FinAnalyst

For what it's worth, I got a C in Calc II (A's in every other math class including graduate Real Analysis I) and got into Ohio State, UNC, and Pitt, among a few others. However, I was rejected by the four top 25 programs that I applied to, which could have been because of a number of other reasons. I was advised by a couple professors not to waste my time retaking a class (it would have gotten in the way of taking another class, probably Real Analysis). Take a look at my profile and see if that helps.

Type of Undergrad: B.S. Business Administration, Major in Economics from medium-sized Catholic school with no PhD program. Math classes have since been taken at a large state school, with an unranked PhD program. Both schools' undergrad ranked below top 100 US News. Undergrad GPA: 3.94 (Summa Cum Laude); Econ: 3.88; Math & Statistics: 3.66 (all A’s except C in Calc II); including all classes I’ve taken since my undergrad: 3.91 Type of Grad: NA Grad GPA: NA GRE: Q-170, V-162, AW- 5.5 Math Courses: Business Statistics I & II (A, A), Honors Calc I (A), Calc II ©, Calc III (A), Intro to Differential Equations (A+), Intro to Linear Algebra (A), Intro to Probability (A), Intro to Real Analysis I @ grad level (A) Econ Courses (grad-level): NA Econ Courses (undergrad-level): Micro (A), Macro (A), Money and Banking (A), Game Theory (A), Econometrics (A), Intermediate Micro (B+), Intermediate Macro (A-), Independent Study/Thesis (A), Economic Development (A-), Honors Econ Seminar (A), History of Economic Thought (A) Other Courses: Honors Program and Business Core Curriculum Letters of Recommendation: My thesis advisor (Econ PhD), game theory professor (Math PhD), and real analysis professor (Math PhD). Research Experience: Co-authored thesis with professor using 2000 and 2010 census and a variety of crime data, presented at a conference. Familiar with Stata and R. Teaching Experience: 2 years teaching with Teach For America. Research Interests: development, applied micro (labor, public finance, urban) SOP: Nothing noteworthy. Concerns: Not a lot of math and statistics, little research experience, undergrad institutions, intermediate micro grade. Other: Familiar with basic coding Results- Acceptances: OSU (University Fellowship), UNC (TA/RA), Pitt (tuition waiver + high on priority waitlist for fellowship), NC State (on the list for potential funding), George Washington (Initially waitlisted for funding, but got TA/RA before I declined), and George Mason (had already been accepted to OSU and I declined before any funding had been offered). Rejections: Duke, BU, and Maryland seem like they rejected me right away; Carnegie Mellon/Tepper, Georgetown, and BC were pretty late to let me know I was rejected (I think I made it to the last internal round). Attending: OSU. Comments: I got very lucky that some alumni from my undergrad did really well on the job market last year and that my thesis advisor has been publishing non-stop in the time since I graduated. I did not expect to break into the top 40 but got 3, mostly based on factors outside of my control (although I'm sure the GRE Q and graduate real analysis helped). What would you have done differently?: Applied to NSF (had too much going on and missed the deadline), taken some more rigorous computer/statistics courses to be competitive for RA work, and tried to take an advance micro class to make up for the B+ in intermediate micro.

Hey y'all, This might be best answered by current students, but I can't figure out if I'm eligible for a stafford loan along with my fellowship. I've filled out the FAFSA and all supplemental forms, but my school doesn't decide financial aid until May. My tuition waver and fellowship put me above the programs cost of attendance, but it's difficult to find consistent stories of those who did and didn't qualify for stafford loans in similar situations. The federal student loan website says that all graduate students are eligible for $20.5k in unsubsidized stafford loans while other places it says only up to cost of attendance. With moving and buying books and a laptop, costs are going to be heavy on the front end; also, I'd like to have a rainy day fund. A federal loan would be a lot of help with this. Does anyone have any helpful information on this, i.e. whether or not they qualified with a fellowship that put them above their school's COA? Thanks.

chateauheart

Same here, I emailed them yesterday and haven't heard anything back. There's a bunch of waitlists from yesterday and today on TheGradCafe.

It took me 3 times to get a 170Q. The second time ended up being a couple days after my real analysis midterm, and I did worse than the first time. I would recommend planning for at least 3 times but prepare as if you will get the score you want the first time. Maybe, winter before you submit, and twice over the summer before. Also, I feel like there's a strong chance your experimental section will be quantitative and having three quant. sections is a lot more taxing, so keep that in mind.

Institution: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC) Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: Departmental assistantship consisting of 500 for math camp, 15.7k for academic year, and 6k the first summer and 4k the next two summers. Includes health insurance but not fees. Notification date: 03/21/2016 Notified through: Personal email from DGS. Comments: Definitely my preferred location.

Did anyone else get an email from UNC saying they are impressed with their credentials and hope they are still interested? I can't tell if I'm supposed to respond or not.

So, this was all anecdotal. A quick search of EJMR, however, will confirm some of this. Outside of academia, I think visa issues further complicate the private sector and government job markets for foreign students.

Institution: Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 03/15/2016 Notified through: Email. Comments: Expected, I was not a good fit. Happy I lasted as long as I did.

For people concerned about OSU's placements, I spoke with the faculty about this at the open house: They are of the opinion that their placements do not reflect the caliber of the program or students in it. In the past they have had a lot of international students that have struggled to learn English to a degree that is expected in academia and many others have just desired to go home (international academic placements have been okay). I was assured that they've taken many steps in the last few years to correct these problems (especially focusing on research earlier in the program so students will have at least 4 papers by the time they go on the market). Flyouts have improved in the last couple years (not sure if this list is all-inclusive Economics Job Market Updates / Wiki), but no one's been able to seal the deal at a top program for whatever reason. Further, they believe they have a few stars entering the job market in the next couple years that should place really well academically. I know that there was at least one academic placement this year; someone was placed at University of New Hampshire, which has a small PhD program itself.

It looks like thegrind got some funding (per admissions and rejections thread).

Institution: George Washington University Program: Economics PhD Decision: Accepted Funding: "named as an alternate for a University Fellowship and Graduate Assistantship" Notification date: 03/15/2016 Notified through: Email to check website Comments: Will decline.

Cornell has something: Advice for First-Year Ph.D. Students in Economics at Cornell | Department of Economics

If anyone is waiting on Tepper (CMU), I called today. The first round was already sent out; if you haven't heard back you aren't reject but also aren't necessarily waitlisted. It's a large applicant pool and the adcom is still weeding through and ranking. there should be more news this week or next

Institution: Duke Program: Economics PhD Decision: Rejected Funding: NA Notification date: 03/04/16 Notified through: Email to check status Comments: Expected when I started, but receiving the fellowship at OSU got my hopes up.

Yep, I'll see you there! I'm still wait listed for funding but Professor Ripoll seemed pretty confident I would get it eventually.

OSU or Pitt (if my partner gets into Tepper's MBA with money and I get rejected from Duke and CMU). Can anyone weigh in on whether Pitt or OSU would be better for applied micro and economic development? OSU is higher ranked overall but it looks like their public finance and urban economics concentration is on hiatus and they don't seem to place into many academic positions in the US. I'm specifically interested in migration, and it seems like Pitt has a couple researchers who publish in that space.

I'm wondering the same thing about CMU, I was expecting to be rejected today.

This is how I'm feeling about Duke and CMU right now... Edit: Womp, looks like GIFs don't work.... this is how i feel:

No rejections from Duke yet (but I somehow survived CMU's first round of rejections). Also, last year it looks like at least one lucky person got in on April 15th.

So I counted 18 acceptances for the PhD (there were a lot for the masters program too) and 4 wait lists. It seems like most of the acceptances were clustered over the course of 4 days, so I imagine the first round of admits has finished. They probably have a tentative wait list and will send a few more acceptances out as they finalize it and people decline. Also, it seems like not everyone on the wait list is accepted eventually.

Their website ("Aid offers are made on a rolling basis, as funds permit, beginning in late February.") and past results on gradcafe suggest it's a rolling process, at least at first. Anyway, I'm not asking for much, just a spot on the waitlist would be nice. Congrats, Food4Thought!

Is it inappropriate to ask a department for more of a travel stipend if I have a place to stay for an open house? One of my acceptances is offering $300 and two nights in a hotel, but I don't need the hotel and my flight will be around $375.

I didn't apply to Penn State, but the Director of Graduate studies at Pittsburgh brought my writing sample up in our conversation (after initial acceptance) and asked if I planned to continue similar research. It seemed like including the paper positively affected my outcome: She indicated that she felt it was competent, creative, and aligned with research interests of faculty members. Pitt doesn't ask for a writing sample, but the application allowed it as it's required by other programs. That said, they only get between 300 and 400 applicants; if a program gets between 500 and 1,000, they might not look at it or they may only look after initial eliminations.