ProspectivePhD

I'm still waiting on two schools-- I interviewed at one and have heard nothing from the other. 12 days until the deadline. Is this normal? should I just write those schools off and move on with my other plans?

I'm still waiting on two schools-- I interviewed at one and have heard nothing from the other. 12 days until the deadline. Is this normal? should I just write those schools off and move on with my other plans?

It seems that the decisions are starting to roll in. I've now been rejected by 2 schools (Stanford & Berkeley) and asked to interview at one (rather not specify just now). Still haven't heard from any of my top-priority programs, but one interview is good news!

I can't say anything specifically about Kellogg, but I've had a similar experience at other schools. I see notes on gradcafe and here that people are getting interview requests or acceptances, but I haven't had a single contact either positive or negative. I'm trying not to assume the worst, but at this point I think the most optimistic assumption is that I'm not in the short list of candidates but might be in their lower tiers if the shortlisted group doesn't work out.

Hello Urchers-- Reading the various pieces of advice and profile evaluations on this forum got me thinking about the value of accumulated advice / anecdotes versus quantitative data. So naturally, I wrote a survey to collect information on our applicant profiles and admissions outcomes. This survey will not collect any identifiable information, but it will give us a basis for understanding the applicant pool at various universities and the likelihood that a person with a specific profile would be within the range of accepted applicants. Hopefully it will also give us some information on the relative importance of scores, GPA, letters, SOP quality (fuzzy to measure), personal connections / contact, work and research experience, English proficiency, etc. The survey should accommodate applicants to Economics and Business PhD programs, and is geared towards US programs. If you have specific suggestions (important data points I'm not including, revisions for clarity), please let me know. This is the product of a few hours of quick tinkering, so I'll be shocked if there are no errors. This is not formal research and has not been reviewed by any ethics committees, FYI. You can access the survey at the link below. Please take it only once, and take it AFTER you have received all of your admission results. This year's cohort will need to wait until March / April to complete the survey, but those of you who are already in PhD programs or who applied in previous cycles can provide information now. Survey link (via google forms) About you Good luck to the current applicants, and thank you to anyone who chooses to participate. (cross-posted in PhD in Business and PhD in Economics)

Hello Urchers-- Reading the various pieces of advice and profile evaluations on this forum got me thinking about the value of accumulated advice / anecdotes versus quantitative data. So naturally, I wrote a survey to collect information on our applicant profiles and admissions outcomes. This survey will not collect any identifiable information, but it will give us a basis for understanding the applicant pool at various universities and the likelihood that a person with a specific profile would be within the range of accepted applicants. Hopefully it will also give us some information on the relative importance of scores, GPA, letters, SOP quality (fuzzy to measure), personal connections / contact, work and research experience, English proficiency, etc. The survey should accommodate applicants to Economics and Business PhD programs, and is geared towards US programs. If you have specific suggestions (important data points I'm not including, revisions for clarity), please let me know. This is the product of a few hours of quick tinkering, so I'll be shocked if there are no errors. This is not formal research and has not been reviewed by any ethics committees, FYI. You can access the survey at the link below. Please take it only once, and take it AFTER you have received all of your admission results. This year's cohort will need to wait until March / April to complete the survey, but those of you who are already in PhD programs or who applied in previous cycles can provide information now. Survey link (via google forms) About you Good luck to the current applicants, and thank you to anyone who chooses to participate. (cross-posted in PhD in Business and PhD in Economics)

Just submitted my last application!!! Now the waiting begins. I actually feel less anxious because there is not much I can do to alter the outcome, except perhaps more networking.

Thank you for the very thoughtful response, advice, and encouragement. I definitely won't bring it up until I am accepted-- not a topic that I want to discuss in interviews. The whole project does feel daunting, but I think your final point, to just give it a shot, is really the only thing I can do. This is a life goal, and it will take some sacrifices. If it becomes too much, then I can always re-evaluate and iterate through alternatives that might make the situation better. This part really made me think: I think this sums the situation up pretty well--Except that I haven't tried full time yet, and I'm hoping it will actually be doable. I won't know until I start (assuming I'm admitted somewhere, of course). This whole concept brings to mind so many thoughts about work / life culture in the US generally. It seems that many of the interesting, high achieving jobs (think consulting, law, tech, academia, executives in any business, etc.) have an expectation that if people like their job and are good at it, then they will WANT to spend 60-80 hours per week doing it. And anyone unwilling to put in that time is perceived as just not serious, not ambitious, not talented, or they just are not passionate enough about their work. I think this is a totally ridiculous attitude, though it is pervasive. I think people should be allowed to be excellent, professional, innovative, and 100% dedicated to their job during a reasonable work week, and not penalized for being 100% engaged in their personal life (family, leisure, or otherwise) outside of work hours. It irks me that our professional culture is such that the best and brightest have to choose between their professional goals and their family / personal goals. I feel a lot of sadness, and also guilt, about the concept of sacrificing either my family to my job, or my personal learning and professional growth because of family. I just don't think they need to be mutually exclusive, though in practice they often turn out to be. In any case, I will update the thread in a few months if/when I get accepted and have a chance to think about my actual options as opposed to hypothetical options.

This is what I assume they are looking for, and if your master's thesis required any analysis, you may be able to modify that code for the application.

Are you aware of any person who has successfully negotiated for a modified or part time PhD schedule? I know most programs say they do not offer part time studies, but I wonder if there are ever exceptions to this rule. For various reasons related to family constraints and my own utility optimization function, I am brainstorming options for spreading the PhD coursework over more than 2 years or otherwise arranging for a more flexible pace over the course of the program. I see this kind of negotiation as something similar to negotiating salary and benefits with any other private sector employer--In that scenario I am aware of many employers who don't advertise part time positions but are sometimes willing to make accommodations for the right candidate. Has this been done before? Am I crazy to think it might work?

Tom Rod, summarized it, but here's my take: 1. Professors have an network, and BYU has also established a reputation for producing Econ PhD applicants that do well in top programs. They rely on that reputation. 2. Students who express interest in a PhD are strongly encouraged to double major in Math. BYU also has some very strong grad-level econ theory classes. 3. RA--There are no grad students to act as RA's, which means that top undergrads fill that role. Everyone who plans to go on to a PhD is hooked in to an RA job, and many of them have publications. 4. The long tail comment is real--there are lots of very, very smart people who go to BYU because of the social and religious orientation who could easily have been admitted (or, were admitted) to more prestigious schools. They look to prestigious grad training to get their dose of prestige. 5. This is more qualitative, but there is something to be said for the Mormon notion of self reliance combined with the feeling of having something to prove. You'll find that Mormons and BYU graduates are also over-represented in other types of grad training, notably medicine, law, and dentistry.

I'm 2-3 years away from applying to PhD program in Finance. While I have an undergraduate degree in Economics, I quite foolishly did not take any math courses beyond calculus. This is clearly the major hole in my application, so I plan to spend some time taking courses in linear algebra, differential equations, and real analysis, along with a calc refresher course. As it turns out, there are many ways to accomplish this, with varying levels of cost, time, convenience, and legitimacy. 1. Assortment of in-person undergrad classes at local no-name state school: Graded, low-moderate cost, legitimate but not prestigious, reasonably convenient 2. MIT open course ware: Free, online, self paced MIT classes, not graded , prestigious school, but no way to prove competency 3. Assortment of online undergrad level courses: convenient, graded, legitimate, not prestigious, low-moderate cost And this makes me curious--Am I taking these courses to get a transcript that proves my competency to the admissions committee, or am I taking them for the sake of knowing the material? Does prestige matter here? What about course format--would I be penalized for taking an online class versus an in person class? All thoughts and insights are welcome.