HungryGriot

I'm going to chime in as although your profile is stronger than mine I came from a business background before sharpening up in post-bach math courses etc.. Now in my first yr of Econ PhD. It cannot be overstated how competitive admissions are to economics PhD programs right now. Funding is also drying up as well. Really adcoms are looking for what's wrong with your profile and moreso just checking the box on what you have right/required. That B+ in Intermediate micro is a killer for you and I'm not going to sugar coat that. I expect that gets you out of the running for the upper 1/3 of your list. You have an excellent profile but I could see you doing some serious sweating around decision date with one/two funded offers in hand from your lower choices and having not heard back/waitlisted for some of your top choices. I see you have location preferences and I believe you will get funded from 1 maybe 2 of these and accepted into 1 other with no funding...and all you need is one! Good luck!

OP, just sent you a PM regarding Clemson.

Institution: UNC - CH Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Notification Date: 3/18/15 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: No Comments: Implicit became official

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Institution: Vanderbilt Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification Date: 3/4/15 Notified Through: Email response from Econ DGS following my inquiry Posted on GC: No Comments: Pretty thorough (re: deficiencies) in her response, that was much appreciated

Speaking from experience yes...$$ Cost at the privates can be hefty though. http://graduate.rice.edu/non_degree

Disclosure- My experience is at a state school ranked 70s-80s in the math dept, UCLA is top 10. I took Analysis 1 and Intermediate Micro in a 5-6 week term, while working as a researcher (10-15 hrs/week) and had no problems. IMO w your penchant for strong math performance you can handle it...really depends on how comfortable you are w real proofs, and set notation. The HW is time-consuming and rough, no getting around that..but with the proper motivation (getting into a top PhD) you should be fine.

What other course(s) would you take during that session?

"Waiting anxiety" is taking over..one acceptance w no funding decisions made and I'm a marginal type candidate at most places i applied (higher rank than current admission) /refreshes grad cafe //hopelessly checks application portals ///checks spam *sighs

^^ Many thanks!

This is helpful thread. Similar to OP I have strong excel and stata training but no true programming training. I plan to take the time to master one prior to enrolling this fall. When it comes to the actual coding/language, is there a base syntax that translates between programs? ie if I spend months learning Matlab will I have some proficiency in the language for R? I have some on the job training with SQL as well.

Institution: Clemson Program: Economics PhD Decision: Admitted Funding: Decisions Mid-February Notification date: 1/28 Notified through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Ecstatic!

Interesting in the differences on how schools review apps and roll out acceptances. Maryland clearly states apps will be reviewed equally as long as submitted by 1/15, but Clemson is rolling out offers before their deadline. Rank might have something to do with that. Would any of the Clemson accepts (or similar) mind posting their submission--->admission dates?

*Faints* I applied to 8 and felt like I cast a pretty wide net. Your decision on where to go might be more stressful than waiting on acceptances, good luck! Good luck to all!

I also graduated in 2008 from a finance/acctg program but will be applying this cycle.. I agree with the above comments- here are some other options: You will have to take a few math courses non-degree, no getting around that (and will get you back into school mode). You can seek out some of the stronger professors in that Econ department (with interesting work) and ask to conduct some unpaid research. This worked for me and yielded my strongest letter writer. Even further- if your post-bach school doesn't have a strong Econ dept, you can "cold" email a few Prof's from your surrounding area. Focus on a couple younger profs that graduated from strong programs and tell them your story, and again suggest an unpaid research opp. You'd be surprised at the response you get! Also, you will definitely be able to get at least one letter from a previous econ prof- you just have to warm him/her up.. you prob have a good job now so sacrifice a trip back to your alma mater (if possible) and get a face to face meeting. I got one from a managerial econ prof I took in 2005- prob carries very little weight but I aced his class and it was the best i could do given my (our) circumstance. Just a few routes that won't require you quitting that cushy office gig!