stornetn

Thanks very much to everyone for all of the advice here, especially to all of the BYU grads coming out of the woodwork to offer their help and support. I think that I have more or less settled on a course of action. Since a top 10 seems like a long-shot this year, I may apply to one or two programs but will concentrate most of my efforts on getting a position at either a top economic consulting firm or a full-time academic research position. I will load up on as many math courses and some research work next semester and during the 2 month spring term so that they won't be a concern when I apply in a year or two. Assuming I can hold my gpa more or less steady, I would think that this would at least give me a chance at a couple of the top programs on which I've set my sights. I have already interviewed with a couple of consulting firms and will be flying out for a couple of second round interviews in the next couple of weeks. Also, I did get my AW score back--6.0--but I feel like that doesn't really count for much anyway. Am I wrong?

This is more or less in line with what I had expected (especially since most of the other PhD candidates from my school this year have double math majors). Do you have any suggestions for what I could do in the next year in order to bolster my candidacy? The fact of the matter is that I can't stick around another year at school because my scholarship runs out, and I do not have the financial means to spend another year in school just to take math courses. Would it be helpful to take an industry job for 1-2 years (I have a handful of offers) and take math courses on the side? Alternatively, I've considered RA positions with the NBER, but it seems like the sort of thing where landing one of those positions would be almost as difficult (if not more so) than landing in the top 10 in the first place.

The 3.99 is from a private US university (top 50 or so, but not top 25) with a somewhat reputable undergraduate Economics program. We tend to send about 10 or so students a year to PhD programs, with about 3-5 going to top 10 programs. Last year we sent two to Chicago, two to NYU, and one to Yale. The problem is that all of those who went to those programs had a double major in math, something that I obviously don't have. So the fact that it's not an elite school should temper my expectations somewhat? Am I better off applying to a research-type position or an industry position to work for a couple of years before applying if what I really want is to get into a top 10?

I just took the GRE for the first time yesterday and am trying to use my scores (no analytical writing section yet) to decide to which programs I should be applying. General stats and info: Major: Economics, Spanish Minor: Math (will not complete coursework in real analysis until next semester, am finishing coursework in multivariable calculus) GPA: 3.99/4.00 GRE: 167 V 168 Q Research experience: Pretty limited. I haven't spent any time doing research for any of my professors (I know, big mistake). I am spending time doing some independent research as well as doing some applied statistical analysis/research for a local school district. I have done a decent amount of stata programming, but I do not have great command of python or sas. I do have two years of TA experience, working with professors in teaching statistics and a couple of econometrics courses--I admit that I'm not sure what kind of weight this has, if any, in the admissions process. Recommendations: Two of them should be excellent. The third will probably be pretty good. One will come from the head of the department, another from a very well-known and well-respected econometrics professor. The other will certainly be positive, but even though the professor's track record is good, he's not exactly well-known. I want to be applying to top ten programs (ideally those with strong education and IO departments), but I feel like the lack of a double math major and the lack of research experience would probably keep me out. Should I bother spending my time working towards those programs, or are they basically out of reach?