econ2007

UCI reimbursed me $500, UGA $150 (I drove).

Notacolour, Initially, my top two were UWashington-Seattle and UNC-CH. I was rejected outright by UW, and was pretty bummed out. In the meanwhile, I was accepted by UC-Irvine, FSU, UGA, and Colorado. Colorado was out initially because they didn't offer financial aid. I visited UCI, who gave me a good financial aid package. I was turned off by three things about UCI: 1) it's so far away from family and I have no friends on the West Coast, 2) the cost of living is ridiculous, and 3) Orange County reminded me a lot of South Florida (where I lived the first half of my life). Nonetheless, I still was considering UCI, mainly because I think it's up-and-coming. I visited FSU, who gave a very generous aid package, and was happy to be back (I did my undergrad there). But, I decided that I should go somewhere else; it wouldn't be good to stay at the same university for undergrad and grad. So FSU was ruled out. I visited UGA and it reminded me of FSU. The profs were great, and I really liked the grad students I met. They offered me a generous financial aid package. I left Athens with a good feeling about UGA. At this point though, I was hoping for a UNC admit and was considering attending even if they didn't fund me. Close to April 16, I was officially rejected by UNC (after being waitlisted), so it was down to UCI and UGA. At this point I was leaning 85/15 UGA/UCI. UCI offered me some more aid, but it just wasn't enough. So I chose UGA.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: medium (roughly 30,000 students) public university Undergrad GPA: 3.55 overall, 3.83 economics GPA Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 800Q / 580V/ 6.0AW Math Courses: Calc I (A), Calc II (B+), Calc III (C+), Applied Linear Algebra (C+), Numbers and Polynomials (D+), Elementary Differential Equations ©, proof-based Linear Algebra (B) Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Microeconomics (A), Honors Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Banking Financial Markets and Monetary Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Games and Decisions (B), International Trade (A), Economics of State and Local Govt (A-), Intro to Econometrics (A) Other Courses: audited PhD Macro I Letters of Recommendation: undergraduate advisor and professor in two classes (PhD from UNC-CH), econ prof for intermediate micro and macro (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), econ prof for econometrics (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), math prof for proof-based LA (PhD from NYU) Research Experience: started a senior thesis, but not completed. Teaching Experience: tutored all four years of undergrad Research Interests: micro theory, applied micro, labor, environmental, bioeconomics SOP: started with a template, and tailored each SOP to each schools interests and strengths (as long as there was some intersection in interests). THEY DO READ YOUR SOP. Other: out of school for 2 years RESULTS: Acceptances: FSU, UGA, Colorado at Boulder, UC Irvine Waitlists: UNC (rejected later), Illinois (rejected later),Boston College, Pitt Rejections: UWashington, UTexas What would you have done differently? Let me preface by saying that my original plan was to go to law school. I didn't seriously start thinking about economics PhD until late junior year. Take as much math as possible, with good grades. ATTENDING UGA

Related to this, although I don't think adcoms are very concerned with GRE verbal scores, the verbal score may very well help an applicant receive university- or college-wide funding. Many of these awards do take into account total GRE score.

I certainly think you should apply to at least one top five school. I have seen better profiles on this forum be rejected at top fives, but you are certainly a strong candidate.

I just received the official reject email from Pitt.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: medium (roughly 30,000 students) public university Undergrad GPA: 3.55 overall, 3.83 economics GPA Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 800Q / 580V/ 6.0AW Math Courses: Calc I (A), Calc II (B+), Calc III (C+), Applied Linear Algebra (C+), Numbers and Polynomials (D+), Elementary Differential Equations ©, proof-based Linear Algebra (B) Econ Courses: Honors Principles of Microeconomics (A), Honors Principles of Macroeconomics (A), Banking Financial Markets and Monetary Theory (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B), Games and Decisions (B), International Trade (A), Economics of State and Local Govt (A-), Intro to Econometrics (A) Other Courses: audited PhD Macro I Letters of Recommendation: undergraduate advisor and professor in two classes (PhD from UNC-CH), econ prof for intermediate micro and macro (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), econ prof for econometrics (PhD from Carnegie Mellon), math prof for proof-based LA (PhD from NYU) Research Experience: started a senior thesis, but not completed. Teaching Experience: tutored all four years of undergrad Research Interests: micro theory, applied micro, labor, environmental, bioeconomics SOP: started with a template, and tailored each SOP to each schools interests and strengths (as long as there was some intersection in interests). THEY DO READ YOUR SOP. Other: out of school for 2 years RESULTS: Acceptances: FSU, UGA, Colorado at Boulder, UC Irvine Waitlists: UNC (rejected later), Illinois (rejected later),Boston College, Pitt Rejections: UWashington, UTexas What would you have done differently? Let me preface by saying that my original plan was to go to law school. I didn't seriously start thinking about economics PhD until late junior year. Take as much math as possible, with good grades.

University of Georgia at Athens -- applied micro, maybe some combination of ecology and economics

I know they used to be strong in public finance, whether that's the case anymore, I can't say.

Thanks for the encouraging words SMH

phdphd, No I have not decided where I'm going yet, but if I received an admit from UNC, I would most likely go there.

phdphd, My interest stems from the fact that if I were admitted, it would clearly be the best school I was admitted to (compare against UC-Irvine, FSU, UGA, and Colorado-Boulder). Other than that, the only other factor that has me interested is the location because I'm from the south. But you have some great admits to compare UNC to, so we're really not in the same boat:whistle::D.

Kartelite, Thanks for the info, hopefully one of those admission letters will be reaching me in the next couple days. You don't even know how much I am hoping for an UNC admission.

SMH , are you still interested in UNC? Because, if not, I know some of us on the forum would love a chance at your admit:whistle:

I called and actually got through to Shirlene Garner.