econdevelopment
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any idea when davis will share all application results? any idea if they've had 1-2 rounds of rejections?
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I got the Berkeley rejection yesterday, and found out that MSU is offering funding. Pleasantly surprised at their level of funding. Still have to hear back from Davis, but I think I'll be at MSU this fall.
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thanks. assuming i don't get into davis (and berkeley), i think i'd go to MSU only if i received funding. i still haven't replied to their email (im actually travelling), but feel that if i ask about financial aid and they offer it soon i'll be bound to accept their offer. i guess i have to make up my mind soon. not plans to visit MSU until i sort it all out
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got into MSU today, but i don't have guaranteed funding. the acceptance letter said that they will explore funding opportunities, and the prof who will be my mentor (advisor?) said she has applied for some grants and may be able to fund me if those grants get accepted. the letter says "We look forward to your confirmation of acceptance of this offer". i don't think i'll accept the offer unless i get full funding. any suggestions of how to reply to them? i've still got my fingers crossed for a positive response from davis, but maybe that's not being realistic. seems like i'll be getting the berkeley rejection by tomorrow too..
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A very quick question. I was contacted by a faculty member who said the admissions committee had asked her if she would be willing to be my mentor. She wants to talk to me about my research interests, and see if it would be a good fit. A lot of her work is on ag policy, which I wouldn't be too interested in. But I'm sure there can be plenty of overlap; both of us have fairly broad research interests. I'm not sure if I get offered admission, will I have to work on her / potentially work on some of her less interesting research. I'll probably ask her about that, but want to do it tactfully. Any suggestions for the phone interview?
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well this was his reply. maybe he didn't want to go into too much detail and gave a quick standard reply that my profile isn't good enough. im sure he has plenty of better things to do. though i do think his explanation is slightly strange.
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i talked to someone at the UMD ag econ department, and asked if I could discuss my application. they told me who to get in touch with. i sent an email saying that i understand that the application process is extremely competitive, and i would appreciate any information about weaknesses of my application. he replied: Your scores were quite good but not as high as those among admitted students. We have found that students with quantitative GRE scores below the 90th percentile are not able to make it through the first year of our graduate program satisfactorily. The median score of those admitted this year is 166. On the verbal GRE it is 164.On the analytic GRE it is 5.0. All are well above the 90th percentile. Also, most of those admitted have undergraduate GPAs above 3.9 on a 4.0 scale.While we may dip below one of these standards when one score is low in the case where another score is exceptionally high, your scores are good but not as good as any of those admitted. i'm rather surprised at what he wrote (i thought grades were used as cut-offs, and then they looked at research experience etc). but i appreciate that he took out time to reply to my email and provided the information. i wasn't expecting any good news from berkeley or even davis, now im not even sure about msu..
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Rejected by Maryland this morning..
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Sorry, I should have added that they are all Ag Econ programs. A friend of mine joined Cornell last yr who has done some research with international organizations (including WB) but doesn't have the best academic background. Research interests fit really well with the AEM department at Cornell too. Maybe they are more keen on fit? Yea with this rejection and no other news, I'm really hoping for admission from at least MSU (no disrespect to the program, they have their strengths, plenty of large grant applied research projects going on too). Since I want to do development, Davis would be great (assuming Berkeley isn't going to happen). The only person I know who joined the program last year had a very good fit but not best academic background. It could be possible, especially since they (apparently) only make funded offers for the AEM PhD. I was feeling physically sick the entire day today. Haha.. I guess this is part of the application process. Congrats to everyone on their offers, and best of luck to everyone else. And thanks a lot for the replies.
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got the cornell rejection today. i haven't heard back from any other schools, but this isn't looking good for me :( i would love to get into davis, but... does anyone have any comments for me?
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congrats, that's great for you. i see you applied to a number of programs, so best of luck with the rest of the decisions. you have a great profile!
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haven't heard from any... when did you apply, and did he mention anything about funding? congrats!!!
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I don't know the programs you mentioned much at all, but the GRE quant seems a bit low. It's not a great signal when seen alongside your college math. My question is why do you want a PhD in Ag Econ, and will these programs help you achieve those goals? Your research interests also need to match with the ag econ departments, especially if they are smaller ones. If your GRE quant makes the cut-off, I would guess you would make it in most of the programs you mentioned. Is your current school a similar ranked/better applied econ school?
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Are online courses in mathematics worth it?
econdevelopment replied to MemphisMike's topic in PhD in Economics
If I were you, I'd definitely apply to a couple of the Ag/Applied Econ schools you mentioned. Do any of your LOR writers/ supervisors / co-authors know faculty at Ag/Applied Econ programs? That can make a huge difference. P.S.: I don't know much about the Italian university system so not sure how good/bad the GPA is -
Yes rjn should share a full profile. However, I think this is a good example where a Master's degree would be very important for admission in a decent Economics PhD program. Improving the GRE score isn't that hard, but assuming the GPA in Econ and Math classes is ~3.5 with no graduate Economics classes the profile is a bit weak. A good Economics Master's with some higher level math classes would be a good signal, and might provide better LORs (if the current school doesn't have Economics professors, it's unlikely that rjn can get strong LORs from well-published professors who did their PhDs in good schools).
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Well, research positions at international organizations also require PhDs in Economics. Some people would like a PhD for that career path.
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Well you have plenty of Math (like analysis) and your Econ and Math grades seem good. Assuming your school has placed students in 20-50 ranked Econ PhDs and that you do well in grad Econ courses, you should have a good shot at schools you mention. Plenty of threads on good master's programs on this forum. Could be a good option.
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I plan on applying to four ARE programs: Berkeley, UC Davis, Maryland and Cornell. And one Public Policy and Economics PhD from U.Michigan. Type of Undergrad (and grad): Top 25 Econ school BA Economics and Math/ MA Economics: Major GPA 3.65, Overall GPA 3.67 Econ Courses: Intermediate Micro and Macro, Advanced Micro and Macro, Econometrics, Statistics, Behavioral, Game Theory, Development Econ, Money and Financial Intermediation, International Finance etc Math Courses: Calc 1,2, Multivariate Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability Theory, Operations Research etc GRE: Quant 163, Vocab 161 LORS: 1) Very well know Ag Econ researcher, my supervisor at work. Top 5 Econ school PhD. I co-authored working papers with him. 2) Young research fellow, well published, top 5 Econ school PhD two years ago, I have worked for her as an RA. 3) Undergrad professor, top 25 Econ school PhD, knows me reasonably well. Expect three reasonably strong LORs (1 and 2 specifically stated they would strongly recommend me). Experience: 1.5 yr RA experience. A lot of data work, some field work. Co-authored a working paper with very well known macro economist, though I want to work on applied microeconomic issues in the future. Publications: 2 working papers, 1 discussion paper. I am from a South Asian country, and came to the US for my undergrad. Have been working at a research institute since my joint BA/MA from my school Would love to hear comments about my profile. I'll be happy to share my thoughts about other's posts.
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So I took the GRE last week, and got a 163 Quant and 161 Vocab. The quant score might be a couple of points lower than what I wanted, but I hope to make the cut-off for the programs I am targeting. My LOR writers also suggested that they will write strong recommendations. And I will only have 2 working papers and 1 discussion paper by the time I send in my applications. I will be applying to ARE Berkeley, Maryland, Applied Econ Cornell and a Public Policy and Economics PhD at U.Michigan. So basically a lot of the uncertainty from my initial post is gone, apart for the SOP. I would really appreciate some advice regarding it. I read a few threads on this forum about SOPs, but had some specific questions listed in my initial post. As always, will appreciate any comments / criticisms of my profile.
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Sorry but I really don't know much about schools strong in Labor Econ. Search threads on this forum, look at the couple of tools for overall rankings and they usually have sub-categories within Economics. You also might to look at schools who have researchers on their faculty who have done research that interests you. Sorry for not being more helpful.
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It's very difficult to make suggestions, especially since the GPA doesn't convert easily. From American standards, your grades seem low (74 percent is a C here!). However, I do realize that grading in India is very different. If your school is very well known and people on ad-coms know the grading policies, that would make your case more compelling. Has your school placed anyone in good US PhDs in recent years? That would be a good indication. You seem slightly low on the math courses too, however I won't be surprised if your quant skills are strong enough (the issue is convincing people on the ad-com). You must have seen other threads and the typical amount of math applicants take. I don't think the GRE quant score is a make or break (though a couple of points more would have been nicer). I would definitely apply to a couple of lower ranked schools, and leave out 3-4 of the schools you mentioned. I don't think top 20 percentile of class is something you can brag about. If your LOR writters got PhDs from top schools, that would be helpful. Also look for a good fit. If your research is high enough quality and the department does similar research, that could be a strong signal. It would be nice if someone else could discuss your SOP.
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IMHO: If I were you, I would look at the 25-50 range of Econ programs, and then put in a few safety schools. If you gave the GRE without preparation again, do you think you could improve the vocabulary score without hurting your quant score? And Insti has a good suggestion in case you can't improve the verbal score. If the LOR writters are American professors (ie native English speakers) and they could mention that you have no trouble communicating with profs/peers, that would probably be helpful.
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Oh I don't agree with the NYT article, in case that's what my comment suggested.
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Exactly. I guess we're all a bit biased about quant skills. While I do agree everyone should have basic math skills, I can see why some people don't care about them. There was an interesting article about algebra in high schools in NYT a couple of months ago.
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What kind of undergrad school did you go to? The rise in GPA is encouraging. The verbal is obviously low. Not sure what the percentile is. While verbal isn't the most important score in Econ application, the ad-com needs to know (at a bare minimum) that you won't have trouble with English, especially if you're not a native English speaker.