asquare

ETS takes copyright very seriously and has imposed severe penalties on people who have violated the rules associated with its tests. TestMagic also takes copyright seriously. I'm going to close this very old thread, and remind our new member to respect copyright, especially when participating in TestMagic's forums.

Nicholson is a good intermediate micro text. For something a bit more advanced than that, Varian's graduate textbook is a nice bridge to graduate level material.

I haven't been on an admissions committee so I don't speak with certainty, but this feels wrong to me. Admissions committees know that prospective students apply to many different programs (and typically submit the same basic SOP with few modifications to all of them). They know that students will choose between the programs to which they are admitted. The goal is not 100 percent yield in most programs; schools assume that some percentage of students who are admitted and offered funding will nonetheless decline. In the SOP, applicants should try to demonstrate that they have the potential to be good academic researchers and that they would thrive at the school in question, but "convinc[ing] them that if they offer you a funded admission, that you will accept" is unrealistic since admissions committees know applicants' strategies.

Ok, for admissions it's a different question. The conversation here was about tenure, which is why I was surprised by your comment. For admissions, it's extremely unusual for an applicant to have a paper published in a respectable journal. It's not so much that having a good publication wouldn't help as that there is very little variation in the dummy variable "top publication" among applicants to PhD programs. A good writing sample, or credible letters of recommendation that emphasize the strength of your undergraduate thesis, can count for a lot at the admissions stage. (Note, though, that admissions committees do not closely read writing samples from all applicants!)

This is totally inaccurate, insofar as it pertains to getting tenure. Publications absolutely matter, and they matter even more at higher ranked departments. Each school has its own requirements. Some are explicit, others are more flexible. Top publications "count" for more than lower ranked publications, though the number of top publications that earlier posts alleged were required is also completely unrealistic. Departments don't assess each paper by each junior faculty member independently; they want to see how the rest of the profession judges the person, and that is primarily reflected in publications (it's also reflected in the outside letters that are gathered by the department before tenure review). Submitting things early enough to have publications or forthcoming articles by tenure review time is a major concern for junior faculty. Writing a quality paper but not getting it published definitely does not count; again, the quoted text is completely, totally misguided.

I think the list on the NSF website includes either the current institution (for students who apply after having started the PHD) or the ​intended school that the applicant lists when submitting the NSF application. Looking through the list, I see some students who I know with certainty are not actually attending the school that is listed as their graduate institution. They applied to the schools listed, but were not admitted or are not attending for some other reason. (Of course, this makes sense -- the NSF awards come out during admissions season, before people actually make a final choice. The program would have no way of knowing where students actually matriculate when the announcement comes out.)

​Enough. Issues, not individuals. Personal disputes do not have a place on these forums. If you want to discuss posting etiquette, please do so in the "Feedback" forum. A small number of people are managing to derail the conversation across several threads, and that's not acceptable. While we have some specific forum rules, we also don't tolerate posters who repeatedly disrupt the forums: Please stick to discussing posts, rather than posters. Thank you. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Also, check out previous advice on this question, including that linked to in the FAQs: 13) What should I write in my SOP? Should I mention specific faculty? How much do I need to tailor the SOP to each school? How important is the SOP? http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...rpose-sop.html (How to write a good Statement of Purpose(SOP)) http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...s-schools.html (Tailoring the SOP for various schools) http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...cific-sop.html http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...op-puzzle.html (SOP Puzzle)

Um, NO. Your advisor absolutely has a big effect on your education. You work independently, but with feedback about your research and academic mentoring from your advisor. Some advisors are more engaged than others, but for almost all PhD students I've known, and certainly for myself, the primary advisor influences choice of topic and research methodology, and shapes development as a scholar. Your advisor's letters will also have an impact when you are on the job market, above and beyond his or her effect on your papers. My advisors were probably the most influential and important aspects of my training, and certainly had a bigger effect on my career than any other single aspect of graduate school.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Please forward this PM to me and Erin (forum administrator) so we can follow up on this serious copyright violation. I'm going to close this thread now.

mathemagician and Charis are right: econ faculty are mobile, and your situation is common. Occasionally, upper year students will follow their advisors and receive their degrees from the original school but spend time in residence at the new school to continue working with their advisors. More commonly, students who had already formed committees when one advisor left will have that person continue to serve on the committee, as an outside member. But early year students don't typically have that option. It's disappointing, but you adjust and figure out who of the remaining faculty are good advisors for you. One thing to keep in mind is that the people who are junior faculty now are likely to be tenured or close to it by the time you are on the job market. If your relationship with your potential advisor is such that you are comfortable asking him about the rumors, do so. Otherwise, just ask to meet with him for some general advice before the program begins. Ask him who you should plan to work with, and what you can do to make sure that you get a good start at research and advising even during the early years of the program. A lot can change in any department over 5-6 years, but the best thing you can do is get off to a good start by developing relationships with a range of faculty. That will give you the best chance to find an advisor who is a good match while getting exposure to other perspectives; you may find that your interests change as you progress through the program.

The section of the website describing graduate admissions does state a requirement of 26 on each sub-section. It is also explicit that the requirement for undergraduates is different. In fact, the 104 isn't even a hard requirement; it's a "strongly recommended" score. The website explicitly describes subsection requirements for the IELTS but not the TOEFL. I'm more comfortable relying on the school's official website than your report of your recollection of an e-mail you received when you applied as an undergraduate :hmm: Maybe the requirements have changed (after all, either your are a college freshman, in which case your advice about application to graduate school might not be the most credible, or you applied to college at least several years ago, in which case things may have changed); maybe your memory is off (since, earlier, you referenced a need for an even higher total score!).

For undergraduates, the minimum total score is 104, with no explicit subsection requirements. The TOEFL is meant to predict English language proficiency in an academic environment. The OP's score exceeds departmental and university requirements and suggests that he is proficient. Your arguments to the contrary are disingenuous and based on incorrect information. I agree that a good TOEFL score is not a substitute for an acceptable score on the verbal GRE, though I don't have any special insight on how admissions committees weigh the two tests for international applicants.

Since the question of how useful experience as a field-based RA is in PhD applications comes up regularly, some people may find this post from Chris Blattman useful: Aspiring PhD students: Should you become a field research assistant for an RCT? – Chris Blattman He discusses pros and cons, and give good advice for how to make the most of the experience. I agree with a lot of what he says, though I'd add that it's important to consider your own profile and see what aspects of it need strengthening. Working as a field RA won't provide evidence of mathematical preparation, for example -- though you could try to build in a stint as a US-based RA after field work, and take classes when back in the US.

Something to keep in mind is that policy programs differ in how strongly tied to economics they are, both in terms of course work and departmental connections. If your degree is at a school where the policy program is closely tied to the department of economics, you'll be in better shape -- importantly, you'll have access to letters of recommendation from economists who are actively publishing in economics journals. None of the top-10 schools I'm aware of call their policy programs masters in policy studies, though. Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley, etc. all call their programs masters in public policy or public affairs. As for whether a PhD in public policy is "rigorous enough," it depends on what you want to do with it. It does not prepare you to be an academic economist or to publish in economics journals (with some exceptions, notably the Kennedy School at Harvard and the Harris School at Chicago, which have both produced notable academic economists). But that doesn't sound like what you intend to do after graduation. Are you looking for a credential, or for training in doing a specific type of research? Do you want to do research that draws on or builds on sound economic theory, or do you have different goals in mind? Twenty-seven isn't old enough to be a problem with your application. Chevorox is correct that a more important issue will be convincing admissions committees of your interest in the degree. It seems like you can describe a path from your undergraduate studies to your policy degree to your intent to study economics, though.