econzo

Thank you all for the suggestions. bheld, do you have any suggestions on a good exam P study manual? Do you mean a text like this: Amazon.com: ACTEX Study Manual: SOA Exam P, CAS Exam 1 - 2009 Edition (9781566986786): Samuel A. Broverman: Books ?

I managed to get into a PhD program without ever taking a probability theory or mathematical statistics course. I have about 2.5 weeks before math camp starts and some free time to try to teach myself as much probability theory as possible. Does anyone suggest a book (or set of notes) to get as much of an overview as possible in that short of a time period? Thanks.

Yes it is possible and has been done. You can take the behavioral classes at Berkeley, take the prelim exams, and use Behavioral as one of your fields at Davis (just have to fill out one form). One student said the classes were once a week, so the one hour bus ride to and from Berkeley wasn't that big of a deal.

I hope you all aren't tired of all the self-serving A vs. B posts, but I've seen some unexpected responses in the other threads and I'm interested in this comparison. I'd like to study Development and Behavioral/Experimental Economics. It seems that Cornell would dominate at least in the second field, but I read somewhere that you can take some of your electives at another UC (in this case it would be Behavioral at UC-Berkeley). Does anyone know if that's possible, and how practical/beneficial that would be? I've also heard a lot of concern about Cornell's placements. Is that concern enough to make UC-Davis and Cornell equivalent in terms of job prospects (academia/research institute/think tank/WB)?

I called Cornell, and they said that the aid offers have been made. A decision still hasn't been made for me, but he said it'll be either admit with no funding or rejection. I asked for a time frame, and he said he hopes it will be soon, but that in the past sometimes it's gone into early April before a decision has been made.

asianecon, could you pm me your application as well? I'm not a regular poster (regular lurker though..) so if you don't feel comfortable doing that, no worries. Thanks. I've been applying to RA positions like mad these past few weeks...making sure I don't make the same mistake I did with my school selection (not applying to enough places)

How does one go about getting an RA position for next year? I've applied to a few think tanks (Brookings, Urban, RTI), but any other suggestions? It seems deadlines have passed at most places. Professors at my university seem to already have all the RAs they need in the form of graduate students. How does one get an RA position elsewhere (especially coming from a school ranked USNEWS 50-80...not an elite institution...also especially considering not having had an RA position beforehand)?

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I figured it was a bit late to apply even if they said they still accepted group 4. I only asked about the price just because I wasn't sure what the real price would be (the website is pretty confusing...only directly lists overseas fees for MPhil in Dev. Studies and MPhil in Economics...roughly $21,500-30,000).

I never really thought to apply to a Master's degree because I didn't see the point in it. But I just found out about this program. I switched to Economics a bit late in university, and I think a program like Oxford's would help me when it comes time to do research. So I have a few questions: 1. Has anyone been accepted into the program? If so, could you post up your profile? Is mine reasonably competitive ? Public American University (economics program is so-so) GRE: 770Q, 680V, 6.0AWA GPA: 3.85 Math: Diff Eq., Calc1-3, Linear Algebra, Intro to Abstract Math (Proofs) Not sure if relevant: 1 year language study in Middle East (fluent in Arabic) - mentioned in my SOP as I'm interested in ME development. LORs: Meh (teachers seemed enthusiastic enough, but again, I switched in late and didn't have much time to form relationships - i.e. no research adviser that can comment specifically) 2. Is it too late to apply to the program? The website says they "gather fields 1, 2, 3 and 4" with 4 having a deadline of March 14, 2008. But does that mean it's like rolling admissions? Is there any point in applying for the fourth gathering? 3. How much does it end up costing? Oh, I have LORs/SOP because I applied to a few econ PhD programs already.