econapp2014

If you can publish at a Top 5 journal already, why would you need a PhD degree after all?

Does UCLA offer MSc Economics?

So far I got funded offers from WUSTL and BU with similar funding, and I am also wait-listed at UW-Madison. I will probably go to Madison if I get accepted off the wait-list (any comments?). However, it seems to be a difficult call if I don't make it. I am fairly sure I will be specialized in Macro and Time series Econometrics. WUSTL is very strong in Macro but weak in Econometrics, whereas there are also some nice Macro and Econometrics people at BU. The overall rankings of them according to US News are similar (27 vs 24). To me Boston is clearly better than St. Louis to live in. But placement-wise WUSTL seems to be better (with 80-90% academic job). Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.:encouragement:

Do you have a master's degree in Economics? They will reject applicants without a master right away.

Just to point out the GRE analytical mentioned in the article is not GRE AWA. Before 2002, there are two separated sections on analytical reasoning and writing. The analytical reasoning section was a multiple-choice test and the writing section was only introduced in 1999. I doubt the GRE AWA score would have any predictive power on job placement or grades of first-year courses.

any guess on when Ohio State will be moving this year?

It seems to me that you are assuming a letter from a prestigious professor, regardless of its content, is almost always better than that from an unknown professor, which I don't agree. In fact, I think the content of the letter carries much more weight in the application process than who wrote the letter. Here is a quote from NYU's FAQ which said just that:

I don't think having done some data cleaning job, for example, for a prestigious professor would be more valuable to the application process (and future research career) than actual theoretical/empirical analysis in a co-authored paper, even it only got published in a 2nd/3rd tier journal. At the end, you could be doing some logistic work that is completely unrelated with Economics. What really matters is what you have done and what you have learnt from the process.

What matters is your role in the project, not where the paper got published.

bump for more comments, thanks!

Thanks. I'm an international student. Do you think there are any departments that impose a hard cut-off score for AWA? I have heard many stories of getting in very decent schools with 3.0AWA, but I am not sure if it is ok everywhere. FYI, my "targets" would be in the range of top 20-30.

I have taken the GRE twice, and in the second time my Q and V scores improves, but getting a very weak AWA score: 1st attempt: 156V (71%) /166Q (92%) /4.0AWA (56%) 2nd attempt: 160V (84%) /170Q (98%) /3.0AWA (15%) Which score should I send to the schools? or both? Retaking is an option, but I'm afraid I would probably score lower in V and Q. Thanks.