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genericname

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genericname last won the day on July 25 2010

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  1. Isn't this what the OP is considering doing, but replacing algebra with analysis? You said the faculty that you talked to think its important to see a sequence of courses but they also said its ok to skip a course in the sequence if you are going to take a more advanced course. Or was their advice specific to replacing an undergraduate class with a graduate class? Also, receiving a credit/no credit distinction doesn't really say much. If the requirement for earning the credit is similar to taking a class pass/no pass, don't you only need a passing grade on the test to earn the credit? I don't see what would need to be explained on an SOP, you took a higher level class. Especially considering the connection between undergraduate analysis and calculus.
  2. I'm not sure you understood the point I was trying to make. To me there are two main benefits to taking any class: The actual knowledge you gain The signal that it sends to an admission committee Well if they are going to self-study, then the knowledge that they gain will be the same regardless of whether or not they will be receiving a credit and taking a test. You can argue that the OP might self-study harder since they will be paying for the credit but as other posters said, the OP seems determined so I don't think that will be a problem. So the thing that matters is the signal of having the class on their transcript. The class will show up as credit/no credit so that doesn't mean anything. Now what you might have meant by having the class on their transcript is that some schools explicitly require some type of calculus sequence. This might be a problem but I would think that requirement is overlooked once an applicant has an analysis course on their transcript. Some other poster that has been in this situation can correct me if this is wrong. So you said lower division classes shouldn't be skipped, I think the material from lower division classes shouldn't be skipped. If they can't take an actual class with an instructor, then I don't see a reason to pay for the credits that they will be earning through self-study GIVEN that they will be taking a more difficult class.
  3. I wasn't thinking about the signaling aspect of a probability course. It is a useful course to take beyond signaling. I guess it might be alright since you are taking stats/econometric and you will likely have some type of probability review in at least one of those classes. A review might be too fast though if you haven't seen the material before. I would be weary of thinking that math grades (especially the grade from a math camp type of class) can overcome a low quant GRE score, especially if the GRE is used the way most people on this forum think it is used (as an initial filter).
  4. Well...The OP stated that they have permission to take RA in the fall so they don't need the calc. credit as a pre-req. If they are just going to self-study it and take a credit/no credit test, they might as well self-study it and not take a test and not pay for the credits (I'm assuming that the credits still need to be payed for, I'm not really sure how testing out of a class works).
  5. It might be too late but can you take a multivariable calc. course this summer and then analysis in the fall? Doing well in an analysis course would be more useful (in terms of signaling) than a good grade in multivariable calc., but the material in the calc class is useful. You said you would self-study it but it makes a difference having a good instructor going over the material (Maybe this is more applicable to upper-division courses). Were you planning on taking a probability course?
  6. ^ You also have to consider the increase in expected salary from attending a better program and getting a better placement. So I don't think it is as simple as comparing a stream of income and the SAME stream of income with an extra 60K-80K. I completely agree with you though about people ignoring opportunity costs.
  7. It seems like the OP already has most of the math they'll need for graduate school. Also, any holes in their math background (absence of probability) seems like it will be taken care of by next academic year. The OP's last semester will be in the fall right before applying so I think taking PhD micro is a good idea. Yes they will have to take it again, but having already seen the material should make it a lot smoother the second time around. This is all assuming that taking PhD micro doesn't require you to squeeze it in as a 5th or 6th class into your last semester and give up an opportunity to work on a research project.
  8. I agree with possible_phd that it isn't realistic to have an exact topic pinned down but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to be specific and research the department when mentioning your research interest when you apply. I also agree with the idea of reading faculty working papers to see if anything sparks your interest. In my opinion you don't have to read the whole paper, just the abstracts are enough to know if that person is doing work that you think sounds interesting. When I said methodology, maybe that wasn't the correct word. This is a hypothetical example of what I meant, you aren't sure exactly what you want to do but the thought of getting your hands on some call options data and diving into it sounds great. Then you get into a department where people are doing theory work, analytically solving PDE's all day. So I agree that it is unrealistic to have a specific methodology involving some special econometric technique in mind when applying to graduate school, but whether or not you lean towards empirical or theoretical, or other large black-white type of decisions that can characterize your research is something that I feel most people know as they are entering graduate school. Especially in your (drxpac) case where one of your interests is in asset pricing, one area means having a lot of training in statistics and in the other area, your training should be in pure math.
  9. Pretending to be into something in terms of specific projects might work if you are still very new to the field and open to different areas of research. It isn't as good as genuine interest but it is alright, I guess. Pretending to be into a certain methodology of doing research (that dominates your school's research programs) can end up being a serious problem if you realize that you really don't believe in that methodology...a couple of years into grad school.
  10. It's not the end of the world if you don't have well defined research interests RIGHT NOW. But when you make your case to the schools you apply to, you should be more specific than you are being now. This is what I think frayed was trying to tell you. The top departments seem good in everything, so you think that it is ok to be very general. The faculty on the admission committee have interests that are more specific so someone applying with a statement that is very broad might be interpreted by the admissions committee that the applicant doesn't really understand what is going on at that department.
  11. This is part of what everyone is trying to tell you. Your interests are very broad. A lot of faculty might classify their research specialization under "asset pricing" or "equity research/valuation" as a very general way of describing their research. When you look deeper though, they focus on a more narrow topic in terms of what projects they are actually working on. Like emperical asset pricing in blabla markets using blehbleh models or something like that. So yes, in the top departments, there will be people specializing in asset pricing and equity research/valuation, but will they be working on specific research projects (or using methodology) that you actually find interesting (or agree with).
  12. You are required to take Calc I-III and two quarters of multivariable calc? I am assuming that Calc I-III covers the calc sequence so what are the descriptions of the multivariable calc classes? Maybe your school uses those classes as an intro to analysis type of class.
  13. Aren't Kellogg and Anderson's Finance programs considered above Cornell's? I'm not sure if that is what you meant by being happy with them, as in, you would be happy with the top 10. It is just the wording you used makes it seem like you would be (most) happy with Cornell, but UCLA or Kellogg would be ok too.
  14. bugibugi7, I don't think a Math masters is an option for you right now. You just don't have enough Math to do well (or get admitted). A version of your 2nd idea seems to be most feasible, basically taking math and possibly advanced econ courses next academic year and applying next cycle to Masters (and possibly PhD programs) and continue to work on the research paper that you mentioned in your first post. I don't know what options you have in terms of coursework though.
  15. I think it will help make things more clear if you let us know what a 1.95 means compared to the rest of your class. You said above "rather average." So is that 50th percentile, 60th...? If your research experience was good and your recommendations are good and your GPA isn't bad, then it seems like you have a solid profile. Solid in the sense that you won't have any glaring black marks. Disclaimer: Your interest isn't my field of interest so I could be uninformed of the admissions process.
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