For Liberty

I think that those two courses are good compliments. I took them together last fall and liked that there was some overlap between the two.

I'll be applying in the fall, and I have done pretty much the same thing as rthunder27 and jrav: used NRC and USNews rankings, looked on here at past profiles and results to see what schools people who had similar interest and profiles applied to, and finally talked to my advisor. I'm trying to keep it to places that I will realistically be excited about going to (top 20, including b-schools). I'll wait until after my acceptances to research each school in depth and consider every detail, e.g. cost of living, weather, etc.

Same thing happened to me. I had to take them as "independent study" courses (reading course) and was advised to have a note with a university seal signed by the chair explaining the circumstances.

I think if you get an 800 on the second exam, it's likely they'll consider the first score a fluke because from what I've read it's not common for someone to raise their quant. score by 120 points in a week. What range of schools are you targeting?

My recommender from top 5 school told me that he thought my list was fine, but would fill it out with BU, Minnesota, UCLA, and Rochester. I still wouldn't consider any of these as safeties though.

I know of plenty economics professors who received their PhDs from 75-200 programs and are extremely happy and successful. There is a lot of emphasis put into going to a good graduate school, but it is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for becoming a successful economist, however it does, in a sense, make it easier. I think that the main issue at hand is how strong your passion for economics is. You can go to a 75-200 program and still end up teaching at a school such as MSU, though it may be a long a tiresome journey. The good news is that your job placement, in the long run, will hinge more heavily on the quality of your research, rather than the program you graduate from.

@whatdoido: You're point has been a concern of mine for quite some time now. One of my recommenders has advised several students who have went to top schools so hopefully they will be able to help in that regard.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA in Math and BA in Econ from a Top 150 state school--Top 100 Econ Dept.. Undergrad GPA: 3.9 (not finished yet); Math (4.0) and Econ (4.0). Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 500V, 800Q, (Waiting on AW) Math Courses: Calculus I (A) and II (A+), Multivariable Calc. (A), Diff. Eqs. (A), Intro. to Concepts of Math (Intro Proofs) (A), Numerical Methods in Math/Stats (MATLAB) (A), Linear Algebra (A), Business Stats (A), Intermediate Stats (A). Real Analysis (undergrad or graduate, depends on placement exam), Probability Theory, and Topology (Fall). Econ Courses: Intro Econ (A), Principles Micro (A), Principles Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A+), Intermediate Macro (A+), Regional Econ (A+); Graduate courses: PhD Math Econ (A-), PhD Econometrics (A). Letters of Recommendation: 1 from a well-known prof who is at a Top5; I have been an RA for him since December and he is advising one of my current projects. 1 from a well-known math prof (PhD MIT) who is advising my math thesis and had me in class. 1 from the prof who taught my PhD math econ and PhD econometrics class. I'm trying to get a mix of both classroom performance and research performance. Research Experience: RA for the department at my undergrad school for nearly two years. RA for my letter writer at a Top5 since December. Math thesis on market design using algorithmic game theory and graph theory. Econ independent project on "Too Big to Fail". Teaching Experience: TA for Intro Economics course. Tutor for math and economics for a couple of years. Research Interests: I'm mostly interested in macro: monetary, business cycles, etc. Though, I'm also interested in economic history and applied micro, specifically drug prohibition, homicide and crime, and other social issues. SOP: Will start drafting once I can narrow my list of schools. Other: Will be applying for NSF. Concerns: My undergrad institution has not sent anyone to any of the schools that I'll be applying to and it is popularly regarded as a party school. I won't have a chance to take grad micro in the fall because of a time conflict. Schools: I think eventually I want the list to contain about 15 schools. I'm pretty set on the first 11: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, Princeton, Yale, UC-Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Penn, Northwestern. Any thoughts and comments are welcome. I'd specifically like to know which schools you think would be a good fit for my interests and profile.

I really think it depends on the strength of your LORs. I feel like I have seen applicants with similar profiles get into a few different Top 10s and even a few Top 5s.

Wow! Your profile looks almost exactly like mine, except I've already taken Phd Math-Econ and Metrics and have to take RA and Prob. in the fall. Our LORs are even similar. Although, my interests are in macro/monetary.

Real GRE: Q: 800 V: 500 Three Weeks Before: Princeton Review online practice test (quant only): 570. Two Weeks Before: ETS paper practice exams (quant. only): I was missing between 5-7 problems consistently and was averaging between 700-770. Week Before: I was spending about 8 hours a day doing math problems, reviewing concepts, formulas, etc. I took the exam on Wednesday. (Saturday) 1st Kaplan CAT: 740Q 520V (Sunday) 2nd Kaplan CAT: 770Q 610V (Monday) 3rd Kaplan CAT: 800Q 600V (Monday) 1st PowerPrep CAT: 780Q 580V (Tuesday) 2nd PowerPrep CAT: 760Q 560V (Morning of, as a warmup) Manhattan: 800Q Like others have said progress comes sporadically. I got into the 700 range once I reviewed the math concepts and read Kaplan's strategies. I was stuck at missing between 3-7 for quite some time. This was mostly because I was making stupid mistakes. If anyone is worried about this, the best way to overcome stupid mistakes is repetition. I didn't get an 800 on a quant part until a few days before the exam, but I went back and did the problems from the ETS paper tests and was no longer making mistakes. I would have liked my verbal to be higher, but I can't complain because I didn't spend enough time on it. I had >2000 GRE words left to learn three days before the exam... I retained Needless to say, I'm elated. I cared primarily about the quant section and got exactly what I wanted. Good luck to everyone!

1. Harvard 2. MIT 3. Stanford 4. Princeton 5. Chicago 6. Berkeley 7. Yale 8. NYU 9. Columbia 10. Northwestern

http://moviecarpet.com/iwave/images/7/o-will-farrell-and-john-c-reilly-working-on-a-step-brothers-rap-album.jpg Prestige Worldwide Seriously though, I hope it doesn't matter all that much because I'm coming from a large state school that is known for football and lighting furniture on fire.

How much value added would come from taking a graduate real analysis course? I've been teaching myself real analysis via Rudin, MIT OCW, and video lectures from Harvey Mudd. I have not taken the undergraduate real analysis course at my school yet. My hope was to take the placement exam that all incoming graduate math students must take and try to place into the graduate analysis course, which I do believe is functional analysis. I will be applying to grad programs in the fall while taking probability theory and one of the analysis courses, maybe add topology or grad macro as well. I'm aiming for the top 10 range. What are your thoughts? I'd be happy to add any other pertinent information.

@liamc: Simply for conversation's sake. I enjoy discussing those issues, so it's a natural question.