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Thanks y'all, the wait had been so rough that it felt like a new normal. So glad to finally move on to the next step. It is still kind of surreal.

Finally! I got accepted somewhere. It feels so good.

Institution: American University Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Notification Date: 5/14 Notified Through: Email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: After three years of application cycles it feels so good to finally be accepted

Institution: Rice Program: Econ PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 04/21/2014 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: I figured it was a long shot but it still stings because all I have seen is red this season.

I figure it can also be a good and prepatory break before the journey of phd life.

Of course. I'm in a gap year and I keep forgetting people are taking classes. Best wishes, y'all!

Pretty quiet in here today. Must be the Easter weekend coming up.

I took a Time Series (TS) course during my MA program and though it is was not as rigorous as a PhD course I found it helpful for financial studies. The course was actually pretty fun to take. There are certain aspects of TS that aren't necessarily covered under cross sectional studies. Of course random walks are covered but TS also goes over issues of how to clean up data to remove trends, etc. I think if your focus is financial econ then it would greatly assist you to take it. I was told by professors that TS isn't necessarily helpful to most economists but makes sense for applied econ and financial econ. I can be over generalizing financial econ theory so if there are any others that are well versed in financial econ and/or have taken PhD level TS please correct me.

Institution: Houston Program: PhD Economics Decision: Rejected Funding: Notification date: 04/16 Notified through: email Posted on GC: Yes Comments: Not good at all. This is getting rough.

Yup, you're not alone. Though, I am still waiting to hear anything from three schools. I haven't even been formally wait listed. Good Luck.

Great, Congrats! Best wishes in Philly. I'd love to end up in Dallas, it's my home state.

Seems like there is just a problem with the home page. The Results section is up and running: Grad School Admissions Results for 2006–2012 • thegradcafe.com

Has anyone heard anything yet?

Thanks! Just checking whether it was my connection. I guess it is their way of telling us to relax.

Is anyone else not able to get through to the gradecafe?

Ohh no, the stress is still very much there. Though time does alleviate it, albeit slowly.

Has anyone seen this yet? With all the stress this is slightly helpful. The Illustrated Guide To A Ph.D

I love research. I do not necessarily want an academic career. I would much prefer working as an economist at a think tank, in government, or the world bank/IMF/etc. I would like to do development work.

No, I checked with them on funding and they said I couldn't but that's okay. I would have a chance for funding after the first year. This is actually my third cycle of applications - given, though, last year I only applied to one school and didn't really try because I was building up my references through the MA program. Thankfully, I didn't mention anything about applying again on any of apps this year. Because of all that I am just ready to get started and AU seems like a good opportunity. I'm hoping I get to squeeze into Houston or miraculously land at Rice. Though I am already looking to RA jobs as a precaution. Thanks for your input, Catrina.

As I started to realize that this cycle might end up a goose egg I decided to make a last second application to an unranked school, American University. I was planning on applying there at the start of the season but did not because I thought I had a good chance of getting accepted to at least one 50-70 ranked school. Plus, money was an issue back then. So, I am curious on the forum's opinion on my admission chances to an unranked school that has rolling submissions. Awkwardly, as I researched their program I feel that it is one of the best fits for me. Thanks! PROFILE Type of Undergrad: BBA Finance from State School Undergrad GPA: 3.68 Type of Grad: MA Economics from a school with a Top 40 PhD Program Grad GPA: 3.48 GRE: Q 160; V 159; A 4.0 Math Courses: Calculus (A+); Linear Algebra (B); Intro to Real Analysis (B+); Intro to Statistics (A); Applied Statistics (A) Econ Courses (grad-level): Microeconomic Theory I (B+); Microeconomic Theory II (A-); Macroeconomic Theory (B); Intro to Econometrics (B); Econometric Methods (A-); Time Series Econometrics (A-); Economic Development (B+); Economic Development - PhD Level (A-); Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Antitrust Economics (A); Intro to Macroeconomics (A); Intro to Microeconomics (A); Money and Banking (A); Intro to International Finance (A) Other Courses: Intermediate Corporate Finance (A); Principles of Investment (A) Letters of Recommendation: One from a well respected Econometrician and knows me well; another that knows me well from the PhD Level Econ Development Course; last from the Professor I TA'ed Stats for Research Experience: Non-Technical research from my grad program on Financial Exchanges Teaching Experience: Teaching Assistant for Intro to Stats for Econ at UCSB Research Interests: International Econ, Development Econ, Behavioral Econ, Monetary Econ, Financial Econ SOP: How my interest in Econ was sparked from my finance background and working at USAID, a development agency, interested me in research. Explained how my past failure to get into a PhD motivated me to seek a Masters and improve my math skills. Stated my interests as stated above and how they coincide with their program. Concerns: My lack of tangible technical research experience, those B grades, low Quant GRE, need more math Applying to: Rejected - Berkeley ARE, University of Texas at Austin, Notre Dame Pending - UC Davis, Texas A&M University, Rice, University of Houston, American University

Great, I applied one year too late. haha.

I contacted Texas A&M to see what I needed to improve on since I was rejected. They replied back with: "I don't have a good answer for you. We only admit about 10 percent of our applicants, and they were tough decisions made by the admission committee. " This is fascinating because their website states that they offer admissions to about 50% of applicants with about 20% actually enrolling. I am assuming they are getting more selective. I have also heard the program has been focusing on improving significantly. Ohh well seems like I was not meant to go to Texas A&M.

I am still waiting on three.

Institution: Texas A&M University Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: -$70 Notification date: 3/25/2014 Notified through: Website Posted on GC: Yes Comments: No email notification, I just checked the website.

I just noticed that the GRE scores one school (Houston) had on file for me were bad scores from two years ago. I retook it and did much better this past Nov. Though, because my list of outstanding items on the application website had these old scores from a previous application, it did not show that I was missing GRE scores. I can't believe I overlooked this. Sigh...