improvise

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: top 10 us math/econ Undergrad GPA: 3.78 Type of Grad: n/a Grad GPA:n/a GRE: 170 Q 162 V 5 AW Math Courses: Multivar Calc (A), Lin Alg. & Diff Eq (A-), Discrete Math (B+), Honors Linear Algebra (A-), Probability (A-), Real Analysis (A), Numerical Analysis (B+), Mathematical Statistics (A), Abstract Algebra (A-), Stochastic Processes (A-), complex analysis and honors thesis this semester Econ Courses (grad-level): Macro (A) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Econ 1 (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Financial Economics (A), Econometric Analysis (A), International Monetary Economics (A), Advanced Micro Theory (A-), US Macro Policy (A), Honors Thesis (A) Other Courses: nothing relevant Letters of Recommendation: finance research supervisor, thesis advisor/grad macro professor, us macro policy/grad macro prof Research Experience: 1 year RA in empirical corporate finance, senior thesis in int'l finance Teaching Experience: n/a Research Interests: international macro, macro, finance SOP: just talked about my research interests, background, and mentioned professors that i want to work with Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: Chicago ($$ no funding first 2 years), Columbia ($$), NYU ($$), Wisconsin ($$), JHU($$), BU ($$) Waitlists: UCLA Rejections: MIT, Princeton, Harvard, HBS, Berkeley, U Penn, Northwestern, Stern, Stanford, Michigan Pending: Attending: NYU or Columbia Comments: Couldn't be happier. Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and NYU were my top choices and I was accepted to the ones in the city I preferred (NYC baby). What would you have done differently? Probably tried harder to take grad math/econ in my undergraduate career and make those A-'s solid A's.. I definitely sacrificed academics to have fun, but do not regret it one bit. Sure I maybe could have got into more schools, but at the end of the day my college experience was amazing and my experiences outside of class with my peers have definitely shaped me more as a person than graduate analysis would have. I also would have definitely taken Econometrics earlier to get involved with research asap. Get to know your professors as teachers, advisors, and, most importantly, people as I am sure I could not have cracked the top 10 or gotten the Chicago admit without those letters. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know these people and hopefully will be a stronger researcher as a result. Cheers!

Institution: NYU Decision: accepted Funding: 5 years, no teaching/ra Notification date: 2/27 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: top choice, yes! Institution: Columbia Decision: accepted Funding: 5 years Notification date: 2/27 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: other top choice, extremely happy

Institution: UCLA Program: PhD Economics Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Notification date: 02/25/14 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: pretty confused Institution: MIT Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 02/25/14 Notified through: email Posted on GC: No Comments: =\

Can confirm ucla, i just got waitlisted. Pretty worried about other schools now.

anybody else have trouble logging into the gradstatus website for northwestern? i keep getting: "The system is unable to locate your application using the information you entered. Please verify your application number and e-mail address and try again."

I did. Not sure if the acceptance means we're already in that program or if we're just admitted to Chicago econ and still have to apply for the program once we start.

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Institution: U Chicago Program: Economics PhD Decision: Admission Funding: funding years 3,4,5 Notification date: 2/17/14 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: first word back from schools, hoping it's a good sign for the big leagues!

When schools ask for a writing sample, is it okay if I just submit the current draft of my thesis or would it better to submit a complete research paper from freshman year? It isn't finished, but the parts included are pretty complete. Also what would you guys suggest for cutting down the sample to ~10 pages? My thesis is around 22 currently...

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: top 10 us math/econ Undergrad GPA: 3.77 overall, 3.73 math, 3.88 econ Type of Grad: n/a Grad GPA:n/a GRE: 170 Q 162 V 5 AW Math Courses: Multivar Calc (A), Lin Alg. & Diff Eq (A-), Discrete Math (B+), Honors Linear Algebra (A-), Probability (A-), Real Analysis (A), Numerical Analysis (B+), Mathematical Statistics (A), Abstract Algebra (A-), Stochastic Processes (A-), complex analysis next semester Econ Courses (grad-level): taking grad macro right now Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Econ 1 (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Financial Economics (A), Econometric Analysis (A), International Monetary Economics (A), Advanced Micro Theory (A-), US Macro Policy (A) Other Courses: grad IEOR financial engineering class next semester (doesn't really matter at this point) Letters of Recommendation: finance research supervisor, thesis advisor/grad macro professor, us macro policy/grad macro prof Research Experience: 1 year RA in empirical corporate finance, senior thesis in int'l finance Teaching Experience: n/a Research Interests: international macro, macro, finance SOP: just talked about my research interests, background, and mentioned professors that i want to work with Concerns: math grades aren't perfect + no grad math. not sure how my letter writers will compare me to other admits as I'm not a genius or superstar by any means Other: hospitalized during finals week causing B+ in intermediate macro and numerical analysis Applying to: princeton, mit, u penn, harvard, hbs, ucla, berkeley, northwestern, columbia, nyu, stern, stanford, chicago, wisconsin-madison, michigan, BU, john hopkins Good luck everyone!

research experience would definitely help. try to get an RA position asap

Thanks again for all your advice guys! I took the GRE again a few weeks ago and got 170Q, 162V, 5 AWA (thank god). A few questions if you guys don't mind: 1. I currently have around 20 programs I am interested in. One of my letter writers said that she wouldn't mind writing rec's for all of them (although that evening would be painful haha), but I really want to cut the list down to 12-15 to be considerate to my other writers, seeing as how they are all probably very busy. I've been checking the faculty at each school to search for research fits, but am still struggling at minimizing, especially with the top 10. For reference my research interests as of now are international finance/macro, macro, and finance. Really want to apply: Harvard, HBS, Princeton, Berkeley, MIT, Columbia, U Penn, U Michigan Ann Arbor, NYU, Stern, Northwestern, Wisconsin Madison, Chicago (going for the joint financial economics program w/ Booth), with Boston University and John Hopkins as my safeties (JHU suggested by my thesis advisor for int'l macro and I really like the faculty at Boston). Iffy/Border-line: Minnesota, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, UCLA Anderson Finance, Wharton Finance, maybe Duke (although one of my rec's didn't really agree) and Duke finance (she suggested this over Duke econ). I know Minnesota is great for macro and I like the faculty, but location is deterring me... same for Yale and I'm not too stoked about the faculty there or Stanford (I am a fool, I know; prof. suggested I apply and I probably will anyways). Others are just programs I was considering, but I wouldn't die if I didn't apply to them given that I am already applying to most of the econ counterparts. Any suggestions on how to decide which ones to eliminate? Ideally I could apply to most of them, but I want to get a surefire list in case my letter writers place a limit. Also should I be removing some top programs and replacing them with more safeties/lower ranked programs given my profile? I wouldn't be opposed to taking a year off to RA and try again next cycle if I get shut out as one of my professors already assured me that she could get me an RA at a solid program. To be honest I wouldn't want to just take a lower ranked offer (aside from safeties/prgorams listed above) and would rather wait it out. 2. How important is it to have my thesis done by applications? It isn't due till mid/late December and I was thinking of having enough written to show my letter writers (especially my thesis advisor) by mid November to give them a concrete baseline for assessment. Our meetings have pretty much just been me asking questions and pitching solutions to problems that I encounter and getting feedback on this, but I haven't shown him any drafts or anything yet. TLDR: trying to cut down list of schools and would like opinions on current list given my profile.

I'm sure you can demonstrate your mathematical aptitude my performing very well in upper division courses. Note that although you did poorly in the lower divs, they are heavily computational - upper division math classes apart from numerical analysis are quite different and rely more on deductive reasoning and proof writing. Some think this approach is harder, but maybe you're better at that kind of math. If not, work your *** off.

yeah this shutdown has shutdown the nsf website :(

Thanks for the input guys, I definitely was feeling the same way. Do you guys think taking grad metrics in the fall will help a lot? Nearly all the professors I've talked to have said its very marginal and I would be better off focusing on producing the best thesis possible. I know grad metrics is a lot of theory and the empirical work isn't exactly germane to my thesis (macro modeling/forecasting). Also I'm worried the workload may take time away from doing my best in macro (two of my letter writers are teaching this class) and my thesis. Any other suggestions to solidify my application are definitely appreciated!

Like chrishacker said, I don't feel like algebraic topology is a class you really need for grad econ, its just another good signal of your math aptititude. I believe it depends on what your research interests are as different fields require different mathematical tools. If you're interested in macro/finance, I would definitely look into Time Series, Stochastic Processes, and ODE/PDE's. For micro I think game theory and further analysis (which you have listed) would be preparation for grad micro. An optimization course wouldn't hurt and one of my professors mentioned dynamic programming or IEOR could be a nice addition as well. Based on the first three of latter classes you listed, it does seem like you're more interested in empirical work? I would think that these topics would be covered in grad metrics, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the input! I kind of figured it would be a blemish on my application, given everyone else has/will have gotten superior scores... Top 10 is still a reach though, yeah? I've been asking faculty and grad students about how to better improve my chances given the imperfect transcript and the responses have been more math (I don't think I can handle grad topology this fall with everything else) and letters, so I'm taking time series analysis and trying to do the best I can on my thesis and grad macro. Would you guys suggest taking grad metrics this fall as well? I've heard grad courses only marginally improve your application, and I'm worried the extra workload will detract from my thesis. Also I understand it's mostly theory, so I'm not sure my thesis would benefit much from the course's empirical work as I am more focused more on macro modeling and forecasting which shows up in later grad metrics courses.

Hello everyone, long time lurker here. This site has been an invaluable resource in my preparation for grad school with regards to coursework. I am entering my senior year this fall and will be applying to econ phd programs for the 2014 cycle! PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: top 10 us math/econ Undergrad GPA: 3.77 overall, 3.71 math, 3.88 econ Type of Grad: n/a Grad GPA:n/a GRE: 163 Q 158 V still waiting for writing score Math Courses: Multivar Calc (A), Lin Alg. & Diff Eq (A-), Discrete Math (B+), Honors Linear Algebra (A-), Probability (A-), Real Analysis (A), Numerical Analysis (B+), Mathematical Statistics (A), Abstract Algebra (A-), Stochastic Processes (A-), will be taking Time Series in the fall and complex analysis in the spring Econ Courses (grad-level): Taking Grad Macro and maybe Metrics this fall Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Econ 1 (A), Intermediate Micro (A), Intermediate Macro (B+), Financial Economics (A), Econometric Analysis (A), International Monetary Economics (A), Advanced Micro Theory (A-), US Macro Policy (A) Other Courses: nothing important really Letters of Recommendation: finance prof been her RA for a year now, thesis advisor taking grad macro with him in the fall, us macro policy/upcoming grad macro prof went to office hours a lot and have talked about research/grad school/thesis topics, all very well known, hoping letters will be strong Research Experience: 1 year RA in empirical corporate finance, upcoming senior thesis in int'l macro Teaching Experience: n/a Research Interests: international macro, macro, finance Concerns: low gre score, math grades aren't exactly perfect, b+ in intermediate macro due to illness but hopefully an A in grad macro will replace this Other: Should I take the GRE again? I didn't exactly do my best/wasn't focused enough and was scoring a lot higher on my practice tests Applying to: top 10-15 econ, maybe stanford gsb, hbs, and stern, and LSE/oxford masters just in case Thank you in advance for any comments/suggestions!

Hello all, I'm currently in my 3rd year and am trying to decide among upper division ODE (qualitative, real analysis is a prerequisite), optimization (calc of variations, linear programming, etc.), and advanced micro (game theory for noncooperative games). I am interested in macro and financial econ and will be applying in the fall. For reference I have already taken Calc 1-3, Lower and Upper division linear algebra, lower div diff eqs (at my university it's combined with low div lin. alg, heavily computational), real analysis, probability theory, math stats, and am currently taking stochastic processes. I might take grad toplogy in the fall. In terms of econ courses, I've taken intermediate micro and macro, metrics, some other econ electives, and am planning to take some grad courses in my senior year. I'd like to hear some of your opinions regarding the benefits of each class with regard to utility in future coursework, research, and admissions. Thank you in advance!