How important is Real Analysis for admission?

[Applegate]

I am a research assistant ("Junior Professional Associate") at the World Bank and I am considering applying for PhD programs next year (for fall 2010 admission). I attended Northwestern University, graduated with a 3.93, and took a number of economics courses (macro, micro, stats, econometrics, and upper-level development economics -- all As); as for math, I got an A in Linear Algebra. Calculus is on my transcript because I passed two AP tests in high school, but I did not take calculus in college.

I am considering taking a math class this year in order to improve my admission chances. If I don't take a math class, however, I think I'll have a better chance of publishing a paper (I'm working on several projects with colleagues, and taking a math class would mean less time for these independent research projects). While I've published a number of articles in the press (journalism), I don't have any academic publications.

So: would you recommend I take Real Analysis? Focus on publishing? Or maybe take an advanced Linear Algebra class? The latter option would allow me to continue with my own research, because it would be less demanding than RA, but it also might signal to admission committees that I have a good grasp of the basics.

Would very much appreciate your advice.

[pevdoki1]

I think it's quite important to know what writing a correct proof entails, and I would say you need some math courses. I don't know if anyone comes into PhD econ programs without college calculus, save for some "genius" examples. Of course, if you take real analysis and do well you don't need a course in Calc 2. I would suggest doing it.

P.S. From what I gather so far, linear algebra is not used much at all, so something like Analysis or Advanced Calc would be much better to take. If you're scared of doing too much work, you should do some research on what the first year of your PhD program will be like!

[paradox3696]

I can GUARANTEE you that you will need lots of "knowledge" from Linear Algebra and Differential Equation in Micro, Macro, Econometrics and perhaps some of your field course as well for Phd program in Econ.

If you are aiming for top schools, then it wouldnt hurt to have one proof-based Math course and it does NOT need to be Real Analysis (eg, Elementary Logic and Set Theory will do ).

[pevdoki1]

Here at Minnesota people basically shrugged their shoulders when I asked them how important linear algebra is. From what I understand, nothing in linear algebra is used that's not elementary or that you can't pick up in a couple of hours. And both here and in Washington St Louis people told me that a course in differential equations would be a waste of time.

On the other hand, everyone here is basically required to have an analysis course: if someone doesn't have it, they definitely take it their first year. You don't need it to get in, but you must be able to learn the stuff. Econometrics people say that the most useful course to take is a PhD level sequence in Probability and Measure (for which analysis is a prerequisite). Other math courses people suggest are things like functional analysis (for which real analysis is also a prerequisite).

[GymShorts]

If I remember correctly, there is no AP test for multivariable calculus, which is a prerequisite for pretty much every program. So at the very least, you should take that.

[Golden Rule]

I'd try to take multivariable calc and also real analysis if possible. I don't think it's all that likely that you'll get a quality-enough publication that would actually make a considerable difference in admissions. Just do enough on those projects to get an letter of reference that can vouch for your ability to do independent research.

[Legatus]

Take more math! I guess the lesson here is graduate economics does not equal undergraduate economics. There really is nothing in common except for maybe some intuition. At a minimum you should have multivariate calc. Most of the people in my class are math and physics majors and the review sessions we have been doing for micro (yes we have econ camp) are more advanced then my adv micro I took. The only thing that really helps me here is my math background.

And with the comments about being able to pick up stuff as you go. Although it's probably true because a lot of matrix algebra and ODE's is mechanical, with so much else going on when you enter first year, is this really the time you want to be learning this stuff? If you can, fill your schedule with math.

[YoungEconomist]

I'm confused that a lot of people are talking about multivariable calculus. At my school calculus 3 covers things like partial differentiation, double integration, etc. However, multivariable covers lots of high level vector calc, and other stuff I've been told is not very helpful in economics (but rather helpful for physics).

So when people say that multivariable calc is a required, I imagine you are talking about stuff like partial derivatives and double integrals, and not really vector calc, right?

[asianeconomist]

My only advice to you would be to not underestimate the difficulty of taking RA (especially without much prior math) and getting a good grade in it. You might want to check out the text-books that will be followed in your course and try to browse through a few chapters (not to actually solve the maths, but appreciate the level of difficulty that you might have to encounter).

[TruDog]

Differential equations is a waste of time, but linear algebra is quite useful in understanding econometrics.