Temporary1

I'm not entirely sure about this. Currently taking PhD courses at my top 15 school and literally everyone coming from Europe that I know of has more math courses than OP.

I'm not very familiar with top 40 requirement, since I didn't apply to schools in that range. But I would say given you math background, you marginal utility from taking more math courses hasn't started to decrease yet. :) here is a website that might be helpful. https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/current/preparing-for-grad-school

What you mentioned are mostly categorized as "stats" rather than "math" courses, especially if they allow you to enroll in them without linear algebra and probability theory prerequisites. I would say your math background is still not good enough for top 20. If you can, go take math courses (undergrad level) at a well known university instead of community college.

Before you start the master, you can also spend some time on math and perhaps actual research (working as a nonpaid RA with a prof or something like that). You will need to take more math courses before the application anyway, so why not do it now while you have time? UCLA's math department is excellent I heard.

Can you wait another year and take more math courses like linear algebra, probability, math stats and math analysis? These are crucial for first year micro and metrics.

Sounds fair. Applying for RA programs without a green card is hard, but not impossible. So you should definitely try them as well when you apply for masters, because not all of them require a green card. How much research experience do you have now?

I see, but what about RA programs instead? I personally know a few alumni from RA programs like NBER, Chicago and Stanford, and they all did extremely well in their PhD applications. You can also take math and grad Econ courses in RA programs. So financially it's a good deal too.

1. UCLA is not prestigious, at least so compared to ivy schools. 2. You need more math courses and better grades in math courses. 3. Nobody cares about undergraduate intermediate micro much. It's an undergrad Econ course, not undergrad math course or grad Econ course, which are much more important. 4. I doubt your letters are strong enough, unless a) your research experience with these professors is substantial, i.e. you've wrote a joint paper with a professor or you've spent 10 hours a week working as a RA for at least 3 months. or b) you've took Econ PhD courses with them and earned good grades (A or A+). Unless it's either a) or b), these letters won't push you enough for Top 15 Econ PhD programs. 5. I thought UCLA is starting a master degree this year right? Why not just take that one? Moving and adjusting to the new environment can take lots of energy. Spend more time on Econ PhD courses and undergrad math courses.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad: USNEWS Top 25 US Undergrad GPA: 3.95 Type of Grad: N/A Grad GPA: N/A GRE: 170Q, 163V, 4.5AW Math Courses: All lower levels+Upper Analysis 1 and 2+Probability Theory 1 and 2+Upper Linear Algebra (all A or A+) Econ Courses: UG: Micro+Macro+Metrics all intermediate level Grad: PhD micro and metrics all A- or A or A+ Other Courses: philosophy courses Letters of Recommendation: 2 PhD course instructors (one of them holds director-type position at a large research institution) and one undergraduate course instructor, who also holds position at another top research institution. All Economics professors. Research Experience: Honor Thesis with the undergraduate instructor. Teaching Experience: N/A Research Interests: Micro Theory or IO SOP: Trust me, NO ONE cares about this. I would be surprised if any committee member actually spends more than 50 seconds on any single SOP. So please just calm down and work on other parts of you application. Other: nothing RESULTS: Acceptances: Stanford, Princeton, Northwestern, Booth, Yale, Columbia, NYU Stern, UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Maryland, UPenn, Duke, UT Austin, CMU Waitlists: N/A Rejections: Harvard, HBS, MIT, Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, NYU, Berkeley Pending: N/A Attending: Princeton Comments: 1. Don't spend more than 1 day on your PS. It won't matter. I checked a few faculty friends on committee in 2 schools and they all confirmed this. 2. The application process is random, as you can see I'm accepted by Stanford and Princeton by rejected by Wisconsin, Minnesota and NYU. So don't panic if you receive rejections first. 3. Letters are the single most important thing. Strong letters from faculties with good reputation (like IDEAS top 5%) and a 3.9+ GPA will get you almost everywhere. Academia is full of connection crap, so play the game. If you do your undergraduate at USNEWS Top 10 and have GPA 3.9+, then congratulations because you are basically already guaranteed at a TOP 10. But for students outside Top 10 undergrad institutions, just a 3.9+ GPA is NOT enough, even though it's more than likely that you have the same or even better skill set compared to a Top 10 student. 4. How to play the connection game if you are not from a top school? -Try RA jobs at NERA, NBER, Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Kellogg etc. and then apply with letters you collected from these institutions. I'm sure you will break Top 10. It's sad that academia gives so much weight on connection, but what can applicants do besides playing the game of prisoners' dilemma? This is the only way we can compete with Top 10 undergrad applicants as non-top school students. 5. Love your life. Love everyone and help each other. I benefited from and helped a buddy I met at a conference. We both got into Stanford and Princeton. He also got into MIT. This is a great experience and we are both truly grateful for sharing all the info with each other. 6. I chose Princeton because of some family issues. In general if you want to do theory or IO, I think you should choose Stanford over Princeton. Based on my limited knowledge I gained from Stanford's campus visit, Stanford is RICH and is rising. They will hire more star faculties without any budget issues (thanks to the generous silicon valley donations). They will have new Econ buildings and their placement is going to be even better.

Hi mathemagician, just want to say thanks for your contribution to this forum. I read many of your old posts in my application season and I gotta say it helped me to a really great extent. You are a great moderator!

Declined my BU offer 20min after I received it. Hope everyone on the WL can get in ASAP. GLHF.

Not sure why downvoted, but I'm not trolling. I've seen several people in person who followed exactly the route (one of them is EE PhD FYI) I said and did really well. In terms of compensation, this is the best choice for OP. Plus, how can op really want to do a PhD in Econ without knowing much about it? This decision is clearly irrational.

Stay in the physics program. Do a MBA/MSF/MSCF afterwords. And then go to hedge fund and make 300K+ each year.

Northwestern is pretty good (and much better than Duke I think) in terms of placement.

While I don't know much about Columbia's theory people, Joseph is clearly kind of old (age 73).. Op should look at those people between 30 and 60, since they are much more likely for you to work with. In other words, find those people who are still active in the sense that they are still publishing papers.