bertthepuppy

In echoing what a lot of people here have said, it definitely varies between each school. I applied to Econ Ph.D.s last year while I was working on my MPA, and some of my admissions/fellowships were contingent upon finishing the degree (which I did not do and did not really have any intention of doing when I was applying.) Oddly enough, the schools that required me to finish were public schools that, for whatever reason, were lower on my list of preferences (Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio State, Colorado) than the ones who offered me admissions without finishing my masters (Texas, Wisconsin, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Cornell, UNC). The point is that I never had to negotiate this factor with them, so I can't advise you on that. I can tell you that it was the graduate school admissions and not the department that made a point of saying I needed to finish the degree before I could register. Other schools (i.e. UT) did say that they needed transcripts not to see a degree conferral but instead to make sure you remain in "good standing" and don't blow off all classes after gaining admission. Either way, I would make note of the fact that you may not finish before starting your Ph.D. in your SOP or somewhere in order to keep things clear when you receive ofers.

When I talked with the grad director of Pitt about a year ago he said their strong suits were Experimental and Econometrics. The grad director has changed since then though. I know at an undergrad level their economics department is very rigorous. It might be a good safety school for you, despite the rivalry. Maybe you can take Ph.D. Micro or Macro fall semester at Pitt through the Consortium if your schedule isn't too crazy already. That would give you a little insight into their program and boost your application credentials. I don't know much about U of Washington, so you'll have to turn to someone else for that.

I live in Pittsburgh right now and RA for a professor at Pitt, so I am very familiar with Duquesne as an undergrad institution. In Pittsburgh at least, a lot of locals attend because it is a Catholic school and a "safety school," particularly for those who do not want to leave home and do not get accepted at Carnegie Mellon or Pitt. However, since you are an international student you may be regarded higher than domestic students from the same institution, and your excellent undergrad transcript will also help your admission results. The only major question that immediately drew my attention is that I've never seen a linear algebra class that also covered differential equations. Was this a year long class? Does Duquesne offer an additional linear algebra course to supplement this because I can't imagine covering all the material in a half a semester. I would agree with mosfro that you should add Pitt or PSU to your list of schools. Best of luck!

I would assume that being in taper phase would be good. Is this your first marathon? During my first marathon, I was out of it and exhausted the whole day after each of my long runs. I would assume that you wouldn't want to be that tired during weekends in your first year. However, if you're a veteran runner, I wouldn't worry too much.

Is that something you would recommend taking a look at before starting in the Fall??

This may be a stretch but the prof. I was an RA for once told me that some foreigners start econ Ph.D.s in the U.S. because they want to have children that are U.S. citizens. They are smart and talented enough to complete the Ph.D., but they don't desire it. I was surprised by this hypothesis, but it could be true.

If you were looking just to work at the World Bank or IMF, you could probably do that with an MA from George Mason or Catholic University even. Also, American Univ has an MA as well as a Ph.D. track. I actually talked with some students from the Ph.D. and M.A. programs at American when I was a senior at George Washington, and they said a lot of people did not finish their Ph.D.s because they started interning in different government positions and the workload would just get larger and larger. A large percentage of these students ended up going to these organizations (IMF, WB, BLS, etc...) and slowly transitioned to working full time. It all depends on what you want to do and how much work you want to put into your the degree.

How do benefits factor into this? One of my professors told me that Wisconsin has one of the best health insurance policies for TAs/RAs (at least out of the other public schools). One girl I talked to from Wisco said she had a baby and didn't have to pay a dime. Not that that's a good strategy going into a grad program, but still, it has to factor in somewhere.

Yeah, I just saw that. Does that include Ag Econ too? Only 8 Americans too!

I've only ever used SAS or R. Maybe I should play with stata a little this summer, as that seems pretty standard.

Personally, I was thinking about going for it and getting a Lenova. They're pricey but I've seen lots of successful turnouts from a few friends. Also, do Macs run SAS? or would you have to do it in parallel? I've used macs and PCs interchangeably for the past three years, and I always thought it wouldn't run SAS.

Thanks! Best of luck at OSU. I know a lot of people who live in or have lived in Columbus and were very happy with the town overall. It seems like a perfect fit for your interests too, so congrats!

Headed to Wisconsin-Madison!

I think I like it because it sounds scary. It makes it that much more appealing for some reason, and I'm not too worried about the cold. I was more worried about leaving the 4 season thing, as I enjoy stepping on crunchy leaves in the fall.

I'm in off the Wisconsin funding waitlist!