Viri

Once I was applying to the schools I thought that if I get admitted even to the poorest school on my list I would jump from joy. I got admitted to a few good ones, but instead I am miserable trying to decide whether I should proceed. I applied to ~15 schools last fall and got almost all results by now: Admitted: UMinnesota Twin Cities ($$), John Hopkins ($$$), UTAustin ($$), UCDavis ($). Rejected: Northwestern, NYU, Stern, UMichigan - Ann Arbor, CalTech, UWMadison, Brown, UCLA Anderson. Pending, but probably unlikely: Carnegie Mellon, UToronto, Rotman (UToronto Business School). My specialization is empirical IO and UMN seems like the best option, since Petrin is there and Bajari might return from Amazon. Waldfogel is in the UMN business school and does some nice internet economics. Other profs are probably good, but I am not familiar with their work. I have to TA there and do get some funding (around 16K). I have second thoughts though, since 1) I have misplanned my application process which was a bit clumsy and I feel I can improve on it; 2) UMN is objectively a good school, but it is not ideal either (weather; somewhat isolated in Midwest); 3) I would not mind one more year free out of school as I have a good research job in an econ think-tank and could try a few more things. During the application process this year I have completely overexhausted myself by applying to many schools. Plus, I had to work full-time at a new job while finishing my MSc thesis and going through some personal stuff (first serious breakup, anyone?). Here are the things I think I could improve: 1) Apply as early as possible and polish the crap out of the applications; 2) Write perfect SoP's and any optional essays they want (mine was quite good, but not the absolute best); 3) Publish my Master thesis in a mid-tier (?) journal. I got an A+ and all my profs were encouraging me to submit it for publication. It is on empirical IO and is very technical and brings some improvements to current models, but is not exactly ground-breaking. I submitted it as a writing sample, but could imagine many did not even read it. (A publication in CV probably looks much better). If I try really hard, could probably even turn it in 2 papers (one more general, another in application to specific policies). 4) Participate in more conferences and present my thesis? 5) Get out a few pieces through my think-tank. While it is well-ranked, it is very policy oriented, so it is not very "academic", but still. 6) Take the damn TOEFL. I come from Europe and my TOEFL ran out a few months before I applied and I could not re-take it on time, so I had to write every school and persuade them consider my application (I have plenty of English experience). Only Boston University declined outright, but I can imagine it did not add me points. *) Also as said, I would probably enjoy one more year out of school anyway, as I was flirting with an idea of trying some consulting work. So far the opinions of my friends and profs were as follows: 1) Ask for deferral, take another gap year to clear my head, do PhD at UMN; 2) Ask for deferral, apply elsewhere, go to the best school (morally grey, unless they specifically allow for it/give me a release); 3) Go to UMN as I was lucky to get in there considering my profile and that some relatively lower-ranked schools rejected me (might be well true!), so I might miss even this opportunity next year (said by one of the LoR writers). My profile is here: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/151427-profiles-results-2014-a-3.html#post975410 I am not sure what to do. On one hand the year after PhD will probably be more useful and the potential for improvement of outcomes is uncertain. But on the other hand maybe I am just not grateful for what I have enough..

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Top 3 econ school in Germany; Undergrad GPA: ~3.4? (2.2 German GPA); Type of Grad: Top 3 econ school in Germany; Grad GPA: ~3.7? (1.7 German GPA); GRE: 169/165/4.5; Math Courses: BSc. minor in Math: Analysis I, II, Linear Algebra, Probabilty Theory etc. A- on average; Econ Courses: A lot, mostly on Industrial Organization and Macro; Other Courses: Some graduate level courses taken not for grades on empirical IO; Letters of Recommendation: Great to good LoR from profs from Arizona State, UWMadison and EUI; Research Experience: Very technical Bachelor and Master thesis on empirical IO; RA to professors and at a research institute for 2.5 years total; Teaching Experience: None; Research Interests: Empirical IO, numerical methods, growth theory; SOP: Talked about my extensive research experience, motivation and professors I would like to work with at the school; Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: UMinnesota Twin Cities ($$), John Hopkins ($$$), UT Austin ($$); Waitlists: UC Davis; Rejections: Northwestern, NYU, Stern, UMichigan Ann Arbor, UW Madison, CalTech, UCLA Anderson, Brown; Pending: UToronto, UToronto Rotman, Carnegie Mellon; Attending: Probably UMinnesota; Comments: What would you have done differently? During studies: I would have concentrated more on getting good grades, rather than rushing into research and doing advanced graduate classes (that could not go on my transcript anyway) to implement the fancy methods in my Bachelor or Master thesis. During application: I would have given myself enough time to polish every single aspect of every single application and not rush.

I have been super busy at my job last months and have totally overlooked how rigid schools are about TOEFL. This is the first time I ever need it, since I took it and the scores have expired already one year ago and cannot be reported. The most annoying part is that I have enough of experience in English: 1) US High School Diploma (from a 1 year long exchange program); 2) GRE Verbal score of 165, 95-th percentile; 3) Bachelor at a German school with English and German as the languages of instruction; 4) Master from a German school with English as the exclusive language of instruction; 5) Currently working for one of the top EU econ think-tanks, where the working language is obviously English. 6) And for God's sake, I am about to publish my thesis, which is of course in English! Still, some of the schools waive the TOEFL requirement only if the applicant completed his full studies in an English-speaking country. And the next test in my city is on the February 22nd. Now, I know this was quite silly of me to overlook this, but well, here I am. My question is: Is it still worth applying to some of these schools and just explain it shortly in CV/SoP/some addendum?

Hello everybody! I am in the middle of the application process and while I have most documents ready, I am still looking for schools. My focus is heavily on empirical IO, so I was looking for good schools beyond the usual big names. I am interested in those that are on the rise/overlooked, which would my chances to get in.

Hello! I am in the middle of application process right now for Econ PhD, but I have heard a lot of good responses regarding the Business PhD for people who want to concentrate on empirical Industrial Organization (which I do). For instance, a professor from Chicago told me that all profs that teach IO to Econ majors come from the Business School anyway. So the question is what are good programs in Business for IO people?

Mannheim has a strong IO department and has been rising in rankings rapidly. May want to consider that.