Volconomist

To be honest, the material has been a bit easier than I expected, or I may have had better intuiation than I realized. However, the sheer amount of material covered is far and away ten times even what i expected. I have enjoyed my classmates, a lot of different backgrounds and regions, so that has been fun. I had my last final this evening (micro theory), and I am very realived to have this first semester under my belt. Once grades are in, i will be even more realized, at least I hope so. I look forward to next semester classes, and a new set of students to TA for.

I apologize for this, I really didn't think they were under that much protection. I am sincerely sorry.

Does anyone know where I can find a FREE solutions for MWG.

Math: Calc I Calc II Calc III Linear Algebra Matrix Algebra Stats Econ: IO--Advanced UG Micro Public Finance Public Expenditure Monetary--advanced UG Econometrics By the way, my classes start today, in about an hour and a half to be exact. So here's to my first year of PhD work. May god have mercy on my soul.

1) What fields do you plan to study? Microeconomic and experimental economics with a special focus on game theory, and IO. 2) How much time do you think you will spend studying each week? I have been told that my program suggests about three to four hours a day, so around 21-28 hours a week. 3) Which class do you think will be the hardest? The easiest? Hardest: Micro. Easiest: Math for Economists 4) What do you think will be most different about the PhD program than your undergraduate program? Math, Math, Math, Math, and a lot harder....Math. 5) What are you most worried about in beginning the PhD? Making it through the first year, and still having my full funding. Keeping a 3.75 sounds tough.

No offense is meant by this, but here are my two cents. I agree with bayern, what you would be doing seems a bit unethical in the sense that you would be utilizing a funded spot to study in another area. I would assume to get this funded spot you would have to lie on your SOP, in which case this becomes even more unethical. I have been lurking your last few posts, and to be honest you have jumped around what seems like 10 different plans. To be completely honest with you. Your comment about what you would be doing is the same as utilizing the GI Bill was quite offensive to me, and I am not even military. What the GI bill enables people to do is give up years of their life to their country, possibly risking their lives, in exchange for a college education. What you would be doing is cheating the system, this of course is assuming this plan would even work. Those are not the same things. It would seem that you need to calm down just a bit, and get a few things in order. If you want to do medical school, why not do it the normal way. I know you have some sort of degree in engineering, would this not enable you to get into say, biology grad school, and then that would be a more clear path to med school. If you are looking for an easy grad program, may i suggest looking at other disciplines than Economics. It is usually regarded as one of the top three hardest PhD's to obtain. Going into an Econ program without commitment to that program will most certainly spell disaster.

I have finally started the blog that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. There is just an introduction on there right now, but certainly more to come. Hope you enjoy. here be the link Diminishing Utility

I want to make a distinction. I will not be complaining about how hard a professor/exam is/was, or how unfair things are. Besides the fact that I am not that type of person, that is not my intention. This will be a sort of captains log of my personal well being, and mindset throughout the first year. Sure I'll talk about some difficulties, but never will i whine about something. I wouldn't see a reason that my department would have a problem with this even if they knew about it. Its not like they try to make the program sound easy, I was told it was going to be hard as hell, like drinking from a fire hose. I doubt anything i will say will be worse than that.

I hear you with the problems. I blogged for about 3 years, using my real name, and it came up at an interview with a campus job. This blog will be completely anonymous, and I don't even think I will say the name of the school. Another reason I have thought about doing the blog, is that for one year I took 18 and then 19 hours respectively over two semesters, and blogged more than ever, and those were my two best academic semesters, also the hardest classes (honors econometrics, linear algebra, advanced stats, business law etc...). I really feel it helped me have an avenue to be academic, and opinionated without having it graded. I'll go ahead and say that I am going to do the blog, pretty soon even. I am going to preface it with my application experience, and attempt to give some advice on that. I will have the address soon.

I have been kicking around this idea for the past few days, and wanted to run it by you guys so I could get your thoughts. I have been thinking about blogging my first year of my PhD program. This will be very in depth, and will cover not only the classes I take but also the lab classes that I will be instructing. My overall purpose for doing this would be so I would have a documentation about my first year for myself, but also for others who would like to share in the experience, either as they are going through their first year, or for those who are entering the following year. I will focus very heavily on my general mindset, and how it changes while the program tries to swallow me up. I believe that this will be very helpful to myself, It will give me a place to vent. I also think that it will be helpful to others, who will no question have their own struggles. So what do you think? Has someone done this before, and what was it like? Discuss amongst yourselves.

I have been kicking around this idea for the past few days, and wanted to run it by you guys so I could get your thoughts. I have been thinking about blogging my first year of my PhD program. This will be very in depth, and will cover not only the classes I take but also the lab classes that I will be instructing. My overall purpose for doing this would be so I would have a documentation about my first year for myself, but also for others who would like to share in the experience, either as they are going through their first year, or for those who are entering the following year. I will focus very heavily on my general mindset, and how it changes while the program tries to swallow me up. I believe that this will be very helpful to myself, It will give me a place to vent. I also think that it will be helpful to others, who will no question have their own struggles. So what do you think? Has someone done this before, and what was it like? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Yes, Knoxville. Sorry I did not make that clear. The town is going through a revitalization so construction everywhere, as well as on campus, but still a really cool place.

I love it here so far. Bars upon bars, and the smokie mountains only a few minutes down the road.

Alot of higher ranked schools have large incoming classes, so the money is spread around thinner. At my school, they only give 12 out of 130 applicants assistantships, so there is a bit more money to give around.

thats great with the fellowship. UTenn's assistanships are 13.5k, plus tuition waiver plus health insurance. I also got a fellowship, made the total around 18k for the year not counting an additional 3.5k for summer teaching. congrats!

Am I the only non top 50 on this forum?

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BSBA majoring in Economics from a large southern school. Undergrad GPA: 3.7 Type of Grad:-- Grad GPA:-- GRE: 760Q+550V and 5W Math Courses: Calc I,II,;Matrix Alg Lin Alg, 3 Stats Econ Courses: Micro, macro, IO, Public Finance, Econometrics, development, Monetary, IO II, Public Expentiture analysis, International, Math for economists. Other Courses: Finance, Letters of Recommendation: 2 very solid from highly published phd's. one macro, and one math econ. other department head with connections. Research Experience: Slim to none Teaching Experience: Private tutor for econ, and select math courses, very highly rated. Research Interests: IO and Micro, also Macroeconomic time series analysis. SOP: was told by one adcomm, best he had see in a couple of years, wasn't mentioned by others Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: Univ of Kentucky, Univ of Tennessee, Clemson Univ,Univ of Georgia, Univ of South Carolina. Waitlists: George Mason--turned rejection Rejections: Univ of Maryland, Univ of Colorado, Boulder, Wisconsin. My lack of math killed me on the reach schools, but overall I cannot complain. I was unable to take many math courses due to my schools business curriculum. All acceptances had funding. I will be attending the University of Tennessee in the fall on a full assistantship+tuition waiver+health insurance.

Hey folks, I will begin my PhD studies in a little over a month. I am wondering what math resources, online that is, are good for Dif Eq, and Real Analysis. I feel that i need to be a lot stronger in these courses, having never taken either as an actual class. I have looked at the Econphd.net resource for math notes, and it has helped. I was just wondering if you guys had anything else that may be helpful. Also, anybody now a good resource for first year PhD micro problem sets, aswell as syllabi? thanks

At my school for any class deemed math intensive, which basically means all upper level econ courses, there is a calc 1-2, and stats is required on top of these for the econometrics. they really don't check this however, and many students sneak in with little to no background in any differentiation, which causes huge problems the second week of class. My school is beginning, however, to institute much more advanced math requirements for all econ courses, if you are a econ major, and thank goodness for this. Lord knows it would make the class go a lot smoother if everyone knew at least multivariable differentiation.

what buckyatt said about attaching it to your transcript somehow. that sounds good to me.

I would certainly put it somewhere in your application that you made an A in Linear Algerbra. Your final transcript will prove that you took it, and the letter proves you made an A. If the school asks for proof of the A, supply the letter. I am not sure if adding an entire letter to your application packet just to say you made an A in Lin Alg is a great idea. To be honest this may ultimately depend on the program you are applying to. The top 15 may not want to contact you for proof of a grade, and assume that you omission of the grade is a bad thing. Lesser ranked schools with more obtainable adcomms may welcome the proof in a simple email.

It is under my limited understanding that a masters core is not going to transfer with you to a PhD core at most places. The PhD is much more detailed and rigorous, as you know, and a MA core does not reflect nearly the needed core for the PhD. On another note, if you are interested in Developement, Vanderbilt has a supposoedly decent program for that, a newer program that a friend of mine got into. You might want to check that out.

thanks for the encouraging words. I just wanted people to know that even though they don't have the same credentials that they can at least give themselves a fighting chance, something this board may not always show people. This is not to say that this board should be this or that, or that people with great credentials are bad, they certainly aren't, you just don't here much middle ground here. again thanks

First Post, long time lurker, and it has helped. After a while of reading the general opinions of most people on this board I became convinced that in no way was I prepared for a PhD program in Economics. This is odd, because I applied to 7 programs and was accepted at 5. My paranoia has come about because of the truly staggering strength of credentails of people on this board. I recently graduated from a decent huge university in the south (USA), with a BSBA in Economics, GPA 3.6, Econ-4.0, Math-3.75. The Business program here is good, and recently been ranking higher and higher each year. The program was pretty intense and very structured, leaving little room for extra classes on the side (MATH!!!!). Having said that i managed to complete Calc I-II, Matrix alg, Lin Alg, and 4 Stat classes, including an advanced Econometrics class, and a undergraduate course in Mathematical Economics (chiang's book). Up until December of 2006 I was convinced that the MBA was going to be my best fit. However after speaking with my professor (the one who taught the math-econ course) he convinced me that I should do Econ, based on my perfomance in his class. He is a very respected Math-econ professor with over 35 years of teaching and publishing experiance. After this confidence boost, I began my approach to econ PhD. Quickly realizing my shortage of some essential classes i went back to this proffesor and told him my concerns. He left me with some material to study, and some old exams from grad level math-econ courses, and told me to complete them as homework, and bring them back, showing all work, and proofs. He told me that if i was able to successfully complete them he would essentially vouch for me on the math requirement. I did and he did, and I guess it paid off. 4 of the five I was accepted to offered full Assistantship funding, and 2 gave supplimental fellowship money. Bear in mind that none of these schools are top 40, but all were said to be rising, and chocked full of well published professors, the main things i looked for. I start in August, and have spent the entire summer self-teaching, with aid from a proffesor, Dif Eq, Real Analysis. I guess the point i am trying to make here, is that hopefully some people who want to pursue the Econ PhD but have less than ridiculous credentials like the rest of you, haven't been scared off, like i almost was. While it is completely true that there are certain requirements that must be dealt with before starting the Phd, the fact of the matter is that they can be dealt with, if you are willing to work at it. If you don't have the math, then take the classes, or at least learn it and get a professor to aid you in this, so he can later give the thumbs up. I am still not sure if i am completely qualified, but its going to be free, and I might as well try, right? Here's to a great first year for all of us. May we make it till next year, hell christmas would be nice.