maschke1

Have you ever applied to their programs or do you know someone who has? Do you know what the applicant pool looks like and how many get in each year? If you work there, how is it? Any info would be much appreciated!

Last year, one person from my school got accepted to Ohio State. I'm pretty sure that was the one and only applicant. She had some extensive research experience, but no master's or grad level econ classes. My hope is to improve 5 to 8 ranking positions with an additional master's, or at least some extra coursework.

I'm also looking into MA/MS programs. My school has an MA in economic policy, and while it's not going to add much academic-wise, I might use it to get more research experience and take more math. And I also might be able to get funding for that. But then again, I'm pretty sure a coursework from a PhD granting school is more appealing than an MA in economic policy.

Also, I would be interesting to know if you've done that, know someone who did it, or plan on doing it as well.

I'm applying to the 2013 cycle and while I would love to crack the top20 barrier, I'm not sure if I can do it this year due to lack of research and stellar recommendations (I'm looking at a 25-50 range for this cycle). I was wondering if it would be worth it to get into an unranked program like UMass-Amherst or UDel, do one or two years of coursework and work my life away as an RA, and then reapply to higher ranked schools (top 20) later on. I'm definitely willing to do that if it means getting into better programs, but I'm not sure if doing that would send a good signal to AdComs (whatever a good signal is). I could do either that or just "be happy" with a top 25-50 admission. What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

I wonder what the root of that policy is...

The UMass course seems to cover a wide range of stuff, so I would assume that it'll be very superficial. I would also say it's incomplete, since it doesn't cover things like compactness and it's applications. I took an intro course that kinda looked like that, and even though I learned a lot about how to construct proofs, I can't say the material itself was enough to prepare me for more advanced stuff.

BC's sequence looks much better (and harder). From the description, it looks like they might use Rudin's Principle's of Mathematical Analysis, which is a good book and covers all of the important stuff you'll need for grad school. I realize it will be ridiculously more expensive to take this sequence, but if you can, take it! It'll look nicer than UMass course for adcoms and it'll get you better prepared.

Why don't you sign up for Econ493? You'll get both credit and research experience.

These are the math courses I've taken so far: Calculus II-III (A,A), Linear Algebra (A), Differential Equations (B), Games and Decisions (lower level Game Theory) (A), Advanced Calculus (A), Real Analysis I (A), Real Analysis II (A), Matrix Analysis ©, Probability Theory (Fall), Game Theory (upper level calculus based) (Fall), Mathematical Statistics (Spring). I'm flirting with the possibility of taking Topology next Spring if they offer it. The C in Matrix Analysis is really killing me, so I wanted to compensate it by taking a more advanced course like the ones I mentioned before and have it show up in my application.

I'm considering applying to some MA programs in Canada and reapply to some higher ranked schools in 2014, so if I actually end up going up there to get an MA, then my grades for next spring would matter in future applications. Another option would be taking into to programming (I have no programming experience whatsoever) and try to get an RA position instead of taking one of those courses.

Catrina, I'm graduating in the spring. I don't have that much flexibility this semester because I still have to take a couple of classes to fulfill the school requirements. And I took six classes last spring...that didn't go very well.

I do plan on doing theory and maybe some stuff on financial econ...not sure yet.

tm_guru: I really need to pick one more class, otherwise I won't graduate.

I'm an undergraduate, but I have all the prereqs. anonecon, I don't know what texts they'll be using for Measure Theory and for Linear Methods. As for optimization, the professor wrote the book, which I already got from the library. It looks scary. I'm applying this semester, so I'm worried that might affect my performance in either class. I can't afford to have anything less than an A in each class, since I'm trying to compensate for a low grade I got last semester. Catrina, have you heard about your internship yet?