bobnewbie

Hey everyone, I just wanted to post a brief update here just in case anyone else is in my same situation in the future. I talked to my mentors about my concerns and they were untroubled by the GPA question - strangely enough, they actually found it a bit funny. Between the two of them, they are confident that I can get in at 3 of the top 5 (including our own department) - apparently they're good friends with the people on the admissions committees there and have already discussed this hypothetical in the past. They didn't know people as well at the other two, but figured I'd probably be fine there as well. As a result, it looks like it's a PhD life for me. They did recommend I go someplace with easy comps though... heh. Thanks for the help!

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I’m only really asking this question because there doesn’t seem to be many points of comparison I can find to get my bearings. I have gone through the old profiles and results threads, and none of the responses fit my situation well, so I was hoping that perhaps you guys might have some insight. With regard to why I did not bring this up with my mentors, the reasons were twofold. First, whenever I bring up getting into grad school, they typically just shrug and say something along the lines of “don’t worry about it” – the conversation tends to end there. But they have never seen my grades or anything (other than the classes they teach), and I’m a little self-conscious about my GPA, so I have been reluctant to bring it up. But I’ll make sure to mention the issue more forcefully next time we get lunch.

To be perfectly honest, I've just never particularly enjoyed problem sets/tests, while research makes me happy - I can't tell you how many nights before exams I've spent engrossed in some paper or another rather then studying like I probably should have been. I've always been like this: even in applying to undergrad, my HS GPA was quite low. Whereas virtually everyone had a HS 4.0 coming in, I got in due to published research (in a totally unrelated field) and flawless test scores. Also, I never really planned to apply to graduate school in economics: I wrote my current R&R as a hobby to pass the time because I saw a part of the existing literature that struck me as really stupid and poorly done.

Good point nontrad. And neither, really - it's just that the job offers I have in industry are sufficiently attractive to me that the tipping point between industry and academia sits somewhere around there. I understand it's a bit of a dumb and arbitrary line, but that's what I've come to conclude. I love econ research, but I've found working at (say) a hedge fund or tech startup plenty rewarding as well, so I won't be crushed if this isn't the path for me. Patho: point noted - and thanks for the heads up. See below. PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: Top 5 Undergrad GPA: 3.2-ish - physics/econ major GRE: Not taken (assume high enough) Math Courses: Calc 3(B), Linear Algebra (B+), Differential Equations (B+), Intro Real Analysis (C-) , Real Analysis I,II (A-,A-), Physics math (complex analysis, tensor calc,fourier series etc) (A-) Econ Courses : Intermediate Micro, Macro, two metrics classes. Probability, statistics, game theory, and various econ electives in fields I'm interested in (nothing notable). Letters of Recommendation: NL Professor (loves me), JBC Professor (quite likes me) Research Experience: 1 summer as an RA, 1 top R&R, 1 good working paper. Casual coding RA work for another professor (averaging 5 hours per week over the past two years). Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: I'd rather not disclose: generally, applied micro. Concerns: Low grades Applying to: Top 5/ Top 10 programs.

Hello everyone, I'm currently a Junior at a top 5 university double majoring in physics and economics. As I go into my final year of college, the question of whether to pursue a PhD or go into business is upon me - and I'm not sure what to do. You see, for personal reasons I'm really only interested in going for the PhD if I can get into a top5/10 program, but I'm not sure that my record is good enough to do so. I'm asking now because I want to know whether I should focus my senior year classes on a hard, PhD-prep curriculum, or jsut go for fun, easy electives. My profile looks like the following: On the negative side, my GPA is quite low - only about a 3.2 or so. Overall, it is somewhat lower (2.9) in physics, and a bit higher in math/econ. Math classes taken include calc 3 (with a B) intro real analysis (with a C-) differential equations/linear algebra (B+/B+), and two classes in RA (A- and A-). For recommendation letters, I worked for one summer as a research assistant to a very famous professor (think Nobel Laureate) who loves me - he has become a mentor and advised me on all my subsequent independent research. I also have a very good relationship with another very well-known guy (JBC winner) who has said he would be happy go to to bat for me. No idea on the third one, however. Finally, for research experience I currently have 1 solo-authored paper on R&R at a top journal (think AER/QJE/JPE etc) that I expect to be published by PhD application time, and if I work hard over the summer I have another working project I could likely get to at least the R&R stage by application time - my mentor thinks it's probably good enough to hit a top field journal. For the GRE, I haven't taken the real thing, but I haven't had any problems consistently getting perfect scores on practice tests, so I don't think it will be a problem. Am I cut out to be an academic? (My apologies if this doesn't follow forum etiquette, I'm new here!)