considering: NYU MA, LSE MsC, BYU MA, USC MA, Boston University MA, UCLA PhD, Rand Pardee School of Policy Analysis PhD
Other: Female, 24, American residing in Los Angeles

[sichutingtingzouzou]

Type of Undergrad: Bachelor of Econ, major in Actuarial Science and insurance, from a top school in Economics in China (4-year program but i graduated in 3 years)

Undergrad GPA: 3.73 in major courses, ranked 3/48
GRE: Q800, V580, AW unknown yet

Type of Grad: top 20 Econ Dept in US

Grad GPA: about 3.5/4.0

Math Courses:
under: Advanced Calculus I & II (A+, A); linear algebra(A); Prob & Math Stat(B); Statistics (B); other actuarial courses (B+~A)
grad: Basic Analysis (this fall, very hard graduate course in Math dept)

Econ Courses:
under: Micro(A+); Macro(A); Metrics(A); International Econ(B); Developmental Econ(B+); other couses in Finance, Econ, insurance, law, etc.
grad: Micro I (PhD, B);Micro II(PhD, A-); Applied Metrics (PhD, A); Metrics (PhD, this fall); Health Econ Seminar I(PhD, A-); Health Econ Seminar II(this fall); Time series(Master, B); Applied Micrometrics(Master, B+);

Letters of Recommendation: Two famous professors in health and public, One Math professor. All might be lukewarm.

Research Experience: Co-author with the famous prof in health, expected to be finished in the end of this semester; Writing proposal of MA thesis; Other short-term RA jobs about health econ or applied micro.

Teaching Experience: One semester of TA in Public Policy school for governors training program

Research Interests: Health Econ

Others: Two years of working as an underwriter in Insurance Company, a little related with health econ

Concern: relatively low Grad GPA (especially B in PhD Micro)

Apply to:
Health programs: Harvard, Yale, UCLA, JHU, BU
Econ programs:Cornell, Brown, Duke, Umich, Wisconsin, UT-Austin, UNC, NCSU
Demography programs: Berkeley, Upenn

thank you very much for your advice!!!

[swwas355]

Type of Undergrad: Economics, South Italian University.Graduate in 2004.Major in Economics

Undergrad GPA: 110/110,Cum Laude (average 28.90 out of 30)

GRE/TOEFL: To be retaken both in November 2008

Math Courses: General Mathematics, Financial Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis Multivariable Analysis(should be calculus) , Statistics I and I. ‐ All equivalent to A's or A+

Econ Courses (u/g): Micro and Macro Theory, Labour, International economics, monetary economics, Industrial econ. Development economics, economic history, History of economic thought theory, econometrics, Public economics, Regional Economics, Applied economics, Economic Policy‐ All equivalent to A's or A+

Grad courses: currently taking at PhD level:micro ,maths and time series.Not sure if I finally take the exams or have a grade to send in time

Other Courses: Summer school at UPF. Some short duration other courses with well know people in macro -money at graduate level

Letters of Recommendation: Till now 1 stellar letters from a NYU PhD thesis supervisor well connected , 2) an excellent one form my u/g international economics prof with a PhD Michigan 3)not sure yer
Research Experience: Senior undergraduate thesis back in 2004 . I won special merit from the evaluation committee for the quality of thesis work, presentation skills and academic performance.I am supposed to write 2 working papers at professional level till summer 2009. The first paper is
co‐authored with my u/g thesis supervisor.Currently, I am a visitor researcher in a research institute

Teaching Experience: TA for Economic Policy and International economics

Research Interests: Monetary economics (mostly monetary policy), Central Banking, Macroeconomics

Statement of Purpose: In the Process. Should be strong(not sure how much it counts)

Other: Participant in several conferences including invitations from BIS, CEPR, ECB, and various national central Banks. I have acted as discussant in a conference at the University of Cambridge.Acquitant with many top economists in the field .I will accept only funded offers

Concerns:Need to take the GRE and TOEFL, Undergraduate excellent grades but not Ivy without any tradition in placing in top programs,. am out of unis for the last 2 years.Ihave just restarted this year .Age 31 ,32 by spring

Applying to(mostly since I know some people at those departments but this does not help in the admission procedure):Harvard , MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley , Columbia, NYU, Michigan, Northwester, Boston , Minnesota, Wisconsin – Madison, Maryland , UC Santa Cruz, Georgetown U, Johns Hopkins and 2-3 schools in Europe.

[UrbanEconomist]

Type of Undergrad: BS Econ from small Southeastern Public University
Undergrad GPA: Overall 3.64; Econ 3.8
Type of Grad: MA Econ from Public University in Midwest
Grad GPA: 3.3
GRE: Will retake next month
Math Courses: Calc I (C), Business Calc (B), Intro to Probability and Stat (B), College Algebra (A)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Panel Data Econometrics, Independent Research - (Currently Enrolled)
Econ Courses (Grad): Micro Theory (B*, A-), Macro Theory (A-), Econometrics (A-*, B+), Math Econ I (B+*, B+) II (B), Statistics for Economists (C), Foundations of Economic Research (A-*) - Grades marked * were earned in courses taken initially at Duke University
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Principles of Micro (A) Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A) Macro (A), Labor (A), Managerial (A), Money and Banking (A), Development (C), Public Finance (A), Monetary and Fiscal Policy (A), Math Econ (A), Black Economic Development (B), International Trade (A), Industrial Organization (A), International Finance (A), Econometrics (A), Corporate Finance (A), History of Economic Thought (A)
Other Courses: Blacks and the Political Process (A), Auditing and Assurance Service (A), Financial Accounting (A), Managerial Accunting (A), Principles of Marketing (A)
Letters of Recommendation: Two from very well known professors at Duke University, two from professors at my current university (one was advised by Becker at Chicago)
Research Experience: McNair Scholar 2006 (Published in University Circulated McNair Journal); one conference presentation; AEA Summer Program at Duke University 2007; Presented at Pipeline conference
Teaching Experience: None
Research Interests: Micro (Law, Health, Social, and Public)
statement of purpose: Strong
Concerns: lack of math; C in stat course, leaving one Ph.D. program for another... My GRE Q score was extremely low the first time I took it and I think that it will be low again because I am not studying for it . My AWA was a 5.0 which made up for my low verbal score.
Applying to: Georgia State, Florida State, and one other university but I am not sure which one yet

[ILoveEcon!!!!!]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics

Undergrad GPA: 3.52 (3.71 for econ)

GRE: 770Q, 520V, 4.5A (didn't study for it. Probably would have done better if I did)

Math Courses: Calculus I, II(B+, B+) linear algebra (B+), statistics (B+), advanced statistics(A), probability and statistics(A)(taken through the econ dept.), econometrics(B+), quantitative methods for economists(C+)

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intermediate Micro(A), Intermediate Macro(A), Managerial Econ(A), Industrial Organization(A), Economics thought and history(A), developmental economics(A-), International economics(A-), Money and Banking(B)

Letters of Recommendation: All from professors at my under grad university. They should all be pretty good.

Research Experience: none

Teaching Experience: Tutored Micro, Macro, International, and Managerial Economics for a couple of years. I was also a TA for Econometrics and Micro and Macro

Research Interests: Macroeconomics, I/O

statement of purpose: haven't written yet

Concerns: Low GPA, grades in math are not too good, I did not take a multivariate calculus class, though I did learn and use it in Intermediate Micro, quantitative methods, and just a little bit in managerial econ

Other: I was the president of my school's economics society for a couple of semesters. I also scored above the 98th percentile on ETS's Major Field Test in Economics, though I don't think that matters much.

Applying to:
University of Washington
Rutgers University
University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill
University of Iowa
Arizona State University
Vanderbilt University
University of Kentucky
University of Oregon
North Carolina State University

If any of you have any advice or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!!!

[Ibn Abbas]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.B.A. from a South Asian university
Undergrad GPA: 3.34 out of 4. (A =4, B+ =3.5, B =3 and so on...)
Type of Grad: M.A. in Economics from mid-range Canadian university
Grad GPA: 9.25 (out of 12) so far. (A+ =12, A =11, A- =10, B+ = 9 and so on...)
GRE: 770Q, 690V, 5.5AWA
Math Courses:
Business Math C+, Linear Algebra A, Calculus II A, Calculus III and IV combined C-, Mathematical Economics A
Econ Courses (MA-level):
Micro A-, Macro B+, Metrics A, Intl. Trade B-
Econ Courses (undergrad-level):
Principles of Micro A, Principles of Macro A, Advanced Micro A+, Advanced Macro A+, Metrics I A, Metrics II A+
Stat courses (undergrad-level):
Business Stat I B+, Business Stat II B+, Statistical Econ A-, Intro to Stat (from Math dept.) A+, Intro to Probability (from Math dept.) A+, Stochastic Processes C+
Letters of Recommendation:
Hopefully my 3 MA profs: Metrics (UMontreal), Macro (UCLA) and Development (Columbia).
Teaching Assistantship:
3rd year Econometrics, 4th year Econometrics, Agricultural Economics, Principles of Economics
Research Interests: Development Economics
statement of purpose: Will be focusing on my research interests and explaining the reasons behind some of my bad grades in math courses.
Concerns: C- in Calculus III and IV and C+ in Stochastic Processes.
Applying to: UHouston, UC Riverside, UC Boulder, UI Chicago, Carleton (Canada), UOttawa (Canada)

[piffle_dragon]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.S. in econ, B.S. in math from public university with top 15 grad econ, top ten math.
Undergrad GPA: 3.83/4.0 higher past two years
Type of Grad: n/a
Grad GPA: n/a
GRE: 790 Q, 670 V, 6.0 A
Math Courses: Calc I-II (B+, A), Lin Alg and Diff Eq (A-), Multivariable (A) Applied Linear Algebra (A-), masters Math Theory of Stats I and II (A, A-), Advanced Calc (A), masters Real Analysis (taking), Linear Programming (taking)
Econ Courses (PhD-level): Macro (B+) Am taking rest of sequence
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): A bunch, all A's.
Other Courses: C++ programming (A)
Letters of Recommendation: 1 very strong from very known researcher, 1 strong from less well known, 1 very strong from not known
Research Experience: RA, co-author, working on summa thesis in macro
Teaching Experience: TA in stats, university tutor in math, econ, stats.
Research Interests: Macro, development.
statement of purpose: Fairly strong. I'm a decent writer.
Concerns: Not enough higher math, only applying to top schools (basically) since I am pretty sure I can get in where I am now...so why go somewhere not as strong?
Applying to:
Princeton
Berkeley
Yale
Minnesota
Columbia
Michigan
U Penn
UCLA
MIT
Harvard
NYU
Stanford
Wash U -St Louis
Penn St.

[RaaR]

Roll Call Fall 2009

In a last minute decision I decided to send out a few applications. Although I am not writing a lot on this board (or rather at all), I have been a lurker here for quite some time. I think this board is the BEST resource out there for people who seriously consider doing a PhD in economics, and that is why I decided to post my profile here, as I know it could possibly help other candidates (as much as the profiles of others have helped me…).

OK, so here goes:

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad #1: BComm, Economics. Canadian University (not top). Graduated 4.0 GPA, ‘With Great Distinction’, top of my class (perhaps out of 100+ students, or so).
Type of Undergrad #2: BA, Math. Finished almost half of it so far (around 40 credits). Israeli University. GPA in program: 98/100. Received President’s Award given final year average.
Type of Grad: MA, Economics. Canadian University (top). GPA in program: not available yet (and will send out transcripts with no grades from this program I guess).
GRE: 800Q, 550V, 5.0AWA
Math Courses: Cal I, Cal II, Advanced Cal. (15 credits altogether), Linear Algebra, Statistical Inference, Probability & Statistics, Discrete Math (Set Theory, Combinatorics, Logic), Matrices & Vectors, Business Statistics, and a few more basic ones in my BComm. Got A+’s/95+ in all courses.
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All around. Got A+’s in all of them (except for Micro-I actually, a B+). Currently taking Grad Micro, Metrics, and Public Econ (without any grades yet to report).
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors. All 3 are very known in their fields. I expect the letters to be good (can’t really know more than that I guess). I worked as RA to 2 of them (for over a year), and co-authored a paper with one of them.
Research Experience: 2 years RA during undergrad, 1 year RA post-undergrad (while doing 2nd BA). 2 co-authored papers presented at a major Canadian conference (in business studies though, not econ) one of them won 2nd prize in best paper award. Another co-authored paper (in econ) that will be published this year I hope.
Teaching Experience: 3 years TA during undergrad. Currently TAing in the MA program I’m at.
Research Interests: Too many I guess (can’t point at something in-particular at the moment).
statement of purpose: Currently writing it.
Concerns: No safeties (but it’s OK, because I’m not really in a hurry, and I could also try again next year in case things will not work out this time). No grades for grad-program to submit.
Other: Won SSHRC, OGS, and a bunch of other scholarships in Canada & Israel.
Applying to: Most of top 10.


best of luck to everyone!

[z109620]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: B.A in Econ with minors in Philosophy and Math from a large mediocre state school (NIU)
Undergrad GPA: 3.78 with 4.0 in Econ and Math
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 750Q, 470V, 4AWA
Math Courses: All A's: Calculus I,II&III, Linear Algebra, Prob and Statistics, Advanced Calculus I (Undergrad Analysis) and ODE (currently taking)
Econ Courses (Masters-level): Econometrics and Math for Economists (currently taking both, projected grades are A's)
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All A's: Econometrics, Math for economists, intermediate mirco and marco, and a whole bunch more.
Other Courses: two proof based logic courses (B,A)
Letters of Recommendation: 3 econ professors, one should be good (Wisconsin) and the other two, I really do not know (U Penn and London)
Research Experience: Senior Paper on the correlation between corruption and education and a term paper on Botswana's growth.
Teaching Experience: N/A
Research Interests: Applied Mirco Development, Applied Econometrics, Public Finance, and maybe Trade
statement of purpose: Still need to write but should be good
Concerns: A lot, low GRE, pedigree, and letter of reference's, which is why I have scaled back my application to only masters.
Applying to: All Masters: Wisconsin AAE, UC Davis ARE, Cornell AEM, UCL SOAS, U San Francisco, UBC, U Toronto, UIC, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Ohio State AEDE, Nottingham, maybe HEI,

[cjw10]

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad: Northeast Midsize LAC (ranked in top 25 undergraduate economic institutions)
Undergrad GPA: 3.6 (3.8 last 60 credit hours)- BA (spring 09): Econ (with honors); English Minor
Type of Grad: N/A
Grad GPA: N/A
GRE: 760Q 540V, 4.5A
Math Courses: Discrete Mathematics (A), Calc I-III (A, B+, A-), Mathematical Statistics (A-), Linear Algebra (B+), Real Analysis (Spring 09)
Econ Courses (Masters-level): N/A
Econ Courses (undergrad-level): (3.9) Prin Micro (B), Prin Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Market Experiments (A) Public Finance (A), Environmental Econ (A), Econometrics (A), Money and Banking (A), International Econ (A), Senior Thesis (A), Econometrics II (Spring 09)
Other Courses: Lots of English courses (minor), several courses in Social Sciences and Environmental Policy
Letters of Recommendation: Submitting 4 from Econ professors (Duke [not from my undergrad], Maryland, Rhode Island, Rutgers) They should all be very strong--I know each professor quite well (RA, dept. chair, TA/academic advisor, thesis advisor). Prof. from Duke is prominent in my desired field--worked as a summer research assistant for him.
Research Experience: Summer research internship at large Southeastern university. Research internship at small energy and economics consulting firm in London. Undergraduate thesis.
Teaching Experience: TA for Prin. Micro (three semesters); Academic Tutor (Micro, Macro)
Research Interests: Environmental and Resource Econ; also Development Econ, Micro Theory, Econometrics.
statement of purpose: Drafting and revising and revising and revising. Will be strong. Reasons for wanting Econ PhD, undergraduate preparation, career goals, research interests (matched with faculty).
Concerns: Minimal math background. GRE scores are average at best. Great letters from unknown professors (the biggest problem of a liberal arts college).
Other: Presented research at the New York State Economics Association annual conference. Summer internship at international investment bank in NYC. Post-doc goals: academia (teaching/research).
Applying to: U Washington, CU Boulder, U Oregon, Oregon State (AREC), U Maryland (AREC), UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis (ARE), UC Berkeley (ARE), Iowa State, U Wisconsin-Madison (AAE), NC State.