blockRed

^Awesome, congrats!

Four more years! Fours more years! Seriously, congrats, and good luck! :orange:

What programming do you recommend to better work with Mathlab, Stata? How did you "devote yourself" to learn Mathlab? How much of an upfront investment did you make w.r.t. time, and how did you go about making that investment...class?

To charlesr: What kind of courses do you recommend? More short papers, or longer kinds of works? (I imagine that for current Phd students, you recommend field courses where you write referee reports, etc?)

I got a B in LA and still got into a top 10. YMMV.

^Best of luck to you!

From rejected status? Harvard=no way MIT=probably also no if adcom same as last year Yale=probably no (have more money than Billy Gates) ditto Princeton, Stanford Other schools top 5: Berkeley, NWU i see slight possibility

From what i understand from the voting in past years, the first criterion is/should be weighted most heavily. Perhaps Team3 could help elaborate? If so, then i agree with you that chateauheart is the overwhelming choice. (no disrespect intended for all the other candidates, all of whom are worthy)

Again, it depends on personal preference. I am just saying that if next year happens to be a bad year funding-wise, i can easily see you, with improvements and under this assumed environment, ending up at a top 15-20ish school that may be strapped for funding: say a UCLA, Wisc., etc.

...but you are ridiculously underselling your school. I'm afraid someone here who doesn't know better would believe it. :peach: (This is the opposite of what normally goes on here: this is an ex of me calling out someone exaggerating crazily: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/144815-2013-thread-28.html#post943353 ) Yes, Toronto is most definitely top 25, and probably can make a very good case for top 15 placement-wise recently. I am not sure about top 10, but Toronto is definitely on the rise.

Do you have a link to that article? Sounds like an interesting read :cupcake:

No one else from TM won this year?

And top business schools is all about the letters, based on my observations and what knowledgeable other have told me. For ex, my top 10 also has a top 10 finance program, and there are people who got in there ( with appropriate LORs) that didn't crack top 20 pure econ. 'Tis sad, but true.

Remember that it is faculty evaluating NSF, just like with applications; they aren't going to google where a person got their PhD from; this is just common sense, as they have literally hundreds of applications to go through. So having a known name...not necessarily famous, but someone who is a actively participating in academic discourses, which (usually but not always) correspond to being at least a phd granting school (or extremely high ranked LAC like Swarthmore, Carleton), is rewarded.

I am going to stop too. I think, nowadays, Chateauheart and myself give advice that is realistic, but frequently (mis)interpreted. I really empathize with people applying; i went through that process myself. To suffer thinking you had a chance when you never really had one is to suffer without reason.

[quote=hedgequant;946535 If your letter writers are top-30 econ grads, it shouldn't matter that your school doesn't have a PhD program. It's not like you are getting letters from people who have never done a PhD. This is just simply not true.

I think "doing well" is at least a B+ in Phd Micro, (assumming grading is similar to my top 10). Given that you aren't taking a full Phd load, you should really aim for (at least) a A-, which is easier said that done. i can say that there is no way i would have gotten that grade :grad: last point: i would reread (simply/highly)confused post in your thread. There was some good, cold advice given there.

Congrats! Please list schools wl-ed at. I see Vandy. You should be able to get in if you mention that you've won NSF. (Personally i would defer, "bulk-up" and reapply....but that is personal preference. YMMV :whistle:)

^Listen to this guy. Choose funded, unless the discrepancy is fair large, or if you are risk seeking.

Completely agree with chateau. Great legwork, btw. Let's just say that i don't think he is alone in self promoting his school like crazy. I blame not only these self-promoters, but also the people posting the original questions. OPs, please....do some actual legwork, ask precise questions, and be prepared to get possibly unwelcome responses. The folks answering should be prepared to be questioned (as they will be in future scholarship), rigorous and give actual evidence...as in from placements. And no more "i prefer a future appt at Wichita State marine economics to one at Harvard, ergo school X that places heavily there must be top 10" and the ilk. p.s.--i made up a school just to avoid controversy this time :devilish:

Great advice, TM guru!

^Yes. Majorie is a sweet lady...and yes, i have been the recipient of the phone version of one of those rejections :crushed:

^Agree completely with chateau. You'all shouldn't attack him for being realistic. That said, if you can fork over the extra dough, then submit a few more apps!

Tough choice, i would say look at the placement and JMPs.

Not sure if the last post actually stuck....last post i see is from over 20 hours ago. Erin? You can PM if you are more particular questions, but you have good options. Please excuse any lag in response as i am in the middle of finals. p.s.--- to the peeps who PMed asking for profile evals and the ones asking for help choosing, i will get back to you within the next week or so. Thanks :grad: