Profiles and Results 2019

[pulsars]

Past threads like this have been very helpful for applicants like myself, so let's keep the tradition alive!

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad:

Undergrad GPA:

Type of Grad:

Grad GPA:

GRE:

Math Courses:

Econ Courses:

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation:

Research Experience:

Teaching Experience:

Research Interests:

SOP:

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances:

Waitlists:

Rejections:

Pending:

Attending:

Comments:

 

What would you have done differently?

[whitenoise]

Without revealing too much about myself;

 

Type of Undergrad:

• BA Hons. Econ from average program in Canada (3.7
• BMath Hons. Stats from Top 2 program in Canada (2.5> GPA)
  

GRE: 167 Q

 

Letters of Recommendation:

• Two undergraduate professors from Econ program
  

Research Experience:

• 1 year RA at central bank
  

Teaching Experience:

• 8 months TA for 3rd year econometrics
  
  

Research Interests: Econometric Theory, Time Series Econometrics, Macroeconomic Modelling

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: 3 (2 Top 3 programs in Canada, 1 backup school)

Pending: 1 (US School in Top 25)

Rejections: 4 (3 US in Top 20, 1 Top 2 program in Canada)

Attending: Top 2 program in Canada

 

To do for next year:

• Aimed too high, probably will apply to greater range of US schools (Top 35)
  
• Will upgrade GRE score
  

 

 

[pulsars]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 USNEWS U.S. National University

Undergrad GPA: 4.0

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 166V/168Q/5.5W

Math Courses: Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A+), Diffeq (A), Probability (A+), Statistics (A+), Intro to Proofs (A+), Analysis 1 (A+), Abstract Algebra 1 (A+), Stochastic Processes (A+), Game Theory (A).

Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro I&II (A, A) + Macro (A+) + Metrics (A+), MA Microeconometrics (A+), PhD Micro 1 (A), Research Independent Study (A) + Thesis courses (A+).

Other Courses: A couple of CS courses.

Letters of Recommendation: 1 from research independent study instructor + thesis advisor, 1 from MA Econometrics instructor, 1 from undergrad metrics instructor.

Research Experience: A summer of Math/Sociology interdisciplinary data analysis project using basic machine learning techniques, RA’d one year for a policy lab in the econ department, RA'd one semester for the first letter writer, RA'd one summer for the second, ongoing senior thesis.

Teaching Experience: Tutored & graded for multivariable calc + linear algebra for 3 semesters. TA'd one semester of undergrad metrics for third letter writer.

Research Interests: IO, health, trade, but I'm open!

SOP: Pretty generic. Similar template for all schools except for one school-specific paragraph where I mentioned the research centers, departmental strengths, etc.

Other: Some departmental nominations for the best few econ students, Phi Beta Kappa.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, Duke.

Waitlists: Yale, Northwestern, Wharton Applied Econ

Rejections: Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Penn, NYU Stern Econ

Pending:

Attending: Harvard

Comments: I started economics relatively late (took my first course as a sophomore "for fun" before deciding to go to grad school in my junior year), so I had to do a lot of catching up for RA experience, economics elective courses, etc. But it was only after exploring other options that I realized I wanted to go to grad school in economics, so it's all worked out.

 

What would you have done differently? I would not have procrastinated on my NSF application and missed the deadline (which was partially why I didn't apply to MIT). Also, maybe I should have worked as a full-time research assistant for an economics professor before applying. My application outcomes probably would not have been that much different, but I think I would have had more time to develop a more concrete research agenda coming into grad school.

Edited April 16, 2019 by pulsars

[artrw]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: R2 State School, Pure Econ

Undergrad GPA: 3.76

Type of Grad: R2 State School (same school), Pure Econ

Grad GPA: 3.97

GRE: 168Q/169V

Math Courses: Calc I (C+), Calc II (B+), Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A), ODEs (A), Foundations of Analysis (A), Probability Theory (A), Linear Regression & Time Series (A-)

Econ Courses: PhD Micro I (A-), PhD Metrics I-III (A, A, A), Advanced Macro (A), Mathematical Econ I-II (A, A), IO/Game Theory (A), Natural Resource Econ (A)

Other Courses: Fundamentals of GIS (A)

Letters of Recommendation: Editor of top field journal in unrelated field & thesis co-adviser, PhD Metrics prof & co-adviser, Natural Resource Econ prof who moved to a better ranked university last year

Research Experience: Been doing energy and environmental policy work since I was a sophomore though not at any widely-known institutions. One co-authored journal article in a low ranking journal plus my thesis.

Teaching Experience: TA for Econ 101 and for undergrad Metrics, grader for an International Econ class

Research Interests: Political economy of environmental and resource policy (+ env/resource econ more generally)

SOP: Emphasized my years of policy research and experience within my research area, noting that research opportunities were not ubiquitous at my undergrad institution but I took advantage of everything that came my way. Also played up the fact that I got A's in the entire PhD metrics sequence at my university as a master's student.

Other: Presented at some non-major conferences and already had an invited lecture to a public policy seminar because of some policy work I did

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UC Berkeley ARE ($, pulled in off waitlist), Cornell AEM ($$$), UW-Madison AAE ($$), UC Davis ARE ($$), NC State (?)

Waitlists: UPenn Wharton

Rejections: UCSB Bren

Pending:

Attending: UC Berkeley ARE

Comments: It's the best ARE program there is, so I'm thrilled! In the end, deciding between Berkeley, Cornell, and UW-Madison was incredibly stressful and difficult.

 

What would you have done differently?

 

I am really happy with my results because I was only expecting to get into one or maybe two programs rather than four. Not only that, but Cornell and UW Madison were offering a lot to try to sway me. I was honestly shocked at how much the universities competed for students. Since I did better than expected, I probably should have tried sending some applications to top 10 pure econ programs with environmental and resource faculty, but I think I'll enjoy the culture of the Ag&Resource school better anyway.

 

I would advise students from non-prestigious state universities and with non-traditional research experience not to sell yourself short! Faculty are impressed by research even when it isn't published in economics journals.

[cdreier]

Type of Undergrad: B.A. Economics with Honors, B.A Math (Top 15 Public University, top 15 econ dept)

Undergrad GPA: 3.68 overall, 3.7 in major

Type of Grad:N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 167 V, 170Q, 5.5 W

Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus (C, first semester of freshman year was rough), Linear Algebra and Differential Equations (A), Real Analysis (A), Complex/Functional Analysis (B), Math Logic (A), Modern Algebra (A), Prob Theory (B), Math of Finance (Stochastic Calculus, A-)

Econ Courses (undergrad+grad): Honors Macro (A-), Honors Micro(A), Intro Metrics (A), Game Theory (A), Honors Thesis (A-), Behavioral Econ (A), PhD Econometrics (B), International Econ (A-), Numerical Methods for Macro (A-)

Further Edu: A couple Post-Bacc classes at top 10 econ university

Letters of Recommendation: Thesis advisor (very prominent macroeconomist/econometrician), one very strong letter from the labor economist I RA for at a Fed Bank, one strong letter from the econometrician I RA for at a Fed Bank

 

Research Experience: Full time RA in the research department at a Fed bank for 3 years, extensive experience in a variety of research projects, coauthored paper in progress, many independent write-ups, but no fully independent, full research projects.

Teaching Experience: N/A

Research Interests: Macro/empirical labor, game theory, behavioral

Statement of Purpose: Fairly strong I think, edited by professors in various top departments, each tailored to the specific school (but no requests to work with specific profs)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Minnesota, Maryland, UCSD, (Columbia Masters, LSE Masters, Wisconsin Masters, Chicago Masters)

Waitlists: Cornell, Michigan

Rejections: Duke, Penn, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Brown, Northwestern, NYU,

Pending:

Attending: UCSD

Comments: Overall approximately as expected, I was probably a tad optimistic with my range of schools but knew that going in.

What would you have done differently? If I had known what I wanted to do earlier in my undergrad career it would have changed how seriously I took some courses, and what courses I took. Would have liked to have taken a first year Micro course for a serious grade, and probably cared a little more about not getting a B here and there in undergrad math classes. I don't think I would change much with my applications themselves though.

[bubtown]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad:

B.A. in Applied Math + B.A. in Economics w/ honors from US Public (in top 20 overall, top 5 public school)

Undergrad GPA:

3.85 (3.97 in Econ only, 3.8 in math only)

Type of Grad:

n/a

Grad GPA:

n/a

GRE:

V: 169 Q: 169 A: 4.5

Math Courses:

Real Analysis (A), Complex Analysis (A-), Abstract Algebra (A+), Numerical Analysis (A-), Linear Algebra (proof-based) (A-), Mathematical Economics (proof-based) (A-), Probability (B+) , Multivar Calc (A-), Lin Alg + Diff Eq (B+) , Calculus II (A)

Econ Courses:

Econometric Analysis (honors) (A-), Intermediate Micro (honors) (A), Intermediate Macro (honors) (A), Public Economics (A), Health Economics (A), Applied Econometrics (A+), Global Poverty and Impact Evaluation (A+), Mathematical Economics (proof-based) (A-), Behavioral Econ (A), Two semesters for independent Thesis (A)

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation:

All 3 from full time RA job because no one from my undergrad days knew me well enough for a super good letter. Two were my bosses and the third was a co-author. All letter writers were juniors but from good universities and doing well. I had the same set for each school. Based on talking to my letter writers I think they were very strong. I formed pretty close relationships with my bosses/co-authors.

Research Experience:

Some experience from undergrad but nothing to write home about. Did an independent thesis that didn't turn out great but had interesting aspects. 2 years spent as full-time RA working for faculty at business school.

Teaching Experience:

Nothing I put in my applications

Research Interests:

Public/Spatial -- Applied Micro more broadly

SOP:

Generic but well written. I got the advice that a statement of purpose will rarely get you into a program but a bad one can keep you out. I think it spoke well to my history and interests, but because I applied to a lot of schools I did not tailor it to each.

Other:

- I am in the process of co-authoring a paper with my boss and some others. I think this likely helped quite a bit. The paper is not out yet, but some results have been presented at conferences

- I attached my senior thesis as a writing sample for most schools.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Princeton (waitlist to acceptance), Chicago, Wharton Applied Econ, Michigan, UCLA, Cornell, UVA

Waitlists:

Rejections: Harvard, HBS, MIT, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Brown, Columbia, Penn, LSE

Pending:

Attending: Princeton :)

Comments:

Better than I expected. I got the advice to apply to a lot of schools, and I am glad I did.

 

What would you have done differently?

Overall very happy. I went into undergrad pretty sure I wanted to do a PhD in econ, but I definitely didn't "learn" the way to do it until pretty late in my undergrad career. Here is full list (chronologically for when it was available to me).

1. ** (biggest one) Gotten better grades especially in easier courses my first two years. Since my grades were always "good" (never lower than a B+), I probably got a little lazy in a couple of classes that I could have converted from B+ to A- or A- to A. My impression going into applications was that above a certain GPA cutoff (~3.8-ish) grades didn't matter. I have amended that to believe that grades matter a lot and that getting a high GPA and straight As in tough classes is likely a major determinant of outcomes.

2. ** (second biggest one) Gotten more substantial research experience as an undergrad - I tried and failed to find good research experiences as an undergrad. I should have been more proactive about emailing faculty. I also should have independently done more coding in stata, R, python, etc. as an undergrad to make me more competitive for post-grad RA jobs

3. Taken a grad micro course - I'm actually a little iffy on this because this is a risky move. I've heard that doing "average" in a grad micro course from a very good econ program can actually be penalized. An A in a grad micro course from a top 10 econ program certainly would have helped though.

4. I did a bad job on my NSF - it didn't end of mattering for the schools I got accepted to, but I should have started it earlier

5. I should have personalized my applications for each school better. I didn't realize this was standard practice and it might have mattered at the margin.

[EXP]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BS Mathematics, BA Econ, BBA General Business (all with honors) from Unranked State School

Undergrad GPA: 3.91

 

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

 

GRE: 161V, 170Q, 5.5AW

 

Math Courses: Calculus I-III, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Intro to Higher Math, Intro to Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Real Analysis I & II, Topology, Intermediate Statistics, Probability Theory, Stochastic Processes (Withdrawn but still learned) (All A's)

 

Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Master's Micro, Master's Macro, Master's Econometrics II, and a bunch of undergrad electives (all A's)

 

Other Courses: Advanced Python, Intro to Java, enough business courses to get a BBA (all A's)

 

Letters of Recommendation: Two from econ professors, very good as I am the best student in years. One from math professor, very good.

Research Experience: None

 

Teaching Experience: None

 

Research Interests: Behavioral, Experimental

 

SOP: Nothing special, discussed how I started econ late, skipped a few classes (Undergrad Econometrics and Advanced Econometrics I) by challenging them.

 

Other: I am the only econ undergrad / master's student at my school that is applying for Ph.D. programs this year.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: OSU, TAMU, ASU, GSU, UCSB, and a bunch of others lower ranked

Waitlists: UCSD

Rejections: Caltech

Pending: None

Attending: UCSB

Comments: Apparently I should have focused my application higher (maybe low top 30?) but it was impossible to tell as not many students from my program ever pursue a Ph.D.

 

What would you have done differently?

 

I come from an unknown school, as I had no direction out of high school. I could have probably made top 20 undergrad or so out of high school. I had no research opportunities in my program, and started Econ and Math in my Junior year. I believe I placed higher than I should have given my profile, and am happy with my outcomes. I recognize that I could have spent a year or two RAing and broken top 20, maybe top 10, but it wasn't in the cards with my non-academic situation.I expect to be rejected from UCSD eventually, or at least not offered funding.

That said, I believe my application was as strong as it could have been, if the frame of reference is the beginning of my last year in school.

[leolin]

Double-posted. Deleted. Edited April 20, 2019 by leolin

[erckle]

PROFILE:

 

Type of Undergrad: B Sci (Math) and B Econ, then Honours in Economics from top (3?) unis/eco departments in Australia. The best university in NSW, if that's not enough of a hint. All future Australian applicants I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Undergrad GPA: ~93/100, also 4.0/4.0 for 1 year exchange at top 50 USNews (an original public ivy)

 

Type of Grad: Honours in Economics, not technically grad but i'll list it seperately

Grad GPA: 97/100, 1st in cohort, university medal.

 

GRE: 170/165/6.0 - Q/V/AW

 

Math Courses: Intro Calculus and Linear Algebra combined (2 subjects). Discrete Maths. Several Variable Calc, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Abstract Algebra, Complex Analysis, Intro Prob/Stats, Symbolic Logic, Modern Geometry, Number Theory, Real Analysis, Measure Theory and Probability (grad).

All 90+/100 or A's, except the very first two subjects I did back in first year, which were in the 80's/100, so somewhee in the B+ to A range depending on your conversion. Average of ~91/100.

Econ Courses: Micro 1 and 2, Macro 1 and 2, Game Theory, Managerial Economics, 'Organizational Economics' (really a course on monotone comparative statics), Mathematical Economics, Politics and Economics, Intro Metrics, Applied Econometrics (basically IV's, logit/probit and all that), Stats for Econometrics (a straight stats course, covering sampling distrubutions, bootstrapping and similar). All 90+/100 or A. Average ~95/100.

 

Honours Econ Courses: Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Microeconometrics, Micro Theory 2 (grad).

All 95+

 

Other Courses: The first year computer science sequence= two subjects in C programming. Top mark in both.

Letters of Recommendation: For students from countries trying to send students straight out of undergrad, these are likely very important.

1. RA (2 years part time) and Thesis supervisor. He was top 2 PhD and Assistant Prof. Visiting Professor at top 2 for a few years. Now full Professor. Very well known. Would have been very strong letter.

2. RA supervisor(intermittent projects) and in charge of the course I was TA for. Top 2 PhD. Relatively junior, but I would hope still quite recognizable at top 2. Strong letter.

3. Professor for the grad Micro Theory class I took and got 100/100. Very famous market designer. Would have been strong but couldn't speak to any research experience with me.

Research Experience: Honours thesis was submitted (now R&R, but this wasn't in application) at GEB. 2 years of part time RA with LOR writer #1, cumulatively maybe 1 year part time RA with #2, intermittent RA work with other professors.

Teaching Experience:Extensive, although not emphasized all that much. I taught approximately 7 or 8 tutorials (~25 students) each semester for 5 semesters, ranging across 8 subjects.

Research Interests: SOP was quite narrowly focused on theory of an applied flavour (game theory motivated by politics, theory incorporating behavioural aspects). Actual interests are less well-defined going into grad school.

SOP: Quite specific as to all projects I worked on, otherwise just sort of rehashed interests and highlighted strong parts of resume. Very long though, although I doubt that's a real issue.

Other: To everyone like me who somehow managed to not google this, always waive your rights to view submitted LOR's. I cluelessly didn't and this caused a little friction between me and one LOR writer right before applications were due. All worked out OK in the end, but still it was silly (and had no upside).

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: MIT (funding waitlist), Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern Kellogg (MECS).

Waitlists: MIT for funding, was eventually funded in the days before deadline

Rejections: a Harvard Econ, Harvard BusEc, Stanford GSB, Wharton Applied Econ, Chicago Booth.

Pending: NA

Attending: MIT

 

Comments: Clearly business schools didn't like me. Given the particularities of my LOR's connections and reputations, I would have guessed Harvard would have been the top 3 place with my maximal chance of admission, more than MIT and perhaps even Stanford. That was clearly wrong.

 

About the MIT funding waitlist I would speculate the following: you need to show up to visit day to have a chance, you don't need to treat it like an interview (in terms of selling yourself) but do need to seem very interested and keen for the department. Telling them, if true, that you would certainly accept an offer were funding to materialise I think does increase your chances a bit. Direct appropriately your enthusiasm and ***-kissing to people that matter for admissions.

 

To Australian applicants (perhaps all non US or top European masters applicants): Small sample sizes make prediction of admissions prospects quite difficult. And since RA experience is relatively scarce in Australia it's quite easy to think you've done a lot of it before getting to the US and realising many, many people admitted to top places have at least a year or two full time, often at top departments. On the other hand, the Honours year (and probably coming 1st is close to necessary for top 6 departments) is a relatively easy and cheap substitute for a foreign masters. Some time at RBA might also help, unless like me you were doing micro theory.

 

What would you have done differently? In hindsight, since MIT worked out, almost nothing. But three days before the deadline, when I had no funded top 2 (or Stanford GSB) offer, had you asked this question I probably would have said: more RA experience for more professors (my fortune was quite directly tied to the reputation of #1, which is good at most places but perhaps some adcoms don't weight his letters so much). Perhaps if you are going to profess quite certain and narrow research interests (as I did, although that's broadened already just from visit days) then don't make those interests theory, or specifically applied theory, which has a bad reputation for placements.

Oh, and to repeat, waive your rights to view letters. This was extraordinarily stupid of me, with no upside and almost a lot of downside.

[artrw]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Unranked state school (R2)

Undergrad GPA: 3.7

Type of Grad: Econ MS, same unranked state school

Grad GPA: 3.97

GRE: 168Q/169V

Math Courses: Calc I-III (C+, B+, A), Linear Algebra (A), Diff Eq (A), Foundations of Analysis (A), Probability Theory (A), Linear Regression & Time Series (A-)

Econ Courses: I think I was able to stand out here. My master's department didn't offer a PhD, but the Applied Econ department at the same university did. I took the first part of the PhD micro sequence (A-) for my master's micro requirement. I also took the entire metrics sequence (I-III) and got A's in all of them. In the master's I also took Macro Theory (A), IO/Game Theory (A), and Natural Resource Econ (A).

Other Courses: Fundamentals of GIS (A)

Letters of Recommendation: First letter writer is the editor of a top field journal (but not environment/resource/ag journal) and my thesis co-adviser. Second was the professor of the PhD metrics sequence and my other thesis co-adviser. Third was the professor for my natural resource econ class who moved to a better ranking institution last year. Not sure what they all said, but I know all these people pretty closely. My results make me think the letters must have been quite laudatory.

Research Experience: I've been working for a local, unheard of think tank since my sophomore year of undergrad. My publications (the institution was very generous with allowing co-authors) included work on biofuels, mine reclamation, and other resource and environmental policies. On top of that, I have one publication in a low-ranked resources journal plus I'm working on my thesis, which I developed from my metrics term paper.

Teaching Experience: TA for Econ 101 and undergrad metrics, grader for an international econ class

Research Interests: political economy of environmental policy, plus environmental/resource economics more broadly

SOP: The main narrative went like this: I didn't know I wanted to do a PhD until it was too late to take all the math as an undergrad, so I stuck around at my same institution to tool up on mathematics. In the meantime, I demonstrated my ability to succeed in the first year of a PhD by taking PhD courses whenever possible, including the only metrics field course my university offers. My university isn't awash with academic research opportunities, but I've seized every research opportunity that came my was since I was a young undergraduate, and in doing so I've developed a decent background in environmental and resource policy in the US. I would like to study the political economy of environmental policy.

Other: I've presented at a few unheard of conferences, and I actually have delivered an invited lecture to a policy research seminar based on my biofuels work.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: UC Berkeley ARE ($, off waitlist), Cornell AEM ($$$), UW-Madison AAE ($$$), UC Davis ARE ($$), NC State (?)

Waitlists: UPenn Wharton Applied (took myself off before final result)

Rejections: UCSB Bren

Pending:

Attending: Berkeley

Comments: I was not expecting to get into as many schools as I did, and I considered Berkeley to be a real long-shot. I suppose it was, because I slid in off the waitlist at the last second.

 

What would you have done differently?

It seems that my weaknesses mattered less than I thought they would and my strengths mattered more. My unheard of alma mater, good but not perfect grades, and lack of purely academic publications didn't seem to bother anyone at all. However, my background doing policy research on environmental topics seemed to impress people a lot, even though the think tank is not one that these professors had ever heard of. If you have any research experience at all, be sure to play it up in your SOP!

 

Given that my profile was stronger than I thought, I wish I would have thrown my application to some top 10 pure econ departments with environmental and resource faculty. I thought I was shooting high as it was.

 

In that same vein, I wish I would have written out my entire profile and had some professors review it before I applied. I talked about where to apply with a few professors, but they were going only off of what they knew about me anyway. My profile may have been stronger than they realized, and they may have pushed me to apply to some top 10 pure programs.

 

Oh, also, I wouldn't have accidentally applied for the master's program at Bren, resulting in a frantic call to their graduate department to go back in and manually change the application :onthego:

 

Overall, I am VERY HAPPY about my results, I think its funny that I was rejected at Bren, and I'm excited to be attending Berkeley in the fall!

[9zslzwp]

(all info below is as of time of application)

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: State Flagship University (Top 150 US News)

 

Undergrad GPA: 4.0

 

Type of Grad: Grad Certificate in Data Mining (1 yr program)

 

 

Grad GPA: 4.0

 

 

GRE: 167Q/167V

 

 

Math Courses: Business / Applied Calculus (A+), Calculus I (A+), Calculus II (A), Calculus III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Prob/Stats (thru business school) (A+)

 

 

Econ Courses: Intro Micro (A+), Intro Macro (A+), Intermediate Micro (A-), Intermediate Macro (A+), Public Finance (A+), Urban Economics (A-), International Trade (A+), IO (A+), Environmental Econ (A+)

 

 

Other Courses: Grad level courses in predictive modelling, data mining/analysis, programming

 

 

Letters of Recommendation: 1 econ professor that I RA'ed for in grad school (excellent), 1 econ professor from undergrad (very good), 1 grad stats professor (sufficient, probably not amazing)

 

 

Research Experience: 1 year of part-time RAing while in grad school

 

 

Teaching Experience: nothing formal

 

 

Work Experience: 1 year for non-profit (unrelated to econ); 1.5 yrs in management consulting (tangentially related to econ)

 

 

Research Interests: Development; Health; Anti-Poverty Programs; Housing Markets

 

SOP: Similar template used for all schools. Spent a lot of time on it, so (I hope) it turned out to be reasonably well-written. Structure was: Why Econ PhD => Why This Program => Why I'm Qualified. Interchanged bullet points re: research fit, faculty members, research centers / resources, locational preference, placement, etc. based on program.

 

Other: I was late to the Econ PhD party. My most important math courses (Calc II, Calc III, LA) came after I graduated undergrad, while I was working full-time...I attached relevant undergrad research papers for writing samples...I applied fairly early (October), but did not hear any responses until mid-February.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Georgia PhD (declined before funding decisions), Notre Dame PhD (full funding), Colorado-Boulder PhD (full funding), Duke MAE (1/2 tuition remission), Tufts MS (75% tuition remission), Wisconsin MS (no funding), Texas MA (1/2 tuition remission)

 

Rejections: Duke PhD, Wisconsin PhD, Brown PhD, Illinois UC PhD, Boston U PhD, Boston College PhD, Texas PhD, Virginia PhD

 

Attending: Notre Dame!

 

Comments: Very excited to be heading to ND. Of all the schools I applied to, they seem to be my best research fit, in terms of faculty and research centers. On a related note: always go on the visit days, if at all possible...my Visit Day experiences were indispensable when it came time to make a final decision.

 

What Would You Have Done Differently? My cycle shook out approximately as expected; there were not any major surprises. I guess that is something of an endorsement of this forum, since I did use data / info from here to help refine my application list (in conjunction with more specific advice from faculty mentors, of course). I had a weird / noisy profile, given my lack of undergrad math and my unconventional work history, so I was glad to get into several Top 60 programs with funding. If I was fresh out of UG, I may have considered Duke's MAE offer more seriously, in the hopes of reapplying to T20 programs down the line. As it was, I probably could have stood to apply to a few more PhD programs in the 25-40 range, and a few less Master's programs. But overall I'm very pleased with my results, and can't wait to get started in the fall.

 

In terms of what I would do differently if I could go back in time to improve my actual profile: all the things other posters will say. Take more math in UG, do more RA work, build closer relationships with faculty while in UG, try to take grad level econ courses, etc etc.

[trailleg]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BS Economics, BA US history, minor in math from top 50 Econ. University

Undergrad GPA: 3.65

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 165/162/5.0 Q/V/AW

Math Courses: Calc I-III (A), Dif-equations (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to proofs ©, Adv. Calc. (B+), intro to stats (B+), probability theory (A), Real Analysis I (B+), Topology ©, Experimental Stats (A), Mathematical stats (A), stochastic processes (pending)

Econ Courses: 3.9 overall… courses of note: Regression analysis (A), Econometrics(A), Adv. Macro (A)

Other Courses: Intro to C++, intro to java

Letters of Recommendation: 2 good (1 math professor, 1 econ professor) both heavily cited/known in field, 1 glowing but non-academic

Research Experience: none

Teaching Experience: 1 year teaching middle/high school (student teacher). Helped write an online course.

Research Interests: public policy / general macro

SOP: a little vague, on half tried to explain bad math grades both (all the B’s and 1 C occurred during the same semester); on the other half I omitted my explanation for the bad semester. Also, I tried to emphasize the unique parts (the history and teaching background).

Other: an almost complete teaching license/certificate (3 credits short)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: none

Waitlists: none

Rejections: Cornell, Minnesota, Boston College, Carneige-Mellon, Penn State, Michigan state, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, USC

Pending: none

Attending: none

Comments: Ouch!

What would you have done differently? Take math earlier and spread it out. Most importantly, I would have pursued undergraduate research experience as that seemed to be the number one limiting factor.

 

 

How accurate were others' predictions of your range of admissions?

Obviously my professors had some higher predictions than were warranted, so not very accurate at all.

[throwaway456789]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Economics with honors and minor in Math (top 15 Liberal Arts School [LAS]) (Also, spent a year abroad in the UK to study Economics and Maths, in the old school not in London)

Undergrad GPA: 3.8

GRE: 170 V, 167Q, 5.5 W

Math Courses: Multivariable Calculus (A), Linear Algebra (B+), Intro to Number Theory (A), Modern Algebra (B+), Analysis I (A, study abroad), Analysis II (A-, study abroad), Probability (A, study abroad)

Econ Courses: Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (A), Prob and Stats (A), Micro theory (A), Macro theory (A), Econometrics (A), Advanced Microtheory (A), Behavioral Econ (A), Economics of Industry (A-. study abroad), Money & Banking (A-, study abroad), Econ of Developing Countries (A, study abroad)

Other Courses:

Letters of Recommendation: Combined letter from two behavioral economists that I RA’ed for a year; both well-known within the field and working at top 3 B-School. Another combined letter from another two behavioral economists that I RA’ed for a year and a half; both fairly known within the field and working at top 3 B-School. A letter from my mentor in college who is a behavioral economist, but not particularly well-known (but has written me an incredible letter). (See a pattern??)

Research Experience: 3-years of RAing as an undergraduate, and 3-years RAing at a top 3 B-School. All my research has had a behavioral tilt, which helped me with thinking through my research agenda.

Teaching Experience: I tutored a child once.

Research Interests: Behavioral public econ

SOP: I went a more unconventional route and eschewed the standard narrative form and wrote a persuasive essay on how I have a lot of research experience and defined research goals. Immediately said these are the skills that I have, this is how I got them, and this is how I want to implement them. Nothing about why I care about economics. I modeled it after grant proposals that I had helped write.

My letter writers suggested that the only interesting SOPs that they ever read were ones that immediately talked about interesting research experience and ideas. They said, “The goal is to be at worst forgettable with an outside shot at being memorably interesting.”

Also, I did not include any school specific information, which is unorthodox, but multiple letter-writers told me that it is an unnecessary charade. Everyone reading these letters knows you just Googled this person before writing this paragraph. Save yourself the time and stress—no one is fooled. I did mention some people at my schools but that was because I cited their research as seminal works in my field of interest. Better to be authentic when citing imo: it’s hard to mess-up the SOP and you do it by being memorably foolish.

 

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: U Penn (off waitlist), U Michigan, UCSD, Wisc-Madison, Cornell

Waitlists: U Chicago

Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, NYU, Columbia, UCLA, Duke

Pending:

Attending: U Michigan

Comments: Not too many comments. I am pretty happy with my results and that I had a decent array of options.

 

What would you have done differently? Not get a B+ in the easiest math class of my life (Linear Algebra) would be a start!! There really isn’t much. I could’ve tried to squeeze in one more RA position in undergrad to get better RA positions after graduation, but that was beyond my financial means and I ended up getting a really great position. I also could’ve focused my entire life on my first year of being a full-time RA so that my letter was a bit better, but I had other priorities that I couldn’t trade on.

[bowl176]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad:

Top 70 U.S. state school

Graduated in 3 years with stats and econ with a minor in math

 

Undergrad GPA:

3.94

 

Type of Grad:NA

Grad GPA:NA

 

GRE:

Q: 166, V: 152, W: 4.0

Math Courses:

All A's: up through linear algebra and real analysis (taking this fall, no grade yet)

 

Econ Courses:

All A's: math econ, intermediates, econometrics, history of econ thought

 

Other Courses:

A lot of stats (with 1 b and 1 b+). Such as time series, theory courses, regression stuff, etc...

 

Letters of Recommendation:

2 econ profs, 1 stats prof. Nobody recognizable.

 

Research Experience:

McNair Scholar for a summer

 

Teaching Experience:

TA for College Algebra

 

Research Interests:

Applied Micro, Labor, Metrics, IO

 

SOP:

Nothing special

 

Other:

1st gen, low income

 

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances:

Cornell AEM ($$$.5), Rochester ($$), UNC ($$), UC Irvine ($$$), Oregon($$)

 

Waitlists:

N/A

 

Rejections:

All of the top 20, plus JHU

 

Pending:

N/A

 

Attending:

Cornell AEM

 

Comments:

I shot too high with most of the schools, but was smart enough to have good backups. Got lucky getting into Rochester and Cornell. Very happy with Cornell, would have still been happy with with Irvine or UNC. All in all, I'm extremely happy with where I'm at. Only 20 years old making over 35k going to school at Cornell.

 

What would you have done differently?

Would have taken Analysis before applying so I could have a grade next to it. Also would have tried to do more research in undergrad. Maybe would have applies to more top 30 schools instead of all the top 20, but I chose good ones to apply to so I got a little lucky If you're US, don't do a masters first, it's useless.

[trailleg]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: BS Economics, BA US history, minor in math from top 50 Econ. University

Undergrad GPA: 3.65

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: 165/162/5.0 Q/V/AW

Math Courses: Calc I-III (A), Dif-equations (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to proofs ©, Adv. Calc. (B+), intro to stats (B+), probability theory (A), Real Analysis I (B+), Topology ©, Experimental Stats (A), Mathematical stats (A), Stochastic processes (pending)

Econ Courses: 3.9 overall for 30 credits. Courses of note: Regression analysis (A), Econometrics(A), Adv. Macro (A)

Other Courses: Intro to C++, intro to java

Letters of Recommendation: 2 good (1 math professor, 1 econ professor) both fairly well known in field/cited, 1 glowing but non-academic

Research Experience: none beyond my coursework.

Teaching Experience: 1 year teaching middle/high school (student teacher). Helped write an online course.

Research Interests: public policy / general macro

SOP: Pretty standard, maybe a little vague. On half tried to explain bad math grades both (all the B’s and 1 C occurred during the same semester); on the other half I omitted my explanation for the bad semester. Also, I tried to emphasize the unique parts (the history and teaching background).

Other: an almost complete teaching license/certificate (3 credits short)

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: none

Waitlists: none

Rejections: Cornell, Minnesota, Boston College, Carnegie-Mellon, Penn State, Michigan state, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, USC, UNC

Pending: none

Attending: none

Comments: Ouch!

What would you have done differently? Take math earlier and spread it out. Most importantly, I would have pursued undergraduate research experience as that seemed to be the number 1 limiting factor. Perhaps a more definitive research area in my SOP.

 

 

How accurate were others' predictions of your range of admissions?

Obviously my professors/advisors had some higher predictions than were warranted, so not very accurate at all.

[sargeras23]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Unknown school in the US. Best in my country and well known in the region.

 

Undergrad GPA: 10/10

 

Type of Grad:

1st master: Econometrics - GPA: 10/10

2nd master: Quantitative finance - in progress - GPA: 9.50/10

Already started the first year of a PhD at my home institution.

 

TOEFL: 116

GRE: 170Q/164V/4.5W

 

Math Courses: Real analysis, Calculus, Multivariable calculus, Intro to Statistics, Theoretical Statistics, Econometrics, Time series analysis, Multivariate analysis, Operations research. A lot of them proof based.

 

Econ Courses: Standard intermediate Micro and undergrad Macro courses, Financial economics.

 

Graduate courses: Panel data analysis, Cross section Econometrics, Applied Time series analysis, Time series analysis, Statistics, Mathematics, Stochastic calculus, Research methods in Economics.

 

Others courses: One summer school in econometrics and time series analysis, one in machine learning.

 

Letters of Recommendation: Two from the best professors at my faculty (not that known outside of my country) and one from a famous professor. The first two should be really strong, and one of them is from my current PhD advisor.

 

Research Experience: One year RA on two research projects in applied micro. Two papers on conferences, two awards for the best paper done by students (coauthor). Doing the second thesis at the moment.

 

Teaching experience: 3.5 years as TA (Introduction to Econometrics, Econometrics, Time series analysis and Elements of Econometrics)

 

Research Interests: Econometrics, potentially Macro

 

SOP: Detailed and focused on my research in my first master thesis. Explaining the delay in finishing the second masters, since it was done in parallel and I had a huge teaching load

 

Other: A lot of programing practice on my finance courses in undergrad and masters in Wolfram Mathematica. Awards on the national level for talented students on several occasions. Chosen for the best economics student by the University. Won an external stipend ($$) for the first two years.

 

RESULTS:

 

Acceptances: Northwestern ($$$), Wisconsin Madison ($$$), UCSD ($$), Brown (off the waitlist) ($$$), Oxford (MPhil)

 

Waitlists: Brown

 

Rejections: MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, Duke, UPenn, WUSTL, LSE

 

Attending: Northwestern

 

Comments: Came into the game knowing nothing about what it takes to get a PhD admission in the US. Now I am very pleased with my outcomes, as I was suspicious whether I would get into even one school, let alone five.

 

What would you have done differently?

Started the preparation earlier. I began preparing everything in the beginning of October, so it was a huge rush to acquaint myself with the standardized tests, acquire the letters, read about the schools and get all of the necessary stuff for applications. I knew I would like to shoot at Top 20, but I had no idea which schools even are on the list. I don’t think earlier preparation would have changed much, but it sure would have relieved a great deal of stress!

Edited April 17, 2019 by sargeras23

[Wahasky]

Past threads like this have been very helpful for applicants like myself, so let's keep the tradition alive!

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: ​Small liberal arts school, very low ranked

Undergrad GPA: 3.95

GRE: 167 V 169 Q 5.5 Writing

Math Courses: Calc I - III (A in all), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Proofs (B+), Mathematical Modeling (A), Differential Equations (A), Probability and Statistics I and II (A), Abstract Algebra (A), Topology (A, this class included some real analysis)

Econ Courses: Intro to Micro, Intro to Macro, Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Macro, Political Economy of Africa, Game Theory, History of Economic Thought, Econometrics, Environmental Economics, Senior Seminar in Economics (capstone course), -- I got an A in all these courses

Other Courses: Object oriented programming (java)

Letters of Recommendation: Two economics professors (one of whom I work for), one math professor. Good letters, I know one professor put me in his top 3 students of all time

Research Experience: Two independent research projects (seminar, and a current project for course credit), and a long term job as a research assistant for my professor's consulting business. No real academic RA experience, unfortunately, a school like mine doesn't provide much opportunity for that.

Teaching Experience:Teaching GRE and SAT classes but I don't really think that helps much

Research Interests: International Macro, monetary economics

SOP: Good, I guess

Other: My profile is non traditional. My school is lowly ranked, I'm a bit older because I had to take some time off to work before coming here, and so I have a gap in my education.

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Oregon (funding unknown), Notre Dame ($$), Pittsburgh ($$), Tulane ($), University of Illinois Chicago ($), Stony Brook ($)

Waitlists: UT Austin, Maryland (they asked if I was still interested in an offer and I declined)

Rejections: USC, University of Washington, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins

Attending: Deferred 1 year at a school that I will be thrilled to attend

Comments: I deferred for purely personal reasons -- I love the program, money is good, but my girlfriend got into an MA program in Boston so I'm going to go with her there for a year and I've had some interviews for research jobs. I'm not planning on leveraging up to a better school or anything.

 

What would you have done differently? Not much. Given my non traditional academic background and coming from a low-ranked small LAC, with not much history of sending students to econ PhD programs, I had no idea where I would be competitive. I applied to a wide range of schools, and found out. I was disappointed not to get in to some of the ones I was rejected from (Hopkins in particular), but I now understand what my ceiling was and I can give advice to people coming after me.

 

I think I should have considered applying to academic RA jobs from the jump, and doing that for two years, after which I think I'd be competitive for some top 20 programs (maybe). On the whole, though, I'm happy with some of my offers and I gave it my best shot. Urch was a great resource for me and I hope to contribute for other kids coming from small LAC in the future.

[econ34]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Economics major at a top 50 US News national university

Undergrad GPA: 3.95/4.0

GRE: 170Q/167V/4.0W

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Discrete Math, Intro to Higher Math, Linear Algebra, Probabilty, Real Analysis (all A's save one A-)

Econ Courses: Introductory and Intermediate Micro and Macro, Public Economics, Development Economics, International Economics, Econometrics (all A's)

Other Courses: Intro to Statistics, Computer Science I and II, Finance (all A's)

Letters of Recommendation: Two from college professors (neither very well-known; one not an economist) and one from work (pretty well-known economist)

Research Experience: Senior thesis and 3 years as an RA at a government agency

Teaching Experience: None

SOP: I had a standard SOP that I customized for each school by naming a couple professors whose research interests me

Other: I presented some economics-related work at a non-economics academic conference and at an undergraduate conference at my school

 

RESULTS:

PhD Acceptances: Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Maryland, UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt (all with $)

Master's Acceptances: BGSE, CEMFI (neither with $)

PhD Waitlists: Boston University

PhD Rejections: Stanford, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, U Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Brown

 

ADVICE:

-My best advice is to be proactive and do things early. Take the GRE early in case you decide to take it again; ask for letters of recommendation early so that your writers have time; and begin working on an NSF application early so that you don't run up against the deadline.

-Get feedback on your application materials. Ask friends and letter writers to edit your writing.

-Admissions are very idiosyncratic, so apply to a wide range of schools. In addition to your target schools make sure to have some "safety" and "reach" schools. Talk to your letter writers to get an idea of what your target schools should be, but don't be afraid to aim higher than they suggest.

[thankyouUrch]

Urch has been a great resource for me, so I finally decided to post my profile and results to help future applicants. Let's pay it forward!

 

PROFILE:

1) Type of Undergrad: T50 LAC

2) Undergrad GPA: 4.0/4.0

3) Type of Grad: N/A

4) Grad GPA: N/A

5) GRE: 167 Q/162 V/5.0 AWA (took once)

6) Math Courses: Calc I-II-III, Discrete, Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Integration and Infinite Series, Abstract Algebra (lol no Real Analysis, yet).

7) Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro Theory, Inter Macro Theory, Econometrics, a bunch of other electives and data analysis classes.

8) Other Courses: N/A but I couldn't take as many math and econ classes as I'd like to because I spent one semester abroad.

9) Letters of Recommendation: 2 from economics professors (very close, should be very good), 1 from a math professor with whom I took several classes (good), and 1 from my boss (I work in the writing center).

10) Research Experience: very limited, only 1 independent research paper for Metrics, but had 3 other research projects going on during the application process. Sufficient in Latex, Stata, and R.

11) Teaching Experience: Econ TA, math tutor, and writing tutor.

12) Research Interests: Applied Micro

13) SOP: Overall, I think it's decent but not extraordinary. I had the same backbone structure for all schools but tailored one paragraph to each school. The structure is as follows: talk very briefly about my background and why I want to pursue a PhD in Economics -> talk about what I learned through my limited research experience -> talk about what I want to improve/learn more during grad school and my research interests (very specific) -> why I choose the program: facilities, program structure, professors' works (I read multiple papers from professors I'd like to work with and did extensive research on the programs that I like. For the rest, I just skimmed their websites) -> conclusion about my career goals.

14) Other: I'm pretty active on campus and involved in a lot of academic activities. Had multiple awards and scholarships from the college. For the programs that required a personal statement/background history statement, I wrote about my work experience on campus and how it inspired my study of economics. Not sure if it means anything but I'm fluent in 3 languages and put it in my resume.

 

RESULTS:

1) Acceptances: Michigan State University (off waitlist), UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside (all with full funding)

2) Waitlists: MSU (got off later on), UNC - Chapel Hill (pending, but obviously rejected at this point lol)

3) Rejections: Northwestern, UCSD, University of Southern California (offered MA), TAMU (offered MS with scholarship)

4) Pending: UNC (implicit rejection by now)

5) Attending: MSU

 

Comments: Very surprised and pleased with my results! I was worried that I wouldn't be accepted anywhere due to my limited research experience and the lack of real analysis (as well as other math classes). But thankfully things worked out for me. I was not surprised by my rejections. Also, I couldn't apply to more schools because of my financial situation. MSU fits my research interests nicely so I'm very happy.

 

What would you have done differently?

OH -- where do I even start?

 

1) I should've started preparing sooner. I have always loved doing research and teaching but didn't decide to apply to grad school until October of my senior year. I only had 2 months to complete everything so the process was unnecessarily stressful. If I had decided that I wanted to do a PhD earlier on, I would've sought out some research assistantships and spent more time preparing for the GRE. Preparing sooner would also give me the chance to take the GRE a second time -- I panicked and almost gave up the first time.

 

2) Take more math courses, including Real Analysis (this point I'm ambivalent): strong math background has become a staple of economics PhD and everywhere I go people tell me that I should have taken real analysis (some of them make it sound like I'm doomed without an A in RA in my transcript). Even though I'd love to take more math classes, I couldn't because of a semester abroad, which I don't regret either because it gave me so much valuable experience.

 

3) Apply to more schools in the T25-35 range. But then again, I was bounded by my financial situation so it was not really possible for me.

 

In short, even though it's fun to think of counterfactuals and what I could have done differently, I was in reality bounded by many constraints. The only thing I regret is that I did not make up my mind sooner. But I simply didn't know at the time.

[justnotmacro]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: T15 Math and Econ

Undergrad GPA: 3.98

Type of Grad: Empty set

Grad GPA: Empty Set

GRE: 170Q 161V

Math Courses: Honors Analysis 1 and 2, Dif EQ, all following are graduate level: Complex Analysis, Probability, Stochastics, Coding Theory, Dynamical Systems, Real Analysis(All A's or A+'s with an A- in Complex Analysis)

Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro, Intermediate Metrics, Game Theory, Intermediate Macro, Topics Course, Independent Study(Half A's Half A+'s) all following are graduate level: Micro Sequence, Metrics Sequence, I/O field, Metrics field, Theory field(All A's or A+'s with 1 A-)

Other Courses:Networks Course

Letters of Recommendation: 3 Theory Faculty who all really liked me and I really connected with. I think a lot of people get mixed advice about this, and I think the main thing is to find faculty members who like you and think you are good rather than just choosing the ones with the most citations.

Research Experience: Math REU, Independent research. No papers for either.

Teaching Experience: 3 semesters as a course assistant for an undergraduate analysis course.

Research Interests: Some convex combination of Theory, Mechanism Design, and IO

SOP:Described how I really liked how economics blends great math and the ability to make a difference in the world.

Other:

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances:MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc

Waitlists: none

Rejections: Harvard Business School

Pending:

Attending: MIT

Comments: I graduated undergrad in 3 years, very different opinions on that from professors I talked to. I think it was really a good decision for me, and I don't feel like I missed out on much, but your mileage may vary. I decided to take an industry internship one summer rather than doing research, which was good for me in seeing what the "real world" is like, but doing research definitely would have been more helpful from a learning economics perspective.

 

What would you have done differently? No ex-post regret about my application. However, I think I should have listened to my professors more and relaxed while waiting for results instead of checking gradcafe like 10 times a day for a month.

[mathenomics]

PROFILE:

 

 

Undergrad: US Top 10 (Triple Major in Econ, Math, Stats)

GPA: 3.98/4.00

GRE: 169 Q, 160 V, 5.5 AW

 

 

Grad Courses: none

 

 

Math/Stats Courses:

Real Analysis I,II,III (A,A,A), Probability I,II,III (A,A,A),

Intro Proofs (A), Optimization (A), Linear Algebra (A), Abstract Linear Algebra (A)

Multivar Calc I,II (A,A), Diff Eq (A), Intro Stats (A),

Mathematical Stats II,III (A,A), Survey Sampling (A),

Machine Learning (A), Multivariate Analysis (A), Stochastic Simulation (A)

 

 

Econ Courses:

Micro I,II,III (A,A,A-), Game Theory I,II (A,A),

Macro I,II (A,A), Adv. Macro (A-),

Applied Metrics I,II (A,A), Metrics Theory I,II (A,A),

Analytical Methods (A), Corp Finance (A), Health (A), I.O. (A),

Thesis Seminar I,II (A,A)

 

 

Other Courses:

Intro Algorithms (A), Intro C++ (A), Intro Python I,II (A,A), Intro Racket (A)

 

 

Research Experience:

 

• Full-time RA at top 5
  
• Honors thesis (won award; advisor thinks it’s publishable)
  
• Undergrad RA for applied micro faculty (also my thesis advisor)
  
• Undergrad RA for theorist
  
• Two other irrelevant summer RA jobs
  

 

 

Teaching Experience: none

 

 

Rec Letters

 

• PI from full-time RA job (well-known; they said it was strong)
  
• Primary thesis advisor (well-known; probably my best letter)
  
• “Unofficial” thesis advisor / prof from metrics theory course (junior, but strong letter)
  

 

 

SOP: Typical cover letter. Did not customize by school.

 

 

Accepted: Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, Penn

Waitlisted: MIT (rejected)

Rejected: Harvard + B-school programs

 

 

Comments: Urch is great overall, but it’s a good idea to cross-check opinions here with other sources, especially with your faculty advisors. They are in the best position to give you advice that’s specific to your situation. Talk with multiple faculty members just in case someone gives you idiosyncratic advice.

[Econ314]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: US Top 70 Econ Dept.

Undergrad GPA: 3.4

Type of Grad: MS Econ: US Top 15 Econ Dept.

Grad GPA: 3.5

GRE: 166Q, 163V, 5.0W

Math Courses: Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Intro to Proofs, Analysis I (grad), Math for Econ (grad)

Econ Courses: Grad: Micro Theory I-II, Macro Theory I, Econometric Theory I-III, Int. Political Econ

Other Courses: Grad: Formal Models (PhD), Political Inequality (PhD),

Letters of Recommendation: 3 faculty from graduate school, all well known. RA for one. Took a class with another who was also my thesis supervisor. Took a PhD class with the third.

Research Experience: Writing a paper with two economist colleagues and submitted it as part of my application. Graduate RA student for a semester. Undergraduate RA for 1.25 years.

Work Experience: 3 years in industry. 1.5 years as an RA at an international organization

Teaching Experience:

Research Interests: Political Econ / Macro and Public Econ

SOP: Stated my interests, explained my qualifications and highlighted my research experience. Slightly modified for each school. Made sure it was cogent and well written.

Other: The bad: average grades. The good: The paper I’m writing was already accepted to conferences. Pretty strong programming background.

RESULTS:

Acceptances: Georgetown, UC-Irvine, UT-Austin (off-waitlist), UVA (off-waitlist)

Rejections: Maryland (off-waitlist), BU, BC, UCSD, UWash-Seattle, JHU, CMU, UCDavis, UCSB, NYU-Stern, UCLA-Anderson, Chicago-Booth, USC

Pending:

Attending: Georgetown

Comments: Excited about Georgetown. I only applied to schools in/near large cities, so my partner could find a job. My list would probably have looked differently otherwise.

 

What would you have done differently?

I made sure to get into a master’s program that would give me the option of pursuing a PhD afterwards if I wanted to. Most of my decisions after starting my MS such as what classes to take, when to take the GRE, where to work, when to start a paper etc., were done with the goal of strengthening some part of my application. So plan ahead, but don’t stress too much. It doesn’t take a perfect application to get into a good program. Also, apply widely, it’s a crapshoot. Good luck.

[yw326]

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: B.A. in Mathematics & B.A. in Economics (with high honors) from a top 15 US College.

 

Undergrad GPA: 3.83

 

GRE: 162(V), 170 (Q), 4(W)

 

Math Courses:

Linear Algebra (A-), Multivariable Calculus (A-), Differential Equations (A), Real Analysis (B+), Applicable Algebra (B+), High-level Linear Algebra (B+), Statistics and Probability (A), Graduate Probability Theory (A-)

Econ Courses:

Intro to micro (A+), Intro to macro (A-), Intermediate micro (A), Intermediate macro (A-), Econometrics (B+), Behavioral econ (A-), Development econ (A), Money & credit (A-), Intertemporal econ (A-), Seminar and macro and financial stability (A), Game theory (A-), Graduate Micro (Satisfactory), Honors program (A+)

 

Letters of Recommendation:

My thesis advisor (senior lecturer in econ department), RA professor (professor of economics in business school), work supervisor (has PhD in math)

 

Research Experience:

1. Worked as a research analyst for two years at an economic consulting firm after graduation.

2. Completed an undergraduate honors thesis in economics and won an award.

3. Worked as summer research assistant in my sophomore year for two months.

 

Teaching Experience:

None, but worked as an economics tutor for 2 years at undergraduate institution.

Research Interests:

Role of private sector in development, labor economics, education.

 

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: None of the economics programs I applied to in 2019.

Waitlists: Wharton Applied Micro.

Rejections: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT (Econ + Sloan labor track), Stanford (Econ + business school), UPenn Econ, Columbia (Econ + business school)

Attending: I worked for another year and got into the PhD in Strategy program at Harvard Business School in 2020.

Comments: I didn't expect getting into HBS after being rejected by the top Econ programs a year ago, but I'm glad that I remained flexible and continued to learn and improve myself.

 

What would you have done differently?

1. Do better in the math courses and econometric courses and gain solid understanding of fundamental concepts and methodology.

2. Explore wider range of research interest at undergraduate level and gain research experiences in areas that interest me most.

[zapodos]

Type of Undergrad: Econ BA, Business minor at a relatively unknown, mid size, second teir state school in northeast usa

Undergrad GPA: 3.87 (bachelors) 3.67 (associates)

Type of Grad: n/a

Grad GPA: n/a

GRE: 160Q/163V/4.5AWA

Math Courses: college algrebra A, essentials of calculus A, applied regression analysis A, econometrics A, business and econ stats A, math for economics and business A

Econ Courses: intro micro A, intro macro A, intermediate micro B+, intermediate macro A, labor economics B+, econometrics A, environmental economics A

Other Courses: n/a

Letters of Recommendation: One professor emeritus, somewhat well known in south asian development, two relatively unknown, one supplemental letter from university dean (non-econ)

Research Experience: one paper published in an undergraduate journal, two under review in other journals, one in progress (working with department chair)

Teaching Experience: prison GED classes (left off of applications)

Research Interests: fisheries, environmental, natural resources, renewable energy, water quality and scarcity

SOP: pretty well written, talked about how I came to my research interests from diverse work experiences

Other: I was in regular contact with faculty at the two universities that offered me funding

 

RESULTS:

Acceptances: West Virginia University ARE PhD- fully funded

University of Rhode Island ENRE PhD - fully funded Oregon State University Applied Econ MS- no funding

University of Hawaii Econ MA- no funding

Waitlists: n/a

Rejections: n/a

Pending: n/a

Attending: WVU or URI

Comments:

 

What would you have done differently? Well, I am an adult returning student. So if I had more time, I definitely would have done things different. I crammed all of the math and econ, and degree requirements into less than two years while working alot (so to get everything ready in time for applications). I would have liked to have had more math and more research experience. But I am happy with where I ended up. Despite a limited math background, I was able to get to a decent funded position in a university that's a good fit. Really overall I wouldn't have wasted years of my life running around like an ******* doing nothing and wouldn't have gone to prison for years. But hey, it happens.

[zapodos]

can you please delete my previous post being reviewed? I think I gave too much identifying information