sillytheory

And if you're worried about not being in the honors program at Wisconsin, know that most universities will invite you into the program anyway if your grades are above a certain threshold after a semester or two. So don't sweat.

For undergrad, a UW-Madison degree is more well-respected than one from Minnesota, at least for American students. As far as PhD programs go, Minnesota and Wisconsin are similarly ranked, and Minnesota is really only better at macro. I know someone who did undergrad at Wisconsin and Econ PhD at Northwestern. I also know someone who went to U Iowa for undergrad and is now at Princeton for Econ PhD. Hence, it really depends more on how good you are individually than on what school you're at. P.S. - I'm entering the UW-Madison Econ PhD this fall, so perhaps I am a little biased. :)

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: BS in Econ and Math, Big Ten U, Top 50-60 Econ Dept Undergrad GPA: 4.00 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 164Q, 164V, 4.5AW (took it twice, these are my second-round scores) Math Courses (undergrad): Calc I, II, III, Linear Algebra, (all A's), Math Stat I (B+) Math Stat II (A), Intro. Real Analysis (B) Econ Courses (undergrad): Intermediate Micro and Macro (both A+), IO (A+), Labor Econ, Game Theory, Public Finance, Information Econ (all A's) Other Courses: Some econ-related Poli Sci classes Letters of Recommendation: 1 from tenured Professor with endowed chair (Labor Econ prof), 1 from Assistant Professor recently denied tenure (Game Theory & Information Econ prof), 1 from Visiting Assistant Professor (IO and Public Finance prof, know them very well) Research Experience: None at time of application Teaching Experience: Private tutor for a lot of econ classes Research Interests: IO SOP: Standardish, but emphasis on IO research ideas, coursework performance, and tried to sell teaching/tutoring ability RESULTS: Acceptances: UW-Madison ($$), Iowa ($$) Waitlists: Virginia Rejections: Stanford, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, Boston U Pending: Michigan State (withdrew app after being accepted elsewhere) Attending: UW-Madison Comments: The decision was a no-brainer. But, as I'll explain below, I feel I got a little lucky. What would you have done differently? As a result of taking some college-credit classes while in high school, I decided to finish undergrad in 3 years. Although I had been encouraged to apply for a Masters/PhD by a few mentors, as of the summer before my senior year, I was set on the workforce. But after a distasteful experience in the private sector that summer, in August I decided, "Why not, I'll go for my PhD and avoid those "what-ifs" and the idiots in the business world, at least for a while." When I told my closest advisor about this decision, they recommended I stay and do another year of undergrad. I thought that advice was silly, why spend another year stuck in the same place, going deeper into debt? But looking back, they were probably right. If I had stayed another year in at my undergrad institution, I would have taken more undergraduate-level math, some grad econ classes, written an honors thesis, done more research-assistant work, and enjoyed another year with the student org I came to love. If I had done that, I think my profile would have been much stronger, would have better letters of recommendation and I may have gotten into more programs. I also should have taken the GRE the summer before I applied so I would have more time to review before retaking it. I also think I should have applied to more programs that are similar to UW-Madison, like Cornell and Minnesota. Looking at other profiles, I think I got lucky at UW-Madison, probably thanks to my first letter writer.