RNathEmre

On OneMoreEcon's suggestion I applied to and got into UM's School of Information PhD program in Incentive Centered Design. It's stunning the resources that people simply volunteer on this board. My gratitude is immeasurable. Thanks!

I am incredibly fortunate today...courtesy of my employer I can take any course at UChicago this fall (given the prof's approval). I was curious what course you guys would recommend as a good signal for grad schools? I will be applying mostly to masters programs. I was thinking applied game theory. Any thoughts?

Thank you all for your advice in this matter. You've certainly brough up a few very salient points. However, I feel that an MPP w/ MS Engineering allows me to address quite a few of the things that you mentioned. I've stated my thoughts on it below: 1) The MPP curriculum at the schools that offer a joint MPP/MSE program seem to incorporate a significant part of the curriculum for an MA in Econ. At the very least they include mico and macro. The program also offers the flexibility to take econometrics, game theory, and other related coursework, a definite must if I ever wanted to continue on for a PhD. 2) The Engineering component does actually comprise real analysis, and advanced coursework in probability and statistics. 3) I not only desire to expand my economics knowledge, but also add some heft to my computer science background as well. Though I work and do research in the field, I actually have no formal credentials in it. It's just something I picked up and learned on the way, and I would like to have some sort of formal credential for economic and career purposes should a PhD not pan out. 4) An MA in econ is largely seen as having no economic value. Further education is always a significant investment and has great opportunity costs; an econ masters would be "PhD or bust." The MPP/MSE would at least generate returns even if I do not enter into a PhD program. Of course, I feel education never goes to waste, but I'm no trust fund kid. 5) I feel I may not necessarily be a a good "fit" for pure economics. I enjoy algorithms and logic far more than pure mathematics (with the exception of probability/stat), and have lately grown somewhat bored of GDP numbers. What I am really interested in studying, is something I would call "Computational Social Science," which is one of those things that's funny, amorphous, and doesn't really fit in anywhere. Despite my boredom with GDP numbers, I still remain profoundly in love with economics So, a PhD in economics is one of several options that I am considering. At the same time I want to keep my options open to enter a field like complexity science (SFI institute) as departments develop programs in them. Any thoughts? I'm honestly having a hard time choosing programs and schools to apply to for next fall.

I actually work in a research group at a company who primary function is applied data mining/machine-learning. Though my job is mostly as a humble developer, from what I've picked up along the way I can tell you that Linear Algebra, Graph Theory, and Optimization probably comprise the bulk of the mathematics used in the field. Linear Algebra is perhaps the most foundational. Of course, don't forget Real Analysis. It is your entry-way to pretty much all higher level planes of mathematics.

Fellow Urchers, thank you for being so generous with their advice. I've posted on here several times before regarding masters programs as a stepping stone into a computational economics related PhD (prior post here (Interested in Computational Economics -- Seeking your suggestions on masters programs)). It seems my best bet would be schools that offer joint degrees in Information Science and Public Policy (Michigan, Berkeley) or Engineering and Public Policy (Stanford, Berkeley, UT Austin, MIT). Can you please evaluate my profile and chances of getting in. I do need to get into both schools to get this to work. Thanks! I've enumerated and possible school and my profile choices below. Programs Listing 1) Michigan School of Information - MS Incentive Centered Design & MPP 2) Stanford - MS Engineering Management Science & MPP 3) Berkeley - MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 4) UT Austin -MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 5) Maryland - MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 6) MIT - Technology Public Policy & Computational Design & Optimization Academic Profile Major: Mechanical Engineering School: Purdue University (Ranked #7 for MechE) GPA: 3.1 (I realize this is low, but as the school with the lowest grade inflation, it is still in the top 1/3 of the class) Minors: Electrical Engineering, Economics Research: none to speak of Undergrad Math: Through the 300 levels for calculus and algebra, mostly Bs with a few Cs Undergrad Econ: Tested out of Micro I & Macro I, Intermediate Micro (B), Intermediate Macro (A), and a 400 level class in behavioral (A) Grad Math: B+ in Probability Career Profile (Please read! It provides a glimmer of hope! :-) Graduating as a master of nothing, I first took a job teaching in India. Somehow this lead me into IT consulting, where in my spare time I co-authored a book on currency transactions in Oracle. I then jumped back across the pond as a consultant doing mainly operations research related work for a Big 3 consulting firm. In the past year, I moved laterally in the firm, and now work professionally as a researcher working on a class of technologies called support vector machines (related to optimization, artificial intelligence, and text/data mining). I've thus far co-authored one paper, presented a paper at the International Journal Conference on Neural Networks, and am currently working on another paper where I will be the primary author. I also developed the original paper that I co-authored into a fully functional, patent pending piece of software that has been deployed at several Fortune 500 corporations. ...I feel I may have to bite the bullet and see if I can just do both CS and Econ in 2+ years...but I don't want to. :wacko:

I've found this forum to be incredibly helpful, and I can't thank everyone on here enough for being so generous with their advice. I've posted on here several times before regarding masters programs as a stepping stone into a computational economics related PhD (prior post here). It seems my best bet would be schools that offer joint degrees in Information Science and Public Policy (Michigan, Berkeley) or Engineering and Public Policy (Stanford, Berkeley, UT Austin, MIT). Any thoughts? I've enumerated and possible school and my profile choices below. Programs Listing 1) Michigan School of Information - MS Incentive Centered Design & MPP 2) Stanford - MS Engineering Management Science & MPP 3) Berkeley - MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 4) UT Austin -MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 5) Maryland - MS Computational Engineering Science & MPP 6) MIT - Technology Public Policy & Computational Design & Optimization 7) Warwick/Ecole Polytechnique - Erasmus Mundus MS in Complex Systems Science 8) Duke - MA Econ w/ specialization in Computational Economics 9) Harvard - MS Engineering/Computer Science (extensive collaborative research w/ Econ Dept) Academic Profile Major: Mechanical Engineering School: Purdue University (Ranked #7 for MechE) GPA: 3.1 (I realize this is low, but as the school with the lowest grade inflation, it is still in the top 1/3 of the class) Minors: Electrical Engineering, Economics Research: none to speak of Undergrad Math: Through the 300 levels for calculus and algebra, mostly Bs with a few Cs Undergrad Econ: Tested out of Micro I & Macro I, Intermediate Micro (B), Intermediate Macro (A), and a 400 level class in behavioral (A) Grad Math: B+ in Probability Career Profile (Please read! It provides a glimmer of hope! :-) Graduating as a master of nothing, I first took a job teaching in India. Somehow this lead me into IT consulting, where in my spare time I co-authored a book on currency transactions in Oracle. I then jumped back across the pond as a consultant doing mainly operations research related work for a Big 3 consulting firm. In the past year, I moved laterally in the firm, and now work professionally as a researcher working on a class of technologies called support vector machines (related to optimization, artificial intelligence, and text/data mining). I've thus far co-authored one paper, presented a paper at the International Journal Conference on Neural Networks, and am currently working on another paper where I will be the primary author. I also developed the original paper that I co-authored into a fully functional, patent pending piece of software that has been deployed at several Fortune 500 corporations. ...I feel I may have to bite the bullet and see if I can just do both CS and Econ in 2+ years...but I don't want to. :wacko:

Fellow Urchers, thank you for all your feedback on my profile. Given the advice I received, I will be applying to masters programs as a stepping stone into a PhD program in Computational Economics (or something along those lines). Unfortunately, there are very few programs I could find that encompass both economics and computer science coursework. I have listed below the few programs I was able to find. I would greatly appreciate your help in adding to the list any other programs you know of, or econ and CS departments strong in computational economics. Also, appended below is my profile; any other suggestions or advice you may have would be incredibly helpful as well. Thanks again for all your help! Programs Listing 1) Michigan School of Information - Joint MS Incentive Centered Design & MA Public Policy 2) Berkeley - Joint MS Computational Engineering Science & MA Public Policy 3) Duke - MA Econ w/ specialization in Computational Economics 4) Harvard - MS Engineering/Computer Science (extensive collaborative research w/ Econ Dept) 5) Yale - same as above (MS Engineering/Computer Science) 6) Warwick/Ecole Polytechnique - Erasmus Mundus MS in Complex Systems Science 7) Essex - MS Agent-Based Computational Econ 8) Erasmus University Rotterdam - MS Computational Econ (12 month program only) Academic Profile Major: Mechanical Engineering School: Purdue University (Ranked #7 for MechE) GPA: 3.1 (I realize this is low, but as the school with the lowest grade inflation, it is still in the top 1/3 of the class) Minors: Electrical Engineering, Economics Research: none to speak of Undergrad Math: Through the 300 levels for calculus and algebra, mostly Bs with a few Cs Undergrad Econ: Tested out of Micro I & Macro I, Intermediate Micro (B), Intermediate Macro (A), and a 400 level class in behavioral (A) Grad Math: B+ in Probability Career Profile (Please read! It provides a glimmer of hope! :-) Graduating as a master of nothing, I first took a job teaching in India. Somehow this lead me into IT consulting, where in my spare time I co-authored a book on currency transactions in Oracle. I then jumped back across the pond as a consultant doing mainly operations research related work for a Big 3 consulting firm. In the past year, I moved laterally in the firm, and now work professionally as a researcher working on a class of technologies called support vector machines (related to optimization, artificial intelligence, and text/data mining). I've thus far co-authored one paper, presented a paper at the International Journal Conference on Neural Networks, and am currently working on another paper where I will be the primary author. I also developed the original paper that I co-authored into a fully functional, patent pending piece of software that has been deployed at several Fortune 500 corporations. ...I feel I may have to bite the bullet and see if I can just do both CS and Econ in 2+ years...but I don't want to. :wacko:

OneMoreEcon, First, I REALLY, very genuinenly, appreciate your thoughts. It's been incredibly thought-provoking for me and very helpful :). It's funny that you mention my lack of "fit" in economics and neuroeconomics and computational game theory as alternate fields. I certainly have pondered this too; I enjoy algorithms and logic far more than pure mathematics (with the exception of probability/stat), and have lately grown somewhat bored of GDP numbers. What I am really interested in studying, is something I would call "Computational Social Science," which is one of those things that's funny, amorphous, and doesn't really fit in anywhere. I would certainly say that neuroeconomics and algorithmic game theory fit into this realm and I would be very interested in pursuing them. Despite my boredom with GDP numbers, I still remain profoundly interested in economics, and so I figured that a PhD economics is somewhat of a"catch-all" field that can encompass my above interests if I can especially do behavioral/experimental. If you know of other programs related to "Computational Social Science" or specifically in neuroeconomics, please do let me know! Programs like CMUs Social & Decision Sciences (I believe you meant SETchange by "stem") are exactly the kind of place I would love to go to (and at the top of my list). A quick google search reveals George Mason has recently opened an institute for this field, and idea of its reputability? I will certainly investigate the other alternatives you mentioned. Thanks Again! :) --Gau PS I touched upon measure theory, but can't say I'm too familiar with it except for one facet, Lebesgue spaces. It's foundational to the mathematics behind SVMs. PPS You're absolutely right about Zurich.

Pete, Thanks for the candidness! I certainly thought some of the schools on my list were a bit too ambitious as well. So, I've edited my list of schools for Masters programs...any thoughts? 1) LSE 2) Tilburg 3) Zurich 4) Cambridge 5) Oxford 6) Pompeu Fabra 7) Duke 8) UBC 9) Bocconi 10) Toronto Are there any other programs or schools you would particularly recommend? Especially ones that are strong in computationa/behavioral/experimental?

Hello everyone! I have a small favor to request... I will be applying to graduate econ programs for the fall of 2011. Unfortunately, I by no means have the same sort of extensive background in the subject as many of the other people on here. I touched upon it briefly in college, but economics, behavioral/experimental/computational economics in particular, is something I grew profound interested via a very circuitous route in my years out of school. I'm mostly considering PhD programs, but for the above reason, would certainly consider masters programs if they would boost my chances of getting into a reputable PhD program. If you would be so kind as to evaluate my profile, offer some advice, or give any feedback at all, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks! Academic Profile Major: Mechanical Engineering School: Purdue University (Ranked #7 for MechE) GPA: 3.1 (I realize this is low, but as the school with the lowest grade inflation, it is still in the top 1/3 of the class) Minors: Electrical Engineering, Philosophy Research: none to speak of Undergrad Math: Through the 300 levels for calculus and algebra, mostly Bs with a few Cs Undergrad Econ: Tested out of Micro I & Macro I, Intermediate Micro (B), Intermediate Macro (A), and a 400 level class in behavioral (A) Grad Math: B+ in Probability Career Profile (Please read! It provides a glimmer of hope! :-) Graduating as a master of nothing, I first took a job teaching in India. Somehow this lead me into IT consulting, where in my spare time I co-authored a book on currency transactions in ORACLE. I then jumped back across the pond as a strategy consultant doing mainly operations research related work for a Big 3 consulting firm. In the past year, I retired those boots and now work professionally as a researcher in a corporate lab working on a class of technologies called support vector machines (related to optimization, artificial intelligence, and text/data mining). I've thus far co-authored one paper, presented a paper at the International Journal Conference on Neural Networks, and am currently working on another paper where I will be the primary author. I also developed the original paper that I co-authored into a fully functional, patent pending piece of software that has been deployed at several Fortune 500 corporations. Given my background, what I am really interested in is the nexus between computer science and economics, and so I've created the following initial list of schools I want to apply to roughly in the order of desirability (and inverse to my chances of getting in ): List of Masters Programs I will be applying to (and PhD if possible) 1) LSE - MPhil in Philosophy and Economics (my one exception to the above statement) 2) Tilburg - Research masters in Economics 3) Cambridge 4) Oxford 5) Duke 6) Indiana University List of PhD Programs I will be applying to 1) Carnegie Mellon - Social & Decision Sciences 2) Berkeley 3) Yale - SOM 4) ETH Zurich 5) CalTech - Social & Decision Sciences 6) Cornell 7) U. Chicago GSB 8) U. Chicago Harris (school of Public Policy) 9) UCSD 10) Purdue I should be able to get two recommendation letters from my alma mater, an additional one from my boss (who used to be on the admissions committee for CMUs Computer Science program). I will also be taking a course in game theory at U Chicago GSB this fall. Hopefully I can get a recommendation from there as well. Given all this...what are your thoughts? Am I aiming too high? Are there other schools I can consider? Is there anything else I can do to shore up my application? Thanks for all your help! :luck2: --Gau