StudentLoaner

650665640% That's numbawang!

Struggling first year student here: 6:30AM Wake up. 6:45AM Wake up for real this time. 7:00AM Usually up this time. 7:00AM-8:00AM Shower/small breakfast/bike 3 miles to school. 8:00AM-9:00AM Make coffee and eat a muffin. Read and respond to mostly pointless emails. 9:00AM-10:30 Usually in a class. 10:30AM-12:00PM Usually making copies or doing trivial TA/RA work. 12:00PM-12:30PM Lunch 12:30PM-1:30PM Contemplate whether or not I should continue program. 1:30PM-3:00PM Usually in a class. 3:00PM-5:00PM More trivial RA/TA work. 5:00PM-5:30PM Early dinner. 5:30PM-7:00PM Either studying or gym time depending on assignment due dates and/or exams. 7:00PM-10:00PM Studying/working on assignments with bits of pondering alternative life paths thrown in. 10:00PM-11:00PM Bike home, late night snack, think about things I would rather be doing with my life. 11:00PM- Try to sleep.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BS Management from large state school. Undergrad GPA: 3.2 Type of Grad: ​MS Finance and Economics from small unknown regional state school Grad GPA: 4.0 GRE: 162/158/4.0 Math Courses: Calc I-III(A,A,B) Linear Algebra (A), Diff Eq ©, Intro to Proofs(A), Intro Stats©, Regressions(A) Econ Courses: Intro Micro/Macro, Inter Micro, Adv Micro/Macro, Econometrics, Public Finance Other Courses: Lots of finance and business classes Letters of Recommendation: Solid letters but from non top 50 PhDs Research Experience: Worked on a paper with a prof Teaching Experience: Taught a few classes Research Interests: Macro/monetary, public finance SOP: Normal Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: CSU, GMU, CU-Boulder, UO($$), UW-Milwaukee($), UNM($) Waitlists: Rejections: USC, UW, UCSC, UCI, GWU, UIC, UU Pending: Attending: A finance PhD program Comments: Towards the end of the application cycle I applied to one finance program. Randomly got accepted on April 15th. I probably prefer econ but I'm selling out and going for the money. What would you have done differently? Figured out that I wanted to do a PhD while I was still in high school. Also, I should have retaken the GRE. Overall I'm happy with my results though.

Seems to be down right now.

I think this is a misunderstood problem on a lot of internet forums. Everyone knows that they can probably find their answers through a search function. Encouraging them to use search won't help. People post questions to forums because they want (somewhat) personal interaction and feedback. Since going for a PhD is a pretty rare thing, most people don't have friends or family they can casually talk about it with. Without having friends or family as an outlet, many people turn to the internet.

Is there sort of a scramble for departments on the 15th? Do they try to send out additional offers as soon as they receive notice of declined offers? Or do they wait another day or two before making additional offers?

7 days until decision day...also, taxes are due.

Institution: UC Irvine Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 4/1/2014 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: nah Comments: This was the last school I was waiting on. Bout time.

Institution: George Washington University Program: Ph.D. in Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: - Notification date: 27th March Notified through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments

Institution: University of Washington Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: n/a Notification date: 3/25/14 Notified through: E-mail Posted on GC : Yea Comments: Expected

I agree with this. I've had a few schools mention (sometimes in a regular email) that I was either rejected or accepted due to my interests fitting or not fitting in with the department. I also was accepted into one school that I probably wouldn't have been if I did not have a letter writer with a direct connection.

Haha, Oregon told me I was ranked 30th as well. Maybe that's their polite way of saying "funding unlikely". Did Oregon say that year 2 students receive full funding with a 3.0? If I don't take the UNM offer I'm leaning towards Oregon instead of Boulder since I'm more interested macro and the cost of living is so much lower. Boulder seems like a better fit for you though.

Institution: UIC Program: PhD Economics Decision: Deny Funding: Notification date: 3/12/2014 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: ​

Institution: University of New Mexico Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted Funding: GAship and tuition waiver Notification date: 3/13/2014 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: First funding offer!

Are there any current CU Boulder grad students lurking on here?