reddavies

I'm really surprised by how well people seemed to be able to predict there results as well. The closest I could predict were probable rejections from my reach schools and hopeful acceptances from my safeties. The rest was just shear hoping.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA/BS International Affairs and Economics, Math minor at top 50 U.S. Undergrad GPA: 3.92 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 168Q, 164V, 5.0AWA Math Courses: Calc III (A), Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Proofs (A), Computing in Math (A), Math Finance (A), Real Analysis (A-), Math Stat I-II (A,A) Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro (A), Game Theory (A), Economics of Crime (A), Money and Banking (A); Taken Abroad: Public (1st), Econometrics (1st), Dynamic Optimization (1st), International (1st), Advanced Macro (1st) Other Courses: C/C++ (A), plus a bunch for my international affairs major that probably aren't relevant Letters of Recommendation: two economics professors, one stat professors. Think they were okay. Research Experience: one semester RA, the work wasn't very technical though Teaching Experience: N/A Research Interests: Applied Micro (education, crime, etc.) SOP: okay, definitely could have been better Other: Studied abroad for a year in the UK RESULTS: Acceptances: Duke ($$), Cornell ($$), UT Austin ($), Brown (no $) Waitlists: Penn (eventually rejected off the list) Rejections: NYU, Yale, Caltech, UCLA, Michigan, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley, UCSD, Northwestern Attending: Duke! What would you have done differently? Hard to say. I'm really happy with my results. Personally, I wish I had dropped my international affairs major and done just econ and math, but I'm not sure that would have necessarily helped my profile. I went into the process thinking it was almost all about the math background you had, but I think more and more that your letters and research background count for a lot more. I think schools look at fit as well. The schools I got into seemed to fit me really well and a few that I thought I'd get into but didn't, turned out not to fit me all that well. Also, I wish I had been more active in finding research opportunities. My results might have been better if I took a year or two offer to work as an RA, but honestly I really want to move straight into the PhD and Duke is an amazing place with great placements so I'm really happy with how things turned out.

Duke!

Institution: NYU Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/21/2012 Notified Through: E-mail Posted to GC: No Institution: Cornell Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: 5 Year Funding Notification Date: 3/19/2012 Notified Through: E-mail Posted to GC: No Good to finally be done!

Institution: UMich Program: Economics PhD Decision: rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 03/15/12 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comment: Looks like it's going to be Duke!

Institution: Columbia Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notified: 3/13 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments::blue:

Unfortunately I think that's pretty common. (80% might be a bit high though.) Here's the statistics for Duke for comparison. I bet you could find similar statistics for other programs. http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/admiteco.htm

Wow. Kind of surprised so many people are picking Duke over Michigan. Is this because of the people they have doing education research specifically or do people generally think Duke is a better program?

Same boat on both Cornell and Michigan. Plus NYU and Columbia. Haven't heard anything from all four. Think this might be a marginally positive sign for Cornell (maybe an unfunded admit), but probably a bad sign for the rest.

I'm not sure if this is true at all so definitely take it with a grain of salt, but I would guess that many adcoms might sort applications partially by GPA or might have filters that include GPA (along with your GRE score). So if you've got near perfect math and econ grades, but Cs in all your other classes you might not get looked at too closely. Plus having bad grades in other classes probably would give them a bad overall impression. I wouldn't stress about the difference between an A versus an A- in an English lit course, but I think low grades could hurt you.

It's a couple hours outside the DC area by bus. You could fly into DC and then take Greyhound out to Charlottesville.

Isn't UT Austin ranked a lot higher than gtown or USC? I really don't know much about USC, but why aren't you giving more thought to UT?

Institution: University of California, San Diego Program: Ph.D. Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: N.A. Notification Date: 3/9/2012 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: No

Institution: Princeton University Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/8/2012 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Kind of expected it :-(

Anyone know what up with Michigan?

Don't give up yet! I know a friend at UMD that got in without ODE. You'll get in somewhere. You've still got a bunch to hear back from.

Sorry, I really don't mean to be rude or to cause any offense, but I don't think you understand what an economics PhD is all about. Economics is very much a social science. You wouldn't expect every computer science PhD to explain or understand everything about the new iPad or the latest version of Windows. Some might focus on theory or other areas of research and not really know anything about the latest inner workings of Windows 8. The same is true for economics. Every PhD students probably has some really basic idea of how international finance works from their core classes, but that doesn't mean they are or should be abreast on all the minute details of the Greek crisis. In the same way that some well-read undergrad in computer science might know more about Windows 8 than a current computer science grad student, I wouldn't be surprised if a well-read undergrad in economics knew more about the Greek crisis than a current economics grad student. A PhD is designed to produce good researchers, not policy advisers. Some economic professors are great policy advisers and stay well-informed about current events, but that's not what being an economist or studying economics is all about.

Doesn't seem like they've sent funded offers yet. The email wasn't phrased like a waitlist. It was phrased like an unfunded admission, but because of technicalities an admission into the MA program. The email said they'd hope I'd join the program, but asked if I'd be okay doing so through the MA program without first-year funding. Good luck to anyone still waiting! Seems like funded admits could still come out soon.

Not sure why no one else is posting. Maybe they're only giving out unfunded offers right now. The unfunded offers are technically for the MA program, but it counts as the first-year of the PhD. (If you pass comps, you move into the second-year of the PhD. Not sure why they make the distinction. Maybe it's for administrative reasons.)

Thanks everyone!!!

Congrats gemmy!!!

Institution: Brown Program: PhD Economics (technically an MA for the first-year. If I pass, then I enter into the second-year of the PhD.) Decision: Accepted Funding: No first-year funding, TA-ship next years Notification date: 3/5/2012 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: A little confused on the offer, but really excited to get another admit!

Institution: UCLA Program: PhD in Economics Decision: Rejection Funding: N/A Notification Date: 03/02/12 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Thought I had a chance:blue:

Anyone know what's up with Columbia? Did they just sent funding offers? There's still nothing on my application. Are more acceptances with or without funding likely?

Good post liamc. I think it's really important to talk with and stay in as much contact with your professors and your department as you can. This website is awesome, but it can't substitute for the one-on-one advice you'll get from your advisers or your profs.