bayesian

Depends what you're taking the courses for. If it's math for math's sake, I think algebra is a much nicer subject than most stuff in analysis and probability (with the possible exception being some areas in functional analysis that are very elegant). If it's for econ-related stuff, the probability course is the way to go.

Institution: Harvard Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected (off the waitlist) Funding: n/a Notification date: 04/15 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Institution: Stanford Program: PhD Economics Decision: Accepted (off the waitlist) Funding: n/a Notification date: 04/14 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Will attend!

I know you're kidding, but I am pretty serious about my position. Perhaps I should have been a little clearer in my initial post. I don't think that this route is right for all students, and probably not even for most. *Taking tons of grad classes is by no means necessary.* Unless you're already at a school with a good program, this path might not even be feasible, and that's totally fine. I just wanted to emphasize that, if you do have access to lots of grad courses, there are rationales independent of the typical signalling motive usually talked about here. If you're planning to be an academic researcher, you're presumably pretty driven and hungry for new tools and ideas. Engaging in research is one way to do this (and is probably necessary to figure out if you actually want to do research!), but taking lots of graduate field courses is another way. I'm not totally sure I buy the "rapidly diminishing returns to grad courses" argument, either, but that's another issue.

That's the plan!

Hm, okay. Probably best to not read into it too much. I do agree that they'll probably draw from the wait list, but with 17 people on it, no ranking (which is what I was also told), and probably only room for a couple more students, the odds don't seem that great! Best of luck!

I got the same thing when I called. Do you personally know people who were already admitted off the wait list? I could imagine winning an NSF or having a letter writer with *very* strong connections to the department could do the trick, but I agree that it's strange for them to touch the wait list with 25 offers still out.

Good question haha. It was a mix of overloading on classes most semesters, ignoring most liberal arts/distribution requirements until my last semester, and having less fun that I probably should have.

I'm also interested in hearing impressions. Two specific questions: (1) How "nurturing" did the department seem? Is there a lot of support for student research in the second and third years, are professors typically available and willing to talk with students, etc? (2) I assume almost everything about the program felt like a positive. But, did anything stand out as a (potential) negative?

As far as signalling purposes go, my guess is a decent course in undergraduate real analysis and one semester of PhD micro is sufficient. That's of course conditional on you having quality research experience to complement your coursework, and having good grades in those two advanced classes. Lots of people get into top programs this way. That said, I do think there is value in taking lots of grad classes for its own sake. (Disclaimer: I want to do theory, so as Catrina hinted at, I'm probably biased.) I took 4 PhD math courses and almost all of the PhD micro theory courses that my university offers (I think 7 or 8 at this point), as well as some other grad econ classes. (1) Core classes: When I go to grad school next year, I still plan on retaking the core sequences, though I'll probably also take a couple field courses. Even though I did well in the core courses at my undergrad school, the point of a PhD is to truly master the basics of the field and eventually one or two small subfields. For that reason, I think there's a lot of value in seeing the material again and really understanding it deeply. I think David Kreps writes something like this in the introduction to his new micro theory textbook. (2) Field courses: If you're interested in theoretical work, these help build the tool kit that you'll need for serious research. Even if you're not interested in theory, it's good to start engaging with seminal papers in fields of interest. And, even if you end up doing a completely different field in grad school, seeing different things may help give you additional perspective that can help in approaching problems in a novel way. Another thing to think about is that, in grad school, you'll probably want to minimize the time you spend on coursework in favor of research, so the opportunity cost of taking lots of classes now is probably lower (conditional on doing enough research to get in somewhere good).

Type of Undergrad: Top 10 US News for undergrad, Top 20 US News for Econ Undergrad GPA: ~3.8 (3.9 in econ) Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 165Q/169V/5.5W Math Courses (undergrad-level): Linear Algebra (B+), Vector Calc (A), Diff Eq (A-), Nonlinear Dynamics (A-), Analysis 2 (A) Math Courses (grad-level): Probability (A), Measure Theory (A), Functional Analysis (A+), Stochastic Calc (IP) Econ Courses (grad-level): PhD Micro 1 (A-), PhD Micro 2 (B+), PhD Metrics 1 (A), second year game theory (A), second year decision theory (A), second year contract theory (A), continuous time methods (IP), Master's Macro (A), Master's Growth Theory (A+) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): research independent studies Other Courses: tons of physics (both UG and G level) and other random stuff Letters of Recommendation: Two profs from grad econ classes, one from grad econ prof + thesis advisor, one from a Fed research supervisor Research Experience: honors thesis, Fed summer RA, a couple smaller projects Teaching Experience: TA for intermediate micro. Research Interests: Micro (game theory, choice theory), political economy, networks, growth SOP: Pretty standard, with lots of details about papers that I liked (tailored to each program's faculty). Concerns: Pretty bad Q GRE, a couple bad grades in important classes. Other: N/A Applying to: Top 10 Econ, Stanford GSB, HBS, Caltech, Brown, Duke RESULTS: Acceptances: Chicago, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, Columbia, Caltech, Brown Waitlists: Harvard, Stanford, NYU Rejections: MIT, Princeton, Stanford GSB, Berkeley, HBS Attending: Will visit Chicago, Yale, NW, Penn, and Columbia, and wait on Harvard/Stanford. What would you have done differently? (1) I started on economics rather late, taking my first class in the second half of my sophomore year. I was still able to take lots of grad classes, but an extra year or two would have helped -- both in terms of taking more classes and getting the chance to do real RA work. (2) I would have studied for the GRE more. I imagine that my relatively poor Q score didn't help at top places, but it may not have really hurt either. (3) Would have guarded my GPA better in my first two years. I accumulated several random Bs, often in easy introductory courses, that dragged my GPA down. This is probably a small factor, but it would have been nice to have applied with a 3.95+.

Institution: Stanford Program: PhD Economics Decision: Wait list Funding: Notification date: 2/28/2014 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Apparently they admitted ~25 fewer applicants this year and chose to run a wait list instead. Institution: Princeton Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 2/28/2014 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Was certainly the best "fit" program, so this one hurts a bit... Institution: NYU Program: PhD Economics Decision: Waitlist Funding: Notification date: 2/28/2014 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Kind of random given my other results...

Thanks! The email just tells you to check the website, which now has been updated with an offer letter. Not sure if this means everyone's websites have been updated though.

Institution: Harvard Decision: waitlist Funding: N/A Notification date: Letter dated 2/21 Notified through: snail mail Posted on GC: no Comments: Hoping MIT puts on a good showing during the visit days! Institution: UPenn Decision: accepted Funding: 5 years Notification date: 2/26 Notified through: email Posted on GC: no Comments: Cool Institution: Columbia Decision: accepted Funding: 5 years Notification date: 2/27 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC: no Comments: Nice

It's legit, just got the email.

They may be waiting to send official decisions out at the same time. It sounded like the emails yesterday were unofficial from the dept, and it usually takes a few days for the graduate school to send the official offer letters.

Has anyone heard from Princeton re: waitlist or rejection? Congrats to all those admitted, btw!

Thanks! Hopefully you (and everyone else) find out soon as well. Yeah, I imagine the conditional probability of being accepted varies pretty dramatically from year to year based on the cross-admits at the places you mention. Fingers crossed.

So I just checked my mail and it looks like I'm on the waitlist at Harvard. I'll obviously call the department in the morning to ask, but does anyone have any information about how likely it is to be accepted off the waitlist?

Northwestern is on April 4, the same day as Chicago.

Agreed that there's little point in worrying. For what it's worth, in past years, it looks like MIT has given out several rounds of results, with no clear pattern as to when acceptances vs. rejections are sent. Not even going to try to guess what's going on this year.

I got an email that contained an acceptance letter. Just checked and it looks like the gradstatus page still says "decision has not yet been rendered." The email contained by name, so I'm not sure if they're going out one by one or not. Also, it does look like last year decisions came in waves, so I wouldn't worry just yet! Edit: To clarify, the letter looked like a form letter (similar to Chicago's), but did have name, address, etc.

Institution: Yale Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Five year support + additional funds from Cowles + Growth Center. Notification date: Feb 21 Notified through: email to check website Posted on GC (thegradcafe.com): not yet Comments: Very happy. Institution: Northwestern Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: all 5 years Notification date: Feb 21 Notified through: letter in email Posted on GC (thegradcafe.com): not yet Comments: Also very happy.

Institution: Stanford GSB (EAP) Program: Phd Decision: Rejected Funding: N/A Notification date: 02/20/14 Notified through: Email to check website Posted on GC: No Comments: Really wanted this one... oh well.

FYI, GSB rejections are on the website for all those who applied... Looks like offers may all have gone on last Friday after all.

Also, any info on GSB phd programs, aside from Political Econ? In previous years, there's been a lot of simultaneous activity on GC from EAP, Finance, Marketing, Org Behavior, etc. but there's nothing up as of now. On the other hand, in all previous years they've sent out acceptances by now, so I'm not sure what to infer.