Artemis Yang

Thanks for your input Zubrus! My college does not have a good record of placing students into econ PhD programs. My instinct is that 10-20 would be the best range for me, but I might be wrong. I am considering programs like public policy or political economy, but I still think I'd like to do pure economics programs the most. After all it's easier to transfer from economics to the other things. Another question is, can I apply for different programs at the same university?

Thank you startz! I will definitely ask my letter writers, when they are not too busy... Looks like the I only need to do well in my courses and do a good job in my RA work to get a good letter. It's not as easy as it sounds like though :)

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: 40-ish Liberal Arts College, Econ & Math double major Undergrad GPA: 3.92 (major GPA higher, but not 4.0) Type of Grad: N/A GRE: 167Q, 165V, 5.0AW Undergrad Math Courses: Calc I II III (A,A,A-), Linear Algebra (A), Discrete Math (A), Probability and Stats I & II (A,A), Real Analysis (A), Abstract Algebra (A-), Complex Analysis (A-) Undergrad Econ Courses: Intro and Intermediate Micro (A,A), Intro and Intermediate Macro(A-, A), Environmental (A-), Statistical Methods in Econ (A), Contending Economic Perspectives (A), Labor Econ (A), Applied Empirical Data Analysis (A-), Advanced Econometrics (A), seminar in Economic history of US (A) Grad Courses: PhD econometrics (in progress, will try my best to excel at it), plan to take PhD micro in fall Letters of Recommendation: -2 from RA supervisors, one is a senior faculty, well-known in field, Harvard PhD. I’m a little worried about how strong the letter could be. I’m definitely not her best RA. Another is a young professor, Harvard PhD in health policy with economics track. -1 from undergrad advisor, who I did tons of RA work and independent research with. This should be a very strong one. She might say something like “This is the best student I ever had…” Teaching Experience: 1 semester TA for calculus, 1 semester TA for econometrics, and 1 year of economics tutor in undergrad Research Experience: -Undergrad Senior thesis in environmental policy. Undergrad research paper in labor. Both should be high-quality papers in undergrad level. Won a departmental prize for overall excellence in economic research. -A working paper with undergrad advisor (will be published somewhere, second author) -Currently working as an RA in health econ at a top 5 institution Research Interests: Applied Micro, environmental, labor, health Other comments: I’m planning on taking differential equations in summer. Concerns: 1) research experience not focused enough. 2) GRE quant not 170 3) some A-‘s on transcript 4) rec letters might not be strong enough 5) lack of grad level courses Some more specific questions: -Where should I aim for? Do I have any chance for top 10? -Is there any need to retake GRE to improve quant to 170? -I could try to keep working on my undergrad research and get the two papers published (or maybe one of those), but this will be time-consuming. Is it worthwhile? -In terms of application, how do you guys feel about reaching out to potential PhD advisors? Or will you simply apply?

I came from a 40-ish liberal arts college, currently working as an RA at a top 5 institution. My suggestion is to apply as many as you can, as there is so much unexpected randomness in the application process. I applied for about 50 positions last year, got through first round in 13 positions, and received 3 offers (I decided to drop from other applications after I landed on the current one). Previous research experience is not very important. None of the 3 jobs I got matches with my previous research fields in undergrad. Ironically, I didn't even get any response from those few positions that I directly had relevant research experience. Are you also interested in Fed or think tanks? My instinct is that positions at top institutions care more about GPA. Most of the job positions will ask you to do a designed data exercise. Some positions only asked me to show them some codes I wrote for my previous projects. How you perform on the task is probably the most important determinant. Also be sure to express your interests in doing research during the interview. A little more about my current job: I have two supervisors, one is a young assistant professor, one is a senior professor well-known in field. The tasks from the young professor are usually more direct and specific, while the senior professor usually only give general directions and is less concerned with the coding details (there are many other people in the same project btw). The trade-off is obvious: If you work with someone famous, you may not be able to get enough attention from him/her since your professor know so many students who are more talented than you are. If you work with a young faculty member, his/her name will be less noticeable to the admission committee.