marketmo11

Full disclosure: I am waitlisted at Boston College, so I would obviously not advice you to take their offer, just for my own selfish reasons. So definitely don't put much weight on what I am saying now. But my point is that I would really take the difference in funding between BC and Rice into account, which seems very high, especially if adjusted for the cost of living. You will have a much more comfortable life with 25k in Houston than you could have with 21k in Boston, and I do think that this can also influence your performance and eventual outcome to some extent. Others may correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that assistantship funding is still subject to taxes, so that you would end up with a few thousand less in both places in net terms. The consensus view here is that funding differences should matter very little, if at all, simply because they are so small compared to your lifetime income. However, especially if you were an international student like me, I think insufficient funding can be a great cause of concern, because it seems quite difficult for a foreign student to get loans in the US and borrow against your future income. And 21k pre taxes in Boston is, in my view, very close to being insufficient. Once again, don't take this as serious advice, as I am waitlisted at BC and obviously biased! There are many pros about BC and perhaps also cons about Rice which others mentioned here. But even I would struggle to decide between BC (if admitted) and another offer which is much lower ranked than Rice, simply because of those financial considerations. If you are international and/or somewhat financially constrained, you may want to take them into account.

Is anyone else here still waiting for some waitlist movement? It seems like there are very few people getting accepted off waitlists this year, compared to previous years. Hopefully there will be some action on the 15th at least! Also, what do you guys think, will those who do NOT get in off a waitlist be notified on the 15th/16th as well? Specifically, I am waiting for a decision from Boston College, and I really hope they don't send me their standard postal mail rejection letter (to Europe) in case the waitlist doesn't clear.

Institutions: UC Santa Barbara, UMinnesota, Boston U, Vanderbilt, Brown, Stockholm U, Stockholm School of Economics, Gothenberg U, Uppsala U Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: Comments: To sum up my application season, here is the long list of rejections first...not really surprising, although I thought I had a decent shot at some of them. Institution: Boston College Program: Economics PhD Decision: Waitlisted Funding: Notification date: 3/28 Notified through: email Comments: Not sure how long the waitlist is, but I am really hoping that this works out! BC is a great fit for me and I'd love to live in the Boston area as well. Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: TA from only 2nd year, 1st year funding (full or partial TA) may become available until August Notification date: 3/7 Notified through: email Comments: only offer I got so far, and I would be very happy to take it. But the financial situation is very uncertain and risky, so I am not entirely sure.

Just got my very first acceptance from CU Boulder, after being explicitly and implicitly rejected from almost all the other places! I am super excited, as I was already quite sure that there may be some flaw in my profile that'll get me rejected everywhere. Anyway, the offer does not include funding for year one so far. Does anyone know whether the funding waitlist in those cases is usually ranked or not? In other words, would it make any sense to accept an unfunded offer early, in order to increase my chances of eventually obtaining funding, once somebody else declines?

I posted the first Minnesota rejection on GC, so I can definitely confirm that it's legitimate. There was no notification by E-mail at all, the application status just changed to "Decision made" about 24 hours ago, and then shortly afterwards a link to the decision letter appeared at the bottom of the page. Good luck to everyone who is still waiting for a decision from Minnesota, I guess this is a good sign!

Thanks for your responses. I am pretty sure that it didn't have any effect on this particular letter writer, because she submitted the same letter (with some minor adjustments) to every place and probably didn't even notice that I didn't waive my right once. She also showed me an early version of her LOR anyway, so there should be no problem here. I guess I really just overreacted a bit then, that's good to know!

Hi everyone, while checking the status of my recommendation letters in the application portal of UCSB, I noticed that I apparently forgot to waive my right to see one of my LOR's, which has already been submitted. Unfortunately, there seems to be no possibility to delete a recommendation once it has been submitted, and the graduate office doesn't answer my requests. Obviously, I do not intend to read this LOR later and I usually always choose to waive this right, I don't know what went wrong this time. Did anyone have a similar problem before? How bad is it really to not waive this right, will it make this LOR completely worthless? Do admission committees really think that LOR writers actually pay attention to this, and change their recommendation accordingly? Any suggestions about what to do now, if UCSB does not answer? I thought about just deleting my whole application and starting a fresh one, but it seems an awful lot of trouble and also feels a bit like cheating, or could be perceived as such. I also might ask this particular recommender to notify UCSB that me not waiving this right did not have any influence on her recommendation at all. Obviously, she submitted the same letter as to every other place, where I DID wave my right to see it. Do you guys think such a mail would help? Would be great to get some experiences or feedback on this. Thanks a lot!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: B.Sc. in Economics and Management Science, not well-known German university with small Econ dept (perhaps Top 20 in Germany) Undergrad GPA: 3.95 (WES converted); 1.5 in German system (1=best, 5=worst), ranked 11/419 Type of Grad: M.Sc. Economics (two years) from same university, Research Master Dev Econ (1 year) from relatively well-known French uni (Top 20 in Europe) Grad GPA: 3.7 (WES converted), 2.0 (German grade) for the 2-year Master, 3.5-3.6 (WES converted), 14.7/20 (French grade) for the 1-year Master GRE: 167Q/166V/awaiting AW (4.0 at first try) Math Courses: all I could choose, 'Math for Economists' (A-), 'Statistics and Probability theory' (B), Econ Courses (grad-level): countless, most rigorous ones were 'Advanced Macro'(A), 'Advanced Micro'(B-), 'Advanced Stats and Econometrics' (B+), 'Microeconometrics' (A), 'International Economic Policy' (A+) Econ Courses (undergrad-level): too many to name them all, for example 'Intermediate Macro' (A+), 'Intermediate Micro'(A), 'Econometrics' (A+) Other Courses: some BA and Law courses at undergraduate level Letters of Recommendation: 1st very strong from Master thesis supervisor (active in research, but not famous, knows me very well), 2nd very strong from Bachelor thesis supervisor (same qualities as the 1st recommender, but knows me longer), 3rd letter is shared between 3 Macro and Econometrics Profs, should be good, but not too detailed Research Experience: BSc and Msc thesis, countless term papers, short-term RA at Econometrics chair, short-term research intern at famous research institute Teaching Experience: TA for Intermediate Micro and Intro Econ, around 1 year Research Interests: Development, (Empirical) Macro, Applied Econometrics SOP: one customized paragraph explaining my research interests and experiences, one generic paragraph trying to explain my math background (which is not as bad as it looks at first sight) and a few very disappointing grades at the grad level (especially the 'Advanced Micro' red flag)...but to be honest, my explanation is not very convincing (Main) Concerns: 1.) Bad grade in Graduate Micro 2.) graduate GPAs are lower than undergraduate (although the conversion of the French grades seems very unfortunate, I was among the best students there) 3.) my German uni is unknown in the US, and I don't think our small Econ department has sent many PhD student there in the last years 4.) I did not really include safeties, mostly applying to 'long shots' and perhaps a few 'reaches', I would say, especially considering the fact I'll need full funding Other: will use a part of my Master thesis as a writing sample, I think it isn't too bad and can only work in my favor at those programs who allow for it (and actually read it) Applying to: UMinn, Brown, Boston U, Boston C, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, UCSB, UC Boulder, also 3 Swedish Universities (SSE, Stockholm U, Uppsala U)

Hi everyone, I have the following situation regarding the choice of my LOR writers. I plan to apply to 10 programs, and I already secured two LORs for each from my undergrad and grad thesis supervisors, which should be pretty strong. However, for the 3rd recommendation, I contacted 4 Profs (call them A,B,C,D), and each of them agreed to write me a maximum of 3 'customized' recommendation letters. They are all very busy and basically they just don't want to spend the time for uploading 10 letters, filling out 10 forms, answering questions about me 10 times etc. Based on how much they know me, how 'well-known' they are themselves and how good I was in their classes, I can somehow guess how good each of their letters will be. I am pretty sure that ABC will write good letters, and they all have to tell rather much about me. With some uncertainty, I would say A>B>C. The letters from D will most likely be not as good. Even though he still has a few good things to say about me (in addition to how good my grades were), his letter may still come out just lukewarm in the end. My questions: 1) How would you match the letters of A,B and C with my programs? Does it make sense to take A for the highest ranked programs on my list, where admission may be pretty unlikely anyway? Then B for the next tier and so on? Or would it be better to save A for the reaches, where I expect to have a small, but decent chance? 2) What to do with D? Would a lukewarm third recommendation letter absolutely kill my application, even if it is just for the lowest-ranked safety, number 10 on my list (ranked 60ish)? So better don't apply there at all, if I can't get any additional letter from A,B or C? 3) Because I am not completely sure about the relative strength of ABCD, I actually thought about using the 2 remaining letters from D as an additional, 4th LOR in two of my 10 applications. They may also serve as a safety in case one of the other writers doesn't submit on time. Do you think a lukewarm, 4th LOR will do a lot of harm, if letters 1 to 3 are very strong or strong? Even though letter 4 will most likely reduce the average quality of my letters, it may still add one or two positive things about me that are not included in the other letters. In the worst case, the Adcoms will just assume that I only build strong relationships to 3 faculty members, not 4, is that really a bad signal? I know there is a lot of speculation and guessing involved here, I'm just interested what others would do in my situation. Cheers!

I can only tell you about Paris, where I took a one-year research Master but did not advance to the PhD program. As jrdonsimoni said for the UK, most students are looking for graduate jobs and do not want to proceed to the PhD program. And frankly, a lot of them would not have the ability to do so. But between the remaining students who are competing for the few PhD places (say 10%), the competition in Paris was pretty tough. Your grades and performance in the Master won't matter a lot then, you only need to have a minimum GPA which puts you maybe in the top 20% or 25% of the class. What matters is your research proposal and how you defend it in front of the PhD admissions committee. And, most importantly, you will have to find a PhD supervisor during this one year of Masters who is well-liked by the rest of the faculty and willing to defend you and advance you to the PhD no matter what. So, at least in Paris, transition is definitely not guaranteed and not really straightforward as well. But if you put some effort into it and know from the start that this is your goal, your chances will be rather high, even if you get some bad grades.

I e-mailed several economics departments with a very similar question (some in the 50-60 range, some above) and they all gave me the impression that they are well aware of this situation and that it seems to be not much of a problem to have no "pure" math courses on your transcript as an international applicant. Some of them emphasized that they already have some Germans studying there (I am a German student myself), so they are familiar with their typical math backgrounds. Hence, if you got your previous degree(s) in a country which sends a relatively large number of students to PhD programs in the US, this should definitely reduce uncertainty for them and make it less likely that they reject you on the basis of insufficient math background. Some of the smaller departments, who are probably not so familiar with students from my country, just advised me to have a close look at their math requirements, determine myself whether the courses I've taken are equivalent and then mention this somewhere in my SOP. They didn't ask me for any formal proof (syllabus etc.) or certificate. But I think a high GRE quant. score and perhaps some LOR's mentioning your maths ability are all the more important as an international student. However, I just stated what those admission offices told me- perhaps what they tell you in advance and how they actually behave when the admission process starts are two different things. SO somebody who is more involved with that or got already admitted may be much better qualified than me to answer your question.

Thanks for your feedback! @ leonm: correct, I only planned to apply to 2 or perhaps 3 Top15 programs. But I realize that my low grad GPA and poor performance in some technical classes (especially grad micro) and my mediocre letter-writers may be a huge problem there. So perhaps I should just not apply to Top15 at all and better use the money for more applications in the 30-50 range? GMU is exactly where my heterodox letter-writer could supposedly get me into, but I'm not sure that's really where I wanna go...but it could be an option. @ chateauheart: as you seemto be one of the most experienced members he, it would be great if I could getyour opinion about the following: if I would choose to apply to 2 or 3 of theTop15 programs, realizing that they would be very long shots, after whichcriteria should I choose which ones to apply to, given my profile? I guess thatone could be the Uni where my Macro letter-writer got his PhD, but for theothers...is research fit very important? Are there any of the Top programsknown to be "more liberal" with regard to a few bad Econ and Math grades? I like to believe that once an Adcom reads my LoR's and SoP and ideally has a look on my writing sample as well, I can convince him that I'm capable of doing quality research. But if all of the Top15 programs don't even bother looking at anything else once they see a B in grad micro, I guess I should not waste my money on those long shots. Many thanks!

Thank you both for your feedback! @ leonm: correct, I only considered applying to two or three Top15 programmes, out of ~ten total applications, realizing that these will be very long shots. But considering what you said about my low grad GPA and poor performance in some of the more technical courses (especially in grad Micro), I might as well save the money for top15 and instead apply to a few more in the 30-50 range. @ chateauheart: As you seem to be one of the most experienced urch-members, I'd very much like to hear your personal opinion about the following. If I want to apply to 2 or 3 Top15 programmes (very long shots, but just so I don't regret not having tried it at least), by which criteria should I choose those programs? If he agrees, I think one program should be the one where my 3rd letter writer got his PhD. About the others, I'm not sure. Is research interest fit very important at the top15 level? Are there any programs where it may be more likely that a student with somewhat concerning grades (especially grad Micro) is admitted, or at least even looked at, when he can convince the adcoms that he is able to do some quality research? I know it's probably very hard to tell and highly subjective, but even a guess would be fine for me.

Hi everyone, it would be great if I could get some honest advice about the range of US PhD programs that I should aim at, given my profile you see below. I am asking because I got my Bachelor and Master degrees in Economics only from a medium-ranked German university and I could not find a lot of comparable profiles here. For some reason, it seems that only guys from well-ranked German universities apply for the US, and then get mostly rejections because they only apply to Top10 or Top15 programs. Type of Undergrad: B.Sc Economics and Management Sciences from an unranked economics department in Germany (usually, only the top 5 or 10 of those departments appear in some ranking or another). I would say that my department could be placed somewhere around top15 or top20. However, in my view and based on my own experiences, I don't think that in Germany there is a significant difference between #5 and #20 in terms of research output, average student ability, quality of teaching and diffuclty of exams etc. Undergrad GPA: 3.94 (all courses; the unconverted German average is 1.5 (1=best, 5=worst), which places me somwhere around the 96th percentile); Economics GPA: 3.9 Type of Grad: M.Sc Economics at the same department (first year), M.Res Economics of Globalization at Top3 Economics department in France (which counts as a seperate degree and also as the second year of my German master, leaving me with two Master degress (1 year and 2 years) Grad GPA: 3.67 (first year in Germany, unconverted German average only 2.2); 3.5 (second year in France, however, converted to the German average it will be sth like 1.7) GRE: not yet taken, but aiming realistically for Q-165-170, V-160-165, AW- 3-5 Math Courses (grad and undergrad) : 2-semester undergraduate course called "Mathematics for Economists", which was (in my view) very rigorous and covered real analysis, linear algebra, differential equaitions, linear optimization, set theory, logics, vector and matrix algebra, proofs), I got an A-, which was however the 12th best grade among ~400 students; I also had statistics and probability theory (undergrad B, grad B+) and Econometrics (undergrad A, grad AB) Econ Courses (grad-level): Advanced Micro (B), Advanced Macro (A), International Economics (A), Economic Policy (A) ; in France I took mostly applied Economics courses, which were however quite math-intensive (for example Development Econ, Health Econ, Migration, FDl and trade), but also some Macro and Finance theory...I got around 2/3 A's and 1/3 B's, but an A+ on my thesis Letters of Recommendation (not yet confirmed): My Master thesis advisor- French PhD, active researcher who is publishing a lot in relativiely good journals, knows me very well Undergrad thesis advisor- German PhD, active researcher, but mainly heterodox economics, knows me quite well from several of his courses and the thesis work, has some ties to US Top 10 unis and sent 1 or 2 PhD students there Macro prof- US Top 10 PhD, not extremely well known outside Europe, but co-authored in a few top-journals and has overall a good publishing record; knows me not very well, but I think I was definitely among the best and most active students in his courses Research Experience: 2-months internship at very well-known German research institute, resulted in a co-authored paper, but only in a very low-ranked journal and in German TA and RA experience: TA at undergraduate Micro turorial, RA at the chair of Econometrics and RA at the chair of Economic Policy, one semester each Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Applied Econometrics, Development Economics broadly speaking SOP: want to especially stress my ability to do research (not so much my ability to excel in grad-level coursework), because I think this is what my LoR's will say as well and because my grades are not stellar (and may not even be trusted as I'm from an unknown German university)...I hope that my SoP convinces the Adcom to look at my writing sample, which then hopefully will eliminate any remaining doubts Concerns: My profile is quite unconventional and I don't think that a lot of Top50 adcoms have much experience with students from medium-ranked German universities, which will bring a lot of uncertainty to the whole process (I hope it's not a red flag for them though). My exposure to math should be sufficient, but appears on the transcript only as one course. My graduate GPA's are worse than my undergrad GPA (advanced Micro is actually my worst grade of any course), which may raise a lot of doubts. I think this happened because I started working a lot during grad studies, but this will probably not convince any Adcom. However, at least if you look at unconverted grades from my two Master years, there is a clear upward trend from yer one (Germany) to year two (France). But converting the grades to get a US GPA (according to a GPA calculator found at the WES webpage) seems to be very unfavorable for my French grades, while the results are extremely favorable if I convert German grades. I considered applying to ~10 US programs, as the fees are quite high. Pending on the GRE results, I would probably want to cast a relatively wide net and apply to #15, #30, #50 and #80, maybe distributed like 2-3-3-2 or 3-3-2-2. Do you guys think this is a sensible choice? What would you say are my biggest weaknesses that may serve as a red flag and what if anything I could do about it? Thanks a lot!