Bunny Colvin

Type of Undergrad: Flagship public university, USNEWS top 30 (transferred from big public university after 1st year) Undergrad GPA: 3.63 Type of Grad: Non-degree classes at large private university Grad GPA: 3.7 GRE: V 164, Q 165, AW 4.5 Math Courses: Calc I (AP), Calc II (B), Calc III (B), Intro Proofs (B+), Probability (A-), Math Stats (A), Undergrad Real Analysis (A-), Grad Real Analysis (A-), Differential Equations (B-), Linear Algebra (A), Algebra (B+), Stochastic Processes (B+), Bayesian Statistics (A-) Econ Courses: Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (B), Intermediate Micro (A-), Intermediate Macro (A+), Intro Regression Analysis (A), Game Theory (B+), Public Econ (A-), Labor Econ (A), Seminar in Policy Analysis (A) Other Courses: Letters of Recommendation: 5 total from grad schools ranked 10-20. 3 from work, 2 from undergrad. With 2 from work I am coauthoring, the other I did a fair amount of math work for. 1 of the undergrad profs was my advisor, other taught seminar and saw my attempt at original research there. Mixed and matched letter writers to schools depending on connections (coauthors, those acknowledged in papers, etc.) Research Experience: RA 2 years at the Fed, coauthoring a paper and a shorter note there. Spent 2 summers RAing, first for a think-tank, then for a professor at undergrad university. In a seminar class I had to write an original research paper. Teaching Experience: Tutored athletes in micro, metrics, and calculus Research Interests: Applied micro, consumer finance SOP: Tailored to schools, adjusted my research interests based on professors at schools Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: UCLA ($), Ohio State ($$), UC-Davis ($), Waitlists: Minnesota, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, UMass-Amherst, Maryland (started teasing me about acceptance on Apr. 14) Rejections: MIT, Harvard, HKS, Stanford, Chicago, Chicago Harris, UC-Berkeley, Columbia, Yale, UC-SD, Duke, UVa, Georgetown, NSF Pending: Attending: UCLA Comments: My results are a good example of the randomness of admissions, especially for someone with less than stellar grades and GRE but good research experience and letters. The weight of letters really varies from school to school since professors sitting on an adcom have varying familiarity with letter writers. The fact that my best acceptance was at UCLA (rank 15) and lowest rejection at Georgetown (rank 48) really speaks to this I think. What would you have done differently? Discovered this blog sooner. Perhaps tried for a higher score on the GRE. Definitely would have applied to more schools in the 10-20 range, but at least I won't have any regrets about the possibility that I could've gotten into a better school.

Institution: Ohio State University Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Not yet Notification date: 1/13 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC: Yes Comments:

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BA Econ, Math at Large Public (top 40 econ) Undergrad GPA: 3.6 Type of Grad: Non-degree at local large private university Grad GPA: 3.7 GRE: 165Q 164V 4.5AW Math Courses: Calc 2 (B), Calc 3 (B), Intro to Proofs (B+), Probability (A-), Math Stats (A), Real Analysis (A-), Diff eq (B-), Linear Algebra (A), Survey of Algebra (B+), Stochastic Processes (B+), Grad real analysis (A-), Bayesian Statistics (A-) Econ Courses (grad-level): Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Macro (B), Intro Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (A), Intermediate Micro (A-), Intro Regression Analysis (A), Game Theory (B+), Public Econ (A-), Labor Econ (A), Seminar in public policy (A) Other Courses: Letters of Recommendation: 3 from Fed (current job), 2 from school Research Experience: Intern at think-tank for summer, RA for professor for summer, 2 year stint at Fed, paper for undergrad seminar Teaching Experience: Tutor in calculus I, econometrics, and intermediate microecon Research Interests: Political economy, applied microecon SOP: Should be good Concerns: Mixed bag of math grades, GRE at lower range of what I'm comfortable applying with Other: Applying to: MIT, Harvard, Harvard Kennedy School, Stanford, Berkeley, Chicago, Chicago Public Policy, Yale, Columbia, NYU, Minnesota, Michigan, UCLA, UC-SD, Maryland, UVa, UMass-Amherst, Duke, Johns Hopkins, UC-Davis, Georgetown; NSF and Ford Foundation fellowships.

I applied to one which had a fall cycle (in addition to a spring one) and got the position. It took them less than a month to request an interview and a week after the interview to offer me the position. I had the feeling that getting the interview is about 90% of getting the job. I'm happy to answer more questions on this; PM me for additional details.

I just wanted to list programs with atypical cores, since the usual is only micro, macro, math and metrics. For those who do want to separate the two areas, it shouldn't be too hard since the information is all there. Also, I found a few more: UConn (1 thought) Florida State (1 thought) Syracuse (1 thought optional) UC-Santa Cruz (1 history)

As a student interested in the historical and alternative approaches to economics, I've been looking for Phd programs that include courses in economic history, history of thought, and/or political economy in their core program. Thus far, I've found: (roughly ordered by ranking) Harvard (2 courses in first year in econ history/thought/interdisciplinary) UC-Berkeley (1 history) Yale (1 history) Northwestern (1 history) UC-Davis (1 history or thought) Rutgers (1 history) Vanderbilt (1 history/thought combined) UC-Riverside (1 history or thought) UMass, Amherst (1 political economy, 1 history) American (1 history, 1 thought) New School (1 thought, optional political economy) UMissouri-Kansas City (1 thought, 1 political economy) University of Utah (2 political economy) Colorado State-Fort Collins (1 thought) Howard (1 thought) I hope this is helpful to anyone else interested, and feel free to post any other programs I didn't mention.