anothereconstudent

This talk about letters reminds me of the guy that wrote the response to the MIT recruitment letter.. pretty funny if you haven't read it already : http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/hell/Bestof/mit-letter.html

Skipper, I predict you will be their number one student, win an award for best dissertation, and get an appointment at Harvard after 5 years.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Top 50 research University with unknown econ dept. Undergrad GPA: 3.97 cumulative Type of Grad: Straight from undergrad Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 780Q, 690V, 5.5AWA Math Courses: Calc I-III (A/A/B+), Linear Algebra (A-), Diff EQ (A), Time Series & Spatial Analysis (A), Prob & stats (A-), Real Analysis (current) Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro/Macro, Adv Micro, about 12 subject courses and econometrics. (4.0) Letters of Recommendation: Econ profs - senior thesis advisor, 2 profs I had TA'd for and had in at least 2 classes. They were pretty strong. Research Experience: Senior thesis, research assignments at work Teaching Experience: TA for Intro Micro/Macro Research Interests: Applied Micro, applied IO SOP: Fairly generic Other: Won award for best thesis, best econ student. Extensive programming experience in SAS and stata. Economics-related job. RESULTS: Acceptances: UIUC (attending) OSU Georgetown all funded Rejections: MIT Berkeley Chicago Columbia Northwestern Maryland UT Austin What would you have done differently? Applied to more schools, especially schools in the 5-20 range. Taken real analysis sooner.

I don't know how much the programming will help in admissions, but it should be useful when you start your research (I have had quite a bit of programming experience as well and current 3rd/4th years say it makes the applied stuff a bit easier). Definitely apply to some top schools (no regrets, right?), but don't be surprised if you don't get in to any top 15. BUT, you never know, there is always some noise in the process and it could happen. Apply to them all, if the money works out. More realistically, I would suggest looking for a school in the 20-30 range that fits your research interests really well, and has a few professors you'd like to work with.

Double post

What type of undergrad school did you graduate from? I was from a top-50 research university (but with a little-known econ department) with almost identical stats - 3.97 GPA, 4.0 in econ, A's and A-'s in math, award for top econ thesis, award for top student in the econ dept, senior thesis, programming experience, research experience (at work and school), TA experience, etc. I was shut out from the top 20. However I did not apply to many schools, and if I could do it over again, I would apply to every top 25 school plus maybe one or two safeties. It is worth it, especially because I was on the cusp for some of these schools. Then again, if you got these grades at Princeton or Harvard, it is a different story. Apply to all the schools on brotherbear's list, but apply to even more that are lower ranked (UT Austin, Ohio, Duke). There will be a LOT of students applying who have 3.9+ GPA's.

Please, please -- THE Ohio State, the "the" is very important. :)

I was speaking to a co-worker who is a drop out from Duke's Phd program. I mentioned that Maryland was a better school for econ than Georgetown and he didn't believe me. I was shocked at how the "brand name" effect impresses people (and this is coming from someone who was once in a PhD program!)

Declined Georgetown today via post.

Alright, this is just my view, but here goes : Overall I was very impressed with the OSU visit weekend. They clearly took a lot of care in planning activities out for us and the faculty was very accessible the entire weekend, both meeting with us at small groups and at larger informal events. They emphasized academic placement, although they did say that around 25% of their students went into the private sector. I was largely surprised at their recent placements; one of their students last year got offers from Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, etc (ended up jointly at NYU stern and a fed) and although that was certainly an outlier, it seems that their better students interview at several good places - I saw that several were interviewed at WUSTL, and I believe one had flyout offers to Columbia although he wanted to work in policy and ended up going to the world bank or something like that. I was also pleasantly surprised by Columbus - I found it to be very charming! I was expecting something plodding and midwestern but there were actually quite a few "cool" areas; most likely a product of having such a gigantic number of students. And of course, it was fun to see the Buckeyes win on Saturday. As someone coming from a school without much a sports team or school spirit, it was pretty cool seeing everyone so excited and filled with school pride. The overwhelming theme from the grad students that I got was this : first year is insanely hard and will pretty much make you miserable, but after that, things improve. I think I remember the DGS saying that the Phd-pass rate for qualifying exams was ~75%. The students' reviews of the faculty were mixed - they seemed to love/fear the DGS, who is very involved in their lives and a huge advocate on their behalf. One grad student described him as a very strict paternal figure, which seems to sum up how they feel about him. They have a few very strong hot shot faculty types and have made some good hires lately. They don't seem to be hurting for money; one of the faculty said they are looking to hire one senior and one junior professor in the next year or so. Like I said, overall, I was really happy with what I saw and will feel good about my situation if I end up at OSU. Any questions?

Really? In at UMD with funding but not Georgetown? It must be yield control.

Of the four schools I was accepted to, these seem the most likely candidates. Anyone have any thoughts? Yes, I know, this is the lazywoman's way of doing research, and I certainly am investigating faculty and placement on my own, but people here seem to have so much inside information! :)

I am very sorry to hear your outcome. The process is so competitive! I thought I had a solid profile as well, and although I am happy with some of my outcomes, it is difficult to read 10+ rejection letters from all schools within the top 20. Take a few more math classes and get A's, and reapply. One more year will not make a huge difference and I think if you have the drive you will be successful!

Just got my rejection via post.

I haven't heard from them either... EDIT: lol, spoke too soon.. just got the "official" rejection