HealthEconGuy

Take a look at my profile in this year's profiles & results threads. I think we have some key similarities. This has been said but good letters can make all the difference and with them I don't think top-30 is out of reach. Make the most of your RA work and your thesis, those are great opportunities to earn solid letters.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: top 20 private US, econ minor Undergrad GPA: 3.4 Type of Grad: unranked US public, MA econ Grad GPA: 3.84 GRE: 165/161/4.5 Math: Calc 1-3 (A, A, A), Proofs (A-), Matrix Alg (A+), Lin Alg [proof based] (A), Stats (A), Advanced Probability Theory (A), Real Analysis (A). All at MA school except Calc 1 and Stats. UG Econ: Intro Mico (B-), Intro Macro (A-), Econ Stat (C+), Inter Micro (B+), Inter Macro (B+), Intro Metrics (B+), Inter Metrics (A-) Grad Econ: Micro (A), Econ Stat (A), Metrics (A), Macro (B+), IO (B+), Micro-metrics (A), Policy and Program Eval (A) Letters of Recommendation: 1) Thesis advisor/professor/MA program chair. Very well known and active researcher. Above avg to excellent letter. 2) Supervisor at work. Not an economist but should otherwise be an excellent letter. 3) Fairly well known Associate Prof from my MA program. I performed very well in this prof’s class but we did not have much other contact. Average letter. 4) Adjunct prof in MA program (Associate Prof elsewhere), limited publication record. Average to below average. Used for some but not all schools in an attempt to compensate for the non-economist letter (#2). Research Experience: 3 years as a RA for a prominent Health Policy researcher (2 coauthored papers in health policy/epi lit at the time of application – slightly related to econ), MA thesis, some term papers/replication projects. Teaching Experience: Two semesters as a TA for undergrad courses at my grad university. Research Interests: Health, Labor. SOP: Addressed my poor UG grades (late shift to econ) while emphasizing my research experience and the applicability of that experience to my (well-defined) research interests. RESULTS: Acceptances: UC Davis, UNC, UC Irvine, Rutgers, Syracuse and Illinois-Chicago. All with funding except for Rutgers. Waitlists: Vanderbilt and Boston College. Rejections: Harvard JFK, Wisconsin, UCLA, UCSD, Cornell, Stony Brook and a few highly ranked health policy programs. Attending: UC Davis. Comments: Very happy with this. IMO Davis places very well given their rank (especially for students working in applied micro). The location is great and they have several faculty members that I would love to work with. What would you have done differently? Ultimately, there is not a whole lot I could have done differently short of deciding on this career path as an undergrad. Moving to a more econ focused RA job after finishing my MA and a few years at my current job (concurrently) would have likely made a difference but wasn’t really an option for personal reasons.

Did you call someone in the econ department? Or admissions?

Thanks fantinity and Econhead. I'll wait until the weekend and then send an email to Ms. Burke if I haven't heard.

Does anybody have an idea who I could contact regarding my application at Boston College? I haven't heard from them yet and I'm assuming several others are in the same boat (they've only released a relatively small number of acceptances according to gradcafe - no waitlists or rejections). Unfortunately their website doesn't seem to identify an admin, DGS, etc. so I am not sure who to email/call.

Congrats. Anything to do with the R&R?

Institution: Vanderbilt Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: NA Notification Date: 3/7/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments:

Institution: UC Davis Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TBD Notification Date: 3/6/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Received the email while out with some friends, great moment.

Institution: Wisconsin-Madison Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/4/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Rough week. Institution: UCLA Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/4/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: When it rains, it pours.

I seem to recall seeing this same exact excerpt shared last year by someone who received it either here or on gradcafe, not sure if that helps judge its politeness, but here it is: "The applicant pool was again large and extremely strong this year. We received nearly 530 applications, and the vast majority of the applicants have excellent credentials. It is very difficult to rank the applicants, but we must do so. We recognize that we make many mistakes in this process, rejecting many people who will turn out to be fine economists. We can only hope that the mistakes we make will be corrected in the end by market competition. Indeed we know of at least two cases where this is exactly what happened: two current faculty members were rejected when they applied to our program a few years ago, and subsequently hired here as assistant professors." FWIW, I'd call the person who sees this as disgustingly impolite way off base, and the other as likely just unaware that it is not at all personalized. Nonetheless, much nicer than what I've seen from other programs, so props to UW for that.

Institution: Cornell Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/4/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Another one that was totally expected but still painful.

Institution: Harvard Kennedy School Program: Public Policy, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/2/15 Notified Through: Checked website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Was always a reach, still bummed. Institution: Stony Brook Program: Economics, PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/2/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Surprised.

Still waiting on 10, only two of those have already released results. Sweating hard.

You've heard from all but one already?! So much envy.

You received an admission to Davis? ARE or regular econ? I ask because I was under the impression that Davis econ had not released any results yet (there are a few Davis AREs on gradcafe, however) and the program is pretty high on my list.