caffeine

Let me be more clear, by "letters may not be as strong as my current letters." I meant that I don't think they're going to get to know me as well as my current letter writers (rec letters from this round of admissions). And this is related to a question debated on this forum a lot: letter from not famous economist who knows you very well and thinks you're hot **** vs. letter from famous economist who will most likely not know me that well and who will most likely believe that I'm average or even below average. Also, a thing I forgot to mention is that one of the profs I would be RAing for mentioned that due to a few (like 3!) my B's in mathematics courses, I should get a MA first before applying to PhD programs. This is one of the main reasons why I believe the letter from this guy won't be very strong. I admit, it seems like every time I think about this, I go back and forth.

I was accepted to my favorite program but unfunded for the 1st year. Currently I'm trying to decide between this 1st year program and a 2-year RAship with two very famous economists at a top 3 program. I would have accepted the school's admission immediately if it came with 1st year funding. And I would have accepted the RAship immediately if I knew that I would be able to get very good letters at the end of the 2-years. The main hesitation I have is that I'm going to get some Bs in math courses which will bring my math/econ gpa down to just over a 3.6. Regarding the RAship: pros: super famous economists, I'll be getting paid, possible co-authorship, might be able to take classes at their Uni. cons: letters may not be as strong as my current letters, lower GPA for next admission cycle, 2 years of my life. Regarding unfunded grad school: pros: grad school now at my favorite program cons: unfunded = $50,000 of debt

Is April 15th the definite universal deadline for accepting an offer? I received an acceptance letter that said I have 30 days to accept/decline so that puts the deadline in May. Anyone else have schools that have a deadline after April 15th?

I just got an Honorable Mention on NSF. Not entirely happy but at least it didn't reduce me to tears.. I know in the past some of the applicants who actually won an NSF were able to get admitted to a school. Has anyone heard of that for someone who got HM? The HM comes with no money and epsilon prestige but I'm thinking it might be a good signalling tool for schools that I've been waitlisted at. My advisor was pleased an said that I should definitely put it on my CV. But what do you guys think an NSF HM means to schools I'm WL at?

Just got Honorable mention. E/E and VG/VG.

@dragonslion, did you get a WL email from Michigan?

Check this out guys! I've been working on a project involving Google Trends data for the past few years and... Google Trends The peaks pre-2012 occurred in Feb, 2012 and 2013's peaks occurred in March.. when do you think this year's peak will occur? Also, IMO, a query for "urch econ" or "urch economics" won't yield *clear* trends since we are only 1 field.. the more the merrier! :)

I've received very few requests for fall grades.. is this a bad sign? How many requests for fall grades did you guys receive so far?

Just check mine.. also rejected from Rochester...boo!

The people who have either been rejected or accepted to Rochester.. what website did you go to to check? The one I've been checking just says "Submitted." Not sure what this means..

I'm seriously hoping to get in.. it's my top choice, UNC then Davis. --sigh--

Has anyone heard from UC Davis Econ? It seems like there are some admits on GC, but I'm not sure if that's Ag Econ or not..

I applied to Texas A&M, UVa, and UNC Chapel Hill (amongst other schools). It seems like many people have already received admits from them. I just checked the web-portal for those schools and it doesn't say accepted or reject, but rather the usual message of: if we need anything else, we'll contact you. I also applied to OSU, but that portal has updated to "Pending" whereas none of others have changed. Should I take this as a bad sign? Do the departments usually make decisions, then send out the acceptance/rejects all at once or what?

What's the standard for Fall 2013 grades? Do most programs ask for them or are we supposed to just send them anyways? I've applied to 15 schools but have only received 2 grade requests and it's making me very nervous.

Wow! I wasn't expecting this many responses! Thank you everyone! I would like to do micro theory, although my current background and RA experience is in applied micro.. I will most likely end up doing applied micro, but one can dream! I should be more clear about my options regarding the course: a) drop and take the W b) continue and get a C c) continue with pass/fail... get a pass. I do plan on reading and studying topology on my own, but of course, there is almost no signal in that. I find topology fascinating, especially when used in micro theory. But I think I'm over my head with this class currently. Another reason why I'm not that big of a fan of this course, is that the first 2/3 is topology (he's skipping fixed point theorems all together) and the last 1/3 is going to be knot theory. I've discussed this with a mentor and he insists that if I can't get an A, that I should drop the course and take the W. But, that seems to be too extreme. So I was wondering what the Urch community thought on my situation. I will be taking RA I and II next year (fall and spring) using Rudin along with some other courses. Feel free to PM me. Thanks again guys!