weirdwitch

I am from India, and I did my master's from Warwick (with funding) coming from a virtually unknown undergrad, so it's all doable! I think you have thought of stuff waay far into the future - for now, just focus on doing well in your B.Sc and shortlisting places you tentatively want to do a master's in, whether in India (DSE, etc) or abroad. Once you do that, you can think about the PhD scenario, and placements etc come much much later in the scheme.

Hmm I see - thanks guys!

Hey guys, I did start off as a chiefly Econ PhD aspirant, but ended up applying to more Marketing programs than Econ, so I am basically a Marketing applicant now! Hmm yeah, trying not to read too much into it, but I really really want BU to work out, so I can't help getting a little bit optimistic about it :| So hope things work out! On the whole, as far as probabilities go, how likely would you say an admit is if one has been seriously interviewed? I understand this figure varies widely across programs, but even then?

HI there, I've been (Skype) interviewing at BU since a week or so, and have spoken to three different people already, and have two more scheduled for this week (with the department chair and the PhD liaison person). Would you say this is a good enough indicator of them being interested in seriously admitting me, or is this just standard protocol for some schools? Thanks!

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Would you say George Mason is a reasonable safety, or should I add a couple more?

Please help :(

How tough is it to get through the Econ PhD programs at these two schools? Is it reasonable to have them as safeties? My profile is below: Type of Undergrad: B.Sc Econ from university ranked among Top 10 in country, but unranked globally Undergrad GPA: 75% (within top 5 in my university out of approximately 1000+ students, so pretty decent.) Type of Grad: M.Sc at UK university (Top 5 in Econ), on government scholarship Grad GPA: 73% (distinction) so far--dissertation grade TBA GRE: 161Q 164V 4.5AWA (will retake) Math Courses: Real Analysis, Math for Economists, Matrix Theory, Probability Theory, Linear Programming (math background rather unstructured, but scored well on courses done as part of econ, e.g stat/econometrics and math for econ) Econ Courses: Micro, Macro, Stats, Econometrics, Development, Trade, Public Finance, Econ History, Game theory, among many others Other Courses: Political Science Letters of Recommendation: One from Public Policy professor at a top management school in my country with whom I worked on a project (although not Econ), one from undergrad teacher (will be very strong, but recommendor not active researcher) OR department head at UK program (concern: doesn't know me well but I did well on his course), one from masters dissertation supervisor. Research Experience: Won best paper at two national level student conferences. Presented at an international micro/macro conference. Worked on several interdisciplinary projects. Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: Micro, Behavioral/Experimental SOP: Will highlight research. Concerns: Not very famous recommenders, math background not structured. Applying to: USC, UC-Santa Barbara, Northeastern, Zurich, Oxford MPhil, George Mason, management programs

I have a 161, with was more due to lack of adequate practice than anything else, so could you guys recommend some good material (free or otherwise) that might help notch up the score?

Any way I can remedy this for this application season? My third letter writer is a fairly good one.

Hello. So I've been around for quite sometime, and have managed to nearly complete a masters from a top-5 UK program. I have posted my profile earlier and got some feedback, so will not do it again, but I just wanted some information about certain concerns I had: 1. I would say I am quite satisfied with my overall grades, both for undergrad and masters, but my math background is quite shaky. I have done well in all econ-math and statistics/econometrics courses I have taken so far, but my math results in general are rather bad (mostly because it didn't count towards my final undergrad grade, and consequently I didn't put in much effort into it). How much of a disadvantage do I face because of this at, say, a top 20-50 program? (Not targeting the T20 as such). More specifically, how much does it matter for an applied econ/business school phd program (not targeting finance phd's)? 2. One of my recommenders is from a top management school in my country, but not an economist. Another is an economist, but not an active researcher. Does this technically rule me out at all top econ programs? What about business phds? 3. I am interested in behavioural/experimental stuff, not very keen on macro or finance--what kind of programs should I target?

Hmm I guess. Thanks for the input! By the way, about math grades, I did have a lot of it over undergrad, but my average is a B, primarily because our math grade didn't count for anything in the aggregate final percentage, you just had to pass it, and consequently noone took the exam seriously. I do have good grades in all the math based modules I've done as part of my Econ coursework though. Is there anyway to reconcile with this problem?

Thank you so much for your insight! Really really appreciate it. :) Thanks again.

Hello. I'm an international applicant looking at PhD admits for next year. So far US is my top priority but to be honest I'm open to going anywhere in the world, so conventional/unconventional suggestions would be really welcome. And of course, feel free to be brutal! Primarily interested in experimental/behavioural, industrial econ, decision making etc. Also wanted to know whether I might be better off choosing Business PhD programs than strictly Econ? Type of Undergrad: B.Sc Econ from university ranked among Top 10 in country, but unranked globally Undergrad GPA: 75% (within top 5 in my university out of approximately 1000+ students, so pretty decent.) Type of Grad: M.Sc at UK university (Top 5 in Econ), on government scholarship Grad GPA: In progress, averaging a merit (>65%) so far, eyeing a distinction (>70%) GRE: 161Q 164V 4.5AWA (will retake) Math Courses: Real Analysis, Math for Economists, Matrix Theory, Probability Theory, Linear Programming (math background rather unstructured, but scored well on courses done as part of econ, e.g stat/econometrics and math for econ) Econ Courses: Micro, Macro, Stats, Econometrics, Development, Trade, Public Finance, Econ History, Game theory, among many others Other Courses: Political Science Letters of Recommendation: One from Public Policy professor at a top management school in my country with whom I worked on a project (although not Econ), one from undergrad teacher (will be very strong, but recommendor not active researcher), one from (yet to be started) masters dissertation supervisor. Research Experience: Won best paper at two national level student conferences. Presented at an international micro/macro conference. Worked on several interdisciplinary projects. Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: Micro, Behavioral/Experimental SOP: Will highlight research. Concerns: Not very famous recommenders, math background not structured. Applying to: Top 50 US, other schools worldwide (suggestions!)

Thanks Econhead! They basically worked at CRED in Columbia, which is sort of interdisciplinary, and currently they're involved in a project with a Stanford emeritus professor (who currently teaches at a UK university), so that's pretty cool. My alternative is someone who is much older, has many top publications etc, but the two things I'm concerned about are : a. whether they'll pay as much attention to me as the other person would, in terms of supervising b. whether they would be willing to recommend me very strongly, because contact with supervisors is limited anyway, and to make a sufficient impact on someone with his level of experience might be difficult. In many ways, the other person is a lot more approachable. In that light, do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks so much, Catrina! Congratulations on all your admits :) Everyone else, your inputs? I have to decide this fairly fast, so some comments would be highly appreciated.