PerfectMarkets

Profile Type of Undergrad: BS in Econ, minor in math at MIT Undergrad GPA: 4.7/5.0 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 800Q, 790V, 5.5AW Math Courses (+/- grades aren't recorded): Multivariable Calculus (Pass) Probability/Statistics (B); Differential Equations (B); Linear Algebra (B); Advanced Statistics (A); Real Analysis (A); Discrete Applied Math (A) Econ Courses: Intermediate Macro (B); Intermediate Micro(A) ; a bunch of field courses (all A's); Econometrics (A); Economics Research/ Paper writing (A); Game Theory(B); grad labor (A); Other Courses: Some computer science classes, some finance Letters of Recommendation: 1 senior lecturer who had worked on a project with me, 1 senior prof who I RA's for back in freshman year, 1 senior prof who I took grad labor with, 1 senior prof who I took two classes with. Research Experience: RA'd for freshman summer and 2 semesters in junior year Publications: None. Teaching Experience: None. Research Interests: Applied micro and central bank policy Statement of purpose: Uninteresting, talked about how I like applied micro and was good at Stata. Didn't really mention the macro interest at all. RESULTS: Acceptances: Northwestern ($$) (Attending), Cornell ($$$), NSF fellowship Waitlists: MIT (eventually rejected, got so close) Rejections: Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan, NYU, Princeton What would you have done differently? Ouch, lots of rejections. I would have done better on my math classes, and moved the order I took them around. I should have taken analysis earlier and linear algebra later to free up my schedule. I could maybe have taken some of the intro grad sequence, but I feel like I would've just gotten a B against the grad students here and it would just look worse, so hard to say. My recommenders were very well known, and I think the letters should have been solid, if not completely glowing. I don't know if this helped or hurt me; certainly they have been very supportive throughout this process, but maybe I would have been better off working with a junior faculty and getting a very effusive review. I pinned a lot of hope on the NSF award, but it didn't reverse any decisions, even though it got me much closer to getting off the MIT waitlist. So, the NSF isn't magical. Though money is nice. I also spent two summers working in consulting, which was bad in terms of apps but good in making me realize that I wanted to apply to grad school. I have to chalk up my results to an insanely competitive year and spotty math grades in important classes.

Performance art?

Attending: Northwestern ($$) Other Offers: Cornell ($$$) Comments: so close on the MIT waitlist, oh well.

Someone made a facebook page: Northwestern University Economics PhD Class of 2015 | Facebook We can coordinate housing there?

Game over.

Just remembered this:

Post links to distract me from the MIT waitlist! Example: YouTube - Mythbusters pancaked car HD

Anyone heard back from schools yet about reconsideration of apps?

Still alive... so now what?

Institution: Cornell Program: PhD, Economics Funding: $25th x 5 years Declination date: 04/10/10 (via email) Reason & Comments: Funding is no longer an issue after NSF

Urzua was there last week at the flyout....

Here's the response I got from Peter Hoagland at MIT: "The admissions committee will be meeting later this week. I will pass on your request. Hopefully, I will have news for you by Friday." Anyone heard from Stanford? I know their flyout is the next two days, so I don't want to bug them right now.

I actually haven't been that stressed out until AFTER I got my decisions; now I'm really bugging out trying to decide my future. But most of that was blissful ignorance.

Ask them.

ding ding ding ding! Got one too! Now time to write a few letters to Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. Oh, and a love letter to Barack Obama.

Anyone here going? The isolation of the campus is already a problem; I have to take a long detour through New Jersey since there are no direct flights.

Oh, and imagine all of Chicunomics' posts in an Australian accent.

I seems like all the prospective students want to do micro theory, IO, or macro, which are, surprise, NWU's specialties. The current grad students all talked about how the department is very supportive, and people rarely leave involuntarily. Some of the current grad students chose NWU over Chicago, Princeton, Berkeley, FWIW. Faculty were friendly and talkative, and supposedly do this outside of flyout days too. Evanston is super clean and pretty compared to Cambridge, MA, and housing is available even close to campus. I took a local L train to Chicago and it took ~1 hrto get there, though I hear that there is an express line that only takes ~20 min. I think you would have to really really like micro theory or IO to choose it over Harvard...

Where is this page?

flying out in 4 hours; see you there

FYI, MIT has a Class A IP range, so everything that originates from 18.* is MIT. Booyah!

Go see the Cardinals! and never ever go see the Rams.

Institution: MIT Program: PhD Economics Decision: Waitlisted Notification date: Mar 17 Notified through: email Funding: sup NSF, I'm banking on obscure home state Comments: I've never had luck with waitlists, but it's better than a rejection

I found the list, and I'm not on it :( It's fairly short, so I don't think it has waitlisted people on it.

When will we know about funding waitlist decisions?