dan1618

Here's some advice based on personal experience: I earned my second B.S. online (in economics) while working. The school was a reputable state school, but I already had a B.S. (in math) from a reputable brick-and-mortar state school. From what I can tell, the online courses did not hinder my chances. My GREs were similar to yours, I had no grad classes, but a higher GPA. I've gotten some decent offers from a couple top 40 schools, and additional offers from top 60 schools. My recommendation is to apply to schools ranked 40-70. If you apply to enough, you'll probably get funding somewhere.

I'm torn between two offers: one from Urbana-Champaign and one from Notre Dame. I plan to visit both schools to get more information, but in the meantime, would appreciate any feedback to help me make a decision. My career goal is to do economic research (preferably in industry, but I wouldn't turn down a research-oriented academic position). I'm interested in international economics, development, and public economics. Both schools have faculty members that I'm interested in working with. UIUC offer: -$21k per year (first year fellowship, remaining 4 years as TA), and 50% of students receive funding to teach during the summer. RA positions are less likely. -Department recently hired 5 new faculty members (it looks like they're trying to improve their rankings). -Big concern: according to the website, the median time to completion is 6 years. Notre Dame offer: -$19k per year (first year TA with "minimal responsibilities," remaining 4 years as RA), and guaranteed summer funding if I want to work as a TA. -Department is hiring 15 new faculty members within the next 5 years. The program appears to be on a strong upward trajectory. I bet it will be considered a top-40 school by the time I graduate. -Concern: I don't care if people think less of me for attending a less prestigious program, but I know that pedigree matters when obtaining a job. Other questions/considerations: -I've been teaching math at the middle school / high school level the last 3.5 years, but I don't know how much this teaching experience will help me get a job when I'm done (I'm really sick of teaching, and the thought of not having to teach for 4 years is appealing). Any thoughts? -Will the extra 4 years as an RA at Notre Dame give me a leg up in the job market, or is the PhD considered an equalizer when it comes to research experience? -My wife will be looking for a teaching job and is concerned about working in inner-city South Bend schools (we've both worked in high-poverty schools and hated the experience). Overall, Champaign-Urbana seems like a nicer area to live (South Bend has some serious violent crime issues). Any feedback/suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Thanks for the honest feedback. In response to your question, I forgot to add one course (math computing), and seven of the courses listed were considered upper division (300 level+). There are three courses I did not mention because they were useless math education classes (my degree says B.S. in Math, my transcript says education option. Basically, those three math ed courses replaced three useful math courses).

Thanks for the feedback. -My research experience experience involved completing a project from start to almost-finish (come up with a question, complete a literature review, gather data, run regressions in stata, but we ended up with null-results, and the professor didn't think it would be publish-worthy. I also completed several more lit reviews for various topics). I'm confident he will write a good letter. -The other two letters from the math professors should be good as well (they both ranked me in the top 90% of students they taught). -The OSU degree doesn't state that it was online, but I was teaching in Washington during my enrollment, so I would assume someone could easily piece together the details.

Thanks for the feedback!

Please take a look at my profile and tell me what you think. What are my chances at the schools mentioned below, or getting funding at a top-50 in general? Thanks -Dan PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.S. Math from Washington State, B.S. Economics from Oregon State (good but not great public schools) Undergrad GPA: 3.77 Math degree, 3.85 Econ degree GRE: 94th percentile quant, 72nd percentile verbal, 90th percentile written Math Courses: Calc 1 (A), Calc 2 (B+), Calc 3 (B+), Linear Alg (B-), Intro to Proof writing (B+), Differential Eq (A), Combinatorics (A), Modern Algebra (A), Real Analysis (A), Optimization (A), Prob & Stats (A) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): All A's except Econometrics (B+) Other Courses: Physics for scientists and engineers 1 and 2 (A, B), modern physics 1 (B), programming in C (A-) Letters of Recommendation: 2 from math professors 1 from economist that I RA'd for. Research Experience: about 7 months of being an RA Research Interests: international, macro, public finance Teaching Experience: 2 years as undergraduate TA, 3 years teaching middle/high school Concerns: my second degree from Oregon State was online. Our econ courses didn't use much advanced math. Applying to: (I haven't narrowed it down completely)Maryland, Virginia, Boston College, Illinois (Urbana), Vanderbilt, U Washington, Indiana, Georgetown, Syracuse, UC Boulder, Notre Dame, U Kentucky, George Washington, George Mason, U Georgia, (possible: U North Carolina, NC State, and Virginia Tech)