tripax

Has anyone else heard the rumor that UChicago is cutting the size of the incoming class by half (from 30 to 15) due to endowment problems?

asquare is right on. I havn't scored many As in my math classes, but I've always been solid (B, B+, A-), and I've had a lot of math. Not having an A in real analysis wasn't a big deal, taking lots of graduate and senior level math classes was.

You might also look into summer jobs/research this summer which might bolster your resume quickly. Another option is to do a sort of "semester abroad" at a more highly ranked school. I'm not sure what kind of options of this sort there are in economics, but REU's in math are a big help at getting students into top flight schools.

You have good econ profs so I'd go with those first, but if you see someone from {4,5,6} has coauthored with economics professors at a school you are applying to, consider having them write for those two or three schools (is this even good advice, or does it just seem so to me?).

If GWU=George Wahington, I heard they get a lot more aps than their rank would merit due to location. I was accepted to Cornell and Maryland, but not GW, and I like to tell myself that was the reason.

I was in the same boat, and had them each write letters which I sent based on where they were from/had coauthors from/whatever. I don't know if that was a good strategy, but its a thought.

Te way I understand it, Amherst's placements aren't bad mostly because if a department decides it wants a professor of "that sort", they will want it from the best place that people of "those interests" go. New School and UMass - Amherst are really easy choices in that situation.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what jobs are out there for people interested in economics, and my expirience is idiosyncratic. Thus my advice might be pretty bad. First a note in support of graduate school. All that stuff about theses being labors of love is correct... if your committee makes it that way for you. However, if you go to a top 60 school in math or econ, it won't necessarilly be torturous. There are plenty of good professors with good projects to work on, and many of them aren't interested in your spending 80 hours a week in the library (some are, of course). Really, I now think doing research is the only way to learn, and I hate that I'm stuck in core coursework again. I stopped learning anything in my masters degree after the first semester until midway through the third when I began my thesis research. You get over being interested in coursework in your field really quick in graduate school, when everyone is much happier in their seminars. Of course top programs are very different. In your position three years ago, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a course of action that worked for me. I got a masters in math from State U, and took a few econ coures while there, cognate courses are highly recomended, after all. It might be smart to consider the same. No matter what you decide to do in the future, you will always have lecturing positions to back you up. If you ever go to grad school in anything, funding will instantly become less of a worry, as the schools math department may hire you to lecture, even if you are in a different program. If you discover a dream firm or non-profit, but they will only give you an unpaid internship/volunteer position, you can teach at the local community college to get by. It will be easier to get accepted to good schools should you ever want a PhD. Many math MS programs are funded. I know little about applied math, but the careers I've heard about sound like what you are looking for. I really don't know the advantages of a master's in economics.

A good friend of mine got into tufts econ MA program with Calc II, statistics for business, a couple intro econ classes, a couple international economics classes, and a accounting/international studies degree from State U. Her GPA was more or less the same as yours (she got her C's in the above average accounting program) and she scored a 730/590/4 on her GRE. One More Econ is right, though, the more math the better. You might even look into independent study or other small schools for any intermediate math classes you can take that finish before applications are due.

Sorry to add a post after "thread wrap-up." I just wanted to mention that I applied to Kansas' math PhD program a while ago and was laughed at when I said that I hadn't taken any algebra courses. They had already accepted me, though, so I'm not sure what exactly that means (maybe they wished they hadn't). I decided to go elsewhere... Anyway, you definitely have a better resume than I did, if its any help.

I took the math subject test and bombed it: 600 - 40 percentile (I have an excuse, but its still a bad score). I sent it, figuring, who cares. I don't think anyone did, as I got accepted and rejected mostly based on everything else. So, I guess if you aren't sure and you have the money, it won't hurt. But I doubt it will help.

Saw them packing them up yesterday (Wednesday). Wierd.

I was wonering if anyone really cares about grade inflation? As in, has it ever affected your thought processes in any way? And more important, does anyone think that admissions comittees consider it? By the way, does anyones school submit average grade in classes with your transcripts? I'd never heard of it, but apparently they do it here at Cornell...

I guess OneMoreEcon is probably right, then, about top 5 and top 10 schools and "fit's". Based on people's interest here at Cornell, fit is a bigger deal. As far as the importance of SOPs, its clear that is the least important part of most any ap, but I think it is undervalued by some applicants.

At Cornell, they had a bunch of old applications sitting around yeterday, and looking at the folders, the 800 on your maths GRE looks pretty good. For Cornell, those math courses are fine, but they aren't exceptional for schools much higher. I recomend a high level probability theory or real analysis course, but it might be too late for that (second semester senior year is totally meaningless, don't even waste space describing your intentions, unless you really need it to bolster something missing in your ap). From my expirience, you should try to be very disciplined in your school selection. Harvard and MIT, for instance, are very different. Do you think that either one would be right for you, or is one more along the lines you are looking for. I kinda feel that top 5 schools look at their top aps, and put a lot less weight on students that they feel will do better at a different top 5 school, with schools in the 5-10 and 10-20 rankings doing about the same thing for their respective ranges. Thus if you are applying to all top 5 schools, but know that you would do best at 2 or 3 of them, don't apply to the others, as they will likely realize that you would do better elsewhere and not offer you valueble (to them) funding anyway.

Last fall I had very little econ expirience, and I jumped into the Masters level micro class two weeks late, but did ok and got into a top 25 school this year. As far as statistics goes, look at the syllabii for a couple of the schools in which you are interested, and if they are anything like Cornell, their first semester econometrics is pretty basic, especially for a math major. I'm taking probability theory from the math dept to get out of it. At least if you are thinking about Cornell or some other schools which don't have econometrics Quals, taking a probability theory course can get you out of taking basic econometrics, so you can jump to metrics II or time series analysis or something.

My only real funded options were Cornell and Southern Methodist. I kinda get the impression from other first years here that they also had only two or three funded options from top schools. I think after the top 7-10 schools, things get real hit or miss, as the schools try to find top students who fell through the cracks. These type decisions are very different for different schools.

I scored a 6 on AWA while my gf scored a 4.5 (or maybe it was a 4). She's a great writer, while my writing is dry, but fits well to technical writing (I'm guessing thats why I scored high). I think adcoms know that AWA scores are a bit erratic. Don't retake based on a low AWA alone. If you can write well, you could submit writing samples (even if they are not required) with your aps with a little note in the cover letter mentioning that you were unsatisfied with your AWA score, and would like to show that your writing is of an appropriate quality for your program.

At my first program (math masters), masters and phd students started together, and social groups formed initially among first years of both groups who were taking classes together, with a couple older office mates hanging around or inviting some people to do things. After a bit, people formed their circles based on common interests (with video games, evangelism, and beer drinking forming the three main groups I saw). Since my school was less prestigeous, some students had attended the same or nearby schools for UG, and hung out with friends from that. I made some good friends through taking UG/Grad courses from other departments (esp. language and cognate courses) and attending campus lectures and going to the gym at about the same time each week. If you are feeling left out, some grads join bible studies, used facebook to find group events, sign up for esoteric intramural squads, and perform at open mikes. In my opinion, if you enjoy drinking socially, grad school is the place for you. Otherwise, it takes a bit more work to have a social life, but I was fine even without going to the bars too much.

I just want to put in a vote for the uselessness of Thomas Friedman (World is Flat, NY Times opinon/editorials, etc). Anyone ever read Matt Tiabi's articles on T-B-Free? They're hilarious. As for economics books, Amazon has some lists more interesting than anything I can think of. Also, some econ programs have reading lists for incoming freshman, first-years, or workshop participants as well as other sorts of reading lists. My favorite list comes from a paper by a British economist on a proposal for an econ 101 type course based entirely in classics, which would also be an interesting source for some good books on econ. http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/spring01/hartley.pdf (not directly linked so you can think twice about loading a pdf)

I'm still waiting for BC, I wrote them and they said (email from Gail on April 7) that 30 first round offers had gone out, but they only have about 15 slots. They said that they would notify other applicants to fill what usually amounts to 2 or 3 unfilled slots after April 15. I was told that "this is all of the information" that she could give me (implying, I think, that she could not divulge my rank after those 30 or my chances of being admitted) Very polite, I found. No word since, however.

True, this list only has about half of the '05 graduate placements filled in, but it is more up to date than the version linked to on Cornell's web page, which is from '04.

Here is the list of recent alumni, the online list is a year out of date, while this is from fall '05. It's a pdf file, so, umm, that sucks if you don't like pdf files: http://www.arts.cornell.edu/econ/graduate/ALUMS83.Fall05.pdf

That final bit is great advice, and it also is great motivation for when things get difficult. I also wanted to say that most people in grad school are not at elite institutions working singlemindedly for that one particular goal. In my expirience, a lot of them are actually very unsure of what they want, and go in part to give them that much more of a chance to find themselves. Going to grad school because nothing else seems to fit perfectly is not a reason to spend a lot of money great program, but it is a fine reason to work hard and get a nice fellowship at a decent school where you will have that chance to become an elite professor, but also will be free to explore other interests (especially if your school is geographically endowed).

You answer seems less trite than my questions. I just felt like the questions needed to be asked, as they were the first observations that popped into my head.