Discussion of Roll Call and Profiles and Results

[deep.19]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics, Summa Cum Laude; B.S. Quantitative Sciences (interdisciplinary math/stats), Magna Cum Laude

GRE: 780Q, 720V, 5.0AWA

Math/Stat Courses: Complex Analysis, Calculus III, Differential Equations, Probability, Statistical Theory, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Matrix and Numerical Analysis (ISE dept.), Regression Analysis, Stochastic Processes II, Design of Experiments.

Econ Courses (PhD-level): Game Theory, Econometrics

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro, Intro Macro, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Labor economics, Public Economics, International Trade, Empirical Research Methods Seminar.

Other Courses: Physics I, Physics II, C++, Advanced Computing Fundamentals, Discrete Structures. My first two years I took many advanced Political Science and History courses, too.

Letters of Recommendation: All my referees are kind, knowledgeable and respected. 4 Ph.D.'s from Florida (two Ph.d Econ from Wisconsin, one Ph.D. Econ from Chicago, one Ph.D. Sociology. I also have access to Math Ph.D. referees from Florida and Georgia Tech.

Research Experience: McNair Scholar's Research in Regulatory Economics (presented at Maryland); research assistant to the manager of public works planning in Libertad, Peru; database assistant for public records instituion in Peru.

Teaching Experience: Offered to teach C++ and some math tutoring. Other than that, I was a Martial Arts assistant instructor for 6 years.

Research Interests: Development Economics, Poverty Research in Labor or Public Economics, Macroeconomics

SOP: I think it's exemplary. Advisors tell me that my experiences line up very well with wanting to study development economics.

Concerns: No 800 on the GRE quantitative. Won't get into Cambridge (girlfriend is going there).

Other: I would actually prefere a two-year program instead of one because it would give me more time to get aquainted with the faculty. But after that, my intetion is to apply to top Ph.D.'s. Berkeley is my dream school, they are doing all the research I'm interested in, and all other schools are secondary (sorry Harvard, MIT, et cetera).

Applying to: Duke AM, Yale IDE, Florida (Ph.D), Florida MS Statistics, UBC (MA), Queen's (MA), McGill (MA), LSE (MSE MSc), Cambridge (M.Phil), Oxford (M.Phil.), CEMFI (Master's), QEM (2-year).

 

While applying to yale, how did you proved your interest in development economics?

[george101]

So I can get on the shiny charts!

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. Physics and Economics from a top 10 liberal arts college

Undergrad GPA: 3.14/4.0

Type of Grad: One stats class

Grad GPA: 3.3

GRE: 790Q, 600V, 5.0AW

Math Courses: Calc I-III(I took them in high school, I really don’t remember and nor do my transcripts), Linear Algebra (B), Mathematical Probability and Statistics (B-, B), Real Analyst(A, at a different school then my undergrad), Stochastic Processes (B+, grad course, at a different school then my undergrad)

Econ Courses: AP Micro and Macro (A, in high school), European Economic History (B+), Law and Economics (B), Intermediate Price Theory (B), Intermediate Macro Theory (B), Econometrics (B), Contemporary British Economy (B), Industrial Revolution-Britain (A-), Econ of Multinational Corps (A-), Thesis (labor econ)

Other Courses: Physics, which I put in my math lists. Quantum Mechanics I, Partial Differential Equations (B+), etc. I only did the bare minimum for a liberal arts major

Letters of Recommendation: 2 econ professors (my thesis advisor and the person who led my study abroad), 1 physics professor (thesis advisor), 1 economist who is my supervisor

Research Experience: RA for 2.5 years at ‘a central bank’

Teaching Experience: Tutored, graded and lab assisted for two years for physics in college

Research Interests: All over the place. Labor, policy, experimental, applied micro, development, etc.

SOP: Intro, I did physics I can do math!, I wrote a thesis in economic and liked doing research, I’m working as an RA and like doing research, I took extra math and can write proofs, I was part of an econ paper reading group and like reading papers, interests (changed a bit depending on what the school had, and more policy oriented for ag econ schools). Also a few sentences about things I did that I removed or added depending on the school. The 500 word schools were hard, the 1000 word schools were easy. I also had a Personal History Statement about being a female doing math for the schools that wanted it.

Other: Applied for the NSF. I tried not to say anything to risky, and not say much about interest in policy to non policy/ ag econ schools. I like Aikido.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Boston University (waitlist for $), Michigan State(no $), University of Essex (ISER), Ohio State (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics) ($-Fellowship), Indiana University ($-TA), Iowa State University ($-TA)

Waitlists: University of Minnesota

Rejections: MIT, Harvard (Econ and Political Economy and Government), Yale, Berkeley (Agricultural & Resource Economics), Northwestern, NYU, U Penn (Econ and Wharton), University of Wisconsin – Madison (Econ and Agricultural and Applied Economics ), Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Caltech, University of British Columbia , Ohio State, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (Econ and Public Policy and Economics), University of Maryland (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Boston College, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota (Applied Economics), University of California – Davis (Econ and Agricultural Economics), Duke, University of Essex, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon (Econ, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Public Policy and Economics)

Pending: Toronto MA, Queen’s MA

 

What would you have done differently?

Gotten better grades in undergrad. When I really started understanding what the things I need to do for a PhD I think I did the best I could, took real analysis, applied for the NSF (if only to write a SoP for them), read papers etc. I probably could have gotten more research experience at my job (co-author), and I defiantly could have gotten better grades and taken more math as an undergrad. But over all I’m happy.

 

Attending:

Boston University

you have an excellent profile so y u got lot of rejections?....

[FilleNouvelle]

you have an excellent profile so y u got lot of rejections?....

 

My guess would be because his/her grades were not that great.

[tmdruie]

I guess my profile is a bit unusual. But, in no way would I call it excellent, as FilleNouvelle said, my grades are pretty bad. The other thing is, I applied to a very large number of schools, thus, lots of rejections. I'd be happy to speculate more then that if you have more specific questions (in that vein, what's up with "y u"? If you had typed out "why did you" it would have made me ever so much happier to reply to your post).