dariusi

If it was Universidad de Chile or Universidad de Catolica, then I think you have a shot at applying straight into PhD programs. If you didn't study at either of those universities, OR if you did but don't have recommendations from any econ professors at those universities, than I do not think you have very good prospects and would be better off with additional coursework at a reputable institution's MA program.

I think it might be a bad idea to leave your wallstreet job to teach. You should instead try to reduce your hours as much as you can and see if you can cook up a good reason to learn programming, time series econometrics, and financial economics. Your income now is going to count a long way towards your quality of life in grad school, and if you don't have a good admissions season, staying at your job will leave you in a better place to decide what to do next. Of course, if you are confident that you can get in somewhere next year that'd be worth attending, and if your dream is to teach (rather than do research), it could be worth considering. Just keep in mind that the more money you have, the more you can invest in your own success in grad school.

I can't possibly see how this would burn bridges if you are transparent. Ultimately, your success is what matters.

Hooray! Thank you.

Type of Undergrad: US private top 50 economics department Undergrad GPA: 3.53 Type of Grad: MA in economics at a top 50 economics department Grad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 168Q, 166V, 4.5AW Math Courses: Real Analysis (A), Probability and Statistics (A), Math for Economics (A), Computability Theory (A), PDE’s (B), ODE’s (B+), Mathematical Modeling (B+), Graph Theory (B-), Numerical Analysis (B), Topology (B), Linear Algebra (B), Multivar Calc (B) Econ Courses (grad-level): Following at the master’s level: Microeconomics (A), Macroeconomics (A), Econometrics (A), Game Theory (A) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Intro Micro (A), Intro Macro (A-), Intermediate Micro (B), Intermediate Macro (B+), Money and Banking (A-), Game Theory (A), Economics of Network Industries (A-), Econometrics (A-), Economics of Crime (A), Thesis (A-) Other Courses: Letters of Recommendation: I think that they all say pretty good things about me. Five econ professors, most schools will probably know at least 2 of them, though maybe not the same ones at each school. Research Experience: Two years in economic consulting, no experience as an RA for a current professor Teaching Experience: Research Interests: Labor, Econometrics, Applied Micro SOP: I very briefly describe why I wasn’t well-focused as an undergrad, and what I hoped to get out of academia that I wasn’t getting at my old job. Otherwise, just describing research interests and perceived fit with each school. Concerns: My MA program is somewhat new, but I thought it was pretty solid preparation for PhD work and hope that it is perceived as such. Also, my undergraduate record is full of B’s in math courses. Other: Was shut out from top 20 last year. Trying again after doing MA coursework. Results: Acceptances: UT Austin ($), UC Davis ($), UCLA (initially no first-year funding, revised to tuition and fee waiver) Waitlists: Rejections: Yale, Columbia, Michigan, Brown, NYU, U Chicago, Wisconsin, Boston University, Duke, Cornell, UCSD Pending: Attending: UCLA Comments: I'm ecstatic about UCLA. It was one of the programs for which I had the best perceived fit, so perhaps that's why they took a chance on me rather than the dozen programs that rejected me. Perhaps showing interest in them after my admission helped me to eventually get first-year funding. What would you have done differently? Having now read a lot of other people's SOPs, I can say that mine were extremely well tailored to the individual schools to which I applied. I looked at their faculty's cvs, their current JMCs' web pages, explored all of the research institutes and grant opportunities, etc. In the end, I don't think this ended up mattering a whole lot (although apparently I was pretty close on the margin). This process is sooo much easier if you just get good grades at an undergrad institution with a decent PhD program. It's a lot harder to compete on other margins. If I could go back, I would have taken that transfer admission to NYU, gotten involved in undergraduate research, and avoided any and all internships. I am extremely happy with what a one year MA has done for my results. I applied to mostly the same schools last year, and my result was an offer from UC Davis without first-year funding. Not to mention that the preparation ended up being a lot more helpful than I had expected.

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The problem with just using placement data is that there is not enough of it. The papers out there that rank based on placement have to use like fifteen or twenty years of data to get credible results, which will give you a rather stale assessment of programs. The alternative is to look at just a few years of recent placement data, but that is equally problematic because actual placement is just one outcome of the school's random placement generating process. We use rankings and anecdotal evidence about programs to avoid relying too much on these fragments of placement data.

Just one person's opinion: Ideas is an awful ranking to focus on for deciding on a PhD program. Not all notable professors are registered (although that's getting better). The Ideas methodology captures a very long-run sense of which institutions have housed the most and best-cited research. I think you need to look at rankings such as that done by US News, which are updated over the short-run and are actually aimed at characterizing quality of PhD programs. Granted, some people criticize this ranking as being all about prestige, since it is essentially a survey of economists around the world, but in theory they are supposed to rank the PhD programs themselves, not the departments. There are also rankings that are based on placements, but these tend to be tricky to interpret and they usually are also longer-term indicators than I would be comfortable using for a decision. Maybe someone who disagrees with my Ideas assessment can chime in.

That's a tough one. Davis is, in my eyes, an immensely charming town, especially for doing a PhD. The applied micro group is excellent, but I don't believe that public is a big focus. Most people who do public have a broad skillset, beyond the typical reduced form applied micro one. Their Ag program is really good, and if part of your public interest has to do with energy, you should look into some of their faculty, as well.

All schools hemorrhage faculty from time to time. People seem to think that Maryland doesn't have enough money to replenish in a timely manner.

Hi Salcedo, I am currently finishing UT's MA. Half the program initially wanted to do a PhD afterwards. Some students realized it wasn't for them or just realized their current job opportunities were more attractive. That left 10-12 PhD applicants, I think. Email the department and ask for whatever placement info they currently have, they can probably tell you something. Frankly, it's difficult to compare UT to Duke. I think the median placement at Duke is going to be higher, and the ceiling is definitely higher because they got someone into MIT last year and I'm not sure that UT could do the same. Furthermore, Duke has enough data to reliably tell students where they are likely to get in. On the other hand, I can personally vouch for the UT professors being of excellent quality and caring a lot. I had no trouble getting letters of recommendation, although two of the four professors were not tenure track, which could be an issue. Try to figure out who your letter-writers would be at each school ex-ante in order to make a wise comparison. Finally, Duke is much more expensive than UT. That extra year will result in finishing your PhD one year later, most likely. If you're expected earnings after completing a PhD 6 years from now is $100k, then the NPV cost of delaying work for a year at 3% interest is (1-.03^6)*$100k = $83,000. Additionally, if you're motivated then it will be frustrating as hell to be stuck in an MA for that second year when you just want to get started on the real deal already. Feel free to ask me more questions via PM.

What do you mean? They're right here... Graduate Program - Placement They seem to have an abnormally high number of Chinese PhD students who return to teach in China.

Hmm, I think you should look more closely at the placements over the past five years. The two schools seem to have pretty different macro strengths. Are you unable to visit both?

These are good points. I took two years off of undergrad to do economic consulting, and my motivation towards research is stronger and more mature now. I'm sure that an RAship is an even more rewarding experience for a prospective PhD student. However, I think you need to keep in mind that some years are more competitive than others and the patterns are not entirely predictable. AndrewGreenspan79 needs to consider the uncertainty of admissions conditions even if he is extremely optimistic about the outcome of his time at the Fed.