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kbai

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  • Birthday 07/10/1990

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  1. I don't think the question implies that every student in the graduating class took at least one of them. So think of this as a Venn diagram within an Euler diagram.
  2. Hey everyone I want to apply to the top 20 schools next year, and my concern is, how bad will it look if I have A-'s in both Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra (instead of A / A+)? Would having A's in Real Analysis and a Ph.D Numerical Analysis course in the following semester make up for these less than perfect grades? Looking at past results, very few people get anything below A/A+ in these two classes and I get the feeling sometimes adcoms can be a bit nit-picky. (Also, I get paranoid). Thanks in advance!
  3. Basing ONLY on TM past averages, someone with a 3.5 could be at a significant disadvantage if he/she applies to any of the top 30 schools because most other people in that range will have a ~4.0 major GPA and 3.8+ cGPA. But if you look at individual results, you will probably have about ~60-70% of people with 3.9-4.0's, but then you have a few people with 3.5 - 3.7's getting in without a problem. All in all, it's a crapshoot. However, if you want a profile evaluation, we're going to need a bit more information. From what I've gathered, cGPA is one of the less important things to worry about. Of course, make sure you maintain >3.0 (you're perfectly fine as it stands) or else you may just get auto-rejected. Also, as minor as it is, a low cGPA still adds a dimension of uncertainty to your profile and you definitely don't want that.
  4. There seems to be mixed feelings about this subject on whether or not math research is "useful", "very useful", or "not useful". But I think the vast majority of us will agree that it's better than nothing. At the very least it reinforces the fact that you have mathematical competence and diligence. Not to mention a good LOR > lukewarm LOR any day (although try to get an economist, if possible).
  5. I would imagine it'll be 165ish? But then again, the old 800 became a 166, so maybe about 162-163 seems more reasonable. Problem is, there's absolutely no data on this yet so your guess is as good as mine.
  6. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it that you're worried about student A taking your spot in the university you want to go to? The way I see it, wouldn't you simply just be waitlisted, then be let off the waitlist when the top 10 kids go off to Harvard/MIT/Lala Land? (I'm actually not too sure how this waitlist thing works) I can kind of see your logic, but at the same time convincing adcoms is easier said than done, because I'm pretty sure they see this upwards hundreds of times. Why? Well look at it this way. From student C's perspective, you, student B, will become student A and student C becomes student B, relatively speaking. So if you are arguing student A will make it to a better school so the university should simply not accept him/her, the same argument can be made against you from student C's perspective. And then from student D, and student E, and so on and so forth. So it just becomes a giant mess of people saying mutated versions of "I will do well in this program and want to go here above anywhere else" in hopes of getting in. But on the other hand, maybe if you don't do a good job of trying to convince them that will put you at comparative disadvantage?
  7. But in terms of difficulty, how is Optimization Theory? I actually just might suck it up and take them both (not sure about the signaling power of having these courses in progress, but I should have a 3.97 math GPA from previous classes so maybe adcoms will take that into account). From what I heard, PDE is quite difficult, Real Analysis II will probably be very difficult, and Ph.D. Micro II, I'm not actually too worried about it, but it'll probably be time consuming as well. Also, what about 2nd semester statistics? It's probably bad to pick classes based on difficulty, but for all practical purposes I'm worried that getting an A- instead of an A in a signaling class will work against me, and just in case if I get skunked next season and have to do a 1 year master's degree and trying for Ph.D. again, I really don't want to walk into admissions with a bunch of A-'s or (God forbid) B+'s/B's in math courses.
  8. If there was only 1 spot in my schedule for PDE and Optimization theory, which one do you think would be more useful for both admissions and the actual Ph.D. coursework? I suppose I could take both, but the prospect of doing that while taking Real Analysis and Ph.D. Micro II does not sound fun.
  9. But judging from the forum posts and people I've talked to, I don't think SOP will make much of a difference in terms of admittance. I don't even know if they read it at all. But I will probably do as you suggest anyway, thanks!
  10. M.A. Degree Program Requirements | QED That's the Queen's University in Canada. Queens College Economics Queen's College (CUNY) The Queen's College Queen's University in England. I've only seen references to the one in Canada though, so I'm going to assume that's where you want to be headed if you're trying to get an Master's.
  11. Geez, are you taking this all in the same year? (or maybe everyone does that and I'm just being naive) I am tired by just reading this forum, and I'm not even applying this year. Next year is going to be a doozy alright. Good luck everyone, hope to see some of you guys in a year at a Ph.D. program in 2013!
  12. I am assuming that you want to get into at least a top 50 school, yes? Actually, our profiles are scarily similar, except you have a higher econ GPA and a bit more research experience. Nothing really stands out, but there are very few faults (except maybe cGPA is a bit on the lower end, just like mine). From what I can see from TM results, you probably will have a hard time cracking the top 5-10 (as if anyone else wouldn't), but I would be very VERY surprised if you don't get into at least top 40, and you have a solid shot at top 30. But then again, I'm only going by cGPA and GRE scores from past results and didn't really look into the other parts of the applications. And as far as I can tell, the general consensus is that cGPA and GRE are not exactly the best indicators admission success. Assuming you past the auto reject pile, which you probably will at the top 30 level judging by past result, the rest of your profile looks good enough to be fairly competitive. But I would probably make the worst adcom ever, so take my prediction with a grain of salt. I'll try to alleviate some of your worries though, from what I have gathered over the past 2 months of researching. Math-wise, your fine. Also it is more about the quality of the LOR than the writer (optimally you'd have 3 Nobel laureates all with glowing letters, but we've all done economics long enough to know optimal =/= real life). As for your writers' interest, unless if they, for whatever reason, dislike you based on the fact that you're not into the same field, I don't see how that would be a factor (in fact, I fairly certain adcoms won't even know, and definitely won't care). I personally 2nd the idea that having a math rec is good, but others have their opinions. As for grad classes, if they really are that big of a factor then logically no one from LAC's will ever get into good programs, and that certainly isn't true (in fact I've had professors told me having grad classes only help marginally, and if you end up getting anything below an A it actually hurts you). BTW, which cycle are you applying? If we are on different cycles, then I wish you the best of luck! (if we're the same cycle...hmm...95% best of luck!)
  13. Hey everyone, I'm trying to put together a CV for Ph.D. admissions, but I am a bit overwhelmed in terms on how to start this thing. It's not "required" for half the schools I'm applying to, but there are a few that want it. So far, I've listed my basic information, education, then coursework, research interests, and some miscellaneous stuff such as citizenship info and other skills. Problem is, it's only like a page long. I just don't have too much stuff to put on it but that's probably the best I could do for now. However, I have a small and somewhat uninteresting paper from a course (8 pages, not counting title page and references) I took for an economics class, should I list that as a research paper on my CV? It's not published (probably nor at publishing quality, for the matter), but it does deal with a bit of basic economic theory and I argued a few points. If I do put it on there, should I put an abstract for it? (with such a small paper, I thought it was silly to write an abstract at first, so now I'm wondering should I write one) While I'm at it, just how did you do your CV's? Also, do you think adcoms actually bother to even read these? Thanks in advance for your responses!
  14. Hmm...top 10%. I actually missed that part somehow... Well then it will depend on the placement history at your school. If your school regularly sends to top 20 places (which btw is where you want to go if your goal is academia), then maybe the adcoms should have some idea on the difficulty of the courses.
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