probablyawildcard

I've been admitted to Master's programs in Development Studies at Oxford and the London School of Economics, and am having a hard time deciding... which I need to do more or less immediately. Some background: my BA is in anthropology, and what I'm hoping to gain from DS is an overview of a few social science disciplines relating to development, so that I can figure out what I want to focus on in my future academic and professional career. I have been interested in economics for a while, but I'm not certain it's the right field for me - hoping DS will give me enough of a background that I can either transition into econ afterwards if I want to, but will also be broad enough that I can do something else (sociology, policy, etc.) if I decide econ isn't really my thing. My basic trajectory idea is to do a Master's, work for a few years, then go back for a Ph.D. somewhere in the social sciences with a development focus. On to my current decision: Oxford offered me a scholarship that covers all tuition and fees - I'd still be on the hook for living expenses, which I figure at about $40k over the two years of the program. LSE has offered me no funding, but it's only a one year program, and will probably cost me about $50k. Both schools seem to have cool professors working on things that are interesting to me. What concerns me about Oxford is that it has this reputation for being so theoretical... in the sense of divorced from anything practical in the 'real world'. I don't mind theoretical - I really would like a theoretical education, provided it's rigorous. But what I really don't want to do is end up spending two years basically navel-gazing in a program where I may be fascinated but I get to the end feeling like I don't know what I've learned or what I can actually do with any of it. At LSE, on the other hand, I think the course is likely to be a better balance between theory and practice and also to be stronger on the economic side. The problem there is that it is a bit more expensive as well as being only a one-year program. I'm concerned that by the time I started to get my bearings and figure out a specific focus, the course would be over. And one thing that people have told me is that an Oxford education is what you make of it -- that it's very self-directed students have a lot of control over what they're reading, and that if I'm looking for something more on the practical side, I may be able to find ways to do that. So that's where I'm sitting, and I need to make up my mind as soon as possible so I can let Oxford know if I'm accepting their scholarship. This forum has been helpful in the past, so I'm hoping you'll have some insight this time. Apologies for the long post - if you made it this far, thanks!

But not an MA?

All, Looks like I'm not going to grad school this year - not terribly surprising as my apply list was very ambitious. I'm going to write to each department and ask if they can give me any information on why I was rejected, but since I went to a good school, graduated with honors (in anthropology), did independent research and had high GRE scores, I'm relatively confident that my weaknesses are my math/econ background and my LORs (strong, but not from economists). There are a few ideas I'm thinking of to prepare for next year, I would love to know what you think of any of them. 1. I'm currently taking Calc III (multivariate) at a local college. This summer I plan to take Advanced Calc I (analysis) and Probability Theory. I've had some applied courses within anthro that used linear algebra and statistics in fairly basic ways. In Econ, I have taken only Econ I and World Food Economy, but my focus in anthro was highly toward third-world development (in a mostly qualitative way). Are there other math or econ courses you would strongly recommend my taking if I can? 2. I was wondering how helpful it would be to take the GRE Math subject test. Assuming, of course, that I do well. I would need to seriously study for this, but studying on my own may be easier than taking tons of new classes. 3. I'm considering getting a job that would put me in contact with economists, who hopefully would be able to write me a LOR. I have quite a bit of non-profit experience, so maybe some organization that works on development issues. I would rather not end up in an investment bank (heard horror stories). Any ideas? 4. A few people here have mentioned getting an MA - maybe in Econ proper, or, as Karina 07 suggested, in an interdisciplinary development program that would allow me to learn some econ, meet economists, and make a smoother transition from anthro into econ. What do you think of this idea? Any advice or suggestions are most appreciated. Thanks!

Just wanted to let you all know. I got my notice today from Berkeley that my application was tossed because it was submitted on 12/22. The email pointed out that the deadline is clearly listed as December 15 on the department's website at http://emlab.berkeley.edu/econ/grad/admissions.shtml. Guess what! I was working from the graduate admissions website! And as you can see if you go to http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/programs/list.shtml and scroll down to Economics, the application deadline is given as January 10th. I'm just so frustrated about this right now. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten in anyway, but it's Berkeley's fault my application was thrown out, and now it's almost certainly too late to do anything about it. I've emailed and phoned the department but no response yet. Aaargh!

Ah, I thought that was for people who had tried to contact them but weren't able to get any info. Okay then. My bad.

Seems there ought to be an option for "I've heard nothing," no?

Finally got my *official* rejection email from Columbia today. Crap. Good luck to all those who still haven't heard!

Karina - That's interesting. What international development program did you do? And what other schools have such a program that you would recommend? It's worth thinking about for next year. Thanks.

Glad to know I'm not alone, freak! I assume they just haven't made up their minds what to do with us yet. Maybe we're on a kind of unofficial wait-list until they start hearing back from the first wave of acceptances. I did email the department, though, just to make sure they got my application and had my contact information. Also said that if there were any questions about my application that were delaying a final decision, that I'd be happy to address them. Eek!

Just to clarify ... has anyone else here *not* heard anything from Berkeley? (of those who applied there, of course)

As long as it doesn't mean they lost my application or I misspelled my email address, I'm happy to wait ;)

Okay, so it seems there was a wave of Berkeley acceptances, and also a wave of Berkeley rejections that went out yesterday. Well, some of us weren't in either wave. Any insights on what that means? Can we expect a notification of wait-listing, or is it possible some decisions just haven't been made yet? If they have been made, why not let us know?

Profile: Gre: 800 Q, 780 V, 5.5 A GPA: Overall 3.7, BA Anthropology 3.8, Econ Classes 3.5, Math Classes 4.0 Classes: Math: Calc I (A), Human Population Biology (applied linear algebra, A), Data Analysis (basic statistics, A). Calc III (ongoing). Advanced Calc I (soon), Probability Theory (soon) Econ: Econ 1 (B), World Food Economy (A) Other: Third-world development focus within anthro Type of Undergrad: elite liberal arts school Research Experience: Honors fieldwork (in anthropology) studying an indigenous development project in Bolivia (highly qualitative, no math) Teaching Experience: Literature tutoring for high schoolers, Community ed Spanish classes LORs: None from econ profs, one from a relatively well-known evolution scholar (strong), one from a demographer (very strong), one from the head of my university's Center for Public Service (very strong) SoP & Interests: Development, environment, international Other: Male US Citizen Admissions Decisions Berkeley - On the edge, apparently. I'm one of the minority who didn't hear anything March 1. Harvard - ? MIT - ? Chicago - ? Princeton - ? Columbia - rejected

Any good tips on how to make friends with econ professors, when I'm no longer in college and only taking math classes at a not-very-good school?

Probably should have made this clear -- my undergrad is over, I graduated in 2005. I'm taking math classes right now at the City College of New York as a non-degree student. (Not completely up on the jargon. What are LOR's?)