Mirk83

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Maths degree in a good Italian university (and student of its honor college) Undergrad GPA: 3.0/3.0 Type of Grad: Maths degree (student of a program jointly organized with the best scientific research center of the country, that is also a doctoral school) and attending a one year master in economics Grad GPA: 3.0/3.0 GRE: 700 V, 800 Q, 5.0 AWA Math Courses: everything you can think about :) (seriously, in five year of Maths I've attended at least 30-40 Maths courses, some of which at PhD level) Econ Courses: very very few courses, and just during this year: the basic Micro, Macro and Econometrics (at the level of MWG, Blanchard-Fisher, Hayashi - but of course not all the topics) Other Courses: a bit of physics and informatics down the road and a bit of neurobiology (my master thesis was about building a kinetic model for a class of ion channels!) Letters of Recommendation: my weak point. A good, but maybe a bit standard, letter from my thesis advisor, who is a very well known mathematician (who knows me well, since the thesis was partly of research). A very good letter from an economist who taught at the honor college I was in but with whom I took just that small course, a few years ago. And a letter from another well known mathematician whose course I attended during an international summer school - I really have no idea of what he could have written. Research Experience: just for the thesis - and in maths applied to neurobiology... Teaching Experience: none Research Interests: behavioural models, game theory; but my interests are now moving a bit more towards Macro topics SOP: just tried to explain why I have been moving from Pure Maths to Applied Maths and then from applications to biology to economics... RESULTS: Acceptances: Caltech ($$), LSE (MRes/Phd track 1) ($$), Oxford MPhil (?) Waitlists: NYU Rejections: Chicago, MIT What would you have done differently? Hard to say. Given my erratic background and the not-so-strong LORs, I think I have calibrated well the applications (my estimate was to have good possibilities from the bottom of the top ten - just like NYU and LSE - downward). Of course I could have waited one more year, finished the economics master in order to use the grades as an additional signal and obtained better LORs... but I'm already 24 and I have already two masters, so I think it's time to move as quickly as possible towards real research.

A little exercise in correlation and causal relations. Is a thougher work that makes people succeed (and so an harder coursework is going to give you and edge) or are successfull people the one who are going to work more - even without incentives? And another one. Best universities are the one that educate the best students, or are the best students the ones best gathered by the top universities (with prestige, money and so on...)?

Come on, reactor! I understand that US has an hegemonic position in research and that the very best places are incommensurable both as educational value and as passepartout for future job: after all, everywhere, a PhD at MIT is a signal of excellence. And I understand that in economics the "brand name" is much more important than in other subjects (for example Maths - at least in my country). But to say that US PhD > any-other-place PhD seems to me a bit exagerated. I can concede NYU>LSE quite easily (in many fields and maybe slightly) and it seems reasonable to argue Caltech>LSE. But LSE has, indeed, a good name and a good faculty, just like a few other European universities (Toulouse, ...). So why do you think that ANY (or MOST) US Phd are better then, say, LSE or Toulouse?

It's their standard scholarship, 14000 £, which is just enough to have somewhere to sleep and something to eat :) (at least, so I think, I have not a clear idea of the costs in London... if anyone can give me an idea, it would be helpful)

Given the few applications I have done, I already know my best options for next year... Since I feel they are quite different programs, both in spirit and geography (!), I would welcome any comparative consideration: - LSE, MRes/Phd Economics (Full funded) - Caltech, Phd Social Sciences (Full funded) - NYU (waitlisted, but here for the sake of completeness and to make the business a bit more complex) Consider that I am a mathematician (and so maybe I have more synergies with CalTech) and European, with no particular desire to live in the US after the PhD (so LSE would seem a quite sensible choice). However, were I to be accepted at NYU, I have been told that it is a stronger department than the other two. I have already almost decided my preferences, but I'd like to listen to someone else ideas, too. Any?

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Maths degree in a good European university (with fellowship in its honor college) Type of Grad: Maths Master in a joint program with a top research institution in my country, attending this year an MPhil in economics while I wait aswers by the States Undergrad GPA: overall GPA: 4.0; econ: ? ; math:4.0. GRE: 800Q, 700V,AWA 5.0 Math Courses: Everything you can think about :) (really, about 20 undergrad courses, 15 grad, with some at PhD level) Econ Courses: Almost nothing (I'm attending this years a few micro, macro and econometrics courses directly at grad level) Letters of Recommendation: two maths prof (my thesis advisor and an international summer school prof) and an econ prof from one of the courses I had to take at the undergrad honor college Research Experience: Not much, a bit in a joint program of neurobiologists and mathematicians for my thesis (I think my advisor wrote something about it) Teaching Experience: none Research Interests: Game theory, behavioural modelling in social and economical phenomena. SOP: didn’t really spend much time on it, just a kind of short bio to explain my movements from pure maths to maths applied to biology and finally to economics. Concerns: Quite a strange curriculum, not too sure about the LORs. Admitted just today: CalTech (a good match for my interests :tup:) Applied: NYU, Harvard, Chicago, MIT, Oxford, LSE.

Institution: caltech Program: social sciences phd Decision: Admit Funding: no word yet Notification date: 02-09-2008 Notified through: email

No, just a quick informal e-mail and a mail to come. I have no idea about the other admits, but I guess the ones that have not been notified yet will soon hear news... Buona fortuna a tutti!

Hi everybody! I've been lurking here a few days, anxious for the results... But finally the first one has arrived! Caltech e-mails for the accepted guys are coming! :tup: