Michalz

Someone did post his results in his old profile evaluation thread and I think that's a nice idea. Here are mine. As you can see by comparing the first post to the current one, some things have changed. I changed my research interests (or rather finally defined them, although that's still subject to change), learned a lot about how the process works and what are good places to do PhD and that realized that some stuff just doesn't count (I bet few people care about your crappy publication in your native language which might as well not even exist or be printed-at-home student bulletin). Knowing what I know now I could easily answer my past self: "Boy, with this profile you have no chance of getting into Top 10 nor Top 20.". Thanks to OutOfGame for giving me more hope though. But the story has happy end - I developed my profile a lot, mostly by exchange at better place, research work with my supervisor and - probably most importantly - RA experience in a great research team where I really learned a lot. I did relatively ok, but not super good in last year cycle and this year I cracked Top 10. So if you're Top10 calibre but your personal history is such that getting to T10 program is unlikely, you can do it. It may require a lot of investment but you may elevate your profile a lot. At the same time I wouldn't count on miracles - if your profile was weak, even if you improved a lot you still have small chances of getting to the very top programs just because it's hard to get in there in general, even for well qualified applicants. PROFILE Type of Undergrad: BA in Finance, internationally unknown Polish university Undergrad GPA: 4.8/5 Type of Grad #1: MA in Applied Mathematics, a bit more reputed but still rather unknown Polish university; 1 semester of exchange at Economics department at UC3 Madrid Grad GPA: 4.9/5 GRE: V 155 / Q 169 / A 4.5 Math Courses: Bunch of it during the Master but more advanced courses mostly in Statistics Econ Courses: Introductory Micro, Macro, Pub Finance, bunch of Finance courses during BA; Political Economy, Applied Macro and graduate Econometricsduring MA - in the end lack of solid econ background actually Research Experience: BA thesis published in peer-reviewed but not very top quality local journal; independent MA thesis on Energy Economics with article with my supervisor based on the thesis published in reputed field journal; second article with supervisor in the same field journal; 1 year of full time researchassistance for Law&Economics professsor, MIT PhD. Letters of Recommendation: RA supervisor, MIT PhD, tenured but still rather young ; Course instructor from Madrid, PhD from Toulouse, past work in US T10 ; Supervisor from Poland, well known in his narrow field but not beyond it, no ties to top PhD programs; I think all letters were strong Research Interests: applied microeconomics, political economy SOP: discussing my research experience an just a bit about research interests Comments: I'm two years out of school. I spent one year working in business (personal reason to delay application) and applied last year. I was accepted to some European programs (Madrid, Cambridge, Oxford) but decided to take an opportunity as RA and try to crack Top 8 this year. RESULTS: Acceptances: Northwestern Kellogg ($$$), Minnesota ($$), Zurich ($$$), EUI Florence ($$), Oxford & Nuffield College (?) Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, Chicago Econ, Chicago Booth, LSE, NYU, Stockholm Uni (!) Pending: Stockholm SE (they lost the application or what? :)) Attending: Northwestern Kellogg Comments: I achieved what I wanted and so I'm very happy.It must have been quite a lot of luck too since I only got one offer from Top8 schools and got rejected from some schools which I considered inferior but the beauty of this game is that you only need one! What would you have done differently? I think that improving my profile would require quite a lot of changes early in my education, e.g. different BA or MA institution. This would be very difficult for many reasons though. But since I only learned that I want to do Econ PhD when graduating from BA program and had no idea how the application process works, I think I ended up very well. If I could made up my mind earlier and start getting interested about serious research earlier maybe it would help. One advice for applicants coming from places which don't have the history of sending people to US/Top European programs nor the faculty with PhDs from relatively well reputed institutions - you must reach outside! Exchange, RA, intership - whatever. It's difficult but doable. One thing is certain, I wouldn't be where I'm now without this forum. For people from outside of US whose UG institution has probably never sent a student to any US Econ PhD and has virtually no professors who can introduce you to the admission process this forum is very valuable. Thanks folks!

PROFILE Type of Undergrad: BA in Finance, internationally unknown Polish university Undergrad GPA: 4.8/5 Type of Grad #1: MA in Applied Mathematics, a bit more reputed but still rather unknown Polish university; 1 semester of exchange at Economics department at UC3 Madrid Grad GPA: 4.9/5 GRE: V 155 / Q 169 / A 4.5 Math Courses: Bunch of it during the Master but more advanced courses mostly in Statistics Econ Courses: Introductory Micro, Macro, Pub Finance, bunch of Finance courses during BA; Political Economy, Applied Macro and graduate Econometricsduring MA - in the end lack of solid econ background actually Research Experience: BA thesis published in peer-reviewed but not very top quality local journal; independent MA thesis on Energy Economics with article with my supervisor based on the thesis published in reputed field journal; second article with supervisor in the same field journal; 1 year of full time researchassistance for Law&Economics professsor, MIT PhD. Letters of Recommendation: RA supervisor, MIT PhD, tenured but still rather young ; Course instructor from Madrid, PhD from Toulouse, past work in US T10 ; Supervisor from Poland, well known in his narrow field but not beyond it, no ties to top PhD programs; I think all letters were strong Research Interests: applied microeconomics, political economy SOP: discussing my research experience an just a bit about research interests Comments: I'm two years out of school. I spent one year working in business (personal reason to delay application) and applied last year. I was accepted to some European programs (Madrid, Cambridge, Oxford) but decided to take an opportunity as RA and try to crack Top 8 this year. RESULTS: Acceptances: Northwestern Kellogg ($$$), Minnesota ($$), Zurich ($$$), EUI Florence ($$), Oxford & Nuffield College (?) Rejections: Harvard, MIT, Stanford GSB, Stanford Econ, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, Chicago Econ, Chicago Booth, LSE, NYU, Stockholm Uni (!) Pending: Stockholm SE (they lost the application or what? :)) Attending: Northwestern Kellogg Comments: I achieved what I wanted and so I'm very happy.It must have been quite a lot of luck too since I only got one offer from Top8 schools and got rejected from some schools which I considered inferior but the beauty of this game is that you only need one! What would you have done differently? I think that improving my profile would require quite a lot of changes early in my education, e.g. different BA or MA institution. This would be very difficult for many reasons though. But since I only learned that I want to do Econ PhD when graduating from BA program and had no idea how the application process works, I think I ended up very well. If I could made up my mind earlier and start getting interested about serious research earlier maybe it would help. One advice for applicants coming from places which don't have the history of sending people to US/Top European programs nor the faculty with PhDs from relatively well reputed institutions - you must reach outside! Exchange, RA, intership - whatever. It's difficult but doable. One thing is certain, I wouldn't be where I'm now without this forum. For people from outside of US whose UG institution has probably never sent a student to any US Econ PhD and has virtually no professors who can introduce you to the admission process this forum is very valuable. Thanks folks!

Perhaps check field rankings at Rankings ; they're old, imperfect but give you an idea where the program is traditionally strong when you compare field ranking to total ranking. E.g. Caltech or Northwestern are high in Micro Theory, which is a good indicator that if you're interested in game theory kind of math, these are good places. That's not the best source of information, but it's something :)

I decided to review my math too. I have quite solid math background but mostly in Statistics/Econometrics area. Also, I forgot a lot of stuff being out of school for some time. Besides, I never had a chance to put all pieces of math I know together and make sure I understand everything - that's how it works when you do many things during your studies. Now, I guess, it's the last chance when I can reasonably expect myself to do it ;) I'm getting through Simon & Blume, I've read couple of chapters already - it's a nice book on a very reasonable level. Perhaps some math guys would find it too easy but I don't think you need nor want more. Since I work full time too I'm spending maybe 1 hour a day on average on reading but I should spend a bit more I guess.

I got an offer today, no info on funding. I will decline.

Ok, that's the end of the game for me - happy end. I accepted offer from Northwestern Kellogg and will start the program in the Fall. The applicaiton process was a hard time but now it's time to move to the next step :) Good luck to all those still waiting or deciding between schools!

Northwestern Kellogg: 03/16 Minnesota: 03/04 EUI Florence: 03/18 Zurich: already passed I know Stanford is 04/03 too, just like Chicago and Northwestern Econ (crazy, what if you were admitted to couple of them and want to check out?)

I'm not super well informed but from what I know KOF doesn't have strictly understood PhD program in American style. Instead, it's German-style chair-based system where you choose your supervisor from the beginning. I guess you need to check potential professors and see if someone seems to fit you. The university itself is great and as a PhD student you will get paid quite reasonably, even for Swiss standards. Uni of Zurich is very close and you can take parts in all seminars etc., but I don't know if it's possible to enroll in courses. If you already have Master in Econ and good coursework done this ETH could be ok.

Sure, you may let them know. But don't expect too much - just saying so that you are not disappointed later :)

Not necessarily. Apparently, judging from last year experience, it could be whatever - possibly waitlist.

That's what you call first world problems! ;)

Hard to say. Definitely the main purpose for which they want to know if you got other offers is that if you got some better ones, they can safely assume you won't be coming. I would probably write them about your offers and underlined that offer from Northwestern would be your dominant one if you got it - but I have no idea if this has any impact.

You should easily get B1 visa until then. I applied for visa last thursday, had interview yesterday and I should get my passport back in one week.

I just informed Minnesota that I won't be accepting the offer and I must say it's oddly satisfying to write "I regret to inform you..." phrase at least once, instead of reading it ;) I hope that some other applicant from the waitlist will be admitted soon and will enjoy the news. And regarding the status on the website which some of you were discussing: mine still shows "Awaiting program decision" even though I got an e-mail with (funded) offer. So the website seems to be rather poor source of info.

One way for you may be to use your JD connections and try to attack economics from law&economics side. I don't know if it applies to you but there are a lot of good professors who have both JD and PhD in Economics and are well regarded among Economists, yet they work in Law Schools - maybe you know such guys and can somehow refresh the relationship?