mookrit

These posts may help you decide: Is the Econ Ph.D. a Free Lunch?, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty Economics PhD - 80,000 Hours Research

The danger of mathematical arguments is that a person can sometimes follow an absurd path of reasoning without being alerted to its absurdity, due to the fact that their mind is so lost in the verbiage of mathematical equations that their common sense fails to penetrate it. One of the most common errors in applied mathematical analysis is to fail to notice when a mathematical argument proves too much. Though this can occur more generally — in nonmathematical reasoning — it is a particularly acute danger in applied mathematics, due to the fact that understanding mathematical arguments generally requires a high level of training and intellectual effort. It is very easy to get lost in equations and theorems and fail to see the forest for the trees. How Mathematics Can Make Smart People Dumb - Ben O'Neill - Mises Daily

I don't know enough about it. I do know that economists are wrong 99% of the time when forecasting or making predictions and that fairly trivial issues (minimum wages, free trade) are still being debated years after Adam Smith wrote his 18th century treatise. Ergo, economics is a pseudo-science where economists can't agree on basic issues, probably partly due to their political biases. I do not see physicists disagreeing about gravity, for example (or do they?).

I was rejected by all the uni's I applied for. I'm doing a Master of Arts (thesis only, no classes) in my home country from a top 100 university and then applying again next year after improving my GRE quant score also.

My results are 146 Quantitative (36th percentile), 164 verbal (94th percentile), 5.5 essay writing (96th percentile). Do you think they will care about the low quant score when deciding financial aid? I'm applying to City University of new york (PhD politics), USC (phd history), Auburn (MA history), Rice (PhD history).

[TABLE] [TR] [TD]Quantity A[/TD] [TD]Quantity B[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]The standard deviation of a set of 5 different integers, each of which is between 0 and 10[/TD] [TD]The standard deviation of a set of 5 different integers, each of which is between 10 and 20.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Answer is given as D. Why?

There is a crucial distinction between the natural world studied by physics and the world of human action.

The best readers' guide to the jungle of mathematical economics is to ignore the fancy welter of equations and look for the assumptions underneath. Invariably they are few in number, simple, and wrong. Read more: A Note On Mathematical Economics - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

My parents are friends with a professor of politics inside Duke University. What should I do to take advantage of this contact? Should I send him some of my published work and ask him to read it? A LOR from someone inside the university I'm applying for would be very useful. Unfortunately I don't live in America so I can't speak to him directly, but a long-distance phone call isn't out of the question.

The ranking is here.

because your math skills don't need to be that high if you want to do a phd in literature or history. so they use the lower-level gre instead of the gmat

It's the same thing, 18th edition is just a re-print of the 17th.

Suspicious how? It's not like you cheated or anything.

Should I do the analytical ability sections on the old GRE tests in the Big Book? Or are they totally irrelevant?

1580 is a great score. You don't need to re-take in my opinion. Just apply to an Ivy league university now.