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I'm a firm advocate for undergrads to use their junior year summer internship to explore industry internships. You can always RA during the school year, but cannot really participate in private sector internships then. Experiencing both will help you clarify your career goals.

My understanding is that business school econ programs tend to win cross-admits against traditional econ programs because of the better funding they provide and the better faculty resources accessible to the students in those programs (depending on the university culture, this is a moot point since you can easily work with any faculty in either department). Core classes and academic training generally are the same across programs. Hard to imagine placements differing in two equivalent programs at the same university other than for differences in input quality in the students.

Are you a junior at an Ivy? Do you have excellent grades in quant coursework (3.8+ GPA)? My advice would be to do the summer analyst gig at a top 5 ibank and then apply to finance programs your first year in the full-time job. You'll build a significant savings cushion to make grad school much more enjoyable and won't really be too disadvantaged (for finance programs). Take a look at the profiles of current students at the top finance PhD programs. You'll find that many go this route (Ivy -> Wall Street -> PhD). If you're a marginal candidate and are set on the finance PhD, then you should consider RAing (but honestly, I would think hard about forgoing your internship opportunity).

No, I would recommend not taking the course if the highest grade you can achieve is a B+. Are there any math courses you can take instead?

Please use the search function! This topic has been discussed ad nauseum and awards were already given out!

I know someone who retook a math/stats class s/he received a C in. This person wound up improving her/his GPA (by having the previous grade over-written) and then got admitted to a Top 5 econ PhD program. just one data point here

Hi, will either course be offer again in the summer? Thanks.

yeah, it sounds like yield has been much higher in some of the hotter schools like Stanford. now that I think about my previous claim, if a school unilaterally reduces its class size, then the contemporaneous and lagged effect should be an increase in yield of lower ranked schools. I'd even hazard to guess that higher than expected yield this year, could mean that admission rates will decline in the future for certain top 10 schools as they attempt to readjust class sizes to their desired equilibrium. Why may have yield been so high? I posit one potential explanation: applicant quality may have risen but admission probabilities across top 10 schools has grown less correlated. So, you may have a smaller number of cross-admits and schools admitting students underestimate yield thinking that a larger pool of their talent admitted students will decline.

My general understanding has been that T20 programs have been reducing class sizes to be able to better fund matriculated students and reduce attrition rates over the last 2-3 years. For example, if Chicago Econ reduced the incoming cohort size to 20 from 40 in the last 2 years that alone would translate into tougher admission standards for the T10.

Do you think the shortcoming in your application is your coursework or your letters? Would it be possible for you to RA for a 1 year while reapplying?

Your plan looks good, but I would honestly push to apply to PhD programs this Fall.

Declined a bunch of offers yesterday. Good luck to all!

i think many visit days conclude next week. hopefully, that'll help the market to clear

^ above advice is sensible. Here's some other unconventional advice for you: you may not have to finish your master's degree if you're admitted to a PhD program after applying this Fall. Of course, this could set you back a year if you are unsatisfied with your results, but I think you have what it takes to take your application across the finish line (and it could save you a lot of tuition). Again, I would lighten your courseload, focus on getting a good letter from your RA gig, start your applications to external funding sources, knock-out the GRE, and go part-time in your Master's program in the Fall, taking maybe another grad class at the T20 PhD program near you.

As I've mentioned in a separate thread, I highly recommend that you only take this class and RA over the summer. It's your call but overdosing on math can mess up what is panning out to be a solid application to T20 programs.