jmm87

Upon speaking with my adviser, I was told to remain in Calc III and that even getting a B would qualify as improvement. So, my decision has been made and I will remain (while being bored to death during lecture!). In regards to eventually taking Real Analysis, there is no reason not to do it other than fear of doing poorly. I think I'll probably end up taking it next semester (my last in college!) but it's not a guarantee. It will likely come down to the other courses being offered and what my adviser suggests. Maybe another TM post too...! I appreciate the variety of opinions I got on this question and thank you all for your responses.

The best I could get accepted at! Reasonably speaking, somewhere within the top 10-40.

I'm an undergrad senior at a US top 15 university (top 25 econ department) hoping to one day attend econ grad school. I'm not applying this year though. I took Calculus III (vector/multivariable calculus, the final things we did were Stokes and Gauss theorems) last year and earned a C+. I am currently retaking it for the sole hope of getting a higher grade to help my graduate admissions chances. I'm concerned that despite being the second time around, I won't be able to score in the A range, and even getting a B will take substantial effort. I plan to speak with an economics professor tomorrow about dropping the course, which I am becoming increasingly interested in doing. How bad will it look if I just have the C+, particularily if I don't ever take Real Analysis (but instead take something a bit less rigorous, such as "Discrete Math")?

Those responses are a bit belated. I took the GREs roughly a month ago and despite my anxiety, scored a 790 on the quantitative section. I don't think that PowerPrep is as good an indicator as everyone else seems to believe.

Yes, it said clearly it was optional. There was a line about how ETS was offering a cash reward for the people who did best in the section as an incentive to complete it. I didn't really prepare for the verbal section besides learning the basic test taking/guessing strategies and doing minimal practice. I'm a native English speaker and feel that a 560 is the sort of score most native English speakers can get easily with a normal to good vocabulary and the right testing strategies.

Just finished my GRE earlier this afternoon and am glad to be done with it! I had prepared for approximately two months but still found the test harder than expected. There was no experimental section and verbal came first. I'm a native English speaker but still found a lot of the vocabulary difficult from almost the beginning, particularly the analogies. However, my preparation focused almost exclusively on math and I'm satisfied with my verbal score (I didn't do any word lists). The quantitative section was challenging from the beginning and I was faced with a standard deviation question roughly midway through (to my surprise). I fell behind with time heading into the second half of the section but worked quickly and made some correct educated guesses (I suppose)! The last question was a combinations one that I managed to solve in less than a minute to barely finish on time! With no experimental section, the test went directly to an optional verbal one, which I quit doing after the third question (there were about 20). The whole testing experience took a bit more than three hours.

I'm taking the GREs in roughly a week and just took my first PowerPrep test. Considering my amount of studying, I didn't do as well as expected and scored a 730Q, 580V. I have the sense that the only way my verbal score will go up is through intense vocab study, which I don't have the time or energy to do. That's okay, as quantitative is my main concern. In the ETS 10th edition book I've been scoring much closer to 800 (if not 800) recently. I also found those questions to be substantially easier relative to the PowerPrep ones. So, has the test gotten harder in recent years, and is there anything specific I can do to improve my score? I plan to finish with the tests in the 10th edition book and hopefully do some questions from Barrons before taking the second PowerPrep test a day or two before the real thing. 800Q is my goal, and if you have any ideas, I'd really appreciate them.

That's reassuring to hear hubrishedge. I did ask one of my potential letter writers and was told to apply to schools in the 1-40 range. From my understanding though, that's a fairly broad range and I was hoping for something a bit more specific.

Hello everyone, I’m in the process of deciding which schools to apply to and would appreciate your advice. My profile is as follows: Undergrad: US Top 25 Econ PhD program, Econ major, Applied Math minor // School has a tough reputation, though a few people do get As GPA: 3.57 (overall) GRE: Will take in August Econ classes: Introductory macro (pass), Introductory micro (B+), Intermediate macro (B+), Intermediate micro (B-), Developmental economics (B), Portfolio theory (B+), Econometrics (A) Math classes: Calc I (pass), Calc II (A), Calc III (C+), Introductory statistics (A), Mathematical modeling / linear programming (A) Classes to be taken fall 08 semester: Calc III (repeating), Linear algebra, Optimization, more econometrics, trade theory Research experience: RA for an economist in a major US government agency Teaching experience: None LORs: None set in stone at the moment but if all goes according to plan, one from econometrics professor (PhD, Brown), one from research advisor (PhD Ag Econ, Wisconsin), and one from optimization/modeling professor (PhD Applied Math, JHU) Interests: Development, Trade, Environment, Resource Questions: 1)Is it is a wise decision to retake Calc III (and have the C+ disappear) or would a semester of differential equations or upper level probability be preferable? 2)Will schools look at a second transcript sent after the application due date if it has final fall semester grades? Are the top 20 schools out of my reach, what about 20-40? I really want an econ PhD but am confused as to what level of school I’m capable of being admitted into.