econandonandon

PROFILE: (This is probably enough info for people to identify me but whatever) Type of Undergrad: Prestigious UK politics + econ degree Undergrad GPA: First Type of Grad: Top 2(?) UK econ masters Grad GPA: 75/100 (2nd in year) GRE: 169Q 168V 6.0A Math Courses: Nothing other than examined Mphil maths course Econ Courses: From undergrad: micro, macro, quantitative economics, micro theory, econometrics. From grad: micro, macro, econometrics (and 5 not yet examined) Other Courses: Letters of Recommendation: Undergrad tutor (not really known in the states but knows me very well), thesis supervisor (well known professor), professor I RAed for (well known professor) Research Experience: Summer internship at well-known research institute, summer RA work, masters thesis. Teaching Experience: None Research Interests: Empirical micro/econometric theory/computational econometrics. SOP: Mostly about my thesis and research interests. Other: RESULTS: Acceptances: MIT (fully funded off the waitlist), Columbia (special fellowship with extra funding), Berkeley (partial funding in first year then full), LSE (fully funded), Oxford (fully funded), UCL (rejected offer before hearing about funding). Waitlists: MIT, Stanford (rejected offer before finding out if I got in) Rejections: Harvard, Princeton Pending: Attending: MIT Comments: I think the thing I'd like to emphasize is that if you do really well at a good European masters you can get very good offers. This was something that was always unclear to me when I was applying. I didn't expect to do anywhere near as well as I did because my profile was somewhat unusual in terms of the lack of examined math courses. Getting MIT was obvious fantastic, for people reading this in the future, you should understand that MIT is unusual in that it waitlists around half its admits for funding and then allocates funds only when the NSF is released. It has also recently (this year) started to put some people who would previously have been on the funding waitlist on an attendance waitlist in order to better control numbers, so the conventional wisdom that people waitlisted for attendance won't get funding is no longer true. I think the other thing I've realized is the degree of randomness, many people get into courses more highly ranked than those they were rejected from (for instance MIT vs Princeton in my case). On that basis I would recommend applying very widely (which I did not, although I was fortunate enough that this did not cause me any problems).

If you don't mind me asking, why LSE over Columbia?

Submitted ages ago and haven't heard anything and neither has anyone else I know.

I had the same problem so I emailed one of the departments and asked if I could visit on a different day. They were cool with it and said they'd have someone show me around and introduce me to some of the faculty.

Thanks for all the advice, really appreciate it. I have now signed up to one of the flyouts, I have realized the second one clashes with a flyout to somewhere I have an acceptance and fellowship so the decision is now even more difficult..

I've been wait-listed by two places and both have invited me to their flyouts (and have offered some reimbursement). I'm torn over attending because I fear the experience may be a bit uncomfortable as I haven't actually been accepted but by the sounds of it will be treated as if I have been. On the other hand I worry that for wait-listed candidates it may be almost like an interview and if I don't attend the this will decrease my chances of getting offers. It may be worth adding that I'm international so travel will be a big deal and that the two schools are highly ranked (and better than any other options I may have). Has anyone else here been in this situation? Did you go and was it worth it? Was it weird? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yet another waitlist. Anyone know if the couple of Berkeley posts on GC are real? Only seem to be two of them and when I check the website there's no update for me at least.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll try and visit then, I'm international so it'll be a big deal but they said they'll reimburse some of my travel. I have another offer which has an open day a couple of days after and isn't far away so might just make a bit of a holiday out of it. If I do do that how does anyone know how I should go about the reimbursement? Can I only ask one school for a travel reimbursement or would it not be too cheeky to see if I can get both to cover part of the cost (probably still won't cover all of it...)

Hey all. I recently got waitlisted for a school and they've invited me to attend their visit days along with people who were actually accepted. I was wondering whether there might be any point of my attendance? It is apparently very unlikely that I will have heard anything more solid by then. Would a lack of attendance hinder my chances at getting in (which I suspect may be low anyway)? Cheers.

Anyone else here on the waiting list for MIT? Anyone know what the odds are of getting in off of it and whether there is any chance of funding if that occurs?